Ron Wilson[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3joGV8P6wA[/embedyt]The product model is rapidly gaining traction within the software development lifecycle. Companies continue to look at options to improve the software development delivery process. I am seeing more and more organizations move in this direction. The challenge involved is determining how software testing will play a role in this process.
The product model leverages the agile methodology to help develop a product or series of products. Typically the teams are 6-8 people and they develop solutions in short iterations (Sprints) and deploy small code changes into production on a frequent basis (2-4 weeks). The team typically will have business analysts, development, and testing. The numbers will vary based upon the needs within the product team. I see the product model working well in companies that are small to mid-sized and have a relatively lean IT organization. In addition, I believe those companies that have a few products will be able to perform the best. If you have a lot of products and those products interface with each other, you will have significant challenges with integration and moving data from one system to another. This will require extreme collaboration to ensure interfaces and data are provided when they are needed, otherwise the release going to into production could potentially get delayed.
The product model team is typically driven by a product manager or product owner. That individual is responsible for providing direction and helps to remove obstacles. It is important that the team works well together so they can increase their velocity in terms of software products. If there is one or two team members that aren’t pulling their weight, it could affect the entire team. Either those team members improve or they will need to be replaced with those who have the proper skills. The team also must be self-sufficient and they need to do everything possible not to be dependent on other organizations either inside or outside the organization. Certain pieces such as infrastructure setup might be outside the team but it requires constant collaboration to make things happen. If there are multiple products, those teams will usually roll up to a program manager.
In terms of software testing within the product model, it will involve functional, automation, and performance. Some software testing organizations may differ in terms of test automation and performance activities. I have setup a shared service where the functional testers will reach out to automation and performance resources who can build and execute automation and performance tests. I have also seen examples where the automation and performance activities are accomplished by the testers within the team. As long as those activities get done, it should work well either way.
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