Testing Junior Management Course v2

• Customer Interactions
• Service Provider Negotiation
• Resource Management
• Exercise 1
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks
• Navigation in a Project
• Attack Bottle necks
• Employee Empowerment
• Expansion Key Generator
Testing Junior Management Course

Organization
Customer Interactions
Testing
Junior Manager
Testing Management
Customer : Any Member in the Organization who can come to the Team with Demands
CDU & Site
Management
Application
Management
Require:
Detailed Plans, Constant Updates, a
sense of overall control
Deliverables:
Meetings, Plans, Reports, Consultation
before major decisions
The Telecom’s
Business Unit
The Telecom’s
Management
GSS Groups
(Training, Testing,…)
Require:
Links from the Design to a Business
Language, Clarity on System Quality
Deliverables:
High Level Design in Business Concept,
Detailed Execution & Pass rate Reports
Require:
Proof of Coverage, Exit Criteria Closure
Deliverables:
Testing Strategy, Design Materials,
Progress Reports, Closure Plan
Require:
Coverage, Plans Transparency, Progress
Updates, Exit Criteria Closure
Deliverables:
Testing Strategy, Design Materials,
Defect & Progress Reports, ATRR, PRR
Require:
Coverage alignment, Quality Issues
Deliverables:
Design Materials, Defect Reports
Require:
Knowledge Transfer, Activities Support
Deliverables:
Resources for KT and Support

Organization
Customer Interactions
What Goes on in the Customer’s mind when he comes to meet you:
1. Who Gave the Cat permission to guard the Milk?
2. I don’t want to Approve anything, I paid you to do it.
3. We can’t go live without touching the system ourselves anyway
4. Who checks we didn’t make mistakes in our Requirements?
How Can we ease the worries they wouldn’t even bring to light:
1. Do not try to Deny you are an Amdocs Unit, but focus on the excellent skills by
coming very much prepared to the meeting with high quality materials only
2. Emphasis the Responsibility on Quality is always on us, explain their approval is
only a confirmation they have no open comments, not a transfer of responsibility.
3. Involve them before they ask for it, raise to them options on how we can make
the results clearer and more transparent for them, focus your report numbers to
increase business understanding. Attend to every customer request with a ‘can
do’ approach.
4. Put special attention on looking for gaps in the requirements and on Usability
issues and Raise the Open Issues directly to the customer people who raised the
requirements.

Organization
Service Providers Negotiation
Testing
Junior Manager
Service Provider: Any Collaborating Entity which enables the team to meet it’s Goals
Testing Management
CDU & Site
Management
Application
Support
Expectations:
Coordinate efforts with other Testing
teams, serve as escalation point
Delivered Services:
Alignment of activities with other test
teams. Environment management, HF
management, FP for internal escalation
The Telecom’s
Business Unit
External Vendor’s
Support teams
Infra Support
Expectations:
Provide insight in to business decisions
Delivered Services:
Answer Business requirement Open
Issues, Fix Requirement type defects
Expectations:
Support Testing on External Systems to
which the testers have no direct access
Delivered Services:
Perform Test activities & Fix software
defects on the external system
Expectations:
Coordinate support efforts
Delivered Service:
Allocate Application Resources, Set
Priority for testing issues, track defect
fixing activities
Expectations:
Provide solutions for raised Issues
Delivered Services:
Answer Issues raised as First Level
support, Fix Code/configuration issues
Expectations:
Install and Maintain test Environments
Delivered Services:
Provide Environment page, upgrade,
support HF deployment, Fix
environment defects

Organization
Resource Management
Testing
Junior Manager
• Description:
Team members experienced in testing life cycle
activities
• Lead’s Activities:
Tasks assignments, Status Tracking, Personal Care,
Personal Growth & Learning. Internal Coordination
Testers: Environments:
Test Cases: Defects:
• Description:
Physical & Logical Testing Platforms for Software
installation
Set Requirements, Approve Changes as Env Owner,
Coordinate activities on each Env by multiple Users
• Description:
Documentation items of the Quality Issues reported
in the Project’s life cycle
Supervise Defect lifecycle from creation till closure,
report and priorities based on testing needs and
business impact
• Description:
Documentation Items of the Testing Activities and
their Results
Supervise Coverage and Quality, Maintain and
Enhance over time, Generate Reports
Resources: Any Entity which the lead can use to accomplish his team’s goals

Organization
Exercise 1: Strategy Document
The Strategy document is the main location to define all Organizational related items .
One of the main Sections in the document is The Deliverables list.
Try to Compile a list of all Deliverables the Testing Group Could be required to Provide
in a Large Transformation Project which includes all Testing Streams (FAT, NFT, B2B, E2E)
Domain Deliverable Description
Requirement Management Requirement Traceability Matrix This deliverable maps Customer Requirements to the Testing Requirements/Use Cases which would later be
mapped to the Testing Materials
Planning Acceptance Test Plan A document that defines TIS scope, strategy, coverage, test types, entry and exit criteria, etc….
FAT Design Acceptance Test Calendar Highlights A set of documents describing All Testing calendars and flows which are mapped to the test requirements
E2E Design Calendar Highlights A Document describing scenarios per E2E flow including all Actions on all Systems in the flow. Containing
additional section for E2E Physical devices requirements
FAT Execution Preparation Execution Perquisites List A list of perquisites required for the start of Acceptance Testing execution
FAT Execution Preparation RFA Calendar execution summary report RFA (Ready For Acceptance) calendar will be executed on one Acceptance Testing environment to insure
environment readiness. In scope of the RFA is a set of end to end flows.
Overall Execution
Preparation
Readiness Review summary report Based on this report readiness review meeting(s) will be conducted EPT and Amdocs to decide on RFA
Milestones
Overall Test Execution Daily status and defects report During Acceptance Testing execution, a daily report that will be provided to report testing plan, progress .vs.
plan, status of defects and main issues.
Overall Test Execution Acceptance Testing phase summary
report
A comprehensive report summarizing the results of a specific phase of Acceptance Testing.
Overall Test Environment
Management
Environments Planning & Environments
Management
A document explaining the configuration and technical management of the Acceptance Tests environments
Bill to Bill Test Design Bill to Bill Coordinated flow Detailed
Design
Detailed Test instructions aimed to achieve coordinated execution of B2B flow on BSS & Legacy
environments
Bill to Bill Test Execution Daily Bill to Bill Progress Report Progress and findings of B2B Tests Report
Bill to Bill Test Execution Bill to Bill Test Summary Report A comprehensive report summarizing the results of the comparison tests conducted during Bill to Bill
Screen to Screen Test
Design
Screen to Screen Coordinated flow
Detailed Design
Detailed Test instructions aimed to achieve coordinated execution of S2S flow on BSS & Legacy
environments
Execution
Daily Screen to Screen Progress Report Progress and findings of S2S Tests Report
Execution
Screen to Screen Test Summary Report A comprehensive report summarizing the results of the comparison tests conducted during Screen to Screen
NFT Design NFT Detailed Test Plan A document detailing the planned coverage of performance and operational testing scope, types of test
iterations, means of measurement and success criteria.
NFT Execution NFT Summary Report A document detailing the results of the NFT. For performance – an analysis of online transactions and KPIs as
well as batch durations. For OPT – a summary stating the OPT activities and results.

• Responsible for Success
• Step in to a Role
• Exercise 2
• Plan to Succeed
• Delegate & Monitor
• Exercise 3
• Modular thinking
• Evaluate to Prevent Risks
• Exercise 4
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks

Owner of Tasks
Responsible for Success
TIS GL – assuming Responsibility is the name of the game:
 Customers Perspective: “We paid so we will not be Responsible”
 Amdocs Management Perspective: “You are the Experts, you stand at the Gate”
 Applications Perspective: “We Fixed what you defined as Issues”
 Testers Perspective: “We did what you said in the order you told us to do it in”
 Who Assigns the Final Atomic Tasks to the People who perform them?
 Who Defines Priority between tasks which testers can’t do at the same time?
 Who Tracks and Reports the team’s Progress?
 Who represents the team’s Interests in Managerial meetings?
 Who sets Reviews for the team’s materials with Customers and Service Providers?
GL = Responsibility for tasks in his Domain / PM = Accountability for the same tasks
 Who Defines the Team’s Requirements and Commits on the Team’s Deliverables?

Owner of Tasks
Responsible for Success
Assigning tasks always remember: A GL always has at list One Tester -
Taking on Test Activities allows the GL to:
• Maximize utilization in small projects
• Estimate tasks by knowledge
• Take decisions based on Understanding
• Relate to Tester’s Difficulties
• Provide a Tester’s outlook in Management discussions
• Support his testers both on escalation and expertise.
• Report out with the real issues and not just Defect number and TC counts
Managing a Group & Taking on a Test design or Test Execution task is extremely difficult.
But it makes you: This: Instead of This:

Owner of Tasks
Step in to a Role
Item First Impression Failure Impact
Accepting the
Task from
your Manager
• Define the borders of the tasks just a bit wider then he did
• Formulate a presentable document to explain your
approach
• Request the Resources you need, don’t wait for the to be
defined for you
Your Manager will manage
your domain and you will
be reduced back to a
glorified senior tester.
Approaching
your
Customers
• Answer each question being asked regarding your Domain
• Emphasis you are Responsible for the Quality, especially
when discussing review needs.
• Give them a sense your door is open
• Prepare your reports to give them clarity on the items they
expressed concerns for
Your Customer will start
testing themselves.
They will approach your
managers with escalation
and risks on items you
could easily answer
Assigning
Tasks to your
Team
• Be Ready with a Modular flexible Plan
• Set the Borders of your Answers wider then their questions
• Keep an overall Direction to the tasks you assign to each
tester to generate a sense of Growth
• Set a Kickoff meeting to explain your management approach
Testers will feel out of
touch with the project and
will either do the minimum
or would try to set a
direction of their own
Setting your
Requirements
to the Service
Providers
• Build your own plan but listen to any plan they already made
• Present the minimal corner stone items you must insist on
• Show you adopt your plans to fit their already working
procedures
• Insist on clear ETA for each Required item even if those are
not Final ETAs
Service Providers will work
based on Priority and not
based on Plan. Escalations
on delay risks will be
ignored as no agreed
milestones were set

Owner of Tasks
Exercise 2: Personal Management Approach
Every Manager has his own approach, one which fits his Personality, his Skills and
his view on the employees working under him
In the Team’s Kick off meeting, after presenting the Project and the Challenges the
team will face it is recommended to clarify to the team what is your Management
Approach.
Write in your own words a short 5 minutes speech presenting your view of the
relations your employees can expect they will have with you and the way you
expect them to work
Simulate such a Discussion in small groups (4-5) – rotate the role of the Team Leader

Owner of Tasks
Plan to Succeed
Analyze the
Project’s needs
Look for the
focus areas
Recruit / Train
Expert FPs per
area
Define Testing
Calendar
Groups
Enter as much
Modularity as
Possible
Assign tasks
according to
knowledge plan
Define Cycles
based on
Timeline
Estimate
progress &
delay risks
Plan slightly
under expected
Progress

Owner of Tasks
Delegate & Monitor
Fight to Avoid Strive to Create in Testers
• Similar background & Training
• Expected to Produce Similar quality
• Often Replaced after short KT
• Measured in Test Cases Executed
• Think of the same narrow issues
• Take responsibility only on Testing tasks
• Care for Progress only in a narrow area
• View the smallest picture Possible
Trained As Specialists
Brain Storm between different approaches
Encouraged &Trusted to think while testing
Measured by contribution to quality
Assume Cross Project Responsibility
Are Clear of their Necessity to the Project

Owner of Tasks
Exercise 3: Brainstorm
One of the most Rewarding and Growth encouraging tasks area for testers are the
Cross Project Activities.
Brainstorm as a Class on the Possible Cross Project Activities a Group Leader can
assign to testing team members
Keep in mind, once assigned the GL must allow the Tester a free hand with the task
with him only monitoring in the background
Monitoring On-Testing
Defects (Delivered/Answered)HF Deployment
& HFs alignment
Control
FP for Environment
Upgrades & Sanity
Defect Meetings Testing
RepresentativeBusiness Processes
Alignment FP On Site Activities
Coordinator
Remote Site
Administrative leadExternal Vendors
Coordinator
Testing Deliverables Coordinator

Owner of Tasks
Modular thinking
Fight to Avoid Strive to Be
• Count Test Cases to asses work load
• Provide Customers outputs in %
• Assign tasks based on Design
• Main Goal to execute all Tests
• Follow Numbers
View workload in Functionality Items
Provide outputs in Business Flows
Assign tasks based on scope
Main Goal is to Deliver Quality Software
Follow Business Processes

Owner of Tasks
Modular thinking
• Keep your Scope View on Scenario (Use Case) Level – Calendars are only Packaging
• Assign tasks per Calendar but do not fear to add additional testers to handle
Specific scenarios
• Direct testers to Alert ‘Blocked’ only after reviewing the status of all scenarios
• Allocate short added tasks to Blocked testers keeping Priority on the original task
• Keep a bank of small Ad-Hoc non Mandatory Design Improvement tasks for
Downtime periods
• Build a Growth / Training plan which would allow growing a Second Focal point for
each area - allocate tasks based on the planned knowledge area growth.

Owner of Tasks
Evaluate to Prevent Risks
Prevent Risks you will Raise Prevent Risks against you
• Analyze your plans for dependencies
on other teams
• Plan contingencies in each item
• Schedule agreed Milestones for each
item with reasonable ETA
• Periodically Evaluate & report
readiness as a separate list
• Re-Plan based on Contingency once
milestones are not met and keep a list
of delay items and mitigation actions
taken
• Analyze Plans for Items which depend
on you
• Define clear deliverables and ETAs
• Present the Deliverables to your team
and define internal FPs for Delivering
• Report Periodically on Progress of the
Deliverables as a separate list
• Raise potential delays (before they ask)
and request impact evaluation for a
specific estimated delay period

Owner of Tasks
Exercise 4: Simulation
You have Called a Conference meeting with the following managers:
1. The CDM – has no experience with testing groups & doesn’t understand the role of SI
2. The Infra Manager – Doesn’t want to work as he us under budgeted and stressed with tasks of
earlier groups in the project lifecycle
3. The Application Line Managers – Don’t care about your phase as it is after their view of the
delivery and they are only planned to give Defect Fixing support, not to take responsibility on any
testing task beyond System Test.
You have been told your project start execution 6 weeks from now, will last for 14 weeks
and will include Functional Testing of 2 large CRs in each of the following applications:
CRM, OMS, AR & AMDD.
You are trying to agree on the following items: Delivery Drop Dates, Number of
recommended Environments, Upgrade Duration, Communication method with the
support
Task 1: Divide in to Small Groups (4-5) and build a plan which would be the base of
discussion
Task 2: Simulate in each Group the Discussion with 1 member playing Testing Lead and
the rest play the other Roles in the meeting.

• Project Turning Point
• Turning Point Identification
• Exercise 5
• Prior Turning Point decision
making
• Post Turning Point decision
making
• Exercise 6
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks

Navigation in a Project
Project Turning Point
 Decision making is most Crucial and Complex at Peak Focus Periods.
 In Testing the Peak Period is the Execution Period
 The Execution Period can be divided roughly to two Sub Periods:
 Independent Testing – Low Priority
 High Transparency Testing – Top Priority
 The switch between the sub periods happens on a unique Turning Point.
 Testing experts must identify the Turning Point has occurred and switch their method
of communications to fit the High Transparency requirements of the second Period.
This is crucial for the customer relations, so he would feel you adopt to their needs.
 Proper Test Activities Planning Can delay the Turning Point but Testing Leads must be
prepared for it at all times as most triggers are external (not fully within testing team’s
control)

Turning Point Identification
A Project will always start in Independent Testing sub period and will end with High
Transparency Period. The Key to successful Execution is the Identification of the Turning
point
Trigger Initiator Means to Delay the turning point Impact of Failing to
Recognize turning point
Customer was asked
to Approve System
will go live
Account
Management
Share results at high business
importance area before they ask.
Report to the Account on progress
High added effort to share
results on all testing areas
during Execution
Customer feels out of
touch with the system
Business
Leads
Be Sharp on training timeline & always
Answer the customer’s questions with
a bit more then they asked for.
Customer will request to
Test himself and will start
raising “escaping” defects.
Defects list has grown
beyond estimated
closure capability
Delivery
Application
Leads
Follow Closure Progress, Shift tasks
from main open defect contributors to
allow stability.
Management will panic and
demand added reports and
meetings
Progress has dropped
far beneath plans
Account
Management
Re-plan and publish the new plan
together with the first report showing
large delay
Higher management will try
to Micro manage your team
forcing non testing methods
Customer lost trust or
confidence with
Amdocs
Account
Management
Insist to present your team as
independent, 100% transparency,
keep a direct open channel of
communication with the customer
Test results will be
scrutinized by the customer,
customer will start testing
himself

Exercise 5: Share your Experience
All Projects face a Turning point at some point in the project.
Look back at some of the projects you participated in.
See if you can Identify the Turning Point you faced and if the team identified it on time
Share your Experience with the audience

Prior Turning Point decision making
Take the Open Road
• Build a Full Report from day one, representing the entire activity and Keep it as Fixed as possible – even in the
title colure and total number of TCs reported – update only the results of the former day
• Keep Top Defects reported as the smallest list possible, report only real blocking defects, for the rest contact
applications directly to fix, minimal escalations
• When defect severity is not certain prefer the higher value to try to get the fix on time
• Let applications resolve defects at their own time, even if the defect is critical, escalate only in test blocking
issues.
• Assign tasks on as wide as possible area, avoid creating too high focus and defect backlog in specific
application
• Move testers between tasks to make sure overall progress is kept even if a specific area is blocked
• Give Testers chances to work on areas they are not experts on, fresh eyes are good for the project and new
experience is good for the testers

Post Turning Point decision making
Steer to calm water
• Do not Change your Daily report format, special messages should be sent separately or logged in a separate
document attached to the report.
• Make sure to keep the Top list with Top Critical Business Severity defects and not Testing Blocking items which
are not Critical for the business. Limit the defects list to show up to 3 top defects per application.
• When defect severity is not certain prefer the Lower value to push for Stability (fixing only what is Mandatory)
• Instruct testers to contact developers and assemble bridges with parties investigating defects
• Focus activities on high risk areas, even if TCs are done allow ‘wiled testing’ to search for hidden defects
• Allow Testers to join the investigating team of issues even if their progress will be diminished
• Assign tasks to testers per their expertise to limit items raised due to knowledge gap
• Proactively approach Customer representatives to look for areas Customer Satisfaction is low in and support
• Work closely with Version managers to insure Fixes control is kept and available fixes are delivered regularly
and not in large uncontrolled blocks

Exercise 6: Set Turning Point Instructions
Your Project has Crossed it’s Turning point.
Customer Requests for added information is starting to accumulate rapidly
Testers stand confused how to balance the new demands from the customer with their
Current tasks.
Provide your team a set of instructions which would help them cope with the new
situation.

Exercise 6: Set Turning Point Instructions
Hi All
As you must have noticed our Customer is getting more and more involved in our
execution as we now approach critical decision making points.
As testers our role is first and foremost to provide our customer the ability to make
those decisions. We will send an expert to focus on quickly answering those questions.
Still customer requests for information must be handled as first priority, any question
you receive must be answered with a professional approach and a patient attitude.
In case they contact you face to face always send out a MOM of the meeting, as we
must have a written documentation of each such discussion. Make sure to keep me
posted in any such MOM or Email correspondence.
To allow execution progress to remain according to plans and still put focus in the areas
where the customer focuses his view I have reorganized your next tasks, see the
attached excel for your new tasks.
Before opening defects Try to call all the relevant people to Conferences to make sure
we open the defects on an agreed view. Opening defects please be extra carful when
choosing severity, we must push for stability so make sure the defect’s severity is not
too high if the fix is not a must for current Go Live.
Thank you and good luck with all your next activities

• Identification
• Turning the table
• Exercise 7
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks

Attack Bottle necks
Identification
Too many tests
for one Tester
Unclear
next step
Multiple tests depend
on the same resource
Impossible Tests
Redundant Tests
Late CR
Un-communicated Function
Surprising new
customer request

Attack Bottle necks
Turning the table
Flexible Thinking
Control and Delegate

Attack Bottle necks
Turning the table
Points to Remember:
 Your Design is not Holy
 A Customer’s request is Holy
 The Best is never the Only
 No number is set in stone
 Tests only have value if the result is unknown
 Responsibility is not an item that can be shared
 If you didn’t report it, it wasn’t done
 Scope is driven from the system’s capabilities
 Reduction in resources forces rethinking
 Reduction in Tests is not necessarily reduction in scope

Attack Bottle necks
Exercise 7: Group Simulation
Collect in to groups of 4, appoint each time one to be the Manager and Rotate every
10 minutes.
Simulation storyline:
Your team is stuck, they keep reporting they are blocked in every flow, execution rate
is dropping far under the planned progress.
You collect the team to a discussion, to try and get back on track.
Participants playing Team members are free to raise different cases from their own
experience to help the manager cope with real live situations.

• Support & Resolve Issues
• Exercise 8
• Personal Care
• Growth Engine
• Exercise 9
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks

Employee Empowerment
Support & Resolve Issues
Define an area where the tester is Independent, so decisions will be his to make
Do not Overturn Tester decisions without Consultation, let him overturn his own decisions when needed
Push for direct communications between testers and developers assigned to investigation of defects
Keep yourself updated and guide the tester to make sure the work is done according to your vision
Work constantly to remain highly knowledgeable of wide area in the solution
Explain to testers as you make decisions in their area, so it will remain their area
Join Defect discussions only after testers failed to reach an agreement in the first attempt
Explain your decisions from a Customer view – minimize higher escalations

Exercise 8: Simulation
A Tester Opened a Defect for a gap in a design, Ordering information was restricted
from all Search lists as required, but can be accessed from the interaction work list.
Defect is therefore opened as behavior is against the spirit of the Customization
Application refuses to take the defect stating it was never mentioned as part of the
CR.
The Tester has had several discussions with the Application support and Application
leads.
The Defect was Answered asking to Cancel as this is a Change Request and not a
problem.
You have been called to a meeting with the tester, Application support, Application
line manager and CDU representative.
Simulate a Discussion, in a small group and discuss the different approaches the
testing lead could take in such an event

Personal Care
Know your People: Family State, Health conditions, Travel expectations,….
Personal Emergency is First Priority: Sudden sickness, Family Emergency,….
Consider Personal events: Family and Friend’s Events,…. (Learn to Say No ahead of time)
Define Employee Profiles and assign tasks accordingly:
• Customer facing - Frequent Flyers with Good people skills
• Area Focal Points – Highly dedicated with high availability for long support hours
• Expert Designers – Can’t Fly but have good Trainer skills
Stay updated: Talk to your team members regularly on non work related items

Growth Engine
Promotion Options - Ask for the Natural
inclination but Never Promise
Lead Expert
Assign tasks with
high responsibility
needs
Assign tasks with
high Knowledge
needs
Define Goals to
Promote
Communication Skills
Define Goals to
Promote Trainer Skills
Provide Managerial
Cross Project Roles
Provide Focal Point
Cross Project Roles
Train in Strategy &
Tasks allocation
methods
Train in Analysis &
Testing
Methodologies
Send to participate in
Management
Opportunities
Send to participate in
New testers training
Opportunities
Striving for Excellence – Demand as basic
precondition for any growth opportunity
Efficiency Skills
Assign tasks with
defined time frame
Assign tasks to teach
new aspects
Define Goals to Push
for improved results
with the same tasks
Define Goals to push
to develop personal
abilities
Reflect progress in
reports and follow up
Reflect results in
documents and review

Exercise 9: Evaluation Discussion
Split in to pairs in which one will play the Role of the Manager while the Other takes
one of the following Characters:
1. Ambitious George: A relatively new Employee with Ambitions to become a
manager and a high motivation to learn but pure technical skills in testing methods
and pure Application knowledge
2. Senior Francine: A Senior tester who has an area of expertise and experienced all
the activities in a normal testing lifecycle so he feels he is repeating his work in
known territories
3. Personal Frank: An Employee which has not managed to develop any expertise
area as he has many personal issues (frequent sickness / frequent family issues)
4. Confident Judith: An Employee which feels as an Excellent tester with Technical
skills are above average. but has severe lack in Team player attitude and lack of
dedication.
5. Shy Richard: An Employee which has confidence issues although he has excellent
performance and you would like him to reach for more although he is still afraid to.
Try to provide the Character points which will lead him on the best path for his
position.

• Natural Evolution
• Exercise 10
• New Challenge
• Exercise 11
• Organization
• Owner of Tasks

Expansion Key Generator
Natural Evolution
Reflect out
Customer
Satisfaction
Implement
Lessons
Learned
Study new
tools and
Methodologies
Take on any
side Activity
Retain
knowledge for
next activities
 Once a version ends use personal relations with the customer, which were built
during the project, to request feedback on your work
 Reflect the Feedback contents to your team emphasizing both strong and weak
points raised as lessons learned on what to keep and what to improve
 Reflect the Feedback contents to your management emphasizing the strong points
which could help leverage TIS in the next project proposals
 Reflect the Feedback contents to other groups in the project (account, CDU)
emphasizing the intimate relations achieved

Natural Evolution
Reflect out
Customer
Satisfaction
Implement
Lessons
Learned
Study new
tools and
Methodologies
Take on any
side Activity
Retain
knowledge for
next activities
 Collect Lessons learned from within the team and from external groups
 Request both Positive (to keep) and Negative (to improve) Lessons.
 Filter the collected items to items which don’t depend on forces out of the team’s
control (management intervention, special recruitment, budget dependencies,…)
 Split the Lessons Learned to items with recommendation a team member can handle
 Assign an Owner from the team to each Lesson Learned and set a due date for
implementation
 Follow up on the implementation of the lessons learned by each owner.
 Reflect out to your management, the customer and any involved external groups on
the new lessons leaned implemented in the project

Natural Evolution
Reflect out
Customer
Satisfaction
Implement
Lessons
Learned
Study new
tools and
Methodologies
Take on any
side Activity
Retain
knowledge for
next activities
 Select areas in which the team has prior indication of an issue with the current
methods of working or areas in which the team performs the same thing in the same
way for a long time
 Assign each area to a team member to investigate possible options to improve the
tool/method of working
 Brainstorm within the team on the best option proposed by the owner of the area
 Implement the new agreed tool/method in a small side task before using it in a
larger project
 Publish to the larger group your experience with the tool/method to help them
adopt or avoid the item, according to your recommendation.

Natural Evolution
Reflect out
Customer
Satisfaction
Implement
Lessons
Learned
Study new
tools and
Methodologies
Take on any
side Activity
Retain
knowledge for
next activities
 From the point Testing Ends till The System is stable in production there are many
activities within the account which require testing support
 Show a Proactive approach by presenting yourself to the people involved and
offering assistance.
 Once the request becomes a formal provide an estimation for the effort – keep it as
low as possible
 Approach any request for assistance with a ‘can do’ attitude
 Give your customer the feeling:
 You know he needs you and you will not abuse that trust
 You see his goals as your own and fight to help him meet them
 Your advices are based on the Customer’s Interests only

Natural Evolution
Reflect out
Customer
Satisfaction
Implement
Lessons
Learned
Study new
tools and
Methodologies
Take on any
side Activity
Retain
knowledge for
next activities
 Testing Knowledge must always be maintained in an organized Activity Library, use
any available moment you have to make sure testers update their knowledge in to
the Activity Library
 Even the best Organized written knowledge base is no match to a good expert’s
understanding and experience – define your ‘core’ team and fight to retain them in
the project even at slow activities periods
 Expose your core expert focal points to the customer so your customer will know
them by name and could better understand the added value in selecting your team
for the next tasks
 Expose your core expert focal points to the Development so they could know ahead
of time of any new development which is in their area of expertise.

Exercise 10: Brainstorm – Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned:
One of the Strongest tools to show you are an evolving group invested in Improvement
Individually:
 Raise Items you Remember either as Problematic or as Exceptionally good
 Analyze the Item looking for a Recommendation which can be taken for next Project
 Translate your Recommendation to an Item you/your team can be responsible for
As a Group:
 Select one of the items raised in the Class
 Discuss it to entertain additional Recommendations
 Brainstorm different Implementation options for each recommendation.
 Select one of the Recommendations based on criteria of:
 Quality of the resolution (how much of the item the recommendation handles)
 Success potential to implement
 Duration of the implementation

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Invite team members with Experience with the System/Project to a Brainstorming session
 Raise the Subject as “As a Customer Supper User what are the Pain points of your
Account?”
 Search for Pain points in all Account elements (Software, Hardware, Procedures,
Methodologies, Subject Management, System Integration)
 List all agreed pain points, split the list to two:
 Items with which TIS can provide solutions
 Items which TIS can collaborate with Other groups to provide solutions
New Challenge

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Collect Proposal solutions for each Pain Point – in TIS and with Collaborating groups
 Analyze the feasibility of each Proposed Solution
 Analyze the Benefits to the Customer of each Proposed Solution
 Translate the Benefits in to Dollars – Both in Current Cost Reduction and in Revenue
Increase
 Analyze the Costs of each Proposed Solution
 Prepare a Summary Presentation slide of the Pain Point and the Solutions Analysis
 Prepare a General Proposal for each Pain Point including up to the top 3 Solutions as
Options to select from
New Challenge

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Schedule a meeting with Amdocs Account Management to Coordinate the Approach to
the Customer
 Collect all Pain point Summary Slides to an Overall Presentation showing multiple Items
representing the Proactive effort made by the team to Improve the Customer’s experience
with services in TIS domain.
 Schedule a meeting with Customer Management to Present the TIS Initiative
 Schedule follow up meetings per Pain point the Customer decided to proceed with –
meeting goal to select the agreed solution
 Follow up on the Selected solutions through Sales, till Final Implementation
New Challenge

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Set a repeating Quarterly/Monthly session with Customer representatives to Collect Pain
Points – no one knows Customer pain points as well as the customer but often no one
takes the time to gather them
 Lead the Brainstorming sessions with the focus on Customer view of pain points in any
region of experience in his day to day work – Amdocs or non Amdocs related.
 List all agreed pain points, split the list to two:
 Items with which TIS can provide solutions
 Items which TIS can collaborate with Other Vendors to provide solutions
New Challenge

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Collect Proposal solutions for each Pain Point – in TIS and with Collaborating Vendors
 Analyze the feasibility of each Proposed Solution
 Analyze the Benefits to the Customer of each Proposed Solution
 Translate the Benefits in to Dollars – Both in Current Cost Reduction and in Revenue
Increase
 Analyze the Costs of each Proposed Solution
 Review Analysis results with Collaborating Vendors Management to filter unapproved
solutions
 Prepare a Summary Presentation slide of the Pain Point and the Solutions Analysis
 Prepare a General Proposal for each Pain Point including up to the top 3 Solutions as
Options to select from - Gather the Proposals from All involved vendors to present a
complete Integrated solution level proposal
New Challenge

Collect
Internal
Pain Points
Internally
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
Collect
External
Pain Points
Analyze
Solution
Options
Present to
The
Customer
 Schedule a meeting with Vendors and Amdocs Account Management to Coordinate the
Approach to the Customer
 Collect all Pain point Summary Slides to an Overall Presentation showing multiple Items
representing the Proactive effort made by the team to Improve the Customer’s experience
with services in TIS domain.
 Schedule a meeting with Customer Management to Present the Trusted Advisor Service
Analysis outcome
 Schedule follow up meetings per Pain point with aim to select the agreed solution
 Follow up on the Selected solutions through Sales, till Final Implementation
New Challenge

Exercise 11: Brainstorm – New Service Options
Everyone can Sale
As a Group Try to entertain different possible answers to the following question:
What is the next Direction TIS can grow in to?
In your discussion keep in mind the current capabilities TIS has, the resources TIS has
access to and the needs of the Customers TIS can provide services to.

Testing Junior Management Course v2

Testing Junior Management Course v2

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