Strategies for Meeting Stakeholder Expectations

“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.” -  Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings.

Sometimes, as a Tester I feel as if I am the only one with a grip on reality!

• Delivery into test is late but still the Project Manager expects us to do the same level of testing in less time.
• The system is not meeting the customer expectations but still the Product Owner wants to ship.
• The Developers are rejecting every defect we raise and somehow it’s our fault that the code is buggy. 

What Are the Best Practices for Managing Conflict?

Yes, this really happened! I was working on a huge government project, and along with the Chief Acceptance Officer for the program, I was visiting a supplier to sign off the acceptance of their data centre.

The plan was that:

• The supplier would present the evidence of testing.
• I would confirm that I had checked it all and that it was good to go.
• The Acceptance Officer would sign off on the report.
• The supplier would get a cheque for £20 million in the post!

Reflecting on the Value of a Testing Centre of Excellence

In my last post I discussed how a Testing Centre of Excellence can reduce cost and create efficiency in an organisation. In this post, I will discuss some of the other benefits of a TCOE.

A Testing Centre of Excellence can:

• Increase test maturity and promote innovation across the organisation
• Define, encourage and enforce best practices
• Define test policy and test strategies aligned with the business needs

Introduction to Lean Testing Principles

In the previous part of this 2-part series, we identified how taking a Lean approach to testing can highlight various wastes that testers face in a project team, and external wastes that end users deal with. This concluding part will identify some solutions that can help with reducing the three types of waste, Muri, Mura and Muda and how continuous improvement can lead on to creating value for the customer.

Expectations vs. Reality

For many of you reading this article, you will be sitting down with your peers working out the 2017 budget, considering the change of IT landscape, new applications being developed and of course upgrades to existing functionality. Doing so by employing ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) and WAG (Wild Arse Guess) techniques to come up with a suitable budget to deliver IT to your organisation.

Strategies for Attracting Top Talent

How hard can it be? Well hiring a Test Manager is simple - right? Well they all pretty much look the same, have the same key points on their CV and have all ticked 80% of the boxes for what you are looking for but that just complicates the process in reality.

Is the Role of Test Manager Facing Extinction in Today's Agile World?

So by now, you would have realised that projects run using waterfall methodologies are from the Triassic period and Agile is the new kid on the block and here to stay (well for the next six months at least..). And, the traditional role of a Test Manager seems no more, almost extinct like the Tyrannosaurs. But wait, just because testers are working in collaboration with the project teams and reporting, estimating and planning directly with them doesn’t mean the Test Management role is dead as a Dodo, no far from it.

Essential Skills for Test Managers

This is the second in a series of posts on Test Management. If you haven’t had chance to read the first part, you can do so here.

So now you understand the importance of Test Management and the consequences of getting it wrong; but knowing what you should do is only half the story, what about the person who is the Test Manager? What are their qualities to execute good Test Management? This post will highlight the five key attributes of a Test Manager and give a flavour of what your organisation needs to look for when looking to employ personnel within the test management function.

Exploring the Benefits of Testing Consultancy

It wasn’t that long ago that the World Wide Web was invented, 1990 to be precise. Following that historic invention came the online retailers and online banks to much appreciation of those of us who are pressed for time or simply want to search the web for inspiration. Most high street banks and retailers now report that their online store or bank is their largest customer touch point and real focus on it being the best and most robust is very much in demand.