How do you test software quality in remote teams?

When testing COTS systems it is important to train the testers. Document Business scenarios, test cases and test data in online tools rather than in desktop based tools. Documenting online enables collaboration and easily understand what the team members are working on.

When I comes to Software development, I generally don't make a distinction between on site or remote. I am a firm believer that a team has to be fully aligned on the methodology and timeline they will follow. With regard to testing, regardless of physical location, there has to be an established and approved test scenarios and script including expected results. These test scripts have to be sanctioned and approved by the "buyer" in most cases the client. I'm also a fan of agile development. No need to "boil the ocean" develop code in testable components (not sure "testable" is even a word. but you get the point).

When it comes to testing, there is an old-school framework propagated by IEEE standards called the "Comprehensive Test Plan."  This is basically factored unit testing, an integrated test, and what it means is that you check for each function point and run the test across the usage scenario. Naturally, multiple scenarios had to be built, and the branch-tree format was to be used to determine the usage flow. Another incidental aspect of this kind of testing and report-making is that you can give a stability report from module to module. The fundamentals of testing have not changed, and I'd any day refer back to the process.

communication and collaboration is quite difficult but achievable if you spend the right time. Concepts are the second barrier even when you have a communication and collaboration with off-shore team but they are manageable too. A source code repository can be one of the many ways to know if off-shore is progressing as expected.

It is vital to emphasize the importance of fostering a culture of trust and autonomy. Team members often work independently, and trust becomes a vital component. Empowering team members to take ownership of their tasks and testing processes can lead to increased motivation and innovation. When trust is present, individuals are more likely to proactively identify and address quality issues, contributing to a higher overall standard of software quality.

What testing tools to utilize depends on the skill levels and size of your QA team. If the team size is smaller but the project is large and if the team is well verse in coding, I'd say use off-the-shelf test tools like Cypress, Playwright, or Selenium and automate as many test cases as you can. If on the other hand your team size is larger and if they are not well verse in programming, use a manual test tool like TestRail. To make automation easier to maintain, all large scale business cases can be automated using REST services and smaller test scenarios can be documented as automated UI test cases.

When testing teams are located in different locations, it can be difficult to coordinate and communicate effectively. Critical User Journeys (CUJs) can help overcome challenges by providing a shared framework for testing. This ensures all team members are focused on testing the most important aspects of the product. Overall, CUJs are an essential tool for remotely located testing teams. They provide a common understanding of what needs to be tested, how to prioritize testing efforts, and how to improve the efficiency of testing.

Testing strategies and methods are definitely building blocks, the challenging part will be coordination The best way is to understand the use case and work accordingly to come up with test case. Once the test cases are put and reviewed with the team , this will be the first step towards coordination activities . Once they start executing the test cases and sharing the results with the team it gets into a coordination cycle, as long as the test cases and the results are well documented and available for the team everything associated to it will start working as a well oiled machine

Testing; we know that development has to do its own testing so we require them to document the test process the same was as QA does. Off-shore dev team has to provide their documentation to QA to continue the testing process knowing that QA team knows everything abut the system. After several sprints (some) QA provide theirs thoughts feeding back off-shore team as well as management team.

once QA, and off-shore team define how testing needs to be done then results are more stable. To all this, PM and other teams can add their knowledge and the process for that company can improve significantly.

There is nothing special or unique in testing software quality in remote teams - it is the same as testing software quality in not remote teams, literally no difference.

Project management takes on additional importance throughout the SDLC when utilizing remote environments. The new tools developed (zoom, webex, etc) within this model are diminishing the gap between in-person and remote collaboration. Managements need to minimize the performance and accountability gap between remote and in-person teams, as a corporate initiative, will minimize this issue and maximize the effectiveness of this new environment.

Tracking mistakes in a defect recording log and introducing that into a code review template will help avoid one person repeating a mistake that has been made in the past by another person.

Not everything can be tested using automation. There is never 100% automation in place. Always there's a need for manual testers to test a product using human eyes. Please make sure the product is tested with all possible negative test scenarios too.