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T12$Session!6/25/2015! !1:30!PM!!!!!
“If$You$Could$Turn$Back$Time:$Coaching$New$
Testers”$$
Presented$by:$
Christin$Wiedemann$and$Richard$Lu$
Professional$Quality$Assurance,$Ltd.$
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Brought$to$you$by:$
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340!Corporate!Way,!Suite!300,!Orange!Park,[email protected]!D!www.sqe.com!
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After finishing her PhD in physics, Christin Wiedemann started working as a software developer. When asked to test on a project, she realized she had found her true vocation. Later Christin joined the Swedish test company AddQ Consulting where she worked as a tester, test lead, and trainer, giving courses on agile testing, test design, and exploratory testing throughout Europe. Christin is a co-creator of the exploratory testing approach xBTM. In her current role as co-CEO of Professional Quality Assurance (PQA), Christin’s primary objective is achieving delivery excellence, which is closely coupled with her continuing efforts to drive PQA’s research and method development.
!Richard Lu joined Professional Quality Assurance (PQA) Ltd. in 2013. Since then, he has been keenly exploring the world of software testing, continuously expanding his testing skills, and gaining experience with various projects and project environments. His passion for testing has driven him to consider ways to engage junior testers through mentoring and training to make them valued team members.
Christin Wiedemann
Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.
Richard Lu
Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 1
If You Could Turn Back Time: Coaching New Testers
Christin Wiedemann & Richard Lu, PQA Testing STARCANADA 2015
About Us
Christin Wiedemann • Co-CEO at PQA Testing • Ph.D. in particle physics • Developer
Richard Lu • Software Tester at PQA Testing • M.Eng in Electrical Engineering • Traffic Calming Engineer • Electrical Engineer Assistant
2 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 2
Career Planning
3 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Career Planning
There are a lot of “accidental testers”. • What are the potential ramifications? • What are the upsides?
Where do your new hires fit in? • Tester by coincidence? • Tester by choice?
4 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 3
Attracting and Retaining Talent
How do you grow and retain the talent that you do attract?
How do you attract talent to a profession that is largely unknown to the general public, and often pays less than, for example, a developer position?
5 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Our Goal
Our Goal Advocate testing as a fun and interesting profession with great career opportunities
Share our experiences being new testers, and working with new testers
Provide tips for how to coach people who are new to testing and help them grow into smart testers
6 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 4
Outline
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
7 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
A Career in Testing
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
8 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 5
A Career in Testing
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Testing is fun, creative and challenging
Testing takes skill, training and
experience
Testing provides a multitude of
career opportunities
A Career in Testing
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Testing is often undervalued
Lack of university software testing
programs
Lower status than other roles
in IT
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 6
A Career in Testing
Why do people give
up their testing
careers?
Don’t understand the purpose of the
work they do or how it fits into the
context of software development
Not treated as part of the team
Testing is not valued internally
Don’t see a clear career path with
options for advancement
Offered better paid job as e.g. developer
11 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
A Career in Testing
Testing is a key component of building high-quality software products
The industry needs smart testers doing smart testing
But, even Computer Science graduates often lack understanding of, and training in, testing
You must be prepared to teach new testers the skills required
New testers need onboarding and coaching
12 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 7
A Career in Testing
Why, and how, did you become a tester?
Did you experience any difficulties when you first joined a testing team?
Does your company have
a formal onboarding
process for new testers?
Why do you remain a
software tester?
13 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Challenges That New Testers Face
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 8
Challenges That New Testers Face
Knowledge Transfer
Communication
Finding Resources and Applying Knowledge
“Boring” Work
Team Dynamic and Work Culture
15 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Knowledge Transfer
You might have a lot of senior people willing to teach you, but can they transfer their knowledge
to you?
Everyone on the team doesn’t have the same background and experience.
Senior people may just throw a lot of technical jargon at you that you may not necessarily
understand.
16 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 9
Communication
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Communicating with different stakeholders
Different types and styles of communication
Understanding the vocabulary
Finding Resources and Applying Knowledge
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Lack of documentation and formal procedure
What to report as a bug
Applying theoretical knowledge
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 10
“Boring” Work
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Objective and
importance of testing not clear
Checking rather than
testing
Only allowed to do
scripted testing
Not being intellectually challenged
Team Dynamic and Work Culture
20 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Working as part of a team, as well as
independently
Adapting to a different culture
Being proactive and taking initiative
Dealing with issues and conflict
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 11
Growing Smart Testers
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
21 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Who is Responsible?
Team New tester
Challenge
Room to grow
Support
Role models
Know what you don’t know
Ask – but research first
Take initiative
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 12
Growing Smart Testers
Understanding the tester role and how testers fit
in on the team
Defining what makes a good, or smart, tester
Recruiting the right people, for the right reasons
Providing proper onboarding, training and career options
Hiring, growing and retaining
great testers
23 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
The Role of a Software Tester
Software tester
Why test
How to test
When to test
How much to
test
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 13
Attributes of a Smart Tester
Training
Cognitive Skills
Soft Skills
Smart Testers
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Recruiting Right
New tester should have the right personality and mind set
They don’t need to have a
background in development or
Computer Science
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 14
The TEST Framework
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
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The TEST Onboarding and Coaching Framework
T Training
E Empowerment
S Support
T Teamwork 28 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
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©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 15
Training
Training
Knowledge transfer
Finding resources and applying knowledge
Mentoring, courses, conferences, self study, user groups…
29 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Empowerment
Empowerment
“Boring work”
Value of testing
Assisting rather than shadowing
Accountability, but room to make mistakes
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
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Support
Support
Finding resources and applying knowledge
Team dynamic and work culture
Regular check points and frequent feedback
Buddy or mentoring system
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Teamwork
Teamwork
Communication
Team dynamic and work culture
“Test infected” teams
Testing part of software development
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 17
Lessons Learned
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
33 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Dos and Don’ts
Don’t confuse onboarding and orientation
Don’t separate training and work – use guided experimental learning
Don’t fix new testers’ mistakes – teach them to not make them
Don’t hold it against them if they want to change careers – testing might not be a fit
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PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 18
Dos and Don’ts
Treat every new tester as a unique individual
Allow new testers to fail – but make sure to be there to help them learn from their mistakes
Give frequent feedback – aim for small adjustments rather than drastic changes
Learn what the person’s strengths, weaknesses and interests are
Put testing in context and always explain why
35 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Summary
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
36 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 19
Needs of New Testers
Having tools and resources
Seeing career options and growth
Understanding the role of a
tester
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Growing a Smart Test Team
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Identify the challenges that new testers face
Create the right environment, and help testers to overcome these challenges
Keep new testers engaged and grow a healthy test team
PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 20
Thank You
39 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com
Christin Wiedemann
PQA Testing
@c_wiedemann
www.pqatesting.com
Richard Lu
PQA Testing
www.pqatesting.com