We assembled two full software testing teams for a major German energy company within two months, based on strict criteria.
Sector
Service & Technology
The Challenge
DSS Consulting was approached by a major energy company based in Germany with the request to source and set up two full teams of software testers — fulfilling strict professional requirements, in the shortest time possible and at competitive prices.
The customer had a supplier before approaching other potential vendors, but they could not provide the expected volume. Therefore the company contacted several other potential IT contract staffing partners, none of which were able to face the challenge under the following conditions:
- The task was not simply to provide two teams of testing specialists, but to assemble teams where the vendor would provide the team leaders and a mix of manual and automation testers who could work together in a coordinated manner
- At least some team members should have industry experience
- The teams should be assembled in a very short time
The Solution
As the first step, DSS Consulting understood the requirements in detail (technologies, methodology, domain knowledge, soft skills, etc.). Then, DSS launched the internal search processes to ensure that all candidates meet the requirements, and of course each candidate was interviewed by the customer.
In assembling the teams, DSS put a strong emphasis on mixing highly skilled experts who have worked for DSS and new members. The integration of team members is facilitated by the fact that candidates undergo not only a professional but also a psychological selection process.
With regard to these, the required teams were set up a short time:
- Test Team Lead
- Team 1: 1 senior test automation engineer, 2 senior or medior test engineers
- Team 2: senior test automation engineer, 2 senior or medior test engineers
Although the customer is based in Germany and the teams work out of Budapest, DSS ensures seamless communication and cooperation by regularly organizing common working sessions with the customer’s experts at the DSS office.
The fact that some of the selected candidates accepted other offers posed a considerable challenge — however, DSS anticipated this and was able to deliver quality replacements on time.
The Result
Two months after the start of candidate screening, Team 1 started working, followed shortly by Team 2. This marked the start of a multi-year cooperation with our customer.
Later, driven by changing business priorities, the customer required flexible availability of testers. As a response to this, we together worked out a new, flexible model, creating an expert pool that allows us to allocate resources in a flexible way in response to demand – resulting in more than 20% savings in testing costs per year on the customer’s side.
