Outpost QA

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Quality Assurance for Owlet, the leading company focused on baby health, sleep, and wellness. We build software and hardware to give parents more insight into their babies health and sleep patterns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Outpost QA?

We needed to augment our existing QA team as we scaled from a privately held startup to a publicly traded company. We needed testers that could learn a complex ecosystem of products while keeping costs under control.

SOLUTION

How did you select Outpost QA and what were the deciding factors?

Our initial contact was made through a personal referral, and after meeting with the Outpost QA founders, I had confidence that their team could more than deliver what we needed. Key factors were that the team could be added to our existing team with an open ended contract (critical to gaining mastery of our applications and products), technical skill levels, and brought in at a very reasonable cost lower than what I could do in the United States.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Their team was responsible for creating and executing manual test cases across multiple software and hardware products. They were put through our training and onboarding process, then hit the ground running. They supported our US based team tirelessly, and delivered nearly 30,000 completed tests in 2021.

Today they make up the core of the manual test team and we're starting to add additional testers for automation and security testing projects.

How many resources from the Outpost QA team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We currently work with 6 full time manual testers, 1 automation engineer, 1 security engineer, and 1 project manager who keeps things running smoothly between our two companies. One key aspect is that we're able to interview potential testers as candidates before selecting them to work with Owlet as we increase our headcount.

This is a lot more useful than being handed new testers blindly, as happens sometimes with other firms.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The Outpost QA team currently manages the bulk of our rather massive manual test executions. They work closely with engineers to make sure that bugs are reported, fixed, and validated. We could never have shipped so much software without public facing issues cropping up, without having them onboard.

We're now augmenting our internal automation team with some automation engineers from Outpost QA and I fully expect to see similar successful results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our teams are so tightly integrated that it's sometimes hard to see where the line of separation is. We use Agile workflows, so all of the Outpost QA testers are embedded within Owlet's engineering team working on separate hardware and software projects.

They even take American, not Mexican, holidays to support our working hours.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They've delivered unmatched levels of quality service. They are better compared to other companies I've worked with in the past. That they can do so without speaking English as their first language, and at such a reasonable cost, is quite impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

As we have only just started working with their automation engineers, I don't yet have an opinion on that part of the service, but otherwise I don't see any issues that need improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the QA manager of Owlet Baby Care

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Owlet Baby Care, Inc. manufactures healthcare products. The Company offers devices which monitor heart rate, oxygen levels, and skin temperature for babies. Owlet Baby Care serves customers in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Outpost QA to accomplish?

• manual testing of the product

SOLUTION

How did you find Outpost QA?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Outpost QA over others?

Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Outpost QA were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Regress testing of the product for app releases

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• test execution run rate and the bugs found

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

delivered test results on time and always adapted to changes in needs

What was your primary form of communication with Outpost QA?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They're always willing to learn in order to meet our expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Outpost QA could have done differently?

nothing I can think of that they could have done differently

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm part of the product team at a VSaaS company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Outpost QA?

We wanted to test our features prior to release and also continuous regression test

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We chose this vendor based on their services and cost estimate

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Outpost QA supported us with manual testing to ensure everything is functioning properly.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked directly with 1 manual tester

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Outpost QA gives us the confidence for new releases at an affordable cost and great quality of service.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We did weekly stand-ups and constantly communicated through Slack

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are flexible and adapt quickly to help with our needs!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that I can currently think of