Time for a Change
Are you utilizing testers at their full potential, taking advantage of all the resources they have to offer? Start thinking about the additional activities they could perform. Where are you feeling the most software-related pain? Are your stakeholders unhappy that they aren't getting the functionality they wanted? Are deadlines missed because of last-minute corrections? Software professionals with good testing skills can help to address problems like these.
If your testers or QA professionals aren't actively participating throughout each project lifecycle, it's time to get them involved. If your testers lack the skills we've discussed here, but they're passionate about their work, enjoy collaborating, and are eager to grow professionally, give them time to learn, and provide them with training support. Get testers and programmers together, so testers can help programmers learn to love testing, and programmers can help testers to enhance their technical abilities. Leveraging the skills of your testing professionals will maximize the potential of the entire software development team. Discover the many valuable resources hidden in your QA team.