Challenging the assumption that 'good enough' is really 'good enough'

Is achieving zero known defect releases in software testing actually possible? Read our latest white paper on Behaviour Driven Development, which challenges the assumption that 'good enough' is really 'good enough.
http://ow.ly/KcWW2

Behaviour Driven Development - an 'outside in' approach

Behaviour driven development is a testing solution, that allows collaboration and communication to help manage quality and drive out defects at the early stages of testing. 
Read more about this 'outside in' approach here:  http://ow.ly/IVLrv

Don't forget to come and hear one Colin Deady, one of our testing managers at IT Professional Services, talk about Behaviour Driven Development at the Testing Showcase North event on 19th February, in Manchester!

What do the changes to HMG's Information Assurance security classifications mean?

Last year, HMG made some major changes to its information security classifications. Read our latest white paper that discusses these changes and what to consider when transitioning across:
https://www.capita-itps.co.uk/media/127177/hmg-information-assurance-white-paper.pdf

Cyber breaches on the increase - time to invest in information security!

The number of high profile cyber breaches increases every day. It's critical that organisations invest in protecting their digital assets and any personally identifiable information that they store. 
https://www.capita-itps.co.uk/what-we-do/information-security/

Improving your automation testing

Looking for ways to speed up your automation testing and reduce cost at the same time? We have a flexible approach to automation testing and use different testing tools to support our framework.
http://ow.ly/HpWES

We've got the festive spirit here at IT Professional Services!

Is the UK economy suffering with the same problem as The Premier League?

Is the UK economy suffering with the same problem as 

The Premier League?

Your Project Manager is looking at you expectantly and searching for your answer in your eyes and body language.

She has just presented you with a business case scenario for developing and testing a new application which will support the back office processes for your company HR and Payroll systems.

She has suggested two different routes to you which offer different levels of risk and cost over the next 5 months.

Option 1 is to hire a team of 4 IT Contractors with at least 4 years of industry experience and 1 senior Project Coordinator/QA Manager.

Option 2 is to hire a team of 4 junior professionals with additional training and support provided by a large FTSE100 company.

The cost of Option 1, the experienced IT contractors is around £450 per day each and the senior Project Coordinator is £600 per day – So over 5 months this will likely cost a grand total of approximately £105,000 to deliver on a time and materials basis.

Option 2 looks a lot cheaper – With the 4 Junior Professionals coming in at only £250 per day. Therefore representing a total cost of £25,000 on a T&M basis!

So what’s the Problem? – It’s a no brainer isn’t it? – You go for the cheaper option and save yourself a massive £80,000....................???

Now wait a minute, before you launch yourself into discussions about your well earned Christmas bonus there is an obvious issue here.

Take The Premier League for instance.

When Chelsea FC look to buy a new player they have the simple choice – Do they pay 50 million pounds for an already experienced and proven Brazilian wonder kid who will be an instant success OR do we pay only 4.5 million to Huddersfield Town for their up and coming prodigy, Jimmy Smith who could with some investment and development go on to be as good as the Brazilian wonder kid?

Unfortunately for young Jimmy Smith the decision far too often swings in favour of the already proven and experienced wonder kid as the business commercial teams choose not to take on any risk involved in their development and training and opt for perceived result of instant success.

So returning to the original scenario, you can see an almost identical scenario in front of you.

Do you pay the money and buy in the experienced and supposedly less risky team? OR do you opt for a bit more risk but invest in youth and see how it pans out on this project?

How will you sell this idea to your CEO?

It appears to be a sad truth in life that very much like electricity, humans will normally opt for the easiest and fastest route to reach their destination.

Many argue that for the last 30 years the companies and other organisations of the UK have simply decided to stop investing in good quality training and development and opted for the quick fix alternative of paying more for already proven talent or off shoring work to Eastern Europe or further afield.

This has contributed to the ever increasing skills gap and talent glut as a whole generation appears to have been ignored or at the very least left with undeveloped skills sets.

However these same organisations are now saying that they cannot find the required talent in the UK marketplace or coming out of our Universities.

This seems to have reached a true Catch-22 situation now which will require some revolutionary action to be taken by all those involved in Business.

There need to be more organisations and Premier League football teams for that matter who are willing to price in and accept the risk and potential return into their business planning and to look at their business development over a much longer term view.  Only this way is there a realistic future for both business models and employees of this country.