So Mr Testing Coach, What Do You Do?

@stephenjanaway
SO MR TESTING
COACH…
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Image © Chris Hunkeler

@stephenjanaway
DISCLAIMER
MY CONTEXT, MY PROBLEMS,
WHAT I’VE SEEN WORK

@stephenjanaway
THE WORLD IS
CHANGING

@stephenjanaway
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOFTWARE TESTING
WWW.TESTINGREFERENCES.COM/TESTINGHISTORY.PHP
THE HISTORY OF SOFTWARE TESTING BY JORIS MEERTS
KNOW YOUR HISTORY

@stephenjanaway
1958
1968
1976

@stephenjanaway
1958
1968
1988
1999
1976
19962001
20092011

@stephenjanaway
I THINK THE FUTURE OF TESTING
MEANS TEST COACHING

@stephenjanaway
ISN’T THIS JUST WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN COMPANIES GO AGILE?

@stephenjanaway
ISN’T THIS JUST ANOTHER NAME
FOR A TEST MANAGER?

@stephenjanaway
Dev Manager Dev Manager
Dev Manager Test Manager

@stephenjanaway
Photo © Stefz

@stephenjanaway
So far I’ve found 88
defects in the latest
app release
candidate!
Great I’ll inform
the dev manager
Tester Test
Manager
Dev Manager
We’re great, the test
team have found 88
defects in the latest
app release
candidate!
Jeez, damn
testers….

@stephenjanaway
Test Manager

@stephenjanaway
SupporterTest
Coach
Team Manager
Product Owner
Supporter

@stephenjanaway
Here’s what I’ve
found in my testing.
Do you want to
release?
I’ll just grab another
coffee and then get
on with the 2018
tech strategy - must
ask the Test Coach
what I should add
from a testing
perspective
Developer
Test
Coach
Team
Manager
Tester
Sure, let me just fix
that one you think is
critical, run the build
through the CI and
we’re good to go
I read about a great new way
to integrate testing into the
pipeline, must mention it to
the next test community

@stephenjanaway
I COACH, DUH…

@stephenjanaway
YOUR ROLE AS A
COACH
Mentor
• Ongoing relationship
• Generally more informal and on demand
• More long-term and takes a broader view of the
person
• Focus is on career and personal development
Coach
• Relationship has a set duration
• Short-term
• More specific
• Focus is generally on development/issues at
work

@stephenjanaway
"A COACH HAS SOME
GREAT QUESTIONS
FOR YOUR ANSWERS”
“A MENTOR HAS SOME
GREAT ANSWERS FOR
YOUR QUESTIONS”

@stephenjanaway
LEAD THE TESTING DON'T LEAD
THE TESTERS
WITH A WIDER REMIT THAN A SENIOR TEST ANALYST

@stephenjanaway
INFLUENCE NOT
OWNERSHIP

@stephenjanaway
THERE TO SERVE

@stephenjanaway
BROAD BUT SHALLOW
SYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE

@stephenjanaway
NOT THE MAIN
ESCALATION POINT

@stephenjanaway
SPOKESPERSON FOR
COLLABORATIVE TESTING

@stephenjanaway
EDUCATE, EDUCATE,
EDUCATE
Photo © Richard Lee

@stephenjanaway
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...

@stephenjanaway
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

@stephenjanaway
SO, (I WANT) TO BECOME A TEST
COACH, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

@stephenjanaway
EVERYTHING I
JUST SAID!

@stephenjanaway
LEARN HOW TO COACH

@stephenjanaway
YOUR ROLE AS A
COACH
I Am
I Will
I Need
• Not your boss
• Not your leader
• Not the decision maker
• Not your cheerleader
• Hold up the mirror to you
• Suggest things you could try out
• Guide you and sometimes challenge you
• Give you feedback
• Your trust
• Your permission

@stephenjanaway
HELP PEOPLE TO
GROW
G Goal - What Do You Want?
R
O
W
Reality - Where Are You Now?
Options - What Could You Do?
Will - What Will You Do?

@stephenjanaway
ASK THE TESTERS HOW YOU
CAN SUPPORT THEM

@stephenjanaway
FORM A COMMUNITY
OF PRACTICE

@stephenjanaway
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

@stephenjanaway
MAKE SURE THAT
YOU ARE LEARNING

@stephenjanaway
ALL OF THIS AND MORE
• Testing
• 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

@stephenjanaway
BUT THIS WON’T
WORK AT MY
COMPANY…

@stephenjanaway
HELPING EVERYONE
BECOME RESPONSIBLE FOR
QUALITY
@stephenjanaway | www.stephenjanaway.co.uk | @testinginthepub

So Mr Testing Coach, What Do You Do?

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So Mr Testing Coach, What Do You Do?