The Future of Testing in Finance

1. The Future of Testing in Finance Paul Gerrard paul@gerrardconsulting.com Twitter: @paul_gerrard Web: gerrardconsulting.com Download from businessstorymethod.com/ Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

2. Thank-you Thank-you to Dr Richard Sykes and Susan Windsor for allowing me to pick their brains This PowerPoint can be downloaded from: gerrardconsulting.com Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

3. There have been some negative waves recently • Testing is Dead • Death to the Testing Phase • Testing has contributed little to quality improvement in the last ten years • Being a tester is a ‘bad thing’ • Is testing really DEAD? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

4. My crystal ball Changes in our business demand a rethink of testing Ten five-year predictions Some test lead/manager career suggestions It’s personal, partial and fallible! Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

5. “You can fool some of the people all the time and you can fool all the people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Abraham Lincoln “If you are right, you’ll be hailed as a visionary.If you are wrong, no one will remember” Bill Hetzel “How did I get myself into this?” Me Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

6. Theme:Changes in our business demand a re-think of where testing fits in systems projects Software product and service companies and user companies are all affected Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

7. Technology, Hype and How Innovations Become Mainstream Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

8. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

9. Not all innovations make it across the “chasm” Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

10. The Hype Cycle Agile, The Cloud and Mobile computing have made it across the Chasm Where are YOU in the Adoption Cycle? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

11. The Cloud Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

12. Software as a Service dominates the growth of public cloud markets Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

13. The industry changes its mind – again Moving to Infrastructure as a Service will save some money The IT Director can glory in the permanent cost savings for a year – and then what? The “Business” will want to take advantage of the flexibility that the move to the cloud offers. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

14. Massive re-architecting of systems and companies – work in progress • http://forrester.com/rb/Research/sizing_cloud/q/id/58161/t/2 • Many (most?) public websites will be replaced by mobile apps – depends on who you talk to • SaaS will represent 26% of all packaged software (so what?) • To re-architect an installed base of software and create new systems will be a monumental effort • The challenges of integration, security, performance and reliability will be daunting. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

15. The Effect on Suppliers Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

16. Out with the old… • “Old model” hardware suppliers • Motivated to sell more hardware; not motivated to utilise; requires high labour support • Motivated to sell new licences (e.g. operating systems); not motivated to sell SaaS; open source. • Commercial model and company culture relies on this mindset • Can they change quickly enough? Or at all? • Where are their new markets? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

17. In with the new? • New model cloud suppliers • Motivated to sell infrastructure as a service • Have tools in place to manage set-up and tear down with very little manual intervention; very low labour costs • Rely on high capacity, utilisation, open source • Motivated to sell flexibility • Small number of very highly skilled people • A cheaper business model, they can reduce current costs by 75-90% and still make a profit • Expect prices to fall as competition hots up, but can the oldies, being late to market, compete? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

18. “Bottoms on seats” service models • Traditional IT service suppliers - applies to all IT, not just testing • Operational costs are HIGH (people) • Low technology – high human support • No incentive to be efficient • High utilisation equals high profits • Moving towards … Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

19. Brains, not bottoms • High technology – fewer resources • Moore’s law applies – smart people doing more with less • Companies are used to business process outsourcing • Development and test is becoming a commodity supported by lots of tools • Companies may outsource to Service Factories • Their incentive is always to be efficient • Niche specialist skills always in demand. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

20. Impact on selecting and managing supplier relationships? Even our contracts and purchasing processes have to change Testing has an important role to play of course. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

21. A Methodological Shift From staged, structured projects to iterative and Agile and now, towards ‘continuous delivery’ Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

22. Changes ahead System users and service vendors moving to new business models based on new architectures SaaS is an enabler for very rapid deployment of new functionality onto a range of devices SaaS and maturing Agile approaches mean the promise of Continuous Delivery can be achieved. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

23. And Continuous Delivery is... From requirement to deployment in 24 hours… every 24 hours? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

24. From traditional delivery… … to Continuous Delivery Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

25. The Deployment Pipeline • Automated Unit tests • Automated Acceptance Tests • Manual User Tests Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

26. Structured … Agile?We are in transition • A re-think is in progress • Adopting new architectures and a more streamlined approach to development • Requirements half-life of weeks or months • Agile approaches are homing in on continuous delivery • Kanban-Ichiwichi-Hokikoki-Kamikaze-Driven Development – Whatever! • A hybrid Agile-Structured process: • Structured Analysis, Agile Delivery? • That would be SAAD! Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

27. What does this mean for practitioners? Re-distributed functional testing A focus on continuous test and assurance Service integration replaces system integration Non-functional skills, design and test particularly UX, security, privacy, performance are in demand (‘twas always so) The ability to balance competing non-functional requirements in demand too. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

28. The real squeezeon testing A Redistribution of Testing and not its death - is inevitable. • From the ‘low-value’ unskilled, downstream test role to upstream, business-savvy, workflow-oriented, UX-aware testing specialists with new tools • Developers absorb the checking – with tools • Business analysis owns acceptance • New focus on requirements management • Under-skilled testers, relying on clerical skills to get by will be squeezed out. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

29. Board Level Messages Is testing a Board-Level concern? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

30. The New Testing: A Wider Resource Orchestration Testing Through the Lifecycle The creation & delivery of systems with assurance in this new environment calls for new approaches to development and testing Assurance is required across the full life cycle, in an increasingly virtualised environment This requires orchestration of people, process & technology throughout the lifecycle increasingly in the virtual. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

31. The assurance of outcomes, not just deliverables We Test Systems, not Just Software Testing assures the quality of deliverables, as ever But stakeholders commission systems to achieve business outcomes Confidence in the delivery of outcomes is, for a business, an operational and strategic strength Testing should, above all, be about delivering confidence in outcomes. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

32. My Five-Year Predictions Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

33. #150% of in-house testers will be reassigned or outsourced Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

34. #2Business test planning will become part of up-front analysis and design (where it should be) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

35. #3Specification by Example will become the new buzzword (includes ATDD, BDD, TDD etc.) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

36. #4Developers will adopt behaviour‐driven development and new tools Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

37. #5Some system tests and most acceptance tests will be business model-driven Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

38. #6Business models plus stories will increasingly become ‘contractual’ Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

39. #7System Tests will be generated from stories or will be outsourced Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

40. #8Manual system test execution will be outsourced (and in the cloud) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

41. #9Maybe half of all acceptance tests will be automated in CI……forever Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

42. #10New tools that manage the full requirements, stories, scenarios, workflows, testing pipeline will emerge Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

43. Some Doors Close, but Other Doors are Opening What are the new opportunities for Test Leads and Managers? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

44. #1Upstream with stakeholders and analysis – providing testing and assurance skills to business Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

45. #2Managing Business Requirements knowledge; analysing business impact of change Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

46. #3Testmaster: Providing an assurance function to teams, projects and business stakeholders Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

47. #4Managing the information flows to/from the Continuous Integration process Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

48. #5Managing/monitoring outsourced/offshore teams who detail and execute tests Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

49. Close Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance

50. The phase after development is REWORK, not Testing • Managers will never name this phase correctly • Testing must align with development, not follow it • Manual test phase will fade away replaced by: • Up-front test design mostly automated • Integrated with code change and software delivery • Testers must embrace the change, not resist it • Make that leap across the chasm! Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance