Wishing you joy, peace, love and laughter. May you take time to enjoy the precious and too often overlooked aspects of life. Ditch the holiday consumerism and dig into the real reason for the season.
May you uncover, explore, accept and embrace the purposes & plans you should pursue in 2012. Let your pursuit of happiness not be a harbinger of harm to others. May you have a life & career you look forward to living!
Wishing you business success & personal joy!
Karen D. Bowser
Robyn and Matia were discussing how Matia could relieve herself of her work overload while maintaining sufficient insight, standards, and accountability.
“You may want a Program Manager to assist you.” Robyn said. ”It’s like a general management role within a Quality Assurance group. This person has a high level ‘what does this group need to fulfill its purpose?’ perspective. That way your QA Leads can do their project-level role while you have someone to share the group and division-level perspective with you.” Robyn explained.
“Marisol would be perfect for that.” Matia replied. ”She has a project management background and typically comes up with ideas for helping us as a group. I’ll think about that and maybe approach her.”
“Would that leave you short on testers?” Robyn asked. ”We’re trying to keep you from getting involved with that except on rare occasions or for fun or staff development.”
“I can get interns from one of the local computer science programs. We have a budget line item for that and it’s a great way to recruit staff. They make money; their course work becomes more understandable; they gain practical experience and a possible job after they graduate. We get intelligent and motivated people who have the foundation to learn the business.
They also bring a fresh perspective and don’t have the baggage people who’ve been working for a while tend to carry with them.” replied Matia.
“Excellent! It sounds like you’ve defined some options. Let’s recap your next steps.”
-To be Continued
Robyn and Matia were discussing how Matia could relieve herself of her work overload while maintaining sufficient insight, standards, and accountability.
“How about handing the projects that Matthew and Kelly are co-piloting completely over to them?” Robyn proposed. ”Right now they keep you informed so you shouldn’t have to worry about them running amok. We can work on communicating what type of information you need, how frequently and the boundaries between their decision-making authority and yours.”
Matia nodded and it seemed like she sat up taller and straighter. ”Yes; they’re reliable. I think I need to formally assign some of the testers to each of them. Right now it’s more like two groups that typically work together but I’m the QA Lead and Matthew and Kelly my assistants.
“Also I do have the ability to promote Prakesh to QA Lead. He has most of the needed skills and has assisted Matthew, Kelly, and even me. I think I can restructure my team and form 3 QA cells then divide the projects among them.”
Robyn asked “Have you considered bringing in someone to assist you in managing the group?”
“No. What are you thinking?” Matia asked.
“This is not an immediate need, per se, but even with a well structured group, there’s much for you to administrate on the people side, group side and project side.”
-To be Continued
At Parc Guell in Barcelona - Dream Turned Reality
This year I wanted to focus on the good that has come from adversity and/or disappointment. So I am giving thanks for…
Have a grateful, healthful, joyful and blessing-filled Thanksgiving Day!
Robyn and Matia were considering how Matia could shift responsibilities onto qualified staff while maintaining the desired quality standards and management visibility.
“You mentioned that you like the fact that Matthew and Kelly keep you informed when you’re unable to attend meetings. How do they do that?” Robyn probed.
“They may drop by my office and tell me or send some key points from the meeting.” Matia responded.
“Are there any weekly status reports?”
Matia shook her head, “You know, Robyn, there’s nothing cumulative. I’ve wasted time poring over individual project reports that Quality Assurance will send to Project Management. I get copied on them all and typically review them on Friday or Saturday to decide what I need to address first for the week.”
“Do you think you can pull the needed higher level information from an existing system?” Robyn asked.
“I need to think about it.”
“That’s fine. As you think, ask yourself ‘What key information do I need to monitor how QA is doing each week that can only be provided by my QA Leads?’. Then ask that same question for the other roles in your group.” said Robyn.
“Okay; I can do that.” Matia replied.
-To be Continued
“Let’s look at whether your team is doing less than it should do for you.” Robyn suggested to Matia. I’m willing to bet you could have them do more and they’d experience more job satisfaction and professional growth as a result. Are you open to giving it a try or do you really want to resign from this position? One thing’s for sure – something has to give.”
“What kind of QA guru would I be if I wasn’t willing to assess and improve my own work habits?!” Matia quipped.
Robyn smiled and nodded. “Good; let’s finish evaluating your group.”
~~~
“No wonder I’m burning out!” Matia exclaimed after she and Robyn finished evaluating her staff. “I’ve made it so that 
everything my group handles goes through me at multiple points in each project. I’m amazed that I manage to do any managerial tasks at all!” Glancing up, Matia asked, “Robyn, how do I shift more responsibility onto my staff without losing my ability to know what’s happening? And I need assurance that quality will not go out the window.”
“You mentioned that you like the fact that Matthew and Kelly keep you informed when you’re unable to attend meetings. How do they do that?” Robyn asked.
-To be Continued
Robyn finished off with “No one wants to hear ‘this has too many defects and/or won’t play nice with the Production Environment.’”
Matia remarked “Robyn, I didn’t realize you were so familiar with software development and Quality Assurance! I guess I’m that serial marathon runner who’s wondering if it’s really worth the effort. I’m worn down!”
“I hear that.” Robyn nodded sympathetically. “However I’m also thinking that you’ve gotten so used to having to do it all on your own that you’ve needlessly let yourself get to this point.”
“What?!”
“Just hear me out. This time you’re the one in charge and you have the support of your manager. You have at least 2 people who could take some pressure off you by handling all the QA Lead tasks on I don’t know how many projects. You have additional people to which project tasks can be delegated so you and your 2 official QA Leads don’t get mired down. But you insist on not allowing them to fully perform their jobs. Let’s look at whether your team is doing less than it should do for you.” Robyn suggested.
-To be Continued
Obstacles To Effective QA Management Part 4
“I’d say that each place was better than the last but I always felt I didn’t have enough management support and that I didn’t have the same leeway as the programmers, business analysts and such.” Matia admitted to Robyn the Business Improvement and Management consultant.
“I think Quality Assurance professionals often feel over pressured, under supported, and under appreciated,” Robyn noted. “Just think about it. Your job is to spot mistakes and omissions. It’s a positive and needed role but I have yet to encounter an organization whose people truly view it as such. Programmers take it personally. Project sponsors see QA as something that can keep them from coming in within budget and on schedule. Sometimes the QA team reports into the head of Development which poses a clear conflict of interest.
Since most companies don’t have a ‘build quality in from the beginning’ mindset, despite Six Sigma and CMMI, Quality Assurance is seldom treated as a partner that should be brought into the project at inception. Timelines are normally unrealistic and they slip; then formal Quality Assurance testing is the last phase before the project can be shipped out. Most everyone is tired and just wants it to be over.”
-To be Continued
Next Episode: Obstacles To Effective QA Management Part 5
Matia was telling Robyn about her work experiences prior to the QA Manager position with the Office on the Go team.
“I learned a lot but I got no support and often got a tongue lashing in meetings where they didn’t like the fact that I was finding issues that could delay their implementations.
Overtime I realized my boss knew office politics, not quality assurance. I ultimately left that company when there was a reduction in force. My boss chose to let me go instead of the other guys even though I had the best ratings. I had the lowest pay grade and title in the group so he just eliminated my position to meet the across the board quota.
In fact, they’d transferred another woman into the group a few months before the RIF and we were both let go. I really think she was transferred in to put a buffer of expendable people in the group.”
“So you came from a very competitive, non-supportive and aggressive climate.” Robyn noted. “Did you find your subsequent workplaces to be the same?”
“It’s gotten better over the years. I’d say that each place was better than the last.”
- To be Continued
Next Episode: Obstacles To Effective QA Management Part 4
Matia was being led through an exercise by Robyn to uncover what was preventing her from allowing her QA Leads to perform their roles fully and without her interference.
“I like both of them but part of me feels they could dethrone me if I’m not careful.” Matia confided.
“Has Matthew or Kelly ever expressed interest in heading a Quality Assurance department?” Robyn queried.
“No.”
“Have they ever displayed behaviors that you felt undermined your authority or position here?”
“Absolutely not. They’re very loyal to me.”
“Tell me what your career was like before you got this position, Matia.”
“It was tough. I started off as the youngest and only female in my group. They were extremely patronizing and I had to learn my way around without any support from my manager or the men in my group.
I wound up taking some classes on my own time and out of pocket to improve my skills and not feel quite so anxious. There I learned about an association I could join. Basically I got my career support and professional development on the outside.
When my boss saw how pleased other people were with my work, he put me on the most difficult projects with the toughest people to get along with. ”
- To be Continued
Next Episode: Obstacles To Effective QA Management Part 3
