Paul Gerrard is a consultant, teacher, author, webmaster, developer, tester, conference speaker, rowing coach and a publisher. He has conducted consulting assignments in all aspects of software testing and quality assurance, specialising in test assurance. He has presented keynote talks and tutorials at many testing conferences around the world and won several best presentation awards. In 2010, Paul won the Eurostar European Testing Excellence Award and in 2013, won The European Software Testing Awards (TESTA) Lifetime Achievement Award. He is Principal of Gerrard Consulting Limited and is the host of the Assurance Leadership Forum in the UK.

When the Agile approach emerged over fifteen years ago, there was no clear role for test managers (or even testers, at first). Over time, some test managers reverted back to being testers in teams, some specialised in test automation, or security, or moved upstream to be business analysts or product owners. Some left the business completely. In parallel with the ‘demise’ of test management in many organisations, a new discipline of Assurance is emerging and is a natural progression for delivery-focused professionals.

 

Assurance (aka test-, business- or delivery-assurance) is seen by many companies as the way to improve the relationship with software suppliers, to provide support to them, and where necessary, to police their activities. Assurance reports to the board and speaks truth to power, it requires coaching and persuasion skills and a deep knowledge of software and organisational dynamics. We now have Digital taking over everything – now is the time for Digital Assurance.