QA Staff Augmentation vs QA Managed Services

Having the right tools for the job is crucial to success, no matter your industry. A screwdriver does little good when you’re staring at a nail, but finding a hammer isn’t always possible. Or maybe you’re in the wrong type of store or in the middle of the desert. Perhaps you don’t even know what a hammer is. No matter the reason, having an adequate solution for the job is critical to success.

This is especially true in QA, where the testing often requires significant expertise or a deep understanding of the product. The results are directly impacted by the quality of knowledge held by the people performing the work.

For many companies we work with, the struggle to adequately perform QA comes from insufficient staffing. Others are concerned about turnover or insufficient experience in their test teams.

Finding great QA testers is a top priority for successful product launches. For many companies, the answer is in staff augmentation, managed services, or somewhere in between.

Some Definitions

Staff augmentation typically refers to a model in which a company augments its existing team with temporary employees. Some companies work with an external vendor or recruit temporary staff through a specialized staffing agency. Companies may choose this option to address provisionary increases in workload, inadequately trained employees, or critical timelines.

In the context of QA, managed services is a model in which some or all QA functions are outsourced to an external service provider. The QA vendor would oversee planning, executing, and overseeing QA activities in accordance with a predefined scope, which may involve all or some portion of QA tasks.

If you’re wondering which option might be the right fit for your company, there are some things to consider. Let’s dive a little deeper into the options.

Why Choose Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation works well for organizations that:

• Have a well-defined and effective QA process already in practice
• Have the resources in place to manage and coach internal teams

Ideally, companies who choose staff augmentation see their primary hurdle as access to the right kind of talent to accomplish their QA goals or need to meet an unplanned deadline. Perhaps they aren’t interested in HR tasks like benefits and payroll, but their leadership teams are adequately prepared and available to guide new talent in the desired direction.

What Staff Augmentation Looks Like in Practice

When a company chooses to use staff augmentation, there is typically a multi-step process, which includes:

• Identifying scope. In this step, which sometimes occurs before the decision to augment staff occurs, a company identifies what work needs to be done, for how long, and any specialized skills that might be required. A company will also decide whether hiring individual QA professionals or entire teams best suits their needs. At this stage, the staff augmentation company will also have determined the job profile, experience level, skillset, and other related needs so they can begin placement.
• Integration. Whether a company hires one QA professional or 15, they must integrate into existing teams in the staff augmentation model. This can include HR training, tool training, and familiarization with different methodologies. The new staff will need to be managed by an existing internal manager, too.
• QA execution. Finally, your augmented staff begins the work of QA testing, which may include test planning, creation of test cases, test execution, defect tracking, and reporting.

Eventually, the additional staff can either stay engaged with the client, end the engagement when the project finishes, or some staffing providers let clients buy out the contracts and the company can bring them on as full-time employees.

Why Choose Managed QA Services?

Managed QA services are a great choice for organizations with less QA experience, who don’t have the time or resources to manage a QA team, or who know they’ll need a more involved solution that’s best managed by an expert, such as thought leadership, building highly effective QA processes, or taking on a specialized initiative like agile transformation or implementing CI/CD delivery.

Managed QA services are also great for companies that lack the resources for the process part of the equation, including curating and developing talent. A managed service simplifies and streamlines this process and can more easily accommodate flexibility in hours, number of resources, and available subject matter experts.

What Managed QA Services Look Like in Practice

If a company chooses a managed QA process, they can hand over the project rather than manage it internally. Managed QA services typically work as follows:

• Defining scope. Establishing a specific scope is key because managed QA services can include many things. Most engagements begin by identifying what exactly the service will do, including test planning, test execution, test automation, performance testing, and more. Companies will also determine the specific engagement model, including project-based, ongoing support, or dedicated teams.
• Formalizing a team. Depending on the client, managed QA services will assemble the right team with the necessary expertise to do the best job possible. They’ll also begin gathering any tools or equipment specific to a project.
• QA testing and reporting. Although QA work happens without direct management requirements by your company, it should be accompanied by thorough reporting that involves the client at the appropriate level.

Managed QA services mitigate risks associated with hiring full-time staff and can bridge the gap for companies struggling to find new hires with the right skill sets. In staff augmentation, the client assumes the risk of appropriately utilizing the talent to meet the goal. In a managed service, the provider assumes the risk.

Meeting in the Middle

Of course, nothing is black and white. While utilizing staff augmentation and a managed QA service simultaneously may be overkill, there are plenty of reasons an organization might use each at different times.

A managed service might be the right choice for a highly specialized initiative like implementing test automation. The same company might rely on staff augmentation for more routine manual regression testing. A company may begin with a managed service and later transition to staff augmentation when work stabilizes. 

Of course, companies will need to consider the well-being and retention of the existing team, whether they choose staff augmentation, a managed service, or a blend.

QualityLogic offers custom QA services designed to fit your needs. Integrating with your tech stack, processes, and tools, we help support your team with scalable QA services. No long-term commitments are needed, flexible engagements are core to our solutions, and we bring over 35 years of experience.

Interested in learning more? Let’s talk about how to get started today!