Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jake Brake on April 10, 2009 at 18:44

Do you intend "QA" as software/systems testing as in defect-detection - or - do you mean "QA" as in the classic general sense as defect-prevention - inspections, reviews, requirements-management, traceability, etc?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by mak on April 10, 2009 at 19:02

I mean QA in the broader sense i.e., "QA" as in the classic general sense as defect-prevention - inspections, reviews, requirements-management, traceability, etc.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jake Brake on April 10, 2009 at 19:17

I would discuss "Quality Ownership" with each. I would want to know how each feels about how their decisions, feelings or actions (or lack of) can affect product quality. I would also want to know how much of an ownership stake each feels they have. I would then want to know what each would do to increase their ownership stake "size". My motivation for wanting such a discussion of fact/feeling-finding discussion is based upon at least two recent blog posts at this site and here.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joel Montvelisky on April 10, 2009 at 19:20

In general, I would come and ask them what information they require from me to make their work related decisions. This since I think our main task as QA Engineers and Managers is to provide visibility into the product and process to all our stakeholders - and if this interests you feel free to read about what I call Testing Intelligence.

Specifically, I am making a lot of assumptions and trying to think based on my last 2 jobs, but obviously these questions should be completely different between different organizations and working cultures.
Still, here are my questions:

My CTO:
- How does he see the future of the product and what are the most strategic aspects of our offering?

My Division Head
- Same as CTO PLUS
- What areas in the current product or project are the most important to our strategic customers and to our companies current campaigns?
- Other than Development, what other Division Groups does he think the QA should interact more than we do today?

My Development Lead
- What areas in the current product or project are the most important to our strategic customers and to our companies current campaigns? (same as Division Head)
- What areas in the product have the biggest risk (from his point of view) and require better review from the QA?
- What internal dev team should the QA make an extra effort to work closer than what we are doing now?

Fellow QA (for the sake of interest, I am assuming that she is not from my own project/department)
- From her perspective, where can the QA do a better job of providing visibility?
- How does she perceive the communication of our team with the rest of the organization?
- What interesting stuff have they been working on her team that we can leverage to ours?

Developer
- What areas in the product have the biggest risk (from his point of view) and require better review from the QA? (same as Dev Lead)
- How does he perceive the communication with his QA counterparts.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Pradeep Soundararajan on April 13, 2009 at 13:58

To all:

What do you think is software testing?
I_
Why do you think that's right?
I_
Give me an example of what you would do as a tester?
I_
Is that aligning with the definition of testing you had for the world?
I_
What does your manager think software testing is?
I_
What if he has a different opinion on software testing than you? How would you serve him?

Asking yourselves:

What can I learn something from this person that can help me develop myself as a better tester?


What you see here is you could ask a provocative question and get into the thread or create different threads. I think creating one thread is sufficient to diversify the information you can gather from them.

Hey look, I forgot, it depends on the context. What if you already know them and what if you are interviewing them?
The questions would vary, right?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Linda Wilkinson on April 13, 2009 at 17:06

Well, I'm a QA Manager and I report to a Division Head (VP) and meet every 6 months with the CTO (Senior VP) to discuss QA issues, so here goes:

1. With the CTO, I discuss what we've accomplished during the past 6 months and our goals for the next 6 via a Powerpoint presentation. I talk about time/money saved through efficiencies, ROI on any internal initiatives coming up, and costs associated with our goals for the next six months. I also ask questions regarding overall strategic direction for IT to make sure we continue to support corporate initiatives for the coming period. If I have any serious issues that require executive management assistance, I bring them up with potential solutions (again, solutions are always costed).
I make sure to thank him for his time and support; he's very supportive of our organization and his schedule is Total Madness and he travels to several continents for the company; the fact that he puts time aside for this discussion is a sign of his continuing support and attention.

2. I meet with the division head twice a week; we review progress and discuss upcoming events. I bring up any issues that might be interesting; sometimes as an FYI and sometimes because those issues might escalate to something that requires his attention, whether they are project- or personnel-based.

3. I meet with development leads and PMs on an as-needed, project basis. Normally I discuss what type of project methodology they're planning to use, what type of support they'd like from our organization, their tentative schedules, and what they're prepared to fund. Once we assign personnel to their effort, they know they're free to come back to me if there are any problems/issues.

4. With fellow QA staff, I discuss test technique and strategies for handling different projects, schedules, personnel issues, workload-related issues, and anything preventing them from efficiently handling their work. We also discuss new, emerging techniques and training; we work for a mentoring-based organization. On occasion, we discuss disposition of a (given) defect; if my staff want something escalated, it goes to me as Step 1.

5. With individual developers, I'm normally discussing schedule, very specific defects/problems, or requests for support or use of our testing environment. On occasion, I'm consulted for advice on testing strategies in other environments.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ainars Galvans on April 14, 2009 at 7:37

I'm not native English, so I use dictionary for term discuss. There are 3 not-obsolete meanings:
a) to investigate by reasoning or argument
b) to present in detail for examination or consideration
c) to talk about
Each of them triggers different ideas (based on different goals: investigate, present, excite). I do try to investigate company, project, technology and even complex features by consideration and by examination. I do try to present my vision of testing and how to use tester resources efficiently. And I do sometimes just talk about testing with fellow QA and developers. For example I like to tell developers about exciting bugs I've ever found.
But in any case I think the topics not only depend on the title of a person. It depends on his background and your precious communication history. For example there is one Dev. Lead person in my company who started as tester in my team... he did an outstanding testing job but was more passionate with development. As you could imagine we had quite unique discussion with him.

• ▶ Reply