Testing at Startup Companies: What, When, Where, and How
Startups are becoming increasingly prolific—technology startups even more so. CEOs are recognizing the need for quality. Their users are their growth, and if they can't retain users, their growth slows or stops. So quality matters. How do you convince the rest of the company that test brings value? How do you convince developers and product owners that spending time on quality is important, particularly if they have never worked with testers before? Should startups even have testers? Alice Till-Carty shares her experience finding a role for testing and QA within the ever changing and fast growing landscape of a fashion startup. Join Alice to explore the major challenges and hurdles that testers can face in startups—how to improve relations with developers, how to introduce process (even when “process” is a dirty word in your company), how to become more involved with the development process, and ways to improve communication as teams start to grow quickly.
A senior QA engineer for Lyst, one of London’s fastest-growing startups, Alice Till-Carty landed her career in testing sideways. Having studied film at the university, Alice’s obsession with technology and problem solving gave her a head start in testing. With six years of experience across two countries, four companies, and more than one-hundred projects, Alice has worn many different testing hats—consultant, analyst, engineer, and quality evangelist. She considers herself a fierce advocate for the end user. Alice’s determination for always making things better for the customer has given her a unique perspective on test process improvement. Follow her on Twitter @aliceness.