This document discusses the challenges of outsourcing QA and how Astegic addresses these challenges through their KDEFT engagement model. It outlines common concerns with outsourcing like commitment failures and cultural barriers. It then explains how Astegic provides agility through their model by breaking time zone limitations, enabling seamless collaboration between onshore and offshore teams, and using Kanban to improve transparency, efficiency, and flexibility.

1. BEYOND
Why QA Directors are reluctant to
outsource, and how we overcome
QA Outsourcing Concerns
AGILE SPRINT

2. Copyright © 2017. Astegic. All Rights Reserved.
QA decision makers are increasingly faced with
challenges in terms of attrition, resource
availability, and time and cost of hiring on the one
hand; and the pressure of speeding up releases on
the other.
QA Challenges
Retain QA talent, manage
cost of training, benefits,
taxes and so forth
1
Maintain software quality to
deliver seamless user
experiences
3
Speed up software releases
to go to market ahead of
competitors
2

3. Outsourced QA Concerns
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Outsourced QA offers an invaluable resource, but past
experience and perceptions can be concerning. Common
challenges such as:
Commitment Failures
Staffing Retention and Inadequate Training
Time Zone Differences
Cultural Communication Barriers
Agility

4. Much has changed since the beginning of Outsourced QA.
Communication and solution technology now enables QA
providers to resolve commitment and skill concerns. And
for those that have embraced modern staffing strategies,
those associated concerns are also a challenge of the past.
Agility becomes the hold up.
QA Outsourcing Improvements
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5. Unlike Waterfall development where development cycles run
several months; Agile cuts development phases into sprints
that are no longer than a week or two, or a few weeks each
at the most.
Continuous Integration (CI) in Agile implies constant change
throughout the development chain which can result in
inadequate test coverage over frequently changing
requirements.
Automating In Agile and The Challenges It Presents
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6. Despite the challenges, companies continue to
spend time and resources on scaling up their QA
capability because they are reluctant to consider
outsourcing QA.
However, with the right approach to outsourced
QA, companies can drive significant competitive
advantage.
QA Outsourcing Myths Debunked
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7. In a typical offshore engagement, teams advocate for an
Agile model which states that once the requirements are frozen
and the scope is defined for a sprint, it cannot be changed during
the sprint. This model fails to add any value to the constant
evolution in requirements -- especially considering the changes to
the requirements that occur during the development life cycle. At
Astegic, we take an approach that goes beyond the usual Agile
sprint.
Why Agile Sprint Isn’t Enough
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VIPIN JAIN
Director, Quality
Assurance

8. At Astegic, we take an augmented engagement
approach that brings:
Addressing The Issues
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Agility and, in turn, business value
A flexible way to fit in a fast-paced development life cycle
Improved overall product quality

9. Typical On-shore/Offshore Model
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Client development team plans their work for the day;
handles all change requests and often changes, tests and
delivers on the same day with the Offshore team not being
at their disposal
Teams
get a
one
hour
window
Client Developemnt Team
Offshore Team
TIME OVERLAP
12:00 AM 1:00 AM 2:00 AM 3:00 AM 4:00 AM 5:00AM 6:00AM 7:00AM 8:00AM 9:00AM 10:00AM 11:00AM 12:00PM 1:00PM 2:00PM 3:00PM 4:00PM
A TYPICAL DAY
Time zone: EST
Offshore team doing their QA, logging bugs, working on
open items from the previous day
Teams
do
status
updates

10. Astegic’s Model: Breaking Time Zone Limitations
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Client development team finishes
their daily tasks and assigns tasks to
Offshore QA team for the following
day
Client development team plans
their work for the day
Offshore team planning and
executing, making status
updates, handling change
requests
Client Developemnt Team
Offshore Team
TIME OVERLAP
12:00 AM 1:00 AM 2:00 AM 3:00 AM 4:00 AM 5:00AM 6:00AM 7:00AM 8:00AM 9:00AM 10:00AM 11:00AM 12:00PM 1:00PM 2:00PM 3:00PM 4:00PM
A TYPICAL DAY
Time zone: EST
Offshore team doing their QA,
logging bugs, working on open items
from the previous day

11. Onshore/Offshore Engagement
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Seamless Integration
Email/Project Communication System
On Site (US)
Windows Interaction through
Chat, Voice and Video Conferences
Feedback & Review
Regression
Reporting
Test Design
Scripting
Review
Test Execution
Discovery
Requirement Analysis
Project Initiation
Test Planning
Set-up and Knowledge Transfer
Sr. Manager, QA
Lead , QA
Success Manager Success Manager
Client Development Team
Client QA Team
Client
Off Shore (INDIA)

12. KDEFT: Astegic’s Collaborative Engagement Framework
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The need for agility and reduced time to market requires
pushing the traditional outsourcing or offshoring model
toward a new, more dynamic engagement approach.
To address this challenge, we deploy a QA engagement
model that addresses critical client concerns of speed,
agility and communication throughout the SDLC, and
across onshore/offshore teams and time zones.

13. Kanban-Driven Engagement Framework For Testing
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KDEFT brings greater transparency and efficiency in team
engagement and collaboration especially with regard to
frequent priority shifts and change requests.
Complete mapping of tasks through workflow visualization, resulting in higher
efficiency and transparency
Continuous redressal and closure of items, limiting work in progress within task items
Measurement and reporting of items or cards at each state
Objectivity and clarity between onshore and offshore teams Improved collaboration
Greater flexibility
Shortened STLC
Continuous delivery
Kanban Driven Engagement
Framework for Testing

14. Key To Success: Look For A Strategic Technology Partner
Strategic approach to
outsourced QA to boost your ROI
Enable your organization to
run 24x7 business operations
Ramp up your QA capability rapidly
without investing time and money
in hiring
Look beyond cost: leverage QA as
a key competitive differentiator in terms
of quality, agility and speed to market
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15. About Astegic
For 15 years, Astegic has been helping Fortune 500 through
startup companies with their Testing & QA needs. With our
in-depth experience across a wide range of industries, our
clients receive innovative and best-in-class service and
solutions. We offer near 24/7 rapid service from both Astegic’s
US and India based testing operations.
Focusing on resolving our client’s testing challenges,
Astegic specializes in decreasing costs, speeding
time-to-market and improving the quality of our client’s
applications. Astegic has a dedicated Testing Center of
Excellence (TCoE), specializing in providing solutions across
Mobile, Cloud and API testing.
Astegic, Inc.
7600 Leesburg Pike, Suite 320, West Building,
Falls Church, VA 22043,
United States
Phone: +1 703-288-9300
Fax: +1 703-288-9309
Email: sales@astegic.com
Contact Us
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