My career followed the typical path of someone in technology. Tester, Test Lead, Test Manager, Senior Test Manager. It started in 1999, back when we lived in a world of scripted tests and large, separate, test teams who designed and ran the tests. A world of silo’s and walls, a world where communication-by-bug- report was common.
Agile came, and fortunately disrupted things. Teams became cross-functional, and yet management did not change. Management became harder; there were more stakeholders to manage, and more areas to cover. Task switching came as standard.
Eventually the penny dropped with senior management and the management team was re-organised. A change had to come and that meant no more Test Managers….
6. MY SO CALLED TYPICAL
CAREER SO FAR….
Junior Developer
Tester
Test Team Lead
Test Manager
Quality Gate
Manager
Senior Quality
Gate Manager
Senior Test Manager
9. SO WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
• Too many teams = too much task switching.
• Lack of touch points to teams.
• No team to interact with day-to-day.
• Fire fighting = Perception of only being a
blocker.
• Too many managers required in decision
making.
16. WHAT CHANGED?
• No more Test Managers.
• No more Development Managers.
• Cross functional, autonomous, independent teams.
• Teams aligned to architecture.
• Delivery Managers - team manager, scrum master,
point of contact, etc.
23. FOUR STAGES OF
CHANGE
1. Unconscious Incompetence.
2. Conscious Incompetence.
3. Conscious Competence.
4. Unconscious Competence.
24. WE SUPPORTED EACH
OTHER
• Recognise there is change.
• Treat each other with respect.
• Be open and honest – say what you
think, feel and need.
• Ask questions.
• Listen to understand.
27. TEST COMMUNITY
• Testers group with a community leader and
committee.
• Responsible for arranging events:
• Discussion sessions.
• Internal speakers.
• Showcases.
• External speakers.
• Being the voice of testing.
• An enabler - getting testers together, talking and
learning from each other.
29. LEAN COFFEE
A simple and democratic way to discuss topics and
have conversations that people want to talk about.
It’s structured but agenda-less
Started in 2009 in Seattle
Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith
Today - all over the world
http://leancoffee.org
http://www.meetup.com/Lean-Coffee-London/
30. LESSONS LEARNT
• Bottom up works but you need people
overseeing it.
• It takes time and effort.
• Keep asking what people want - seek
regular feedback.
• External speakers help (but organisation is
greater).
• Don’t incentivise community engagement.
• Some people just won’t engage - focus on
those who do.
33. TEST COACH
Responsible for:
• Coaching and training about testing.
• Running the testing community.
• Working with teams to improve their testing.
• Educating managers and senior managers.
• Raising the company profile in the external
testing community.
• Bringing the latest, greatest and most useful
new ways of working into the group.
36. WE WON’T BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THE SILVER BULLET FOR
ALL YOUR PROBLEMS
BUT WE’LL DEFINITELY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU ON YOUR
JOURNEY TO GREATNESS!
DISCLAIMER
38. EDUCATION - PEOPLE
• Educating Managers
• About testing
• About managing testers
• Performance review and competency development
help
• Educating Senior Managers
• About testing
• About investment in testing
• Educating Testers
• How to talk about testing more effectively
• How to fight their own battles...
39. EDUCATION - SKILLS
• Educating Testers
• Testing Mondays - context driven testing
sessions.
• Testing Showcases - information sharing.
• A conference a year.
• Internal conferences.
• Widely publicising online events and meet-
ups.
• A blog post a day.
41. MENTORING
• Pairing testers with other more experienced
testers.
• Facilitates learning and “someone to look
up to”.
• Helps fill a gap left by not having Test
Managers.
• A great learning opportunity.
44. NEXT STEPS
FOR TEST
MANAGEMENT
”WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
THE WORDS ARE COMING OUT ALL WEIRD
WHERE ARE YOU NOW WHEN I NEED YOU?”
RADIOHEAD - THE BENDS
45. WHAT IF IT AFFECTS
YOU?
• It’s not the end.
• You have transferable skills.
• Use the opportunity to your advantage.
• Use your transferable skills.
• Remember your roots a spread the testing
word far wider :)
46. AND NOT JUST IF YOU
ARE A TEST MANAGER
• Support as a tester.
• Someone to look up to.
• A subject matter expert to learn from.
• Learn how to explain the value of testing.
49. “Now this is not the
end.
It is not even the
beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the
end of the beginning”
Winston Churchill
Stephen Janaway
@stephenjanaway stephenjanaway.co.uk testinginthepub.com