![“Make the demo work.”
“…understand that the limited
number of customers you have
will not be very concerned if they
run into a small bug here or
there.”
“If figuring out design is more
important than functionality […],
testing falls to the wayside. ”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/starwest2013-whatexecutivevalueintesting-updated-131011074447-phpapp01/85/STARWEST-2013-What-Executive-Value-in-Testing-4-320.jpg)
![“All testing humanly possible on all
components of our software suite. […]
Keep me in a job…”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/starwest2013-whatexecutivevalueintesting-updated-131011074447-phpapp01/85/STARWEST-2013-What-Executive-Value-in-Testing-20-320.jpg)
STARWEST 2013 - What Executive Value in Testing
- 1. WHAT EXECUTIVES VALUE IN TESTING Michael Kelly Jeanette Thebeau
- 3. FOUNDER: build the product and test and prove the concept CEO: profitable, stable, managed growth
- 4. “Make the demo work.” “…understand that the limited number of customers you have will not be very concerned if they run into a small bug here or there.” “If figuring out design is more important than functionality […], testing falls to the wayside. ”
- 5. Founders don’t hire testers.
- 6. “…more formalized testing with documented scripts, test plans, requirements etc. to comply with audit regulations of our customers.” “Test driven development and continuous integration. Load testing, user experience testing, formal user feedback process.”
- 7. “I didn't realize there's multiple testing activities.” - President and CEO
- 8. “Some want their products to be tested well, some don't care that much.” - Test Lab
- 10. REVIEW THIS TEST PLAN
- 11. Valuing Testers…
- 12. SEED STAGE developers do a lot of the testing GROWTH STAGE testers start to show up, focus on pain points – still in alignment ESTABLISHED organizational structure and disconnect from founders/executive leadership and business problems – pathologies emerge
- 13. “Don’t hire for pleasure; hire to kill pain.” - 37Signals’ book Rework
- 14. Where we have alignment • Ensuring the product solves the business problem • Ensuring the product is stable • Making sure the product is usable • Making sure the product doesn’t embarrass the company
- 16. The Gaps…
- 17. Most testers ignore (or loosely pay attention to) testing focused on controlling operations costs. Executives think this testing activity is important.
- 18. Executives largely don’t care about testing to ensure that they are compliant with regulations. Nearly half of testers feel this testing is critical.
- 19. Executives want: • fast and scalable • solutions to business problems • that don’t cost a lot to run or maintain
- 20. “All testing humanly possible on all components of our software suite. […] Keep me in a job…”
- 22. PROBLEM You don’t know what they want
- 23. Understanding what’s at stake: • ask them • role play • take the counter argument • develop your own stereotypes • negotiation requires empathy • take your small experiences and scale those up • if you don’t know this person, who do you know who’s like this person?
- 24. PROBLEM You don’t talk the same language
- 25. Things that drive shared language: • develop a core understanding of the mission • understand the financials of the product / business • personas and experience maps • interact with real users
- 26. OPPORTUNITY You can affect operational cost... but you aren’t aware how
- 27. Getting control of operations: • Assisting with monitoring and alerting • Assisting with setup for debugging • Testing for: § compatibility § data migration § upgrade and rollback § regression issues
- 28. OPPORTUNITY You can play a larger role in helping the team achieve feature scalability
- 30. THE DARK SIDE
- 31. This one… Not this one…
- 32. Tester as Facilitator: • Using testing to establishing credibility • Pair testing/programming • Supplementing existing unit tests • Helping write new unit tests • Writing simple, but high-impact UI automation • Removing automation roadblocks • Teaching others
- 33. Remember…
- 34. “I don’t know what you do…” VS. “I wouldn’t think of doing this without you.”
- 35. This is your responsibility.
- 36. Thank You