Testing Center of Excellence Clarified

Testing Center of Excellence is mostly a joke in reality

This article is one of the “IT Terminology Clarified” series.

According to Software Testing Help, A Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE) is a framework that defines, implements & measures testing controls and standards across an organization. This article will clarify this phony term, in particular, from the perspective of test automation.

Some might say “our TCoE is more about manual testing”. Really? Let me list some terms that you might use multiple times a day:

• Regression Testing
• Agile (or Scrum, or Kanban)
• DevOps
• CI/CD or Continuous Testing
• Shift-Left Testing
• Release Early; Release Often

The foundation of all the above is “Test Automation”. If 80% of a TCoE’s work is not about Test Automation, it is rubbish.

Table of Contents:
· Putting ‘Excellence’ in a name does not mean Excellent at all
· Why do some CXOs believe in TCoE?
· Dissect TCoE 
  ∘ 1. Central Testing Team is generally a bad practice
  ∘ 2. Standards (across the organization)

Putting ‘Excellence’ in a name does not mean…