Offshore Software Testing in the Automotive Industry: A Case Study

Abstract

This paper presents a mixed-method study performed in the software department of an automotive supplier operating in India as an offshore service provider to a German company. The research focuses on the social dimension and human aspects involved in software testing in an intercultural setting. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of testers' perception regarding their daily activities and challenges were conducted. External and internal factors posing recurrent problems for testers were identified. Among the external were late inputs (documentation and software) and lack of recognition on the contribution of testing by other teams. A key internal factor was the view testers themselves hold about testing: boring when describing manual tests and interesting for the automated ones. Some of the testers feel they are not recognized by other teams and are not entirely satisfied with their job. Maintaining motivation over time was found to be a fundamental problem for testers.