Thorkil Sonne December 2 2010

The Surprising Right fit for Software Testing

Source: ’Harvard Business School Working Knowledge’ April 2008

From Surprise to Shock

Warning: The ideas expressed here may be dangerous. For this year's list, we walked right past the usual suspects and went looking for trouble. We wanted radicals, heretics, agitators—big thinkers with controversial, game-changing propositions.

Specialisterne

Social Innovator

• first of it’s kind globally

• >6 years of operational know-how

• ‘IT Prize 2008’ Danish IT Industry Association

• case study at Harvard Business School

Social Firm

• owned 100% by Not-for-Profit

Specialist People Foundation

• ‘Best Large Social Firm Europe 2006’

• 33 consultants

• 17 staff/managers

• 12 candidates

• 25 students

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Deviations in social relations

Deviations inCommunication

Deviations in thecognitive area

Mr. BeanComedianFilm role

Vernon L. SmithProfessor of EconomicsNobel price winner

Steven SpielbergLegendary film instructor

Dokumenter/video/BBC Breakfast TV.wmv

Characteristics of consultants

• communicative misunderstanding

• problems with “Reading the game”

• low self confidence

• missing overview

• missing filters = stress sensitive

• missing network

• depression

• strong focus on details

• very high ability to learn

• “out of the box” thinking

• error detection and finding

• pattern recognition

• repetitive work without loosing concentration

• honest

• courage

Strengths Vulnerability

Specialisterne Services

Software Management; Software development, Test specification and Database optimization

Testing/Registration; Software testing, Quality control, Data registration, Embedded testing, Data migration

Data Logistics; Hardware and functionality testing, Data & service management, Data collection, Journalizing & cataloging

Customers

• CSC

• Cisco

• SIEMENS

• TDC

• GlobalConnect

• SDC

• TopDanmark

• KMD

• Oticon

• IH Foods

• Gladaxe Municipal

• Capital Region IT

CSC – The Test Performance

“They are good at testing IT solutions, as they can use their fantastic abilities to remember every single screen image”, says Ivan Stig Sørensen, Senior Director at CSC.

CSC has employed Specialisterne to test applications for TDC, and one of their tasks was to control that screen images were correct.

They are very good at checking this – and we actually found they got faster and faster with no deterioration in quality. In fact, they finished three days ahead of schedule.”

CSC - The Human Surprise

»I had a meeting with the Specialisterne business manager, who helped us get to know our new consultants better. We furnished them with a special office, but otherwise treated them exactly like all our other colleagues.

We had lunch together – and we got to know them very well because they were a lot more outgoing than we had expected,« says Lene Talmer, Secretary at CSC.

CSC – The Business Case

“We have chosen to use employees from Specialisterne mainly because it makes good sound business sense. We have trouble finding employees willing to work on these tasks for any length of time. Specialisterne are really good at these tasks and they fit in well at CSC.

The decision to hire Specialisterne is therefore based on exactly the same considerations as when we purchase the services of any other consultants. The social responsibility is simply a fortunate added bonus,“ says Ivan Stig Sørensen, Senior Director at CSC

Case References

IHFoods is a Danish Company specialized in manufacturing software for expert systems used the food industry.

Graphical pattern recognition unsupervised and supervised Classification of patterns Numerical and statistical analyses of pictures and properties Ensuring data used in expert systems make them act as expert systems

TDC is the leading Danish nationwide telecommunication provider Testing of feature and functionality compliance against specs in new phones Testing functionality in new mobile phones for sale in TDC shops Continuous testing if mobile phones supports old and new TDC services

Oticon is a Danish world leader within the hearing aid industry Data conversion Extract Revision Number from 30.000 CAD drawings to establish data integrity

between old manual archives and state-of-the-art ERP system Zero error margin is mandatory

Danish IT service provider to the bank and electronic payment industry Testing of bank application for internal use (platform specific) User functional testing of new internet banking applications Testing user friendliness of internet applications

Roadmap for Scaling

Develop and prove model

Document and learn with

Deloitte and Glasgow pilot

Broaden reach with platform for

growth

New continent

Proven concept, well defined and scalable model,

global community of committed

partners

2004 2010 2011 2012

Adding a People Dimension to Software Testing

• by seeing every individual as unique

• by respect

• by accommodation

• by making people feel wanted

• by letting people excel

You can do the same – let us help you

For more information – go to www.specialistpeople.com

Thanks

Thorkil SonneFounder Specialisterne and Specialist People Foundationthso@specialistpeople.com