The drive to agile methodologies has held out the promise of software development teams without dedicated quality-assurance specialist — or organizations without test/QA departments. … Sorry, that’s not going to happen. … [N]o matter how you slice it, sophisticated software will require sophisticated testing that goes beyond what developers can do. The role of the dedicated test professional or QA team may be diminished, but it has not been eliminated. Quality assurance is here to stay, From The Editors, Software Development Times, April 2013.

We had all but eliminated the need for our test teams. No, we could have used those testers if they did more than just basic testing, but they didn’t.

For more see Want To Stress Your Test Team? Give Them Good Quality!

Taking testing to the next level is what it is all about. Too often, however, we hang on tight to what we’ve always been doing.

For example see Almost a Great Test Organization

So if our test or QA is not seeming to add value, it may be because they have not updated their skills to handle what needs to be done now.

Is your QA team on top of change and are they adapting and continuing to add value?