Quality Assurance at Trellis: Delivering Value to Client Projects

Welcome to our latest blog article, where we delve into the vital role of Quality Assurance (QA) at Trellis. In this interview, we sit down with Adam Berger, a seasoned QA professional, to explore his journey into the field, the unique QA processes at Trellis, and how our commitment to quality delivers unmatched value to our clients. Join us as we uncover the insights and expertise that drive excellence in every project.

• Meet Adam, Senior QA Engineer at Trellis
• Understanding QA Processes at Trellis
• The Value of QA for Clients
• Main Processes and Strategies
• Challenges and Solutions
• Client Interaction and Feedback
• Future of QA
• Personal Insights and Advice

Meet Adam, our Senior QA Engineer

Q: Can you share a bit about your journey into Quality Assurance? What motivated you to specialize in this field?

A: I fell into QA about 8 years ago. I was working for a company that managed QA Testers across a wide variety of client projects. I started as a Community Manager at the company, but on the side I would also test some of these applications. The more I tested, the more I started to enjoy the QA side of things; finding and logging bugs became sort of like a treasure hunt for me. As a result, I started to look for QA opportunities and landed my first QA job at a small eCommerce start-up, which was my first true professional foray into Quality Assurance. The rest is history!

Q: What qualifications and skills are essential for someone looking to excel in QA Engineering?

A: Attention to detail is the most apparent and obvious skill to possess in QA. However, there are also a few others. Time management is key, especially since QA can often become a bottleneck in the process, given testing generally takes place towards the end of the development cycle. In addition, communication skills are important to effectively communicate feedback to developers.

Understanding Quality Assurance at Trellis

Q: Could you explain what QA Assurance entails at Trellis and how it integrates into the development lifecycle?

After a developer implements the features for a task, it is handed off to QA. The QA team then tests the task. After the handoff, the QA tester uses the test case and Acceptance Criteria to find ways to “break” the feature. They test a wide variety of scenarios. If bugs are found, then those issues are reported back to the developer to be fixed. If no bugs are found and the task passes, the QA tester approves it. Then, it is moved to the client for their testing.

Q: What sets Trellis’s approach to QA apart from other companies in the industry?

A: The QA team is small at Trellis, which allows us to operate efficiently and effectively. Quality Assurance is a floating resource at the company. This means QA supports all the “squads” or teams at Trellis.. Having a smaller team allows us to be on the same page and manage all project tasks accordingly. Also, instead of QA creating test cases, the developer does. This allows for a more fluid process and reduces the possibility of QA becoming a bottleneck as aforementioned.

The Value of Quality Assurance for Trellis Clients

Q: How does QA add value to Trellis clients, and what are some of the immediate benefits they notice?

A: QA offers peace of mind to the client. It is the job of QA to ensure that a feature has been thoroughly tested before the client even glances at the changes [in UAT – User Acceptance Testing]. This reduces the time the client needs for testing and increases confidence that the feature is ready for the live site.

Q: Can you share a specific instance where QA was a game-changer for a project or significantly impacted a client’s product?

A: It’s hard to pinpoint one instance, but some client projects require recurring regression tests before production releases. Countless times, QA has found regressions in staging environments that could have reached the live site. Finding bugs in a testing environment is far less critical than on the live site, as only the internal team can see these imperfections.

Quality Assurance Processes and Strategies at Trellis

Q: What are some of the key strategies in Trellis’s QA process to ensure the highest quality of deliverables?

A: To ensure the highest quality of deliverables, each task that goes through QA must have an associated test case provided by the developer. This test case, along with the acceptance criteria, outlines what needs to be tested. The QA tester’s job is to consider various scenarios to ensure the task is thoroughly tested. Regardless whether a test passes or fails, we provide detailed feedback. Not only is this important for the team, but it’s also valuable for the client to see what has been tested. In some cases, this feedback aids the client in their testing since they can mimic the QA testers steps in their provided evidence (generally a recording of what has been tested).

Q: How does Trellis keep up with the rapidly evolving tech landscape to ensure QA processes remain effective and up-to-date?

A: We are constantly looking at new tools and testing them to see if we can leverage them at Trellis. Searching trends on Google and viewing QA forums, e.g. on Reddit, has also proven to be beneficial in ensuring that the QA process is up-to-date.

Challenges and Solutions

Q: What are some common challenges in QA, and how does Trellis overcome these challenges?

A: Extremely important. It’s about having relevant conversations with customers. Brands should tailor their strategies based on various customer segments for effective personalization.

Q: Any specific tips on how brands should personalize their messaging?

A: One challenge for QA is a lack of ticket requirements. Trellis overcomes this by not only providing thorough acceptance criteria, but also giving additional context in the form of a test case. In turn, this also solves a time constraint challenge that many organizations face in QA. By the developer providing a test case to QA on the handoff, it lessens the time needed to consume a lot of the information provided in the acceptance criteria.

Q: Can you share an example of a particularly challenging QA problem you faced and how you solved it?

A: While Trellis has improved greatly on the requirements front, there was a time when tickets lacked adequate information to sufficiently test a given feature. In these scenarios, it was important to communicate with the developer (and the Project Manager in some cases) associated with the task to flesh out further details and clarify any points of confusion.

Client Interaction and Feedback

Q: How does Trellis’s QA team collaborate with clients during the QA process? Can you describe how client feedback is integrated into QA practices?

A: The assigned Project Manager communicates primarily with the client and relays any important points to the QA team. The only time where QA will collaborate with the client is during code releases, especially if checkout changes are involved. In these scenarios, QA will generally place orders on the live site to verify the order placement functionality. The QA tester will need to collaborate with the client to make sure these orders are then canceled as we don’t want these shipments to actually drop because they are for testing purposes only.

For any client findings that potentially sneak by QA, the client will deliver their feedback and it will be sent back to the developer to make the necessary changes. Afterwards, QA will retest the feature to verify that not only has the original task criteria been satisfied (which would have been verified in an earlier round of testing), but also the client’s recent findings.

Q: What role does QA play in client satisfaction at Trellis, and how do you measure its success?

A: Our QA team consistently delivers high-quality results, and while client feedback often focuses on other aspects, there have been notable occasions where our QA efforts have received commendations. This is one measure of success. Another measure of success is when a client passes tickets in UAT (User Acceptance Testing). This tells me that QA has done its job in ensuring that a feature is meeting expectations.

Future of Quality Assurance at Trellis

Q: Looking ahead, how do you see the role of QA evolving at Trellis, especially with advancements in AI and automation?

A: As automated testing becomes more prevalent, I could see Trellis leaning a bit more toward automation efforts, especially for our upper-tier clients. We are already leveraging scriptless (low code) automation tools (such as Ghost Inspector) which reduce a lot of the initial hours of building a framework and manually writing test scripts.

Q: What are some of the upcoming trends or technologies in QA that Trellis is excited about?

A: We’re excited about Artificial Intelligence as it opens up some possibilities, especially with some of our current tools like the scriptless (low code) automation. For example, “hyperautomation” leverages AI with these scriptless/low code automation tools by allowing users to automate more complex tasks.

Personal Insights and Advice

Q: From your experience, what advice would you give to companies looking to enhance their QA practices?

A: Find a QA process that works best for your specific organization. There is no copy/paste method that will work for all companies in my experience so it’s best to make sure it integrates seamlessly within the development cycle. Additionally, having a reliable test management tool (such as TestRail) has proven to be very useful for us at Trellis.

Q: Lastly, what motivates you daily in your role, and what advice do you have for aspiring QA engineers?

A: What motivates me the most is the happiness of our clients/customers. I usually take the viewpoint of a customer when I do my testing and I understand the value of having an issue-free site. This is paramount in retaining our client’s trust in delivering a top-tier site as well as generating repeat customers.

One piece of advice I have for aspiring QA Engineers is understanding the importance of communication – whether that be in delivering thorough, descriptive bug reports or reaching out to a developer to get clarification on a certain task. Showcasing these communication skills will ensure that deliverables are properly tested.

Key Takeaways

As we wrap up, let’s sum up the key points in ensuring the highest quality deliverables in Quality Assurance at Trellis.

• Ensure each task going through QA has an associated test case provided by the developer.
• Thoroughly test the features using various scenarios and acceptance criteria.
• Communicate effectively with developers and Project Managers to clarify any uncertainties.
• Manage time efficiently to avoid QA bottlenecks.
• Continuously update QA processes with the latest tools and trends.
• Provide detailed feedback to both the internal team and clients.

If you struggle with your QA processes and seek to enhance the quality of your deliverables, consider reaching out for expert guidance and support.

About Trellis:

Trellis is a full-service eCommerce agency powered by strategy, technology, and data-driven creativity. With deep expertise across eCommerce platforms, we provide enterprise-level solutions for both B2B & B2C digital experiences to enhance the complete customer journey from exploration to retention. Once a website is launched, Trellis’ in-house business analyst, technical, and marketing teams stick side by side with our clients to help drive consistent growth in customer engagement and revenue.