Domain Knowledge !!! What is it?

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Permalink Reply by m.malleswarareddy on May 22, 2009 at 11:08am

According to my view
Domain Knowledge is crucial in Software Industry.I have good knowledge in Health care domain worked for two Projects.one in Tele-com domain.Now Health care,Banking,Insurance,Telecom are main domains in software.
with my 2+ years Experience i thought that Domain Experts Play major role in software industry.Because they know what are key factors that affects this project, requirements that satisfy to customers and They will give good Design templates.They will give guidelines,feed backs, suggestions for project with that domain.they will decide which is better and which in not better.

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Permalink Reply by Jeroen Rosink on May 22, 2009 at 11:11pm

Instead of domain knowledge is crucial I would rather say it can be usefull. I find it hard to believe that it is mandatory. If I'm correct we all started at the beginning without any or very less domain knowledge. Still we became professionals and during the time we were learning we added value to projects.

I think it is more important to identify which knowledge you need to start adding value to projects earlier. This can be done by asking the right questions and prepare yourselves.

Unfortunatly, managers keep asking for sheeps with five legs. My own experience is that it is better to work with people who are willing to learn rather then with people who claim the know and saw it all. The disadvantage of a certain domain knowledge is that it is knowlegde from their point of view. That certain point of view might not even match with your intentions. In that case: what is the value of that "domain knowledge"?

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Permalink Reply by santosh Siddappa Ganjiyavar on June 26, 2009 at 3:26pm

I appreciate few ideas of Jeroen but not all.
I agree that the domain knowledge is useful. and as it is useful it becomes crucial too down the line.
I am working in set top box domain since 10 years and I understand what the value addition I make compared with the rest.

"managers keep asking for sheeps with five legs"- I do not agree this because being a Manager surely I give some marks to the domain experties in the interview process but I am sure they can not score 100% just because they know/worked in the specific domain.

Surely there are lot of other selection criteria s which count a lot. Like Jeroen mentioned willing to learn,team player,flexibility, dedication, compatibility etc.

When I have to select a person in the interview there is nothing wrong in preferring a person from the similar domain back ground.. it is as good as going to buy provisions from the known retail shop rather than trying in unknown shops and end up in buying some thing that does not meet the expectations. In the case of provision either you can throw or return ( if the shop guy accepts) but firing the employee is very tough in all the aspects. Both the employee and the reporting manager undergo huge mental stress as well as pain and it leaves a bad experience in both the people. Where as from company point of view it will be an expensive deal as company would have spent enough money in the recruitment process as well as basic training and after firing also.
But what about the project??? it suffers.. and in turn the rest of the team members suffer as they need to work late hours/weekend to meet the time lines. Instead known devil is better than the unknown GOD.

Willing to learn is must irrespective of the domain knowledge because though we know few things there will be lot more to learn at any given point of time.

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Permalink Reply by Poornima Kadambi on June 26, 2009 at 3:59pm

I partially agree to the statement that domain knowledge is crucial to the ppl working in their respective domains.

I see many people who come with the same domain background but show absolutely no willingness to learn new technologies or step into new projects.They are more comfortable in their own areas or products and they are quite scared ,i would say to compete with the youngsters who are fresh out of college,who have the zeal to learn and perform.

Hence all importantly I would say yes people should acquire domain knowledge(even if they come with a different background) and add value to do the product/project they are into but at the same time willingness to learn,dedication,hard work shoud be the utmost things to care about seeing the latest trend in the industry.

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Permalink Reply by Roshni Gawandi on July 7, 2009 at 6:38pm

I see many people who come with the same domain background but show absolutely no willingness to learn new technologies or step into new projects.

True but many times even managers grow dependent on testers for a particular project.
Many times it happens that there are only 1/2 people who are aware of an application in & out. And when one of them fails to show up for an imp release, other testers are thrown into the project who don't know a single thing about it. In such scenarios not testers but managers are to be blamed cuz its becuz of their dependency on a person others have to suffer.
So, its better that every tester has proper knowledge about the projects going on his/her company. And if a tester is not willing to learn new applications/domains then he's completely at his own loss.

Now about being a domain expert, I feel that few organizations emphasize on recruiting people who I have worked on particular domains. Each & every person who comes in this field was/is a fresher for any domain. People learn & then master the skills for a particular domain. Hence, everyone should be given a fair chance to show their skills.

Regards
Roshni

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Permalink Reply by Jeroen Rosink on June 26, 2009 at 11:21pm

Hello Santosh,
Your right to disagree with me. I generalized that all managers are looking for sheep
with five legs. As you mentioned: But what about the project??? it suffers.. and in turn the rest of the team members suffer as they need to work late hours/weekend to meet the time lines. It is often the situation were managers are demanding this, mainly when the project is already suffering. And in my experience it is in testing often as we are called often too late.
Selection criteria might work often, why not also use it in respect with the need for help, and not trying to solve all problems with just one person. When people are too late, they have to pay the price. Or not?

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Permalink Reply by Jaya on July 3, 2009 at 2:09pm

>>What does "Domain Knowledge" refer to in Software Industry?
People with expertise in a specific industry are called domain experts. The knowledge they possess is domain knoledge. In IT, Domain Knowledge doesn't mean being an expert practitioner in the area in question; it only means having some fundamental knowledge of the area.

>>How can one keep oneself abreast with this 'Domain knowledge'?
1. Learning through research: Expertise in Domain knowledge is attained over the years through project experience. Testers can also try attending domain specific trainings.
2. Learning from experts: Reading domain experts blogs, knowledge from online resources, participating in events addressing on such domain, meeting the domain experts & asking questions & discussing etc.

>>How can one choose a "Domain"?
Companies usually hire freshers and put them on any project belonging to any domain. So, it is difficult to make a choice in the beginning. A Tester should choose a domain according to his interest. Eg: If a person has interest in stock market, then he should go for finance domain.

>> What roles does "Domain Experts" play in software industry?
A domain expert is required for an effective and efficient software requirements analysis. This is because he can more closely simulate how the customer/user might use the software. He can write better test cases. He has knowledge of the terms used in the project and can deliver the software quickly.

>>How does insufficient Domain Knowledge of the stakeholders (Developers/Testers) impact a project?
The project might be delayed. Eg: If a fresher is asked to develop/test a finance project, then he might take the first few weeks just to understand the terms used in the requirements document.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Crowther on July 4, 2009 at 4:59am

I assume you meant 'Business Domain knowledge'.

Business Domain knowledge is important as it ensures that the tester understands the perspective and needs of the users for which the software is being built.

Good business domain knowledge ensures that testers are more likely to identify missing requirements and complete requirements or stories that might need extra details, they can identify relevant test requirements/scenarios and create effective test cases. Exploratory testing sessions will be conducted against the context of the domain specific problem the software is meant to be a solution for.

A tester with limited or no domain knowledge will be the inverse of the above and so less effective than a tester with domain knowledge - every time, unless the tester with domain knowledge is ineffective as a tester but that's another conversation.

If you meant Testing Domain knowledge then it's critically essential, but that's a given so I'll further assume you didn't mean that.

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Permalink Reply by Jaya on July 6, 2009 at 11:33am

That is pretty obvious and clear from my examples!!!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Crowther on July 7, 2009 at 3:41am

Yes it is.

I was intending to reply to the original post but clearly need to learn how the reply structure works here. Thanks for calling me on that Jaya, I wish more people would have such a robust character.

Mark.

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Permalink Reply by Mohan Bhardwaj on July 28, 2009 at 4:53pm

Very well written Jaya.... Keep the work going....

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Permalink Reply by archana hande on August 7, 2009 at 10:51pm

Domain knowledge is the environment in which our target system operates. It does has greater and strong impact on Project. It is application specific(Banking,Real Estate) unlike the things(algorithms,technolgy,etc) related to developement.A person should be very quick to grab this business knowledge to implement and use human sensors to related it with testing and try to make the product bug free from user perspective and technical perspective.There is limitation to this trying to become the champ from all dimensions. These skills of Domain knowledge and domain expert will come to us as we start using and understanding the business.So it all depends on Human experience. Some people don't understand anything from "share market" and if that person invests in share what will be the outcome? He is bound to loose the money because of less or no understanding . This is what happens in different project that we work on.
Domain Expert are the "Brokers" in our example of "Share Market". So these are the people whom we approach to find out the risks after the product is sign-off from testing and before it is deployed live to the actual users. So these people will assess the comfort zone of the using the product. If they feel that the product is ready to be released live then it goes out in the market to attract more and more customers. I hope i addressed all points and feel free to share.Thanks!

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