Gayathri MohanPrincipal Consultant @ Thoughtworks Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Evolutionary Testing Strategy

The book Evolutionary architecture talks about how software architecture needs to keep evolving with the changes to business priorities and the tech landscape changes, with fitness functions guiding the evolution.The same concept shall and should be applied to the testing strategy which is what I coin as Evolutionary testing strategy. 

Evolving the test strategy is indeed inevitable and has led to downfall when not adopted in many cases. Keeping the test strategy unpolished is like keeping one wheel in a tricycle constant while the other two (the business requirements and the software architecture) keeps moving! Even though it may sound obvious, for some reason, there has never been proper processes, roles or responsibilities defined to evolve the testing strategy. In this talk, I will delve into the problems of not evolving the testing strategy and guide through a few helpful steps to implement the practice of continuously evolving the testing strategy.

I joined Thoughtworks right after college as a Quality analyst in Chennai in 2009. And ever since, I have had the opportunity to work across multiple domains – travel, non-profit organizations, retail, banking, etc., and a range of technology – mobile, IoT, ML, SaaS and more. I have also donned multiple roles – QA, BA, IM, PM, etc., across 6 different countries!

Gradually, I stepped into regional and global leadership roles. In 2018, I took over as the Office Technology Principal for Thoughtworks in Chennai. In this role, I nurtured tech communities, organized technical events and developed thought leadership across technical themes. In 2019, I took on the role of Global QA SME where I defined career pathways alongside the desired skill development structure for QAs at the company.

Thoughtworks continues to keep me intrigued with new opportunities. These days, I empower client organizations with the best practices in testing, agile principles and help deliver high-quality large-scale projects. I am also the author of a book on Full Stack Testing.

I love traveling and have visited over 15 countries but always end up calling Chennai,  my peaceful abode where I spend time reading and writing.