EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Motivated or Motivating? What Sort of Tester Are You? by Stuart Reid. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. Stuart Reid, TSG
Motivated or Motivating? What sort of tester are you?
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs
#esconfs

2. Motivated or Motivating? What sort of testerare you?
Stuart Reid
Testing Solutions Group
117 Houndsditch
London EC3A 7BT
Tel: 0207 469 1500
www.testing-solutions.com
©Stuart Reid, 2013

3. Scope
•Introduction to Motivation
•Outline of the Motivation Survey
•Survey analysis and results
–Do existing theories work for testing?
–What factors correlate best with motivation?
–What is the best combination?
–How does motivation change for different roles
•Conclusions & recommendations

4. Defining Motivation
•a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way -Oxford Dictionaries
•internal andexternal factorsthat stimulate desire andenergyin people to be continually interested and committed to ajob,roleor subject, or to make an effort to attain agoal
–http://www.businessdictionary.com

5. Motivation 101

6. Multi-faceted -Motivation
Motivation
Sociological
Physiological
Psychological
Behavioural

7. Investigation Approach
•Questionnaire
–Paper-based
–SurveyMonkey
•40 Questions
–Demographic
–Motivation-related (Likert-scale)
–Open-ended
–Qualitative & quantitative data
•Responses from around the world (over 600)
•Thanks to Tafline Murnane
–KJ Ross –Australia

8. Respondents by Region
Europe
Asia
Africa
Middle East
Australasia
North America
South America

9. Industry Sectors
Finance, Insurance
Communications
IT
Utilities
Health Care
Government
Services
Transportation
Media
Non-profit
Retail, Wholesale
Construction
Internet
Manufacturing
Other

10. Organization types
IT Organization
Self-employed
Consultant
Self-employed
Contractor
Testing Services
IT Department
within an
Organization
Other

11. Testing Roles
Test Lead
Test Consultant
Developer/Tester
Test Manager
Head of Testing
Test Analyst
Test Automator
Performance Tester
Other

12. Life Cycles
Agile
Waterfall /
V
-
model
Iterative
Maintenance
Other

13. Motivation Theories
•Hierarchy of Needs –Maslow, 1943
•Motivation-Hygiene Theory –Herzberg, 1959
•Theory X & Theory Y –McGregor, 1960
•Expectancy Theory –Vroom, 1964
•Equity Theory –Adams, 1965
•Job Characteristics Model (MPS) –Hackman & Oldham, 1976
•Three Needs Theory –McClelland, 1988
•Temporal Motivation Theory(TMT) -Steel and Konig, 2006
•Motivation 3.0 (MAP) –Pink, 2010

14. • Skill Variety (V)
– range of different skills used
• Task Identity (I)
– degree of completing a whole job
• Task Significance (S)
– importance of the job
• Autonomy (A)
– level of control of your own time
• Feedback (F)
– degree of supervisory & results-based feedback
• MPS =
 
A F
V I S
* *
3
 
MPS from Hackman & Oldham, 1975.
Motivating Potential Score
Assign a score
of 1 to 7 to
each
attribute...
...and then
calculate your
MPS

15. Perceived Motivation
strongly
disagree
disagree neither
agree nor
disagree
agree strongly
agree
“I am highly
motivated to do my
job in testing”

16. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient
r = +0.70 or higher
Very strong positive relationship
r = 0.85
r = 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0
5
10
15
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0
5
10
15
20

17. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient
r = +0.30 to +0.39
Moderate positive relationship
r = 0.35
r = 0.55
r = +0.40 to +0.69
Strong positive relationship
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0
5
10
15
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0
5
10
15
20

18. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient
r = 0 to +0.19
Negligible positive relationship
r = 0.10
r = 0.25
r = +0.20 to +0.29
Weak positive relationship
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0
5
10
15
20

19. MPS & Perceived Motivation
-30
20
70
120
170
220
270
320
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
r = 0.40
r = +0.40 to +0.69
Strong positive relationship

20. MPS & Perceived Motivation
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
r = 0.40
r = +0.40 to +0.69
Strong positive relationship

21. MPS Scores
0.290.180.130.270.30VarietyIdentitySignificanceAutonomyFeedback

22. MPS Factors
Feedback 1
Feedback 2
Feedback 3
Autonomy 1
Autonomy 2
Autonomy 3
Autonomy 4
Significance 1
Significance 2
Identity 1
Identity 2
Variety 1
Variety 2
0.25
0.21
0.19
0.17
0.06
0.25
0.21
0.08
0.12
0.22
0.06
0.10
0.39

23. Daniel Pink’s MAP
•Daniel Pink’s Motivation 3.0
Mastery
Purpose
Autonomy

24. MAP Factors
0.31-0.110.330.170.060.250.210.240.08Mastery 1Mastery 2Mastery 3Autonomy 1Autonomy 2Autonomy 3Autonomy 4Purpose 1Purpose 2

25. Integrating Theories
Motivation
Variety
Feedback
Significance
Identity
Mastery
Purpose
Autonomy
Environment

26. Non-MPS Factors
Mastery 1
Mastery 2
Mastery 3
Purpose 1
Purpose 2
Specified Variety
Environment
0.31
-
0.11
0.33
0.24
0.08
0.12
0.38

27. MPS and MAP and MAPFV and…
0.40
0.36
0.41
0.44
0.5
MPS
M'+A+P *
M+A+P
M+A+P+F+V
Top 4
ENV’T + VARIETY 2 + MASTERY 1 + MASTERY 3

28. Different Roles…
All Roles
Test Analyst
Dev / Tester
Test Lead
Test Manager
Consultant
Head of Test
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
MPS
MAP
MAPFV
TOP 4
Perceived

29. Specified Variety -Test Analyst
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improvement
Env't Support

30. Different Jobs…
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Test Consultant
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Head of Testing
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Test Manager
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Developer/Tester
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Test Analyst
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Exploratory
Test
Design
Execution
Automation
Reviewing
Management
Improve-
ment
Env't
Support
Test Lead

31. Different Life Cycles…
All Roles
Agile
Waterfall / V-model
Iterative (e.g. RUP)
Maintenance
90
95
100
105
110
115
MPS
MAP
MAPFV
TOP 4
Perceived

32. Different Organization Sizes…
90
95
100
105
110
115
All Sizes
1 person
2-10people
10-50people
50-250people
250-1000people
More than1000people
MPS
MAP
MAPFV
TOP 4
Perceived

33. Different Experience Levels…
70
80
90
100
110
120
AllPeriods
Less thanone year.
1 to 3years.
4 to 6years.
7 to 10years.
More than10 years.
MPS
MAP
MAPFV
TOP 4
Perceived

34. Different Organization Types…
MPS
MAP
MAPFV
TOP 4
Perceived
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
AllBusinesses
ITOrganization
ITDepartmentwithin anOrganization
TestingServices
Self- employedConsultant
Self- employedContractor

35. What Motivates Testers?

36. What Demotivates Testers?

37. How Do You Motivate?

38. Conclusions
•Testers are special
–we can improve on the generic motivation theories
•Please try to use the most influential factors
–ENV’T + VARIETY + MASTERY + FEEDBACK + AUTONOMY
•Not all testers are the same
–Don’t treat everyone working in testing the same
–We need to consider ‘smarter’ approaches to the motivation of testers
•Thanks to Tafline Murnane for helping me to collect the data
–And don’t blame her for my analysis and conclusions 

39. Thanks for listening
Any Questions?
More information available
–please email
sreid@testing-solutions.com