In my 18 years of working in quality engineering and the testing community, I’ve developed some best practices to help organizations create and manage their overall test strategies. This is the second in a 10-week series on what testers wish their CIOs and CTOs knew about testing. Each week, I’ll share my experience to help educate tech leaders on key priorities their testing teams need them to understand.

Testing is the backbone of the Agile software development methodology. The efficiency of the testing process directly impacts the quality of the deliverables and the goodwill of the organization. Buggy software can lead to poor user experience, delayed project timelines, diminished brand value, and revenue losses. A strong testing process consists of several well-planned activities with definite timelines and a set of clear expected outcomes.