5 Benefits of Employing Colocated Teams for Agile Software Testing

The term colocated team indicates that there is a functional team working on a project
sharing the same workspace.
Today, many IT organizations prefer distributed teams to cut down their expenditure and
efforts. However, there is a large section of industry that prefers to manage colocated teams
for certain areas of their project. Agile testing is one such area where the benefits of
colocated team are more visible than others.

Benefits of Colocated Teams in Agile Software Testing

Accelerates Communication and Improves Reliability

Agile testing is very significant aspect of agile software development. It demands continuous
communication and collaboration between team members to succeed. When a team shares
the same workspace, collaborating and sharing views among members is easy. The
development and testing teams can convince and convey their opinions and suggestions
among them which minimizes confusions and rework. This continuous communication help
teams to arrive at better decision making and problem solving core requirements of any
agile software development.

Promotes Trust and Mutual Respect

Daniel Mezick of New Technology Solutions emphasizes that successful team performance is
possible only when there is trust and mutual respect for team members. In colocated teams,
people are already familiar with each other and trust factor is always there. This familiarity
ensures early involvement of testers in software development project. Testers can work
closely with the development team,understand their requirements and develop effective
test plans.

Streamlines Product Development

Colocation help teams to discuss and iron out their differences at each stage of the project
and work productively and efficiently. The delays arising due to difference in time zones or
non-availability of reliable communication tools can be minimized, when teams are sitting
together and discussing the problem face to face. They are able to arrive at corrections and
decisions faster than communicating virtually or waiting for mails from their other team

member located on the other side of the globe. It is needless to say that a well-managed
team contributes to the success in the project and helps to streamline the development
process.

Lowers Operation Costs

Colocated team helps to lower operating costs incurred due to installation of high-speed
telephone lines, video conferencing devices, test drivers, data centers and stubs. Less time is
spent on lengthy communication over video conferences and teleconferences that are
expensive and less futile.

Team Management is Easier

Many managers agree that managing a colocated team is always easier than managing a
distributed team. Most managers select their team on the basis of their personal equation
with individuals and this experience always helps them in better team management.

Today, many businesses are driven to outsourcing and distribution due to lack of talent
needed to build colocated teams. If you are facing the same problem, it is better to seek the
services of a trusted colocated testing service provider such as Gallop that can collaborate
with your development teams in a co-located model. Through this model, we can:
1. Understand business ecosystem, priorities and the development environment
2. Support Continuous Integration, Test Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior-Driven
Development (BDD)
3. Leverage Scrum, Extreme programming, Rational Unified Process and KanBan practices
4. Strengthen iterative coding and infrastructure calibration
5. Define, Test, Measure, Report and Retest QA

Contact Gallop to learn more.

Tags: Agile software testing, Agile Software Testing Best Practices, Agile Testing Benefits, Benefits of
Colocated Teams in Agile Testing, Colocated testing, Colocation in Agile Environment, Colocation
Testing Benefits