As a newly promoted quality assurance manager, Willie Smith assumed responsibility for a large application that allows UPS customers to ship packages worldwide. His team was distributed worldwide and had varying levels of automation experience, application knowledge, and QA processes in place. With the next deployment date only a few months away, Willie found that the testing side of the project was in trouble. To align the test team with project and company goals, he had to develop virtual training plans and implement new practices to deal with the host of issues he faced. One key step was to quickly select and implement new communication and collaboration tools for his distributed team and others to use. Willie shares how all the stakeholders pulled together, employing updated practices and new tools to pull off what some thought was a “mission impossible.” Come and listen to Willie’s story to learn how you can develop, train, lead, and manage virtual teams—large or small.

1.
W13
Test
Management
10/5/16
15:00
Virtually
Speaking:
Leading
Distributed
Test
Teams
Presented
by:
Willie
Smith
UPS
Brought
to
you
by:
350
Corporate
Way,
Suite
400,
Orange
Park,
FL
32073
888-­‐-­‐-­‐268-­‐-­‐-­‐8770
·∙·∙
904-­‐-­‐-­‐278-­‐-­‐-­‐0524
-­‐
info@techwell.com
-­‐
http://www.starwest.techwell.com/

2.
Willie
Smith
Willie
Smith,
CTAL-­‐TM,
PMP,
has
more
than
twenty
years
of
IT
experience
in
software
development,
web
testing,
risk-­‐based
testing,
automated
testing,
and
project
management.
A
quality
assurance
(QA)
manager
at
UPS
in
the
information
systems
division,
Willie
is
a
highly
efficient,
methodical,
and
talented
leader
in
developing
and
implementing
effective
QA
processes.
He
currently
leads
a
team
of
several
programmers
and
manual
and
automation
QA
specialists,
testing
a
company-­‐critical
web
service
application
that
is
used
more
than
50
million
times
a
day
on
UPS.com.
Before
joining
UPS,
Willie
worked
as
an
eBusiness
consultant
for
IBM,
helping
Fortune
500
companies
develop
and
implement
their
eBusiness
strategies.

3. 9/21/16
1
Virtually Speaking: Successfully
Leading Dispersed Teams
October 6, 2016
Willie Smith, CTAL-TM, PMP
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agenda
• Building a Team
• Communicating Steps For Success
• Building Trust
• Assessing Performance
• Using Technology
2

4. 9/21/16
2
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Building A team
• Key Qualities Of A Team Member
• Exercise independent thought with a dependable
work ethic
• Communicate well
• How they interact with each other
• Socialize in groups
• Avoid negative personality types
• The Downer, the Gossiper, the Antagonist
• Process skills needed on the team
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
4
Building A team
• Kick-off Meeting
• Ice breakers
• Personal/professional interests
• Introductions are very important
• Name
• Job title
• Some fun facts such as favorite hobby or vacation

5. 9/21/16
3
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
Communicating Steps for Success
• Team Meetings
• Hold One Weekly All Team member meeting
• Plan routine one on one (manager to employee; peer to peer)
• Plan to meet often using different meeting times. Keep an
employee time schedule log.
• Schedule meeting in advance
• Be firm but fair
• Let team members know the importance of attending
meeting
• Have alternatives in place if attendance is not possible
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
6
Communicating Steps for Success
• Team Meetings
• Plan and prepare agenda to include team feedback, when
possible
• Disseminate agenda prior to meeting
• Display agenda during conference calls
• Review agenda at start of meeting
• Ask for additional agenda meeting items before starting the
planned meeting. These items should be shared with the
team before meeting, if possible

6. 9/21/16
4
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
7
Communicating Steps for Success
• Team Meetings
• Reserve meeting time for strategy discussions not status
reports
• Status updates/reports can be done via emails
• Encourage questions
• Take notes
• Share best practices and lessons learned
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
8
Communicating Steps for Success
• Team Meetings Rules
• Speak slowly
• Speak as if team members are in the room
• Identify yourself (name and job title) when contributing to
virtual conversation
• Don’t interrupt
• Listen to understand
• Don’t use computers or text message during meetings
• Leave time for relationship building

7. 9/21/16
5
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
9
Communicating Steps for Success
• Effective Communication
• Early and Often
• Right format
• Do not wait for problems
• Tips
• Send a daily team email
• Create a regular schedule to check-in
• Find best method for each team member
• Track problems and resolutions to share with the team
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
10
Communicating Steps for Success
• Effective Communication
• Rules of responsiveness
• Appropriate response format
• Speed of response
• What format they need to response
• Face to Face may be essential
• Travel to meet team members if possible
• Skype or other video conferences

8. 9/21/16
6
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
11
Communicating Steps for Success
• Effective Communication
• Informal communication
• Emails, IM or phone calls
• Short quick questions or response
• End of day email status updates
• Formal communication
• Presentations, proposals, & reviews
• Information is lengthy and require explanation
• Allow for questions and answers session
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
12
Communicating Steps for Success
• Effective Communication
• Be honest and upfront
• Speak firmly and be straightforward
• Ask team members how you can assist them
• Use repeat back method with team members
• Be available, especially with employees that need more
assistance
• Empower team members to make decisions when you are not
available

9. 9/21/16
7
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
13
Building Trust
• Trust is key component of any relationship,
personal or professional
• Build a Team Culture
• Create an open and honest workplace
• Keep team members informed
• Remain open and up front with team members
• Show you trust them to complete their assignments
• Provide timely feedback
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
14
Building Trust
• Do not create an us against them mentality
• Management only cares about management
• Management does not consider our opinions
• Resentment
• Impact on productivity
• Share best practices with team
• Process or procedures that have worked before
• Provide a dedicated QA knowledge repository
• Follow-up with team members to ensure consistency with
practice

10. 9/21/16
8
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
15
Building Trust
• Create a sense of ownership
• Ask for team insight to accomplish a goal or task
• Encourage new ideas
• Make plans and put them into action
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
16
Building Trust
• Embrace cultural issues
• Respect and embrace differences
• Acknowledge cultural activities, such as holidays and
rituals
• Respect different work styles
• Be flexible and adjust how you approach each team
members
• Allow for each team members time to adjust to each other
work styles

11. 9/21/16
9
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
17
Building Trust
• Deal with Stereotypes
• Denounce stereotyping as a practice
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
18
Building Trust
• Set Clear Goals
• Determine what you want the team to achieve
• Define a path that can help you get there
• Decide what you will do when you reach the goal
• Align team and individual team members goals

12. 9/21/16
10
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
19
Building Trust
• Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
• Share with team as guideline and resource
• Use as training tool for new team members
• Four Steps to an SOP Template
1. Create an SOP Template
2. Define the SOP Template
3. Add Common SOP Elements
4. Finalize and Share with Team
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
20
Assessing
• Create a viewable central repository for test
cases and test results
• Put test strategies and test plan in central
repository

13. 9/21/16
11
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
21
Assessing
• Provide positive and constructive feedback
• Manage results, not activities
• Manage expectations
• Create an Environment of trust and freedom to boost
confidence and productivity
• Monitor work to avoid/identify late or poor deliverables before
due dates
• Check in often
• Email/IM
• Phone calls
• Video chat
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
22
Assessing
• Intervene when team members need
improvement
• Monitor more closely
• Develop performance improvement plans
• Identify when it is not a good fit
• Do everything to help individuals to succeed
• Follow all company guidelines
• Terminate as the last resort

14. 9/21/16
12
Proprietary and Confidential: This presentation may not be used or disclosed to any person other than employees or customer, unless expressly authorized by UPS.
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, the color brown and photos are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
23
Selecting Right Tools
• Share common software platforms with all
team members
Thank you