Here is the final blog in a series featuring talks from our recent Geek 23 conference.  In this video, Rafaela Azevedo presents a lightning talk on the subject of, What QA will look like in the future.

In this 5-minute talk, Rafaela explains about the future of QA (Quality Assurance) and discusses the evolution of the role in response to emerging trends.  The QA role has come a long way from its traditional focus on manual testing and bug detection. As technology advances, QA professionals are adapting to new demands and becoming integral contributors to the software development process.

The future of this role will be marked by AI tests, tests in the cloud, Web3 tests, alerting and monitoring and strong soft skills. By embracing these trends and developing the necessary skills, QA professionals will be well-equipped to drive quality and innovation in the ever-changing software development industry.

Geek 23 was a specific event for, and led by, our Equal Experts community.  Speakers gave talks on a range of topics including service design, developer experience, operability, leadership, distributed systems, testing, large language models, DevOps, mob programming and microservices.

Here’s another in a series about transitioning from being a QA to becoming a delivery lead. The hope is that people who are considering becoming a delivery lead use these posts to make a more informed choice – by identifying the skills required to make the transition, and highlighting the similarities in the two roles.

Today I am interviewing Karunakar Thedla​.

“I always tried not to constrain myself to my role and responsibilities. I tried to contribute beyond my role.” Karunakar Thedla​ 

What inspired you to make the move from a QA to a delivery lead?

I spent a major part of my professional life working as a QA. I wore multiple hats as QA, BA and iteration manager, always working closely with my team members and project stakeholders. Working for the betterment of the project/process/product was always at the forefront of everything I did. Despite that, I always looked for additional challenges and stepped up to help the team and business owners in any shape or form. Then I realised that there is only so much I could do on top of my day job, and the drive to have a much bigger influence made me switch to the delivery lead path. It gave me immense pleasure to use all my technical skills to contribute to every discipline in the software engineering process.

What are the key skills you have gained as a QA that have helped you as a delivery lead?

As a QA, I had a good understanding of the end-to-end development process along with a deeper technical knowledge of software engineering practices. I gained this by working closely with various disciplines e.g. architects, developers, UX/design, user research, and product/business owners. This helped me a lot as a delivery lead and the benefits are many. It helped me plan the project delivery better and achieve a shorter time to market whilst focusing on user needs and business goals.

I was also able to challenge and help development teams where necessary. I once worked with a third-party supplier development team who were building APIs for the client team. To our surprise, a simple API call was taking a few seconds to return data. They said they did everything they could but were unable to improve the performance and blamed the volume of the data. I asked them to check if the indices were added to MongoDB. This simple suggestion brought the response times down to a few milliseconds. I didn’t have to be an excellent developer but was able to understand the problem and help!

The technical knowledge also enabled me to help the business better understand the challenges faced by the development team and the complexities involved in delivering software. This is a particularly important skill to have when dealing with demanding clients who have set project targets.

What do you see as the major differences between the two roles?

I think that both roles have an overlapping wish list, i.e., customer satisfaction, quality of product, and better ways of working. However, I need to understand and respect what is expected of my role. For example, the QA in me wants an enhancement to a feature which adds a better user experience and might seem simple to build. But the delivery lead in me needs to manage expectations in terms of timelines so might have to be strict with scope. So, I try to remind myself of the role I play and make the right decisions. At the end of the day, making the client and users happy is key to whatever role I play!

Any advice for prospective delivery leads out there?

I always tried not to constrain myself to my role and responsibilities. I tried to contribute beyond my role. As a QA, I created user stories, wrote production code, set up CI pipelines, ran workshops, and held show and tells. I made a sincere effort to pair with my delivery leads, and along the way, I learned a lot. This helped me to understand the ups and downs associated with every role and gave me a greater insight into different aspects of project delivery. I would say this is a great way to transition to any role.

Do you have any regrets about making the move?

I sometimes miss being hands-on. I miss the joy of testing a complex feature and finding that impossible-to-discover bug, but I compensate by trying to be hands-on wherever possible, be it pairing with a developer to write production code, or analysing a story for a BA. However, the fact that I have a much larger influence on everything now keeps me going!

Here’s another in a series about transitioning from being a QA to becoming a delivery lead. The hope is that people who are considering becoming a delivery lead use these blog posts to make a more informed choice – by identifying the skills required to make the transition, and highlighting the similarities in the two roles.

Today I am interviewing Bejul Shah.

What inspired you to make the move from a QA to a delivery lead role?

I have been a QA for over 15 years, eight of which have been with Equal Experts. I have particularly enjoyed roles where we were key influencers for the client’s digital transformation journey. I was part of the first UK team to help set up our South Africa business unit, where we  promoted a flat team structure with our first client there. Together with the QA tasks I was advising on plus shaping better ways of working to deliver at pace and being hands-on, I found it exciting to see visible improvements. This inspired me to work closely with the delivery leads, and eventually I transitioned into the role having passed the internal interview process. 

What are the key skills you have gained as a QA  that have helped you as a delivery lead?

There are several skills that have helped me as a delivery lead. The QA role requires an holistic approach to product thinking as well as team contribution. A key skill is the ability to build close relationships with stakeholders and team members. Contributing to the code for test automation and pipeline setup has helped a lot with being able to talk in the technical domain and make those connections. I try to be hands-on with the delivery lead role, helping the team whenever needed. This particularly helped recently when we lacked operability knowledge within the team. The focus on shifting testing left and minimising bottlenecks was a valuable experience in the challenges of efficient project delivery. 

What are the major differences between the two roles?

Both roles have a responsibility to keep a positive and good interaction within the team, however, with the delivery lead role, the importance is amplified. Ensuring that the team feels empowered, energised and engaged is key for successful project delivery. 

As a QA, I used to be aware of the intricate detail or quirks of a product. I now find myself asking my team QAs for this. At least the inquisitive and exploratory mindset of a QA has stuck with me. 

I have always tried to be proactive about continuously improving ways of working and how to be a better performing team. Now as a delivery lead I have a lot more focus on that and appreciate all the various enablers, processes and roles that results in a team being high performing.     

Any advice for prospective delivery leads out there?

If you are considering transitioning to the role, reach out to the delivery lead community or the recruitment team where you work. You will find a lot of encouragement and flexibility. In my case, I tried a 50/50 role split between QA and delivery lead that a client was in support of. This may not always be possible, but I found it a great insight into the delivery lead role which I was then able to move into 100%.

While you’re moving into a delivery role, you may initially focus more on improving QA processes within the team. Whilst this is important, it is good to be equally attentive of other areas that could be improved. Each role within the team has its challenges and understanding and addressing them will lead to a healthier team.

Do you have any regrets about making the move?

I do miss the technical aspect of the QA role, however, I do not regret making the move as I try to be hands-on and keep those technical skills up to date. Starting out as a QA means that you come into the delivery lead role with a great skill set that keeps getting broadened.  I thoroughly recommend it.