Most test professionals have worked at some time or other in difficult organizations, dysfunctional cultures, and for unreasonable managers and stakeholders. This causes much internal stress and creates fear instead of creativity. While some fortunate testers work in fantastic and supportive organizations, Rice’s research with many testers indicate most of the problems in testing are “people problems.” In this webinar, Randy will describe the most common organizational issues that affect testers and will give some tips and strategies on how to survive through them. He will also discuss the difficult issue of knowing when to move on to a new organization, as well as how to map your own career growth.

1. SURVIVING AS A
TESTER, EVEN IN
DIFFICULT
CIRCUMSTANCES
RANDALL W. RICE, CTAL
WWW.RICECONSULTING.COM
© 2014, Rice Consulting Services, Inc.

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WHY THIS TOPIC?

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TEN PROVEN WAYS TO DE-MOTIVATE
YOUR TEAM
10. Set unreasonable “stretch” goals
just to see how hard people will
work.
8. Never explain your rationale for
decisions.
6. Assign meaningless tasks.
7. No matter how good something
is, criticize it.

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TEN PROVEN WAYS TO DE-MOTIVATE
YOUR TEAM
6. Take all the credit for yourself.
5. Solve problems by building a new
bureaucracy.
4. Listen…like a brick wall.
3. Refuse to consider ways to do the
job more effectively.
2. Treat your team like they are
machines that should never break
down.
And finally…

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TEN PROVEN WAYS TO DE-MOTIVATE
YOUR TEAM
1. Never, ever, in any circumstance, give anyone praise or
recognition.
Great
Job!

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WHAT’S IN THIS FOR
YOU?
• Strategies for knowing how to deal with
difficult managers and/or co-workers
• Lower personal stress
• A positive direction for your career
• Wisdom about organizational
dysfunction
• Proactive ways you can thrive,
regardless of the circumstances

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I’M HERE TO GIVE
YOU HOPE!

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MY STORY
• Burned out 3 times over the last 25 years
• Dealt with depression twice
• Worked in several organizations that were very
dysfunctional
• Found a way above it all

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DISCLAIMER
• Everyone’s situation is different.
• Some of you are deeply invested in your organization
• Retirement plans, etc.
• Take my advice for what it is…free.
• Before making any drastic changes, get other counsel.

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FIRST, THE BAD NEWS
• Most organizations have a certain level
of dysfunction.
• That’s why Dilbert was a popular cartoon!
• You have little control over what the
management above you does.
• You have little control over what your co-workers
do (or don’t do).

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NOW, THE GOOD
NEWS
• You are in a great profession – testing.
• You can make positive changes in your own life and
career that can be an investment no matter where you
work.
• Circumstances do change.
• Slowly, perhaps, but they do change.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO
• This session is aimed toward you, the individual tester.
• However, you are impacted by those around you.
• Likewise, you can impact those around you.
• Some solutions I suggest will apply to things you can do,
while others apply to things your team can do.

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THE “BIG 5” I HEAR
MOST OFTEN
• “I have a clueless manager.”
• Or, “Our upper management is clueless about testing,
projects, etc.”
• “Testers aren’t valued where I work.”
• “We don’t get the resources (tools, time, etc.) to do the
kind of testing we need to do.”
• “Our findings are ignored or overridden.”
• “Testers are blamed for any failure seen in production.”

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THE CLUELESS
MANAGER
• There are those that “think they
know” how to lead and manage.
• But, they really don’t know how to
lead.
• Then, there are those that know
they need help, they just don’t have
the support and mentoring needed.
• There are also those that are just
mean.
• Unfortunately, they control your
raises, promotions and other
career factors.

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IDEAS TO SURVIVE THE
CLUELESS MANAGER
• You can try to be a positive influence on them.
• Share ideas (They may steal them).
• Be supportive and gain their confidence.
• “I want to help you be successful.” is a powerful thing to tell
your manager.
• Find out if they have a mentor.
• If so, discretely mention specific issues to the mentor.
• Suggest a team training session, with their participation (not
their leadership).
• Wait for the next re-organization.
• However, this is risky.
• There is no assurance the next manager will be different.
• It may be a long wait.

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TESTERS AREN’T
VALUED
• Value is seen in different ways by
different people.
• In some organizations, testers are
highly valued team members,
while not in others.
• You don’t get invited to important
meetings.
• You have no opportunity for
feedback.
• You hear things like “We have
testers, but I have no idea what
they do.”

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IDEAS TO BOOST
YOUR VALUE
• Identify your stakeholders.
• Find out what your stakeholders need and value.
• Get some key stakeholders on your side.
• You want influential ones.
• Go beyond being seen as “problem finders” to
“information providers.”
• Build a great testing dashboard so that everyone can see
the progress and value of testing.
• Measure your defects and the impact value – then report it
to the stakeholders.
• Be able to tell people what you do and how it adds value
to your organization!

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LACK OF RESOURCES
• You don’t get the things you need
to be successful:
• Training
• Tools
• People
• Time
• Yet, management and user
expectations are high that you will
“find all the problems.”
• It seems you are always being
asked to “do more with less.”

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DEALING WITH
SCARCE RESOURCES
• This is an expectation issue.
• Management needs to know that the wider you spread
resources, the thinner (less effective) the output becomes.
• Try changing the context and ask your management,
“Would you deny developers the resources they need and
still expect them to do their job well?”
• You can work to make your testing as efficient as possible
by smart test design and creative use of tools.
• However, some companies will not allow free tools.
• Project managers, especially, need to know when
resources are constrained.
• If they can’t or won’t correct the situation, all you can do is
work with what you have.

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IGNORED FINDINGS
• You do a lot of good work, find some critical defects, yet
management decides to release the software anyway.

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DEALING WITH
IGNORED FINDINGS
• Ask yourself:
• Did I do the best testing with the resources I had?
• Did I perform as many tests as possible and report the
outcomes accurately?
• Did I do my best to make my case to management about the
impact these defects would have on users?
• Did I document what was found in testing (for future
blamestorming)?
• If so:
• Accept the facts as they are.
• Go home and sleep well.
• Collect your paycheck.

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THE BAD NEWS ABOUT
IGNORED FINDINGS
• The problems may cost a lot to fix in
production.
• You may be blamed for them.
• This is often a pattern of dysfunction
that can only last so long before a
major problem causes a crisis.
• Also, technical debt is accumulated.

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TESTERS ARE BLAMED
FOR PROBLEMS
• This is a cultural issue.
• Blaming cultures don’t care who they
blame, as long as they can find
someone to blame.
• It’s easy to blame testers – “What are
we paying you for, anyway?”

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WHAT NOT TO DO
• Don’t shift the blame to someone else.
• Take responsibility if it truly was your fault.
• Don’t accept the blame if it was not your fault.
• Keep good records of testing and don’t be afraid to show the
facts.

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WHAT I’VE SEEN
WORK
• When the test manager/leader is good, they will buffer the
team from blame and fight the battles for the team.
• The test manager can also work to implement
retrospectives and lessons learned.
• However, the culture of blame may not be able to handle
them.
• From the personal perspective, learn from your mistakes
but don’t take the fall for someone else.

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TAKE CARE OF
YOURSELF
• “Put your own oxygen mask on first.”
• Some companies demand too much from
people in terms of workload.
• It’s really bad in the USA.
• Set work boundaries for yourself, such as:
• I leave work at a certain time unless there is a
true crisis
• I don’t work weekends
• I take breaks every hour or so
• I don’t sacrifice personal needs such as food
and rest for work.
• Recharge your personal batteries.
• Stay encouraged.

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BE PROACTIVE IN
YOUR CAREER
• Keep an open mind and learn new things – even things
you don’t think you will enjoy.
• Become a person known for excellent work.
• Practice on new tools.
• In fact, have your own personal set of tools.
• Stay current on testing and technology trends.
• Develop a specialty.
• Would you be willing to work for a company that believes
differently about testing than you do?
• Network constantly with other testers in other companies.

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KNOW YOUR
STRENGTHS
• If you try to develop a weak area, you
may get better.
• If you sharpen a strength, you can be
exceptional.
• What is it you are brilliant at?

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SHOULD I STAY OR
SHOULD I GO?
• That’s a hard question to answer.
• It depends on a lot of factors, such as your investment in
the company and future prospects.
• However, as long as your team and your company
operates in a dysfunctional state, you will be miserable.
• You will be reduced to working at the same level as the rest
of the team.
• If you do decide to leave, then leave.
• Counteroffers seem attractive, but the trust is broken.
• Your management may not see you as loyal.

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BIO - RANDALL W. RICE
• Over 35 years experience in building and
testing information systems in a variety
of industries and technical environments
• ASTQB Certified Tester – Foundation
level, Advanced level (Full)
• Director, American Software Testing
Qualification Board (ASTQB)
• Chairperson, 1995 - 2000 QAI’s annual
software testing conference
• Co-author with William E. Perry,
Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of
Software Testing and Testing Dirty
Systems

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CONTACT INFORMATION
Randall W. Rice, CTAL
Rice Consulting Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 892003
Oklahoma City, OK 73170
Ph: 405-691-8075
Fax: 405-691-1441
Web site: www.riceconsulting.com
e-mail: rrice@riceconsulting.com