1 Day

"Lots of great takeaway information that can be implemented in my office" - StarEast 2006 attendee

"I would definitely recommend or attend another one of his (Randy's) courses." - Michael Zehring

This one-day workshop is designed for test leaders and test managers, people who expect to be in a test leadership role, or people who lead other test managers and test leaders. The main objective of this session is to teach you how to influence your team and others to make testing the best it can be in your organization.   

Test team leadership has many unique challenges and many test team leaders (especially new ones) find themselves ill-equipped to deal with the problems they face on a daily basis. The test team leader must be able to motivate and influence people, while keeping the test on track with time and budget constraints.

The first part of this session will focus on how to grow as a leader and how to influence your team and those around you. You will learn how to become a person of influence, deal with interpersonal issues, and how to influence your team in building their skills and value.

The afternoon session will focus on influencing those outside of your team. You will learn how to communicate your value to management, how to stand firm when asked to compromise and how to improve by learning from successes and failures.

Finally, you will develop your own action plan to implement the things you plan to do to grow as a leader.

Return on Investment

• Learn how to encourage and grow your test team.
• Understand the key issues in influencing others.
• Learn how to deal with people issues that can easily derail your team.
• Get the most out of your existing investment in people and how to leverage that investment.
• Advance your career by reinforcing your ability to effectively lead a team.
  
  

Who Will Benefit

• QA and Test Managers
• Aspiring QA and Test Managers
  
  

This course requires basic testing knowledge or experience.  Technical knowledge is not a pre-requisite.

Program Information

This course is presented on an in-house basis only unless offered as a special public course. Contact us for information about how to bring this course into your organization.

Content and Structure

• What is a Leader?
• How to Grow as a Leader and Person of Influence
  •  Building Relationships
  •  Maturing as a Leader
• The Role of Credibility as a Tester and Leader
• • Building Credibility
  • Keeping Credibility
  • Damage Control - Rebuilding Lost Credibility
• Exercise - The Testing Apprentice
• The Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing
• Exercise - Self-Assessment
• Influencing Your Team
  • Seven Ways to Multiply Team Value
  • More About Mentoring and Apprenticeships
    • The Value of Delegation
  • Exercise - Sharing Your Knowledge
  • The Coaching Model
    • The Law of the Niche
    • Dealing With Weak Links
• Building Your Team’s Skills - Training vs. Learning
  • Exercise - Self-Assessment
• Conflict Resolution
  • Exercise - Conflict Resolution
• Influencing Those Outside Your Team
  • Communicating with Purpose and Clarity
  • Being an Advocate for Your Team
    • Communicating Your Value
    • Standing Firm
  • Exercise - The Deadline
• Knowing When to Make Your Message
  • Informally (The Elevator Talk)
  • Formally (The Presentation)
• Knowing How to Make Your Message
  • Persuasion
  • Consistency
  • Value-Focused
  • Dealing with Data
  • Exercise - The Elevator Talk
• Influencing the Process
  • Learning from Defects
  • Learning from Active Feedback and Failure
  • Process Improvement without Process Improvement Models
  • Becoming an Agent for Change in Your Organization
  • Starting Small - The "Skunkworks" Approach
  • Celebrating and Rewarding Success
• Creating Your Action Plan
  • Identify Your Goals
    • Short-Term
    • Mid-Term
    • Long-Term
      
      

Deliverables

• Course notebook with slides and worksheets
• You will have the information needed to be an effective test team leader.