1. The document presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study that explored the challenges faced by test teams working in distributed settings and the best practices they adopt to minimize these challenges. 2. The study involved interviews with 16 participants from test teams. It identified 9 common challenges, such as difficulty communicating with remote colleagues and high requirements volatility. 3. For each challenge, the study presented examples of best practices that test teams reported adopting, such as establishing a common vocabulary and using requirements management tools. The goal of the study was to bring attention to the challenges faced by test teams and how processes and tools could help them perform their work.

1. On the Identification of Best Practices for
Improving the Efficiency of Testing
Activities in Distributed Software Projects
Preliminary Findings from an Empirical Study
ICGSE 2013
8th IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering
Bari, Italy | August 26-29, 2013
www.icgse.org
Sabrina Marczak
sabrina.marczak@pucrs.br
Cristina Camacho
cristinacamacho@gmail.com
Tayana Conte
tayana@icomp.ufam.edu.br

2. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Software Development
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3. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Software Development
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4. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Software Development
• Collaboration
• Coordination
• Communication
Changes
Tasks
Dependencies
Deadlines
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5. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Our Interest
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6. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Our Goal
• How to answer to these questions?
To empirically explore what are the
challenges faced by test teams working
in distributed settings and what are the
best practices they adopt to minimize
the impact of such challenges
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7. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Our Study
• Interviews
• 16 participants
• Test team
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8. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Standardization of reports
Clearer and sharper descriptions
Technical details last
1. Long defect reports lacking focus on
their description
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9. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Review of terms and vocabulary as early
as possible with the team regardless
the role
Customer and business analysts should
be included in the review
2. Difficulty communicating with remote
colleagues due to the lack of a common
ground and a shared vocabulary
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10. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Detailed defect report
Detailed defect fix report
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3. Lack of availability of remote colleagues
to discuss the identified defects.

11. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Negotiate shifting working hours
Clearly request colleagues to read the
text messages
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4. Difficulty gathering data to test
applications from remote colleagues

12. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Requirements analyst should make a more thorough
work with business representatives in earlier
phases to avoid constant changes
Adoption of requirements management and issues
tracking tools
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5. High requirements volatility causing
documentation to be obsolete

13. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Detailed requirement description
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6. Poorly written documentation to
support testing activities

14. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Test Analyst to get included earlier on
in the requirement review sessions
Training for Dev Team members about
non-functional testing
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7. Difficulty identifying non-functional
testing requirements

15. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Dedicated team to prepare testing data
Validate test data with business
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8.Poorly prepared datasets for performing
tests

16. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Findings
Dedicated resources to manage testing
environments per project instead of having a
shared serviced across business areas and
projects
16
9. Difficulty gathering information required
for preparing test environment

17. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Why is this Important?
• Test teams ensure quality
• They need to be kept ‘on the loop’
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18. C. Camacho, S. Marczak, and T. Conte | Bari, Italy | ICGSE ‘13
Contribution
• To call attention that test teams also face
challenges and need processes and tools to
help them perform their work!
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19. Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
ICGSE 2013
8th IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering
Bari, Italy | August 26-29, 2013
www.icgse.org
Sabrina Marczak
sabrina.marczak@pucrs.br
Cristina Camacho
cristinacamacho@gmail.com
Tayana Conte
tayana@icomp.ufam.edu.br