Some good highlights of the dependencies SW Testing teams can have on other teams:
https://www.itproportal.com/features/how-to-prevent-software-testing-congestion/
Quoting:
"When it comes to software testing, each individual team in the software development and delivery process shares the responsibility of making sure the final outcome is exactly what is required and that it is delivered on time. (..) In a recent survey by PractiTest and Tea-Time with Testers, 47 per cent of test teams said coping with timeframes for development could often be difficult. (...)
What’s affecting software testing productivity?
The first step to fixing testing bottlenecks is identifying exactly what is slowing down enterprise software testing productivity. The biggest areas that impact this are often weak test prioritisation, poor dependency management and bad communication.
Weak Test Prioritisation
How is testing prioritised? How is test prioritisation being updated based on feedback from development and testing?
It is human nature to go after the low-hanging fruit, to get a few quick wins to show progress, and testing is no different. Unfortunately, this just pushes off the hard tests to later when there is less time to address any issues that arise.
In any situation, it is beneficial to prioritise testing the highest value and most risky pieces first. Also, not relying on initial estimates of what the highest value and most risky things are is important. Feedback from development can help teams focus on the right things first, while feedback from testing can help guide the process as it moves forward. Remember, defects tend to cluster, so as defects start popping up, re-evaluate where the focus needs to be.
Poor Dependency Management
Part of what can make software testing unpredictable is the reliance on so many dependencies lining up at the same time. Of course, this often doesn’t happen and when dependencies are mismanaged it can result in unnecessary downtime and a significant slowdown of the whole process.
Some of the things that software tests can be dependent on include:
· Requirements
· Other tests
· Test data
· Test environments
· Development completion
· Quality of code
Productivity depends on knowing a team’s specific dependencies, understanding how those dependencies are progressing, and managing those dependencies.
Mapping out and managing dependencies is fairly straightforward to talk about, but in an enterprise where multiple teams are working on multiple projects, it’s often not that easy. "
