Tech Talks With Sowmya Sridharamurthy

The ever-expanding apps and extension of software features makes it even more significant to work on quality problems. Besides, the reason behind failure of test initiatives is usually found to be an insufficient test strategy that burdens the entire QA operations.  

In other words, it is extremely necessary that a right approach to QA is pursued which usually require a broader vision and perspective to initiate with quality assurance procedures. Keeping the thought in mind, we at BugRaptors, constantly aim to connect with people from the industry. 

Adding more value to our treasure of thoughts, this time, our in-house expert, Parteek Goel, Automation Manager, BugRaptors, made way for a conversation with Sowmya Sridharamurthy, a product quality leader with over 14 years of experience.  

From On-prem to cloud, retail, banking, marketing, and mobile apps, Sowmya has explored so many horizons developing ability to prioritize quality tasks, run risk analysis, leading development teams, and to take on agile initiatives.  

Sowmya even holds a massive understanding of ERP solutions including the various modules like SAP, CRM, CPM, etc. With expertise handling any layer of Dev stack, she is a full-stack QA with grip on multiple automation tools like CypressIO, WebDriverIO, NightwatchJS, Selenium. 

Besides, she understands every aspect of setting an entire framework from scratch with the ability to scale the same for optimum test coverage and standardizing the entire quality process. More importantly, she holds a great understanding of bug triaging, risk projections, post production maintenance, managing upgrade and migrations, scaling QA teams, and much more.  

Along with these, Sowmya even has a knack for mentoring and guiding QAs with a passion for accessibility testing. Her expertise with accessibility testing could be tracked from her experience of educating and implementing accessibility guidelines according to WCAG standards for various client projects.  

With all her expertise, understanding, and vision for Quality Assurance, we felt it was necessary to have an interaction with her. Without taking much time, let us quickly jump on the conversation and check on Sowmya’s vision of test automation, challenges with agile testing, and more.  

Parteek: What do you think about changing QA practices? 

Sowmya: QA practices are defined. 

 “Change is the only constant”- Heraclitus 

Change is good, but the kind that makes it possible to operate and create value in a more productive manner is even better. Organizations must modify their technologies and procedures to meet shifting customer demands. Having stated that, teams should implement the change with twice the diligence. Before implementing any changes, it's critical to win over the team's trust. Businesses on the growth spectrum must constantly improve their QA procedures. Process simplification and increased effectiveness. 

 Parteek: How test automation can bring business value other than finding defects? 

Sowmya: To keep up with the current development pace, test automation is a must rather than an option. Multiple test execution cycles are needed when there are frequent code merges. Test automation functions as a catalyst, smoothly guiding the entire process. 

Test automation adds more value than expected. 

• Improved efficiency: be it feature enhancement or hotfix, health check of the entire application is a mandatory activity. In enterprise solutions, the frequency of hotfixes is relatively higher compared to SMEs. Deploying human resources every time there is a code change demands more time. reducing the overall delivery time. Test automations leveraging TestOps helps increase efficiency. 
• Reduced cost: The main goal of test automation is not to find the bugs, but to ensure the application is working as expected. Repeated execution of the tests can be managed by leveraging test automation and reducing the overall resource cost. 
• Increased flexibility: Automation frameworks help execute multiple layers of tests in various environments in parallel. By Harnessing the TestOps, teams can arrest time leaks and achieve execution flexibility by reducing multiple dependencies 

Parteek: How can organizations create a stable and optimal test environment? 

Sowmya: There are several steps that organizations can take to create a stable and optimal test environment: 

• Define clear objectives: It is important to clearly define the objectives of the test environment and how it will be used. This can help to ensure that the environment is configured and maintained in a way that meets the needs of the organization. 
• Establish appropriate infrastructure: The test environment should have the appropriate infrastructure, including hardware, software, and network resources, to support the testing needs of the organization. 
• Use appropriate test data: The test environment should have access to accurate and relevant test data to ensure that tests are meaningful and representative of real-world scenarios. 
• Implement good configuration management: Good configuration management practices can help to ensure that the test environment is well-maintained and that changes to the environment are documented and controlled. 
• Use automation: Automation can help to improve the stability and efficiency of the test environment by reducing the need for manual intervention and by enabling tests to be run more frequently. 
• Monitor and measure performance: Regularly monitoring and measuring the performance of the test environment can help to identify and address any issues or bottlenecks that may arise. 
• Regularly review and update the environment: The test environment should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains stable and optimal. This may involve updating hardware or software or introducing new tools or processes. 

Parteek: What are those kinds of challenges that you think people should be thinking about when it comes to agility? 

Sowmya: Agile teams can face a multitude of challenges, the bigger the team more complex it gets. Some of the most common challenges are as below: 

• Communication: Agile teams rely on effective communication to collaborate and make decisions quickly. It can be challenging to keep all team members informed and up-to-date on the latest developments. 
• Flexibility: Agile teams need to be flexible and adaptable to change, but this can be difficult if team members are used to working in more traditional, structured environments. 
• Trust: In an agile team, team members need to trust each other and work collaboratively to achieve common goals. Building trust can take time, and it can be challenging to establish trust in a new or diverse team. 
• Managing priorities: Agile teams need to prioritize tasks and adjust their plans as needed, which can be challenging if team members are used to working with more rigid plans and schedules. 
• Overcoming resistance to change: Some team members may resist the agile approach, which can lead to conflicts and difficulties in implementing agile practices. 
• Managing stakeholder expectations: Agile teams need to be responsive to the needs of stakeholders, but it can be challenging to balance the needs of different stakeholders and ensure that all parties are satisfied with the outcome. 

Parteek: Do you have any insights on how to trust your test automation?

Sowmya: Here are some strategies that organizations can use to increase trust in their test automation: 

Use a robust automation framework: A well-designed automation framework can help to ensure that tests are reliable and maintainable. This may involve using a popular framework such as Selenium or creating a custom framework that meets the specific needs of the organization. 

Establish clear guidelines for test automation: It is important to establish clear guidelines for test automation, including standards for test design, coding practices, and test maintenance. This can help to ensure that tests are well-structured and maintainable. 

Ensure test coverage: It is important to ensure that tests cover a sufficient range of scenarios and features to be meaningful. This can help to increase trust in the test automation by reducing the risk of defects being missed. 

Regularly review and update tests: It is important to regularly review and update tests to ensure that they are still relevant and effective. This can help to maintain trust in the test automation by ensuring that tests are current and accurate. 

Monitor test results and track defects: Regularly monitoring test results and tracking defects can help to identify any issues with the test automation and to take corrective action as needed. 

Use test analytics: Test analytics tools can provide valuable insights into the performance and effectiveness of the test automation, which can help to increase trust in the results. 

Involve stakeholders: Involving key stakeholders in the test automation process, such as development and operations teams, can help to build trust in the test automation by ensuring that it is aligned with the needs of the organization. 

Parteek: What’s been the most memorable moment of your career so far? 

Sowmya: Oh, it's very difficult to pick just one moment from the past 16 years, but one accomplishment of mine is leading the team's initiatives for digital accessibility by training the team about inclusive development. Every business should become involved in digital accessibility to make the world a better place for everyone. 

Parteek: An important philosophy/book you recommend for being more successful and productive. 

Sowmya: I really believe that gratitude has the ability to change our lives for the better. Two books that I would like to highly recommend are, 

“Atomic Habits” by James clear and “Beyond team building” by Dyer Gibb 

Parteek: Where can readers connect with you online? 

Sowmya: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sowmyasridharamurthy/ 

Twitter: someoooww 

Website: www.someooow.com 

Mentoring club: https://www.mentoring-club.com/the-mentors/sowmya-sridharamurthy 

At BugRaptors, we do everything that can form a quality-driven digital world. And since it is QAs, developers, and business analysts who can help bring the revolution, stay connected with us for more such QA tech talks.   

For more information, reach us through info@bugraptors.com