Explore the skills and strategies needed to be successful in software Test/QA leadership in this session from Applitools. View the on-demand recording at https://applitools.info/vrd

2. Skills and Strategies for
New Test Managers
The way to Effective Management
Laveena Ramchandani
1

3. HELLO! I’m…
● Graduated with a BSc Hons in Computer Science
● Fell into testing
● 9+ years of experience now
● Worked in various industries
○ Oil & Gas
○ Transport
○ Financial services
○ Consumer goods
● Hobbies: Dancing, yoga, teaching and baking
2

4. 06
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
What is management
first.
Traits to cultivate
for new managers
second.
Being a People’s
Manager.
We will also talk
about Feedback
01
Strategies to help
Managers manage better
third.
Way to success last.
02 03
04 05
3

5. What is
Management?
4

6. “In traditional software processes,
test managers are responsible for all
management aspects of their team. They
role out tasks and assignments, hold
frequent meetings to stay on top of
progress, review and approve estimates,
and often provide technical guidance as
well.”Techwell article from 2018,
5

7. A person responsible for controlling
or administering an organization or
group of staff.
A manager is an
individual within an
organization who is
in charge of
coordinating the
efforts of individuals
or the allocation of
resources. As such, a
manager is one who
undertakes
management activities
An example of a manager is the person who is in
charge of customer service, who deals with
customer disputes and who oversees and
supervises customer service agents. One who
handles, controls, or directs, especially: One who
directs a business or other enterprise
6

8. DID YOU KNOW?
2.4 million employed full-time managers, directors and
senior officials in the UK.
7

9. DID YOU KNOW?
There are over 1,583,412 managers
currently employed in the United
States. 49.0% of all managers are
women, while 51.0% are men. The
average age of an employed manager
is 44 years old.
8

10. Management is doing things
RIGHT. Leadership is
doing the RIGHT things.
@Laveena_18
9

11. What do we really DO?
and MORE
10

12. Nurture/hone skills
Provide information to stakeholders and my team
Work on my team strategy
What do I do?
● Support team and the deliveries (BAU)
● Reporting on agreed KPI’s
● Don’t feel embarrassed to ask your Head for support
● Line manage, work on objectives for my team members
● Make sure we have a streamlined process when testing e2e/automation/regression
● Work on new projects when they first come in and impact my area
● Champion quality best practises across teams
● Responsible for defining and implementing a test strategy across multiple domains
11

13. Traits to cultivate
for New
Managers
12

14. LET’S REVIEW SOME FACTS.
1
Help the team with
career development
4
Be a good coach.
3
Empower the team and
do not micromanage
2
5 6
Express
interest/concern for
team members’ success
and personal
wellbeing
Be a good
communicator – listen
and share information
Be very
productive/results-
orientated
13

15. How do we
define RIGHT
Managers?
14

16. A good manager is defined as :
* A leader who can bring out the best performance from
their team
* Train the team to attain new heights, help everyone
align with company goals,
* Treat people with respect and help achieve every day
* A good manager ensures great employee experience, a
journey that every employee goes through from hire to
exit.
15

17. 16

18. Strategies for
Managers to
MANAGE better
17

19. What can you do?
Emotional resilience: a manager’s ability to lead through
change
Fair treatment: treating employees fairly and encourage
diversity
Overall effectiveness: focusing on progress, not just results
18

20. GOAL-SETTING: CLARIFYING THE VISION
Where is the business now, and where does it want to be? This is the starting
point of goal-setting.
The idea is to define:
Core objectives or what the company stands for (mission, vision, core values,
strategic focus areas).
Action time
-Communicate widely and openly.
-Ensure clearly defined tasks and responsibilities so everyone knows what is
expected of them and what needs to be done.
-Put the focus on the consistent implementation of activities.
-Promote the team spirit ("We're all in this together").
-Closely control the process, so that deviations from targets are detected
early and countermeasures are quickly put in place.
19

21. Did it work?
How effective your strategies have been in achieving the desired
results?
If the strategy is working as expected you should be hitting all or most
of your benchmarks & keeping employees happy too
If results are below par then either something has gone wrong in the
implementation phase or the strategy itself is poor.
In the worst case, you have to go back to the goal-setting stage and re-
frame your plans in the light of your results.
BUT ITS OK
20

22. People
Over
Projects
21

23. Being a PEOPLE’s
Manager
22

24. Why?
Effective people management
can improve morale and employee
engagement, reduce turnover, and
enhance communication throughout
teams.
23

25. The Best
bit…
This position allows you to “sense”
every member of the team as well as
the shape of the team itself. Sensing
all members refers to the first
statement above, getting to know your
team members, listening to them,
understanding who they are, how they
feel, how do they fulfil their part of
the work within the team.
24

26. SOME STATS.
Only 1 will be
humble
Possess humility
15%
From10
CEO’s
18%
1 in 5 actually
demonstrate it
25

27. Amrita. Suman. Simon.
● Encouraging
● Supportive
● Transparent
● Good listener
● Focused on goals and
business value
● Focusing on team member’s
strengths instead of
pushing for their
weakness areas
● Prioritisation - it could
be based on time, task,
business value and skills
● Building an Effective Team
● Nurturing, coaching and
empowering the team
● Being an advocate of your team
and also of Testing best
practices
● Being a servant leader
OPINIONS
26

28. Feedback giving
& receiving
27

29. Feedback
motivates
Enhances
personal
improvem
ents
Strengthens
relationshi
ps
Employees
want it
Employee
value
Why is feedback vital?
28

30. PwC
According to PwC, nearly 60% of
employees surveyed stated that they
would like feedback on a daily or
weekly basis — a number that
increased to 72% for employees under
age 30.
29

31. How Often?
To make the most impact, it can be helpful for managers to
ask the following questions before offering feedback:
* Is this a pivotal point for the project or role?
* Are they learning a new skill with delicate or risky
Implementation? (For example, presenting to the board
for budget approval.)
* Do you simply want a check-in? (For example, your team is
working on an important project with their peers and
lots of change is happening simultaneously.)
30

32. Receiving feedback
*Ask for it constantly
*Request examples
*Work with fellow managers
*Act on the feedback or find ways on how to
*Acknowledge any of your weaknesses
*Listen actively
“Feedback is a gift. It costs time and effort
to share, but when we have it, we’re better
off. So let’s give it generously,” says Zhuo
a new Manager
31

33. If this doesn’t work
Even if you don’t agree with what’s said, receive
it graciously and recognize that it took effort to
give. If others find you defensive, you’ll get less
feedback in the future, which will only hurt your
growth.
32

34. Route to success
33

35. 1. Building an Effective Team
2. Nurturing, coaching and empowering the team –
3. Being an advocate of your team and also of Testing best
practices
4. Being a servant leader
Can I be a Test manager now?
You can, but the role is evolving. The focus should now on your
team and raising the awareness of Quality Engineering/Testing,
rather than leaving it as a siloed activity and you being 100%
accountable for the quality of the product.
34

36. Tools & Techniques
35

37. Test management solutions help you capture test requirements,
design test cases,
test execution reports,
resource management, etc.
Software quality oversights can cause a company high monetary loss, reputation
loss, or expose its litigation risks.
A good test management tool is the key to avoiding bugs and defects getting into
production.
BUT HOW DO WE CHOOSE ONE?
36

38. How to choose what
works best for your
team?
37

39. What mindset do you use?
OR
38

40. Work with your
team
Custom Dashboard
Supports
Exploratory
testing
Easy test
execution
Realtime
reporting
Requirements
management
Some attributes of a tool for you to think…
Promotes
collaboration
Support
Project
oganisation
39

41. Applitools
40

42. Is a nice introduction and offers answers to some common questions
Test Managers have
41

43. 42

44. 43

45. THANK
YOU!
Do you have any questions?
@Laveena_18
laveena-ramchandani-
949b8192/
44