F12 – 801: Maintaining Quality in a Period of Explosive Growth – A Case Study

Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers

A 12 year old software development firm, focusing on the NeXT platform, began creating iOS applications with about 20 employees in Seattle. Less than 2 years later they had 150 employees, had opened a second office in Denver and were making award winning iOS and Android applications. In early 2012 they were purchased by one of the big 4 accounting agencies to be the mobile extension of their world-wide technology consulting business.

Maturing process in a time of explosive growth is an immense challenge. Since before they launched their first iOS application the Executive leadership sought to hire the best and the brightest technologists in the Seattle area and let them loose to traverse the terrain of this fast advancing mobile emerging market. Now, as a part of a 188,000 person corporation, they continue to challenge the status quo and push the agile process boundaries, and continue making leading edge mobile applications.

This case study goes beyond statistics on exponential mobile adoption rates, waterfall and agile process, and the various schools of software testing. It is the study of one Quality Assurance Department managing explosive growth and becoming the headlights of an agile whole-team.

Session Takeaways:

  • Software development methods can mature continually in a company of any size
  • Current quality assurance methods are over 30 years old and badly in need of some polish
  • Great benefit can be realized from fairly simple process modification and refocus
  • Quality assurance is often the last discipline to fully embrace agile methods
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Session Speaker:

Todd SchultzTodd Schultz – Managing Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, Ubermind / Deloitte
Over the past 15 years Todd tested many types of software, in many industries, from web pages and insurance software to audio/video software and video games. Currently he is working on mobile applications, deep diving into this emerging market to identify the unique Quality Assurance challenges and how to mitigate them in an agile way. Todd is passionate about professional development; mentoring Quality Assurance Engineers who see QA as a career, and not just a job.