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Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 3:15pm - 4:15pm
Test Management

Changing the Testing Conversation from Cost to Value

The software testing business is in the grip of a commoditization trend in which enterprises routinely flip flop between vendors—vendors who are engaged in a race to the bottom on price. This trend introduces perverse incentives for service providers, undervalues skill, and places excessive emphasis on processes, tools, and methods. The result is a dumbing down of testing and the creation of testing services that are little more than placebos. Using examples drawn from three recent projects in the banking industry, Iain McCowatt explores the dynamics of commoditization and introduces a quality model that can be used for framing the value of testing services. As a testing vendor, learn how to pursue a differentiation strategy, shifting the emphasis of the testing conversation from cost to value; as a customer of testing, learn how to make informed decisions about the value of what you are buying; as a tester, learn how to buck the trend and find professional growth.

Iain McCowatt, CGI

Iain McCowatt is a context-driven tester, test manager, and automator whose experience and passion for testing spans multiple industries over more than a decade. As a test practice lead and program test manager with CGI in Atlantic Canada, Iain specializes in providing clients with innovative solutions to difficult testing problems and in building teams that place an emphasis on the skill of the tester. Having been both a customer and provider of testing, he takes a particular interest in the value that testing can provide.

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