T7 - Collaboration not Competition

Testing and Test Management is a business that is, by its very nature, competitive. We work as individual contractors, consultants or directly for the clients themselves as Managers, Analysts etc. Yet although we follow (or claim to follow) a common set of test models, principles, ideas and increasingly, qualifications, why when it matters most, are we reluctant to exchange ideas, information and strategies in the name of 'confidentiality'.

Recently, a major cross industry project demonstrated that although we come from such diverse industry backgrounds, we are capable of collaboration and ideas exchange and can successfully deliver a high profile programme without breaking the cardinal rules of confidentiality.

2008 saw the successful launch of 'Faster Payments', the first major change to UK banking industry in over 20 years. The system allows customers to transfer funds between accounts in near real time. To achieve this goal, each of the original 13 Member banks had to make significant changes not only to their internal systems, but also to the way they interact with each other. To achieve this, representatives of each of the 13 Members, together with representatives of the governing body, came together as a Test Management Group and worked together, exchanging information, data, techniques and technical know-how in order to achieve the common goal of a successful 'Faster Payments' system.

Of course, true collaboration is not immediate and it takes time for the trust between Test Managers and Business Analysts alike to be forged. However, once the collaboration attitude becomes prevalent, benefits that can be realized far outweigh any perceived negatives.

I hope to show that even though the testing models we use are common, reluctance to fully exchange information when it matters most (when we deliver our projects instead of sitting in the classroom) can have a damaging effect on the nature of testing and our ability to deliver the best to clients.

Key Points:    

• Collaboration benefits outweigh perceived competitive advantages.
• Common models are there for a purpose, to allow us to work together.
• The exchange of ideas speeds up development and test phases leading to reduced timescales and costs.