My talk from FiSTB Testing Assembly 12.9.2019

1. Public
5 quick tips for better
test coaching
Marko Rytkönen
Head of Test Automation at Tieto
markorytkonen
@_mry

2. © Tieto Corporation
Public
Tieto (TietoEVRY)
• 51 years old → new? company
• Strong → very strong presence in Nordics
• 15000 → 24000 employees
• 1,6 → ~3 billion € revenue per year
• www.tieto.com/careers
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3. © Tieto Corporation
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Background.
• Who am I?
• Married, two daughters
• Siilinjärvi. Maaninka. Kuopio. Helsinki. Espoo.
• Ericsson (1994). Sonera. Nokia. Konecranes. Elisa. Tieto (2018).
• Voluntary work: FiSTB + Testing Assembly
• Family. Golf. Gym. Skiing. 70’s-80’s rock. Movies. Books. Travelling.
• “Identity crisis” few years ago: manager (external view) vs. coach (internal view)?
• 100’s of apps + 10’s of dev-teams + 1 people in my team (= me)
• Working mainly with NON-testers (other managers) + subcontracted testers
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What identity crisis?
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TEST MANAGER
• Change the way people TEST
• Testing skills (over soft skills)
• Fear + talk
• Expectation: Control
TEST COACH
• Change the way people THINK
• Soft skills (over testing skills)
• Empathy + listen
• Expectation: Support
coachmgr
markorytkonen

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Change the way people THINK (about testing).
5
OUTCOMES
OUR HABITS
WHAT WE FEEL
WHAT WE THINK
markorytkonen

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1. Know yourself…
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• Health + attitude + self-esteem
• Never compromise your vision on how testing done well looks like
markorytkonen

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1. … and let others know you too.
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2. Get out of the box.
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2. Get out of the box.
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”I honestly believe that everyone has done the best they could,
with the information they had (at that given time).”
markorytkonen

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3. Help things go right.
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Correct
Teach +
comms
Listen + learn
Build relationships
Build relationships with
who have power
Get out of the box
(blah-blah) Manager
Coach
Deal with the things
that are going wrong.
Help things go right.
markorytkonen

11. © Tieto Corporation
Public
3. Help things go right.
12
Correct
Teach +
comms
Listen + learn
Build relationships
Build relationships with
who have power
Get out of the box
(blah-blah) Manager
Coach
Deal with the things
that are going wrong.
Help things go right.
markorytkonen

12. © Tieto Corporation
Public
4. Let the people do the thinking…
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• Open questions
• What observation led you to this conclusion?
• By Gerry Weinberg, Aleksis Tulonen
• What will you do next?
• How can I help you…?
• Retrospectives
• https://coachjarkko.com/2015/12/22/my-basic-retro-technique/
• Spotify retro kit
• Exercises
• ”Aha!” moments instead of ”Oho!” moments
markorytkonen

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4. Let the people do the thinking…
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4. … and let the people do the teaching too.
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5. Understand different needs.
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Follow the rule.
Teaching.
Break the rule
Coaching.
Be the rule
Supporting.
SHU
HA
RI
markorytkonen

16. © Tieto Corporation
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Thank you + learn more.
Change the way people THINK about testing
1. Know yourself… and let others know you too.
2. Get out of the box.
3. Help things go right.
4. Let the people do the thinking… and teaching too.
5. Understand different needs.
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17. Public
Marko Rytkönen
Head of Test Automation
marko.rytkonen@tieto.com