Balaguru Lakshmanan
Chennai
Summary
I’m Balaguru Lakshmanan, a dedicated quality assurance and test management professional with 14 years of experience in Software Quality. I have a strong track record of leading teams and refining test processes. My expertise spans all aspects of test management, including planning, execution, and risk mitigation. I’ve successfully managed teams of over 20 people, ensuring smooth operations and enhancing performance. I excel in collaborating with stakeholders, overseeing daily tasks, and providing regular updates. I’m skilled at setting quality and project metrics, crafting test plans and strategies, and driving process improvements.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Quality Services - Manager
Amazon Development Centre
Chennai
08.2022 - Current
- Manage a team of 20+ Quality Service associates, ensuring seamless delivery and optimizing team output
- Collaborate with stakeholders to plan and manage test execution for a set of components/products, ensuring timely delivery
- Monitor daily floor operations, create execution reports, and provide regular updates to stakeholders
- Engage with stakeholders to gather inputs on task planning and delivery schedules, communicating clear status reports and documentation
- Define quality and project operational metrics, monitor trends, and drive corrective actions to minimize risks
- Responsible for test planning, test strategy, design of test suites, defect management, and risk mitigation plans
- Plan and analyze resourcing, report weekly and monthly metrics, identify trends, and propose process improvements
- Collaborate closely with stakeholders to ensure activities are completed as per agreed timelines and budget
- Assess and mitigate risks that may impede team deliverables, working with leadership on appropriate solutions
- Facilitate defect triage meetings and inform senior management of risks/issues discovered during testing
- Provide detailed test reports with findings and recommendations to program managers
- Define team career plans, support associates in their career development, and promote those demonstrating consistent performance at the next level
- Set goals and track performance of team members, conducting regular performance reviews and implementing necessary remediation
- Hire testing associates and leads up to Level 4 for the Quality Services organization.
Senior Test Lead
HCL Technologies
Chennai
09.2018 - 08.2022
- Successfully managed a testing team of 12 individuals, ensuring efficient and effective test planning and execution
- Developed a new set of time sheet tasks to effectively track team productivity, reducing time spent on non-production activities and facilitating the derivation of cost effort metrics
- Implemented a burn-down tracker to effectively track release regression progress, ensuring timely and efficient delivery of software updates
- Created, designed, developed, enhanced, maintained, and implemented comprehensive test plans, strategies, approaches, test cases, and test scripts
- Acted as the QA representative in test planning and status meetings, providing valuable insights and updates on project progress
- Collaborated with the business analysis team to review business and functional requirements, gathering high-level design documents to create test plans and scenarios
- Developed an automation test plan by identifying manual test cases suitable for automation and creating accurate and efficient test scripts using Ranorex (C#)
- Implemented modular and data-driven test automation methodologies within the test architecture framework, utilizing both the Keyword and Expert views in Ranorex
- Utilized regular expressions for dynamically changing objects in the application and parameterization to create reusable and robust scripts
- Implemented checkpoints and asserts to validate data in runtime, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of test results
- Proficient in Ranorex studio modules, including Ranorex Recorder, Test Suite, Actions, Ranorex code & user code, Ranorex Repository, Ranorex Spy, and Reporting
- Created shared and local object repositories in Ranorex, facilitating efficient test script development and maintenance
- Implemented data-driven tests with Ranorex using local databases and CSV files, enhancing test coverage and flexibility
- Utilized Ranorex features such as attribute validation, return/getValue functions, image-based validations, and tracking UI elements
- Executed test scripts, analyzed results, and optimized scripts for improved performance and accuracy
- Prepared comprehensive status reports, including test status, defect reports, and test closure summaries
- Actively participated in weekly status meetings and client calls, providing updates on project progress and addressing any concerns or issues
- Mentored new team members, providing guidance and support to facilitate their integration into the testing team.
Associate - Projects
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Chennai
10.2010 - 09.2018
- Managed and led a testing team of 4 members, successfully delivering an average of 12-15 releases per year
- Analyzed and understood business requirements, raising queries and clarifying ambiguities with product owners and business analysts
- Prepared and reviewed test estimations, test plans, test scenarios, and test cases, ensuring comprehensive test coverage
- Involved in all phases of the testing lifecycle, including requirement analysis, test design, test data preparation, test execution, defect analysis, and test closure
- Executed functional, regression, sanity, end-to-end, and UAT testing, tracking test results and reporting defects using ALM
- Created and maintained automation scripts using UFT, ensuring efficient and reliable test automation
- Conducted database testing using SQL queries and performed web services testing using SoapUI and Postman tools
- Coordinated with product owners, QA lead, business analysts, and development teams, ensuring effective communication and collaboration
- Prepared daily and weekly status reports, as well as test closure/summary reports, providing comprehensive updates on testing progress
- Participated in QA process quality audits at the organizational level, ensuring adherence to quality standards and best practices
- Provided knowledge transfer and created documentation for new team members, facilitating their onboarding and integration into the project
- Managed staffing and resourcing for new and replacement positions within the project, ensuring the availability of skilled resources
- Actively participated in daily stand-up and sprint planning meetings, contributing to the agile development process
- Imparted knowledge transfer and prepared documentation for new team members, facilitating their onboarding and integration into the project
- Prepared and presented daily and weekly status reports, as well as test closure/summary reports, providing comprehensive updates on testing progress
- Conducted QA process quality audits at the organizational level, ensuring adherence to quality standards and best practices.
Education
B. Tech - Information Technology
Anna University
05.2010
Skills
- Agile, Waterfall, Iterative methodologies
- Product testing - Consumer & Engineering products
- Domains - Semiconductor (Wafer Inspection) Media and Entertainment (Broadcasting) Banking & Financial Services
- Agile and Scrum Tools - Jira, VersionOne, TestRail
- Test Management - HP- ALM, TestRail, Jira
- Defect Tracking - Jira, ALM, Bugzilla
- Automation with Ranorex Studio 10, HP - UFT 1252 / QTP 102, Tricentis-TOSCA
- Continuous integration - Jenkins
- Collaboration Tools - Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams
- Programming and Scripting - VB, Python, Java
- API Testing - Postman, SoapUI
- Cloud-Based Testing - AWS Device Farm
- Reporting and Analytics - Confluence Wiki, Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI
- Inventory Management
Accomplishments
- Introduced and implemented a new test strategy - Device architecture unification model for Alexa Echo Devices program at Amazon , resulting in improved regression testing and achieving 1.2 HC savings for the program.
- Streamlined time-tracking system for the Alexa devices testing team, achieving a 23% reduction in non-production-related activities. Enhanced productivity by minimizing time spent on non-essential tasks and enabling precise cost-effort metrics.
- Derived a comprehensive onboarding process, dashboard, and checklist for new features and devices, enhancing tracking of testing activities and milestone dates. This initiative improved tracking accuracy and reduced manual tracking efforts by 15%.
Certification
- ISTQB (ISEB-BCS)- Foundation Level
- IBM - Rational Manual Tester
Timeline
Quality Services - Manager
Amazon Development Centre
08.2022 - Current
Senior Test Lead
HCL Technologies
09.2018 - 08.2022
Associate - Projects
Cognizant Technology Solutions
10.2010 - 09.2018
B. Tech - Information Technology
Anna University
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