Transition from QA to Business Analyst or Product Manager
In the Software Industry, many folks would like to explore and work as Business Analyst(BA) or Product Manager(PM).
This role is to work close to End user (Client of the project) and also collaborate effectively with the Product development team for quality delivery of the product.
Some of the Software Quality engineers or Testing Engineers reach out to me for guidance to move to BA or PM roles.
Having strong Domain knowledge and Functional knowledge of the application used in the project would help the QA Engineers to be better prospects for the Business facing roles (BA or PM). They can discuss internally with the project or explore opportunities outside.
Although I am not an expert to guide into those roles, based on my observations and experience in the Software projects I had listed out some of the points which can be good reference or guidance for people to have high level idea.
- Requirements gathering from Clients (End user of the projects)
- Grooming and prioritizing the Client Requirements
- Creating Large features EPICs
- Breaking them down to the User stories
- Define User stories with clear Acceptance criteria
- End user documentation after every feature developed
- Demo features to the End users, get feedback
- Collaborate and communicate daily with the Development team
- Extensive experience in project management tools like JIRA, TestRail etc.
- Detailed understanding of the Agile methodologies
- Deep knowledge of the Business domain
There could be a lot more points and this article is not an perfect guide.
Majorly BAs and PMs are focused on the Client use cases and Business workflows which are important to the End users.
Functionality of the application is their major focus area and technical aspects would be taken care by the Engineering teams who develop the product.
It would be ideal to take guidance from an Expert who work in the field of Business Analyst or Product Management for better inputs and direction.
Observe the things in your project which is done by Business Analyst or Product Owner or Product Manager.
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Swaroop Nadella
Test Automation Engineer, Tech Educator
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