From Noise to Signal: Saving 400 Hours by Designing a Focused Workflow for Software Testing
A Purpose-Built Tool That Gave 400 Hours Back to Engineers.
We designed and shipped a new Test Studio that integrated directly with our core project management platform. This project was about removing unnecessary work.
The result was a focused, streamlined workflow that eliminated redundant documentation and gave our Quality Engineering team a single source of truth. It didn't just make their work easier; it made their work matter more.
The Impact
Recovered Focus: Saved an estimated 400 hours of engineering time per release cycle.
Eliminated Waste: Removed the need for redundant, manually updated documents.
Increased Velocity: Enabled engineers to concentrate on testing, not documentation management.
Provided Clarity: Gave leadership clear, real-time visibility into testing progress without needing meetings.
Project & Role
Timeline: 8 Months (March 2021 - October 2021)
My Role: Lead Designer. I led the design strategy and execution, partnering with three product managers. My core contribution was identifying the need for a new, dedicated solution, facilitating alignment among leadership on this new direction, and collaborating closely with the QA team to develop a robust and reliable product.
The Challenge: When the Right Tool Doesn't Exist
A tool isn't just a tool. It’s a point of view on how work should be done.
Our Quality Engineers were using "Agile Studio," our main project management tool, to track their testing lifecycle. But Agile Studio was designed for development planning, not test case management. The team was forced to use a hammer when they needed a scalpel.
This isn’t just about inconvenience. It’s about the anatomy of a broken workflow.
The Work-Around Tax: Engineers spent hours creating and maintaining separate documents, duplicating information that already existed elsewhere.
The Risk of Delay: This "documentation debt" pushed critical testing to the end of the release cycle, creating bottlenecks and prolonging timelines.
The Cost of Noise: For QE Leads and management, getting a clear signal on testing progress was nearly impossible. It required meetings, pings, and chasing down information.
The core problem wasn't the tool itself. It was the misuse of the tool. The question became: How do we stop forcing our process into a generic tool and instead build a tool that elevates our process?
My Process: From Observing Friction to Championing Focus
We interviewed 23 Quality Engineers, Leads, and Developers. We mapped their overlapping, convoluted journeys. A clear pattern emerged.
They were drowning in the work about the work.
Small workflow updates to Agile Studio wouldn't help. It was the wrong container for the job. My core recommendation was clear: We needed to build a purpose-built, integrated Test Studio. This was a significant strategic shift from merely tweaking the existing platform, and it required aligning leadership around the value of a dedicated solution.
The vision for the new "Test Studio" was based on a simple philosophy: a great tool doesn't just add features; it removes work. I framed the solution around three core principles:
A Single Source of Truth: Centralize all testing data so it's always accessible and up-to-date.
A Hub for Focused Work: Give engineers an interface designed specifically for the tasks of testing.
A Lens for Leadership: Provide clear, automated reporting for leads and managers.
This wasn't just a product plan. It was a new point of view on how testing should feel: focused, clear, and efficient.
The Solution: A Studio for Signal, Not Noise
Our final design delivered on this vision, giving each persona exactly what they needed.
For the Quality Engineer: A Place to Focus: The new "My work" view provided a dedicated space for engineers to see their assigned test cases, execute runs, and log bugs without ever leaving the context of their work. The tool handled the documentation.
For the QE Lead: A Lens for Clarity: An automated dashboard gave leads real-time visibility into test plan progress, coverage, and bug status. They no longer had to ask "what's the status?"; they could just see it.
Reflection: Designing for Flow
This project was a lesson in the power of purpose-built tools. When a workflow is broken, a better UI isn't enough. You have to redesign the system itself.
Tools Shape Teams: The friction of the old process created frustration and wasted time. By designing a tool that respected their workflow, we didn't just improve efficiency; we improved the team's quality of life.
Integration is Everything: The solution wasn't to build a silo. Its power came from its seamless integration with Agile Studio. It respected the existing ecosystem while solving a specific, critical problem within it.
The Goal is Flow: We saved 400 hours, but the real outcome was a sense of flow. We removed the roadblocks, the questions, and the redundant tasks, allowing skilled engineers to do what they do best: ensure quality.
Because when the tool feels right, the work works better.