045 — Jon Robinson: Quality Assurance, the white collar career for anarchists!

In this episode of DevOps Diaries, Jack McCurdy interviews John Robinson, a seasoned QA professional. They discus the significance of quality assurance (QA) in the Salesforce ecosystem, exploring the evolution of QA, the misconceptions surrounding it, and the necessity for dedicated QA roles within teams.

John emphasizes the importance of understanding testing practices at their core, the role of tooling, and why there's the need for education to elevate the QA standards in Salesforce implementations.

Jack and Jon's conversation highlights the challenges faced by teams in adopting effective QA processes and the critical need for a proactive approach to ensure quality in software delivery. They delve into the critical aspects of testing and quality assurance (QA) within the Salesforce ecosystem. They chat about the misconceptions surrounding testing, the importance of understanding user perspectives, and the need for a robust QA strategy.

Jon also shares his take on the shift left ideology and the necessity of collaboration between QA and business analysts.

Learn more:
- What is Salesforce test automation?
- How to integrate testing into your Salesforce deployment pipeline
- What are the best practices for Salesforce testing?

About DevOps Diaries:
Salesforce DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes. New episodes bi-weekly on YouTube as well as on your preferred podcast platform.

Podcast produced and sponsored by Gearset. Learn more about Gearset.

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About Gearset:
Gearset is the leading Salesforce DevOps platform, with powerful solutions for metadata and CPQ deployments, CI/CD, automated testing, sandbox seeding and backups. It helps Salesforce teams apply DevOps best practices to their development and release process, so they can rapidly and securely deliver higher-quality projects. Get full access to all of Gearset's features for free with a 30-day trial.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to QA and Its Importance in Salesforce Development
06:03 The Role of Salesforce Tooling in QA
12:14 Educating the Salesforce Community in QA
17:46 Challenges of Salesforce QA and Perception of Testing
29:23 Understanding Good Salesforce Testing Practices
37:13 The Shift Left Ideology in Salesforce Testing
43:30 Resources for Quality Assurance in Salesforce