Getting Your Message Across: Communications Skills for Testers

TQ
Half-day Tutorials
5/6/2014 1:00:00 PM
Getting Your Message
Across: Communications
Skills for Testers
Presented by:
Thomas McCoy
Australian Department of Social Services
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
888-268-8770 ∙ 904-278-0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

Thomas McCoy
Australian Department of Social Services
Australian software testing professional, teacher, and journalist Thomas McCoy has
worked in the IT industry for more than two decades. Much of this time was spent as a
software developer and IT manager with Australian government agencies. Wanting to make
a greater contribution to software quality, Thomas re-oriented his career into the emerging
discipline of software testing and has been an enthusiastic promoter of the profession ever
since. At conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Asia, and the United States,
Thomas is a popular keynote speaker, who has received several best presentation awards.
You can reach Thomas attom@thomasmccoy.com.au.

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Getting Your Message Across 1
GettingYour Message Across
Thomas McCoy
BJourn, BSc, DipEd, MInfTech
Canberra, Australia
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Topics
• Introduction
• CommunicationChallenges
• Group Communication
• Writing
• Questioning
• Persuasion
• Oral Communication
• The Future and Social Media
• Summary and Key Points

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Introduction
STAR East 2014 3Version 1.0
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“The single biggest problem in
communication is the illusion
that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw
Irish playwright
(1856 – 1950)
Version 1.0

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Is communication within a testing
context especially challenging?
• Review role
• Lacking power
• Pressured environment
• Held to higher standards
• Extreme technical complexity
• Nobody likes bad news
Communication Challenges

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Barriers
RECEIVER
•Denial
•Cognitive
dissonance
•Selective perception
or recall
•Agenda setting
SENDER
•Self-censorship
•Introversion
Is “more communication” always
better?
Sometimes the
most effective
communication
is silence

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Which channel?
• One-on-one
 personal and perhaps more honest
• Group
 information may flow freely but can lack commitment
• Meeting
 personal and can convey nonverbal and allow
interaction but may be uncomfortable for shy people
• Grapevine
 sometimes correct and can provide advance warnings
Which channel?
• Phone
 immediate but can lack privacy in open plan
• Voicemail
 asynchronous with personal touch and can convey
nonverbals
• Phone or video conference
 captures some nonverbals but can be impersonal
• Video presentation
 can be powerful (but time consuming to create)

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Which channel?
• E-mail
 asynchronous, provides documentation, consistent
message, fast, encourages upward communication but
can look sloppy if written in haste and might not be
read or taken seriously
• Specialised software (e.g. JIRA, QC)
 can impose discipline on content through fields
• Intranet
 can be updated quickly but takes time to maintain
Which channel?
• Newsletter
 provides regular means of communication but can
be time consuming to produce
• Noticeboard
 can reach many people but notices
can be pulled down or unread
• Report
 can be succinct but will people read it?

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Which channel?
• Instant Messaging
 immediate but sometimes seen as a vehicle for
gossip
• SMS
 useful for quiet messages
• Theatrical Performance?
 can be energising and novel but needs corporate
support
Choosing a channel
• Which channel will suit your
message and its purpose?
• What are the preferences of the
receiver?
• What are your preferences?
• Could you use multiple
channels?

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Informal organisational communication
• Sometimes called “grapevine gossip”
• Often provides advance warning and
insights into what is really going on
• Needs to be ethical (not malicious)
• Must avoid mentioning source
• Can later be verified via official channels
• Some research suggests “gossip” can be
beneficial to organisations
Extending our reach
Administrative
Business
Marketing
Technical
Finance
Management
Tentacled
Tester

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Sheila
Chaz
Bluey
Kylie
Ernie
Tezz
Molly
Nicole
Sidney
Snowy Talisha
Bazza
Brian
Hugo
Kezza
Magda
Mapping the organisation
Sheila
Chaz
Bluey
Kylie
Ernie
Tezz
Molly
Nicole
Sidney
Snowy Talisha
Bazza
Brian
Hugo
Kezza
Magda
is cousin of
disagrees with
got promoted over
plays rugby
with
teaches trombone to son of
Mapping the organisation
RELATIONSHIPS

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Group Communication
Do we need to encourage conflict?
• Harmonious groups are not always
effective
• Disagreements can lead to better
solutions (providing the focus stays on
the problem)
• Of course, the corporate politics must
then allow this approach (rather than
punishing dissent)

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Benefits of conflict
• Release of pressure and frustration
• Increased cohesiveness and motivation
• New perspectives
• Differences can be resolved
• Change can take place
Groupthink
• Happens when desire for group harmony is
so great that decision making becomes
dysfunctional.
• Group members censor themselves and
suppress dissenting views to reach a
“consensus” decision without conflict.

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Group pressure experiment
by Solomon Ash
Is Line X the
same length
as Line A, B
or C?
X A B C
Effective group communication
• Look out for groupthink
• Assertively challenge
unacceptable situations
(where possible)
• Pay attention to verbal and
non-verbal behaviour
• Be aware of social loafing

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Effective group communication
• Be ready to defend
yourself against
accusations of “not
being a team player”
• Practice speaking
skills, persuasion, and
questioning
Professional language
•control flow analysis
•cyclomatic complexity
•defect density
•equivalence partitioning
•heuristic evaluation
•mutation analysis
•N-switch coverage
•orthogonal array
•phase containment
•static code analysis
•vertical traceability
•Wide Band Delphi
Terms like these can help to us to maintain a
professional identity in the group:

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Committees
“A committee is a group
that succeeds in getting
something done only
when it consists of three
members, one of whom
happens to be sick and
another absent.”
Meetings
• Always research and prepare well
• If doing an agile stand-up, make sure you
have a consistent, specific (and brief story)
about what you have done and will do
• If you have to give a presentation, check
audiovisual tools and rehearse

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Meetings
• Ask questions to try and stay awake
• Watch for nonverbal and hidden agendas
• Practice listening skills
• Contribute
• Volunteer
Writing

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Document design
• Content and high quality writing is only one
aspect
• Document layout is critical to getting our
message across
• Need headings, fonts, formats, spacing,
bullet points, tables, colour, illustrations,
hyperlinks and graphics
Document design
• Needs entertainment value
and eye candy (graph,
photo or table) at least
every two pages
• Far too many reports
remain unread
• Some eye candy examples
follow…

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WordleWord Cloud of SevenTesting Principles
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Overtime Hours
True Representation

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1
10
100
1000
10000
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Overtime Hours
Logarithmic Scale
Jan, 200
Feb, 400
Mar, 800
Apr, 1600
Overtime Hours
Irrelevant Pie Chart

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0%
50%
100%
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
Jan, 200
Feb, 400
Mar, 800
Apr, 1600
Overtime Hours
Meaningless 100% Stacked Horizontal Cone Chart
E-mail
• Choose a meaningful
subject line (that may be all
they read)
• Don’t cc anybody who
doesn’t need to be involved
• Never use bcc
• Don’t flame
• Might talking to them be
better?

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Subject lines
Useless Useful
Defect found Defect found in time conversion
routine for zones in Oceania
Meeting Team discussion, Room 3, 10am
thisThursday (May 8) <EOM>
Testing status Testing status: 95% complete
E-mail body
• Try to avoid going longer than a screen full
(but often not possible)
• Separate paragraphs with blank lines
• Use headings, sub headings, and bullet
points
• Run spell and grammar checks and proof
read before sending

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Meaningful subject line
Attachment
First par summarises purpose of e-mail
Background
Further info
Corporate signature block
White space, semi-
formal style, and
bullet points used
Content in
decreasing
importance
Why do I only ever see my bugs in
“Sent Mail”?
• Always check that
attachments are included
before sending
• Have the computer read
you the message first

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How quickly should I reply?
• Not too quickly (but taking
urgency into account)
• If every message gets a response
within 5 minutes it can create the
impression of insufficient work
• On the other hand, if it will take
days to reply, at least send an “I’m
working on it” acknowledgement
Hope I get
another
e-mail soon
Spelling and Grammar
“It is impossible at the present
juncture to teach English
grammar in the schools for the
simple reason that no-one
knows exactly what it is.”
British Board of Education committee
1921

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Spelling and Grammar
• Not worth obsessing over but
blatant mistakes can damage our
credibility
• So, it is in our professional
interest to avoid the most
common errors
• Spelling and grammar checkers
can not (yet) find them all
Candidate for a Pullet Surprise
by Jerry Zar
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two
reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my
screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we’re lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my
cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.
Now spelling does knot phase
me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best
wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew
prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
Source: Zar (1994)

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George Orwell’s writing advice
•Never use a long word when
a short one will do.
•If it is possible to cut out a
word, do it.
•Never use the passive voice
when you can use the active.
•Break any of these rules sooner than
saying anything outright barbarous.
Active vs. PassiveVoice
Active Passive with
nobody to blame
Passive
Dingo introduced a
defect into the code.
A defect was
introduced into the
code.
A defect was
introduced into the
code by Dingo.
Wozza will cut back
on overtime.
Overtime will be cut
back.
Overtime will be cut
back by Wozza.
Jacko added banana
lounges to daily
standups.
Banana lounges were
added to daily
standups.
Banana lounges were
added to daily
standups by Jacko.

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Removing unnecessary words
Before After
absolutely essential essential
completely surrounded
end result
equal halves
forward planning
in conjunction with
look back in retrospect
pair of twins
These are all
“tautologies”
Before After
arrive at a conclusion conclude
conduct an investigation
deliver a recommendation
lodge an objection
make a decision
put in jeopardy
show a preference for
perform a diagnosis
These are all
“nominalisations”

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Before After
a high degree of much
afford an opportunity to
as a consequence of
during the month of May
not infrequently
it is incumbent on you
on two separate occasions
with the minimum of delay
These are all
“circumlocutions”
Seven common mistakes

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Complement or Compliment?
• He paid her the ________ of saying her test
plan was outstanding
• We now have a full ________ of experienced
performance testers
• The writing in the report was ________ by
excellent graphics
Criteria or Criterion?
• Previous testing experience is the most
important ________ we are looking at for
this recruitment
• How should these be numbered in a job
statement:
 Criteri__ 1: possess relevant qualifications
 Criteri__ 2: knowledge of Quality Center
 Etc.

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Effect or Affect?
• The long hours ________ her ability to find
bugs
• The long hours had the ________ of reducing
her efficiency
• She ________ her escape from weekend
work by citing family responsibilities
It’s or its?
• The company was developing ____ staff
• ____ lucky that we tested that condition

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Principle or Principal?
• The ________ concern in this project is the
risk of slippage
• In ________ I agree with the approach we
are taking
• The ________ negotiator from the vendor
team is hard to deal with
There orThey’re orTheir?
• ________ going to help us test tonight
• It’s ________ system so they must clarify the
requirements
• ________ flying ________ in ________
private jet this weekend

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Two orTo orToo?
• They excitedly marched ____ the
retrospective
• Tezz came along ____
• But only ____ people from the user group
turned up

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“I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why
andWhen and How andWhere
andWho”
Rudyard Kipling
5Ws & 1H example
• Who: Fred Nurk
• What: Discovered system crashes
if negative quantities
entered
• When: Last night
• Where
:
Test lab
• Why: Inadequate input field
checking?
• How: Running automated test
scripts

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The inverted pyramid
Importance (signified by width)
Position
Top
Bottom
Content
An effective layout
• First paragraph: summarise the situation,
covering the most important aspects of
who, what, when, where, why and how
(this may be the only paragraph the
person reads)
• Next: provide background or more details
• Optionally, you may want to use a “call to
action” at the end

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Example
On the registration date screen February 29 is being
accepted for all years, not just leap years.
[Summary, covers “where” and “what”]
The problem may be due to the new external date
routine, which was recently implemented on this
screen. (The other screens still work fine.)
[More info]
This could damage customer relations and create
adverse publicity for the organisation and needs
urgent attention.
[Call to action]
Writing
•Need a strong headline that will push relevant
buttons in people.The “headline” might be, for
example, the:
summary of your defect report; or the
subject line of your e-mail message
•The headline may be all they read
•Think about the “angle” of your message (what
are you trying to achieve)?

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Writing
•Start with most important point, which
should answer some of 5Ws & 1H
•Secondary information later
•Use Plain English
•Use mix of long and short sentences
•Keep paragraphs to 3 sentences max
Writing
•Clichés should be avoided
like the plague
•Always check spelling and
grammar
•Write to express, not to
impress
•A reading level of Grade 8 is
recommended

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Readability checker
InWord 2010 do: FileTab, Options, Proofing…

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Settings …

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Nuclear Physics: 15.5 grade level
Nuclear Physics & Green Eggs: 2.4 grade level

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Readability statistics “cautions”
Could get score down just by making all
sentences very short. Compare:
I could not finish testing.
The system went down.
I could not finish testing
because the system went down.
Does the lower score version really communicate more effectively?
Readability statistics “cautions”:
• Don’t try to “write to the
formula”
• It doesn’t take layout into
account
• Not all readers are the same
• Usability testing is a better
method

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Questioning
Questioning allows us to:
• Gather information
• Bring things into the open
• Let other person know we are
listening and interested
• Convey embedded messages
• Maintain a humble demeanour
(if done sensitively)

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QuestionTypes
•Direct
•Rapport-building
•Fact Seeking
•Hypothetical
•Testing
•Forced-choice
•Leading
•Embedded message
Response option may be Open or Closed
Embedded message examples
Project Manager
•“What percentage of test cases
are we allowed to skip to meet our
release date?”
•Embedded message:There are
serious problems with meeting
our release date

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BusinessAnalyst
•“I’m just wondering what
happens on the payments
screen if the user enters the
same transaction code twice?”
•Embedded message:These
requirements have holes
Developer
•“What happens if the user
types in February 29 for a
non-leap year?”
•Embedded message:
There is a bug in the date
routine

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Questioning techniques
• Start with friendly questions
• Use mix of open and closed
• Repeat questions if necessary
• Be comfortable in being “dumb”
• Use “blame others” method
• Use silence to advantage
The Pause Pit
• Ask question and leave
pause after person gives
answer
• Person will then often
volunteer extra information
to fill the deafening silence
• Often used in journalism
• But don’t over-use

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Persuasion
Strong feature of our profession:
• Persuading developers
to fix defects
• Negotiating for time
and resources
• May be challenging

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Three ways of persuasion
Appeal to Logic Appeal to Emotions Appeal to Credibility
“As you can see, this
defect is consistently
reproducible in all
environments.”
“If this defect is not
removed there could
be a significant
backlash in the user
community, leading
to weeping and
emotional distress
among company
shareholders.”
“You would be aware
that the testing
team’s defect
detection rate is
above 95%, so I have
extreme confidence
in their findings.”
The gentle art of persuasion
1. Get people onside through friendly
interaction (long before the event)
2. Build credibility
3. Use the informal network to increase
awareness of the issue and its
consequences
4. Determine key motivators of major
decision makers and respond to those
5. Tap into greed, vanity, fear and guilt

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Other persuasive techniques
• Assertiveness
• Ingratiation
• Exchange
• Mobilising support
• Higher authority
• Impression management

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But being overly persuasive can:
• Annoy colleagues
• Cause alienation
• Damage reputation
(sycophancy)
• Breed resistance
among persuadees
Oral Communication

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Advantages of oral delivery
• Speaker controls message
• Can obtain immediate feedback
(including nonverbals)
• Inflections and passion can be
conveyed in voice
• Less formal than writing
• Captive audience
• No record kept (usually)
• Audiovisual support can be used
Defects
Planning a presentation
• Biggest challenge is to keep
audience engaged and awake
• Every 20 minutes you need an
interesting story, quote, fact,
statistic, image, video clip,
sound etc.
• Find out as much as you can
about the audience in advance

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Designing your presentation
• Adjust font size to expected depth of room
(normally 20 points minimum)
• Not more than 6 lines per slide and 6 words per
line
• Not more than 40 words per slide
• Not more than 40 slides
• No flashy transitions or effects (unless they
make a point)
Designing your presentation
• Avoid excessive colour
• Aim for a consistent
design
• Sequence slides to tell a
story
• Think about using props,
whiteboards and flip
charts
Bet you
weren’t
expecting
to see one
of these?

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Final checks
• Rehearse entire presentation:
 In the venue
 Dressed up
 With full audio visuals
 And microphone
 In front of small audience
(if possible)
 Doing a video recording
Coping with nerves
• Exercise
• Yawning
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Music
• Water
• Arrive early
• Practice speaking in
room to hear sound of
voice
• Walk around empty
room
• Mingle with audience
• Escape (“flight” from
“fight or flight”)

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Delivering the presentation
• Ensure air conditioning is low and
lights are high
• Check that they can hear you via
lapel mic (so you can move)
• Maintain eye contact and “listen
with your eyes”
• Be humble and show respect
• Use open body language and
gestures and smile
Not the best
look for a
presenter
Delivering the presentation
• Don’t read your slides
• Speak clearly and vary your pace,
pitch, pausing and volume
• Keep head fairly still
• Face the audience (not the screen)
• Avoid excessive pacing
• Relaxed body posture
• Be ready for emergencies

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Voice
•Pitch
•Pace
•Pause
•Projection
Practice
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper
picked
The thoughtful tester told the troubled, tongue-
tied techo that timeout targets terminated
transcendent transaction threads.

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The future: social media
To blog or not to blog?
• Is social media
something you are
involved in now?
• Or would like to
become involved in at
some time in the
future?

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Benefits
• Showcase your work
• Allows you to reach wide audience
• Interactive through comments
• Find people with similar interests
• See things from different perspective
• Can improve your writing skills
• Can enhance your professional image
Costs
• Enormously time consuming
• Writing coherently is extremely difficult
• Risk of posting in anger
• Flame wars can start
• Open yourself up to being insulted
• Can destroy your professional image
• Can damage image of your employer

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Key Points
Key Points 1
• Communication is an integral part of our role.
• Through an awareness of barriers like “denial” or “selective
perception”, we can work around them.
• The solution to communication issues is not always more
communication.
• With so many communication channels available, we always need to
choose one that matches our message, purpose and recipient.
• Informal organisational communication, if used ethically, can be a
useful source of information.
• Extending our reach beyond our context, and understanding the
broader organisational environment, is useful for our role.

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Key Points 2
• Harmonious groups sometimes ineffective and may benefit from an
increase in conflict.
• Conflict can release pressure and lead to more creative solutions.
• Groupthink is dangerous and can result from excessive group
harmony.
• A range of methods can be used for effective group communication.
• Our professional testing terminology can help us to maintain our
identity.
• Committees and meetings present a range of challenges that we can
work around.
Key Points 3
• Document design and layout have a big impact on our
communication success.
• Graphs, images, word clouds, and tables can serve as “eye
candy” to keep the reader engaged.
• E-mail is extensively used and abused in the workplace.
• Guidelines for e-mail use and message layout can increase
communication effectiveness.
• Correct spelling and grammar help us look professional.
• Computers cannot yet entirely check spelling and grammar.

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Key Points 4
• George Orwell provides useful advice in terms of making
communication more succinct.
• Tautologies, nominalisations and circumlocutions can clutter
writing.
• The 5Ws & 1H from journalism and the inverted pyramid can
help us to write clear messages.
• TheWord Readability Checker, which provides the Flesh-
Kincaid Grade Level, can be useful in evaluating writing
complexity.
Key Points 5
• Effective questioning is useful for gathering information and relies on
appropriate use of different question types and techniques.
• Messages may be subtly embedded in questions, making them less
threatening that direct statements.
• The “Pause Pit” (from journalism) can be useful for gaining additional
information.
• Persuasion is a strong feature of our work and three main methods
have been used sinceAristotle: logic, emotions or credibility.
• A range of other techniques is available but we must be careful not to
over-persuade.

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Key Points 6
• Sometimes oral communication is the most effective channel
because it provides greater control.
• Creating an engaging presentation relies on having
entertaining content embedded within the factual message.
• A range of recommendations is available for designing
PowerPoint slides.
• Working on voice is important.
• Social media allows us to blog anytime, anywhere, but is this
always in our best interests?
Recommended Reading

STAR East 2014
• Anderson, Paul 2010, Technical writing: a reader-centered approach
• Brown, Rob 2009, Public relations and the social web: how to use
social media and web 2.0 in communications
• Cobley, Paul 2010, Communications: an introduction
• DeVito, Joseph 2009, Human communication: the basic course
• Flatley, Marie E & Rentz, Kathryn 2010, Business communication
• Gates, Steve 2011, The negotiation book: your definitive guide to
successful negotiating
• Goulston, Mark 2010, Just listen: discover the secret to getting
through to absolutely anyone
• Grice,George L & Skinner, John F 2010, Mastering public speaking:
the handbook
• Hartley,Gregory & Karinch 2010, The body language handbook:
how to read everyone’s hidden thoughts and intentions
• Heinrichs, Jay 2007, Thank you for arguing: what Aristotle, Lincoln
and HomerSimpson can teach us about the art of persuasion
• Jones,Gerald Everett 2007, How to lie with charts
• Keddy, Jackie and Johnson, Clive 2011, Managing conflict at work:
understanding and resolving conflict for productive working
relationships
• Kleiman, Jessica & Cooper, MerylWeinsaft 2011, Be your own best
publicist: how to use PR techniques to get noticed, hired, and
rewarded at work
• Mann, Monroe & Levinson, Jay Conrad 2008, Guerilla networking: a
proven battle plan to attract the very people you want to meet

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ThankYou!
An updated version of this presentation will
become available on the STAR East website.
For any enquiries contact:
tom@thomasmccoy.com.au

Getting Your Message Across: Communications Skills for Testers

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