A critical element of creating a successful software development team is identifying and implementing an organizational structure that encourages collaboration, creates accountability, and enhances morale-improving positive self-efficacy for both testers and programmers.
Of particular interest and substantial debate within my company, is the optimal relative placement of the QA/Testing and programming functions in the org structure. I am working on an article discussing the issues, trends, and best practices for setting up a software development team. I’d like my readers to share their experiences and opinions as fellow managers, testers, and developers on the topic to include in my findings.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Poll 1: Your reality.
Poll 2: Your ideal.
Further Discussion
Please use the comments area to provide any additional detail on your answers or discuss related topics, such as:
- Does a particular structure work better for different types of development activity (internal, product, consulting, etc)?
- For organizations that place the programmers closer to the testers, how do you maintain checks-and-balances?
- For organizations that separate programmers/testers more, how to you encourage collaboration and information sharing?
Filed under: Managing Software Development | Tagged: management, org chart, organizational structure, poll, QA, testing |
Improving Software 
I would have liked to see a little more meat on the bones for this article. Is there a place where you are posting poll results?