Episode 20: Overcoming Test Quality Challenges with Tom Riglar

Why Didn't You Test That?

Welcome to episode 20 of the Why Didn’t You Test That? Podcast. In this episode, Curiosity Software's Rich Jordan and James Walker, are joined by Tom Riglar, Co-Founder & CEO at Moropo. Together, they discuss the quality, automation and artificial intelligence challenges enterprises are facing, and their potential solutions.
To kick off the conversation, our guest, Tom Riglar, highlights one major pain point, the complexity of mobile app testing and automation. Tom and James share their frustrations with tools like Appium and UI Automation, which often lead to high complexity and frequent failures. To address this, they advocate for a more streamlined and user-friendly approach to mobile automation tools. Additionally, they stress the importance of having clear requirements, good test cases, and robust regression test packs.
Rich Jordan points out another significant pain point is organizational resistance to change, with many teams reluctant to adopt new testing methodologies. The suggested solution involves fostering a culture that embraces change and emphasizes the importance of quality assurance from the start. This includes educating teams on the benefits of early quality activities, such as static code checking and snapshot testing, which can catch issues earlier in the development cycle.
Our hosts also discuss the evolving role of developers, who are increasingly required to balance coding with quality assurance tasks. The proposed solution is to redefine the developers' role to focus more on orchestrating quality activities. This shift can be facilitated by hiring quality engineers who specialize in complex testing tasks, allowing developers to concentrate on delivering business value.
Lastly, James highlights the impact of AI on software quality, with the fear that the focus on productivity might compromise standards. To mitigate this, James and Tom propose a balanced approach that incorporates AI tools without neglecting essential quality assurance, ensuring that software meets high standards of reliability and performance.
The Curiosity Software Podcast featuring Rich Jordan, Huw Price, James Walker and colleagues! Get insight and expertise into what’s driving software design and development. Learn how you can improve your journey to quality software delivery, by considering how much do you really understand about your systems, and when things inevitably go wrong, why didn’t you test that? Spotify | YouTube | iTunes | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music | Deezer | RSS Feed