anne marie charrett - curiosity killed the cat... (a case study) - eurostar 2013
DESCRIPTION
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Curiosity Killed The Cat... (a case study) by Anne Marie Charrett. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/TRANSCRIPT
Anne-Marie Charrett, Testing Times@CHARRETT
Curiosity Killed the Cat….
(a case study)
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs#esconfs
But what kills curiosity?This case study will be a springboard into a talk and then discussion on some ways we 'kill curiosity' within our teams. I will share some ‘Lessons Learned’ from the case study. Using my experience with test team transformation I’ll offer some pointers on how to create teams that encourage testers to question without compromising on project deadlines and goals.
The Story
Objectives and Goals
“As we discussed, our key priority is to bolster the existing testers and to help broaden the testing capability across the rest of the team with a view to understanding what we need to do to achieve a viable testing capability preferably without increasing our dedicated testing resource levels.”
Coaching philosophy
• A test coach
• Facilitate change
• To be dispensable
Challenges
• Testers felt they had no support
• Testers felt they weren’t listened to
• Excessive points for testing
• Stories not making release
• Difficult to accommodate change in priorities
• HTML breaking code in merge
• Hidden work
Some wins
• Testers worked together to solve the problems
• Brainstorming sessions between projects
• Developed cross project knowledge
• Introduced coaching
• Revised automation strategy
Quality Wins
• Agreement on Quality
• Definition of Done
• Checking & Testing
• Exploratory Testing
• Team ‘owns’ the problem
Smells
• No Stand Ups
• Poor Stories
• Cliques
• Bugs not being fixed
• Little communication
• Process Change
• Strategy Change
• No Scrum Master
Testers
Afraid to speak up
Afraid to question stories
Afraid to suggest change
Afraid to get bugs closed
Afraid to question developers
Blind spots
• I made assumptions about my role
• I made assumptions about the company
• I made assumptions about the team members
• I made assumptions about the testers ability
• I made assumptions about my own ability
• I didn’t see how the culture was affecting me
• I assumed that demonstrating quality testing would show value
What kills curiosity?
• Being intimidated• Lack of Understanding• Lack of Authority • Lack of Clarity • Lack of Trust • Lack of Knowledge• Lack of appreciation of culture • Arrogance • Cliques• I wasn’t a good fit • You can’t if its already dead
Discussion
Culture can kill curiosity
“Culture is a pattern of shared tacit assumptions that has
learned by a group, that has worked well enough to be considered valid ….”
--Edgar Schein
Culture @ ACME
• Don’t communicate
• Keep your head down
• Jiggling is good
• The business is not to be trusted
• Testers offer little value
LESSONS LEARNED
Be a Servant
Ask their opinion about what was needed
Ask their opinion about testing
Ask what isn’t working for them
Ask how can testers help?
Hold sessions explaining testing
Ask if you can help review the stories
Other Lessons Learned
Review goals regularly
You can’t change culture on your own
Power handed over is hard to regain
Delegate versus abdicate
Be humble – look to serve
Be vulnerable
Work with culture to achieve your goals
Test Team Transformation
• Get buy in from the top • Demonstrate value• Encourage Testers to lead change• Encourage testers to contribute to problem solving• Allow for failure • Review goals with stakeholders• Watch for your blind spots• Watch for culture! • Approach with humility • Step in where necessary • Bring in people they respect (Use people they respect)• Know your own goals
Thank You!