Food for Thought-An e-newsletter published by Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
January 2008, Vol. 5 No. 1
Do you have the Right Stuff to manage an SQA Group?

What topics would you like to see in this newsletter?  Each month, this
newsletter tries to provide you with useful information.  This is a two-way
street and your feedback is important.  Please send your thoughts and comments
to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Food for Thought(TM), an e-newsletter from Software Quality 
Consulting (http://www.swqual.com/index.html?Intro). I've created free
subscriptions for my valued business contacts. If you find this newsletter
informative, I encourage you to continue reading. Feel free to pass this
newsletter along to colleagues by clicking the Forward Email link at the bottom
of this page. If you�ve received this newsletter from a colleague and would like
to subscribe, please click this Enter New Subscription link
(http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/Subscribe.htm?Newsletter). If you don't wish
to receive this newsletter, click the SafeUnSubscribe(TM) link at the bottom of
this newsletter, and you won�t be bothered again.

Your continued feedback on this newsletter is most welcome. Please send 
your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** In This Issue ***

In This Months� Topic, I discuss the unique challenges of managing an SQA 
Group...

Regular features to look for each month are:

- Monthly Morsels
  Hints, tips, techniques and reference info related to this month�s topic 

- Calendar
  Conferences, workshops, and meetings of interest to software engineers, 
  QA engineers and anyone interested in software development 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** This Month�s Topic ***
 
DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF TO MANAGE AN SQA GROUP?

Tom Wolfe�s book tells the story of the original group of NASA astronauts 
who willingly accepted the dangers of space flight. Wolfe describes the 
enormous risks that Navy test pilots were already taking (one of four died 
in plane crashes), and of the extraordinary mental and physical 
characteristics required for and reinforced by their jobs. It was these 
mental and physical characteristics that became legendary and subsequently 
known as the �Right Stuff�.

Fortunately, managing a Software QA/Testing (SQA) Team is not (usually) 
life threatening. While managing an SQA Team has many similarities to 
managing other technical groups, there are several unique challenges that 
SQA Team managers face. Here is a sample of what SQA Managers are likely 
to encounter on a daily basis :

- The project schedule is always wrong and Development more often than not 
  delivers buggy code far later than scheduled. 

- Your team rarely, if ever, has the time they requested for an adequate 
  testing cycle, while Development always takes longer than expected. 

- Schedule pressure is intense throughout the project, reaching a 
  crescendo during the weeks just prior to release. 

- Prior to release, working 60-80 hour weeks is often required. If you or 
  one of your Testers needs to take time off during this period for any 
  reason, you are accused of �not being a team player.� 

- Intense scrutiny, second guessing, and armchair quarterbacking by others 
  who know little of what is involved in testing software is constant... 

- Support and recognition from upper management is negligible. 

- Developers are often praised for writing good code - regardless of the 
  number of defects SQA finds - while SQA receives little if any 
  recognition. 

- Measures of testing progress are demanded while it is rarely required 
  that Development or Marketing provide measures of the progress of their 
  work. [1] 

- If the project fails, you are blamed. 

- Finding and retaining talented people is a constant challenge. 

Without a doubt, managing a team of technical people can be one of the 
most difficult, challenging, frustrating, and potentially rewarding jobs 
you�ll ever have. 

From my experience as a manager and from working for many managers in my 
career, I�ve observed that:

- Not everyone has the Right Stuff to be a good manager. 

  Having strong technical skills doesn�t mean you have the right skills or 
  the right disposition to be a good manager. Staff members with strong 
  technical skills can be threatening to some managers. These managers 
  don�t understand that as a manager, your technical skills are secondary 
  to your management skills.

- Managers need coaching, mentors, and a support system. 

  Early on in my career, I was a Test Team Manager. Back then, I was not 
  aware that I needed to develop people management skills. I also didn�t 
  have any good role models I could learn from. As a result, I muddled my 
  way through with no training, no support system, and no feedback. 

  If you are committed to becoming a good manager, it is essential that 
  you find other more experienced managers you can talk to about your 
  management challenges. You may be lucky enough to find good managers 
  within your own organization who are willing to coach and mentor you. 
  There are many training programs that can be of assistance in this area. 
  Your HR Dept can probably help identify some training programs that can 
  help.

    Find out about the IEEE Mentoring Connection...
    (http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/mentoring/index.html)

  Within your organization, try to find other managers that you can talk 
  to in confidence about management challenges and ways to try to address 
  them. Your HR Dept. might be a resource for starting a manager�s support 
  group.

- Feedback is a two-way street. 

  One of the most important things a good manager does is give feedback - 
  both positive and negative. If you are the least bit uncomfortable with 
  doing this, you should seek out some coaching. Without the ability to 
  give timely, specific feedback, you can never become a good manager. 

  Here are some suggestions for giving feedback from Johanna Rothman and 
  Ester Derby:

  1 [Is this an appropriate] item for feedback: Does it affect the work? 
    Does it affect working relationships? If not, don't bother with 
    feedback.

  2 Prepare to give the feedback. Gather specific examples of recent 
    instances of the problem. Focus on behavior or results.

  3 Determine the outcome you desire. Be ready to give corrective feedback 
    or coaching.

  4 Always deliver feedback privately. Deliver "normal" feedback 
    (appreciations, corrective or coaching feedback) in one-on-ones.

  5 If you have some specific action or result you want, say it. If you're 
    open to a range of possible solutions, engage in joint problem 
    solving.

  6 Agree how you'll follow up. [2] 

  In addition to giving feedback, you need to receive feedback about how 
  you are doing as a manager. Feedback is essential for managers if they 
  want to improve. After several management jobs, I realized that feedback 
  is a two-way street. I was giving feedback to my staff about their 
  performance, but I needed them to give me feedback about my performance 
  as a manager. So I asked them for feedback in a way that was safe for 
  them. From that feedback, I learned a lot about what it takes to be a 
  good manager...

  If you or your staff are uncomfortable having this discussion, involve 
  an impartial third party (someone from HR) to act as an intermediary. 

    SQA Managers - could you benefit from some coaching? Contact me   
    ([email protected]) to set up a time for a free, no-strings-attached coaching
    session.

SO WHAT IS A GOOD MANAGER? 

In my opinion, a good manager has several characteristics. Here�s my Top 
Ten list:

- A good manager is someone who empowers people so they can achieve their 
  full potential. 

- A good manager works behind the scenes to make his/her team more 
  effective by removing obstacles and roadblocks. 

- A good manager realizes that every person has something different to 
  contribute and knows each person�s strengths and weaknesses. 

- A good manager is committed to helping each person achieve his/her 
  professional career goals, even if it means moving on to other groups 
  within the organization. 

- A good manager spends time with each person setting realistic project 
  goals and personal goals and then works with each person to help him/her 
  achieve those goals. 

- A good manager is constantly aware of the need to give specific, timely 
  feedback... 

- A good manager is a skilled and effective communicator that does not shy 
  away from dealing with difficult situations. 

- A good manager leads by example. 

- A good manager�s management style can be characterized as Management By 
  Walking Around... 
- A good manager recognizes that when people feel valued and truly enjoy 
  their work, they can move mountains to achieve shared goals. 

Good managers are rare. Most people are lucky to have worked for one 
really �good manager� during their entire career. I believe this is the 
case because we don�t pay enough attention to what it takes to be a good 
manager...

SPECIAL CHALLENGES IN MANAGING SQA TEAMS 

As a former manager of several SQA Teams, I encountered several management 
challenges that I found to be unique to SQA Teams. Here are some of these 
challenges and my recommendations for dealing with them.

- People Challenges 

  Once upon a time, QA Engineers and Testers were viewed as second-class 
  citizens in the organization. It has taken a long time to raise the 
  level of professionalism for QA Engineers and Testers. Today, many 
  enlightened organizations have realized that QA Engineers and Testers 
  are just as important as Software Engineers and Developers. 

  Recommendations for Managers:

  1 It is essential that, as a manager, you take steps to improve the 
    professionalism of your staff. This means that you need to: 

    - Review job descriptions for QA Engineers and Testers and if 
      necessary, strengthen requirements for educational background, 
      professional certifications, experience, and communication skills. 
      Talk to your staff about skills they feel are essential for their 
      job.

      Read about responsibilities for Software Quality Engineers and 
      Testers... (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol3/no9/vol3no9.html)

      Learn more about certification from ASQ Software Division...
      (http://www.asq.org/software/getcertified/index.html)

    - Know the background (education and work experience) of each member 
      of your staff. Spend time with each person to identify his/her 
      strengths and weaknesses and come up with an annual plan for 
      leveraging those strengths and improving those weaknesses (by 
      attending training, working with a mentor, etc.) 

      Training for QA Engineers and Testers...
      (http://www.swqual.com/training/on_site.html)

    Remember that how the organization views your team is a direct 
    reflection of you as a manager.

  2 If you change job descriptions for QA Engineers and Testers, review 
    the new job descriptions with each member of your staff. Identify each 
    person�s weaknesses with respect to the job and from that, identify 
    specific shared goals that you both need to work on. This could 
    include things like writing skills, testing skills, programming skills 
    (for automation tools), etc. You as the manager need to take specific 
    steps to enable your employee to be successful. You should identify 
    what these steps are and when you expect to accomplish them. Your 
    employee should do the same. Plan another one-on-one meeting to follow 
    up...

  3 Work with other technical managers to identify career paths into your 
    group as well as career paths out of your group. For example, 
    Technical Support is a group where providing a career path into SQA 
    can work extremely well. People in Technical Support usually have an 
    extraordinary amount of domain knowledge and these folks can be easily 
    trained in basic testing skills. 

    Once these career paths are defined, discuss them with your team and 
    identify for each person, what his/her long-term (5-year) career goals 
    are. The best way to maintain morale and retain staff is to take a 
    sincere interest in helping your staff achieve shared career goals.

  4 Reward and recognize outstanding performance. 

    Doing this well is a critical skill for good managers. Knowing what to 
    recognize, when to recognize and how is essential. For example:

    - Catch your people doing something right. 

      Recognition can be tricky. Too much recognition quickly becomes 
      meaningless while too little recognition leads to frustration. Learn 
      how to provide meaningful recognition when your people accomplish 
      something they deem significant. To learn more about this simple 
      technique, read The One Minute Manager (http://www.amazon.com/
      exec/obidos/ASIN/0688014291/bookstorenow57-20) [3].

    - Recognize positive behaviors as close as possible to when the 
      behaviors occur. 

      This helps ensure that your people know you are paying attention to 
      what they are doing. Similarly, negative behaviors also need to be 
      identified and discussed as close as possible to when they occur...

    - Know the person you are rewarding well-enough to know what reward 
      would be meaningful to him/her. 

      For example, someone who puts in extra hours on the weekend might 
      really appreciate a day off to attend a child�s school event. As a 
      manager, you need to know what kind of reward would be most 
      meaningful for each person on your team.

    - Not everyone wants to be rewarded publicly. 

      Some people public recognition, others don�t. As a manager, you need 
      to know the preferences for each of your people.

  5 Use Performance Plans to change behaviors. 

    People generally behave in ways that are directly or indirectly 
    determined by what they are being measured on. If you want to change 
    behaviors, change the way people are measured.
 
- Organizational Challenges 

  Some organizations view SQA as the group that gets in the way of meeting 
  schedules. Since most testing occurs just prior to release, those 
  involved at the end of the process are often blamed for the release 
  being late. A blaming organization can be a toxic place to work... 

    �From a very early age we like to blame. If you don�t believe me then 
    take some time watching the activities of small children. When one 
    child does something wrong then the tendency is to blame the others � 
    usually to avoid punishment!

    Why is a blame culture unhealthy for test teams? Because we become 
    fearful of taking any risk in case we make a mistake. When asked do 
    you [have] a blaming culture, [one manager] replied; �Well if we do, 
    it�s their fault!� 

    If we are to learn, progress and become more productive as a team then 
    we must fight the �blame culture� mentality.� [4] 

  As a manager, you need to take steps to avoid blame. Acknowledge poor 
  performance by your team to demonstrate you are willing to accept 
  responsibility when it is deserved. Provide objective evidence when 
  others are at fault in a non-accusatory way to demonstrate you are not 
  interested in blaming others. 

  Maintaining positive and productive working relationships is critical 
  for every SQA Team. These include relationships with: 

  - Project Management 
  - Senior Management 
  - Software Development 
  - Technical Support 

  To be effective, SQA Teams need real support and real commitment from 
  Project and Senior Management. This doesn�t mean that everyone will 
  always be in agreement, but everyone�s opinions and recommendations need 
  to be heard, respected, and considered. 

  In relations with Software Development, SQA needs to be up-front, 
  objective and able to support their position with facts. I often suggest 
  that Testers take a Developer to lunch every month (and vice versa) as a 
  way to foster good working relationships. Managers on both sides should 
  do the same. 

  SQA can learn a lot about what customers are doing by establishing good 
  working relationships with Technical Support. Information from Tech 
  Support should be factored into test plans. Technical Support can be an 
  excellent reviewer of test plans as well.

  Recommendations for Managers:

  1 To be effective, SQA must be independent of Software Development. 

    SQA should report to the same executive that the most senior 
    development manager reports to, or in an organization that has a 
    senior executive responsible for overall product quality, SQA can 
    report to that position. The SQA budget should be separate from the 
    software development budget.

    Read more about leveraging your SQA resources...
    (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol3/no5/vol3no5.html)

  2 The role of SQA must be clearly articulated throughout the 
    organization. I recommend the role of SQA should be to provide 
    Management with timely, factual information so Management can make 
    better business decisions. 

    SQA should provide information on risk, potential customer impact, 
    etc. By using information from SQA, Development, and other groups, 
    Management can then make informed decisions about releasing products. 
    The information SQA provides needs to be considered in this decision, 
    but ultimately, the decision rests with Management. Sometimes SQA may 
    not agree with the decisions Management makes. If Management never 
    agrees with SQA, there�s a problem...

  3 SQA should not be solely responsible for making the release decision. 

    SQA should clearly participate in the decision-making process. 
    Management owns the responsibility for making the ultimate decision. 
    As an SQA Manager, be aware that there will be pressure from many 
    parts of the organization to place this responsibility on SQA. 

    Read more about the role of SQA...
    (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol2/no1/vol2no1.html)

SUMMARY 

The challenges of managing an SQA Team are significant. By becoming a good 
manager, the rewards can be equally substantial. It�s akin to watching 
your children grow up into responsible, mature adults and knowing that you 
played some small part in their success. If nothing else, remember this:

  Good managers are good leaders and good leaders lead by example.

�Til next time... 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Monthly Morsels ***

Every month in this space you�ll find additional information related to 
this month�s topic.

- References: 

  [1] Rivera, T. and Will, S., �Lessons from Experience: Managing Software 
  Test Teams�, Software Quality Professional, Vol. 10, No. 1, December 
  2007 

  [2] Derby, E., and Rothman, J., Behind Closed Doors - Secrets of Great 
  Management, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005

  [3] Blanchard, K., and Johnson, S., The One Minute Manager, Morrow, 
  1981. 

  [4] Roden, L., �Choosing and Managing the Ideal Test Team�, Grove 
  Consultants.

- Additional Resources: 

  - McKay, J., Managing the Test People, Rocky Nook, 2007
    (http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Test-People-Judy-McKay/
    dp/1933952121/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199553215&sr=8-1)

  - ASQ Software Division - Software Quality Engineer Body of Knowledge...
    (http://www.asq.org/certification/software-quality-engineer/bok.html)

  - QAI Advanced Certification - Software Testing Manager
    (http://www.softwarecertifications.org/qai_cmst.htm)

  - QAI Advanced Certification - Software Quality Manager
    (http://www.softwarecertifications.org/qai_cmsq.htm)

  - IEEE Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge 
    (http://www.swebok.org/)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Calendar ***

Every month you�ll find news here about local and national events that 
are of interest to the software community...

- Software Quality Calendar 

  There are many organizations that sponsor monthly meetings, workshops, 
  and conferences of interest to software professionals. Find out what�s 
  happening... (http://www.swqual.com/links/upcoming.html)

- Workshops Offered by Software Quality Consulting 

  Software Quality Consulting offers workshops in many topics related to 
  software process improvement. Get more info... 
  (http://www.swqual.com/seminars/courses.html)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** About SQC ***

Software Quality Consulting provides consulting, training, and auditing 
services tailored to meet the specific needs of clients. We help clients 
fine-tune their software development processes and improve the quality of 
their software products. The overall goal is to help clients achieve 
Predictable Software Development(TM) � so that organizations can consistently 
deliver quality software with promised features in the promised timeframe. 

To learn more about how we can help your organization, visit our web site
(http://www.swqual.com/index.html?AboutSQC) or send us an email
([email protected]).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this newsletter has been informative and helpful. Your comments and 
feedback are most welcome. Send me your feedback... ([email protected])

Thanks,

Steve Rakitin
[email protected]

Food for Thought, Predictable Software Development, Act Like a Customer,
and ALAC are trademarks of Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
Copyright 2008. Software Quality Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.
Graphic design by Sage Studio