Dell and Fiserv leaders talk award-winning testing strategies

Amid our Tricentis Customer Awards season, it has been a real treat to host past winners in the latest episodes of the Transformation in 10 podcast. Since picking up awards last year, Dell and Fiserv leaders share how their robust DevOps and Agile testing approaches continue to deliver — and how to keep your finger on the pulse of software testing to achieve similar results. What’s more inspiring than hearing this from pioneers in the field smashing their targets?

In our high-achieving customer series, I speak with strategic leaders who are executing Agile QA practices at scale. Adam Arakelian, Director of Engineering at Dell, delves into their successful philosophical approach to continuous delivery, whilst Fiserv QA Directors Rob Larsen and Tim Smith shed light on the importance of regular benchmarking in maintaining excellence. These ten-minute episodes are gold mines full of nuggets of Continuous Testing advice from the top!

Here are the latest episodes in a nutshell, which can be listened to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other streaming platforms.

Episodes 16 and 17: Adam Arakelian at Dell makes great strides with radical DevOps approach

It’s clear to see why Adam Arakelian is successful at teaching computer science at Boston University, as well as leading the engineering department at Dell — his will to both direct and learn from others is a winning combination. This collaborative attitude has undoubtedly aided the implementation of Dell’s ”Continuous X” DevOps approach, as well the transformation initiatives on Dell’s 2021 priority list.

For a colossal company like Dell, shifting left across releases for 50+ products with over 10,000 employees per division was no easy feat. Adam reveals how building out CI/CD pipelines has been key to applying their philosophical approach enterprise-wide, and how it resonates loud and clear across the organization today, in this soundbite:

 

Listen to this two-part conversation with Adam in Part 1 and Part 2.

Episodes 18 and 19: Fiserv QA directors keep their testing razor-sharp with key metrics and collaboration 

Having worked together for over 25 years, Rob Larsen and Tim Smith have fantastic synergy as directors of QA at Fiserv, which shines through in their first-class Continuous Testing approach. This dynamic duo share how they turbocharge their range of testing across multiple towers, even when up against Fiserv’s strict compliancy measures. We learn that monitoring metrics is a major component here, facilitated by undertaking regular Continuous Testing Maturity Assessments.

Rob discusses Fiserv’s sophisticated flow of communication channels set up to truly enable all teams, including their Shared Services Enterprise QA Group, where all division leads regularly collaborate and conquer. In the following snippet we discover how the IT Service Management quadrant manages reporting for optimum business impact:

 

Listen to Rob and Tim in Part 1 and Part 2.

Next up: Performance testing pros showcase their up-to-speed knowledge

Following Tricentis’ recent acquisition of Neotys, in August we feature the voices of three experts in the field of performance testing. Leandro Melendez (Performance Test Manager at Qualitest) explains why continuous performance testing demands critical constant monitoring, whilst Kristen Webb (Director of Product Marketing at Tricentis) shares the top challenges — and solutions — for executing performance testing across enterprise applications. Lastly, Ryan Cruz (Director of Product Marketing at Guardian) demonstrates how peak performance engineering is done.

New episodes are released bi-weekly at minimum, so check for the latest episodes. We’d love to hear your feedback on social media — hashtag #TransformationIn10 and we might give you a shout-out on the show.