Egbert Bouman - What Testers Can Learn From Management Gurus

EuroSTAR 2008, The Hague

What testers can learnfrom

management gurusEgbert Bouman, egbertbouman@valori.nl

An excellent tester … comes in four.

1. Test skills: methods, techniques, tools

2. IT skills: IT architecture, programming, tools

3. Soft skills: communication, management

4. Domain knowledge: understanding your (customers) business

Sources: Stuart Reid, SmarTEST, …

Test skills

Domain knowledge

Softskills

ITskills

An excellent tester … has the right attitude.

What’s the difference?

The developer …

The user …

The tester …

Constructive maliciousness:

Make things fail…

…to make things better

Testers pigheads? Don’t fool us, stupid!

We firmly disagree!

Some people think testers

are pigheads.

Ron Tolido discussed IT characters in

‘Automati seringgids’, jan

2005

Funny and food for thought!

Let’s do the test:

1 2

Let’s do the test:

1 2

So testers are not pig-headed. That’s to say…

It’s a little bit in our character First see, then believe

Cherishing our independence

And there’s nothing wrong with that Mea culpa: SmarTEST

Independent testing is crucial to IT projects

But we do have a challenge Current IT development: agile, be involved

Dedication to business and IT

How to stay independent?

The future of independent testing

Involved

Empathic

Dedicated

Smart

Adaptive

Risk aware

Persistent

but not

but not

but not

but not

but not

but not

without being

Compromised

Overly soft

Blindfolded

Too pragmatic

Unreflective

Anxious

Pig headed

Required: an extraverted and inspiring test culture

Test culture = people business, isn’t it?

Here we go again…

What is ‘culture’, actually?

Kenichi Ohmae (McKinsey):

“The way we do things around here”

A culture simply exists

Cannot easily be made

Want to create a culture?Why not listen to the experts?

www.managementgurus.nl

Ample choice!

Which guru is gonna help us in fostering

an inspiring and extraverted test

culture?

Today: five advices from five premium gurus

1. Foster collaboration and transparancy(Prahalad)

2. Don’t underestimate anybody(Kets de Vries)

3. Create communities(Maslov)

4. Be a leader, rather than a manager(Covey)

5. Maintain your focus(Collins)

References, links and further

reading for the next slides:

www.smartest.nl

1. C.K. Prahalad

Godfather of “Core competencies”. Introduced the notion in 1990

Godfather of “Co-creation” Create a culture of collaboration and transparancy

Adopt DART model: Dialogue, Access, Risk analysis, Transparancy

Compare this to the ‘Agile Manifesto’:

1. Collaboration and Independence

Dialogue

Access

Risk analysis

Transparancy

DART is a useful framework for testers Smart, collaborative, agile

Whilst maintaining independence

Let DART inspire you to jump in the development process

avoiding the independency risk

Collaborative and agile testing…

… maintaining independency and risk awareness.

2. Manfred Kets de Vries

Psychologist and manager Author of ‘Leaders, Fools and Impostors:

Essays on the Psychology of Leadership’

Higly respected personal coach for top managers

Famous free course every year

People are complex Everybody is a betrayer,

Even you!

To a certain extent

That’s no disqalifier But culture and organisation

do affect your behaviour

Unaware: 80-95%

Aware: 5-20%, WIIFM

2. Don’t underestimate anybody

People may seem predictable History doesn’t repeat, neither do people

Many - and complex – drivers

Don’t expect altruism Project interests and personal interests should run in parallel

In mid-term and long run

Projectlead

Reqts Implement TestmanagerIT

Testmanager

Testmanager

3. Abraham Maslow

For test leads:

Two lower rows should be OK.

The opportunities are in the upper tree

American psychologist

Developed the “humanistic psychology” Each individual: unique and varied motivators

Same base motivation hierarchy

3. Create communities

Bring people together in (sub)groups E.g. Special Interest Groups

And kill three birds with one stone

Adressing uppermost Maslow levels Social: meet (professional) colleagues

Esteem: gain respect from the group

Actualisation: increase your skills

Create communities

4. Stephen Covey

American management consultant Personal, business and family values

“The seven habits of highly effective people”

habit 1 - be proactive

habit 2 - begin with the end in mind

habit 3 - put first things first

habit 4 - think win-win

habit 5 - seek first to understand and then to be understood

habit 6 - synergize

habit 7 - sharpen the saw

4. Be a leader, rather than a manager

The eighth habit: inspire others Uncover your own voice, and let it be heard…

… and help others to find their own voice.

From personal to leadership greatness The manager controls

The leader inspires

Take and give responsibility Stakeholders

Developers

Testers

5. Jim Collins

Key points from his bestseller ‘Good to Great’:

First Who ... Then What. Hire the right people.

Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith). Be honest about what you can and can not be the best at.

The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity). Focus, stick to what you can and are the best at.

A Culture of Discipline. The right people are self disciplined about it.

Technology Accelerators. Technology is not the magic answer, but it can accelerate you.

5. Keep your focus

Testers are not expected to be surprising Neither is your financial accountant

We must be reliable, credible, trustworthy, dependable

Collins: do your good job, steady and persevering It will bring you success in the end

New day, new idea? Don’t bother, you don’t always need to!

No need to read all the gurus Just five will do

They’ll enrich you!

Keep focusand determination

Testers: from pigheads to lead inspirators

Foster collaboration and transparancy

Keep being persistent

Further reading Links and references: www.smartest.nl

SmarTEST book

Smart andhappy testing!

Right now,here today,

or drop me an e-mail.

Egbert Bouman, Valoriegbertbouman@valori.nl