Agile testing days 2018

1. Whole Team
Responsibility
Agile Testing Days 2018
Emily Webber
@ewebber
emilywebber.co.uk / tacitlondon.com

2. Hello, I’m Emily
@ewebber

3. What is
responsibility?
@ewebber

4. Responsibility for:
what you are making and
the team you are making it with
@ewebber

5. PhotobyIsabelleAdam
The Milgram
Experiment
@ewebber

6. @ewebber

7. - I’m not going to be responsible for it
@ewebber
- Please continue
VideofromBigHistoryNL

8. Please continue
The experiment requires you to continue
It is absolutely essential that you continue
You have no other choice but to continue
@ewebber

9. 65%
Gave the maximum shock
@ewebber

10. @ewebber
Autonomous state
People direct their own
actions, and they take
responsibility for the
results of those actions
Agentic state
An individual carries out
the orders of an
authority figure, acting
as their agent and
passing off responsibility

11. The product owner
makes the decisions,
I just work on stories
The rest of the team
aren’t worried about it
Someone else is probably
thinking about it
@ewebber
The boss said we had
to do it like this

12. Learned
helplessness
conditioned to believed
that a situation is
unchangeable
or inescapable
@ewebber

13. Build projects around
motivated individuals
Give them the environment
and support they need, and trust
them to get the job done
@ewebber
agilemanifesto.org

14. Build projects around
motivated individuals
Give them the environment
and support they need, and trust
them to get the job done
@ewebber
agilemanifesto.org
people & teams

15. Autonomy
PurposeMastery
@ewebber
DanPink:Drive
Motivation

16. Autonomy
@ewebber
DanPink:Drive

17. Autonomy over…
• how you work to achieve a goal
• the environment you work in
• the tools you use
@ewebber

18. @ewebber
Who feels like
they have
autonomy in
their work?

19. @ewebber
Creating the right
environment for whole
team responsibility

20. @ewebber
Lean Enriched
Empowered Disempowered
CraigKnightandS.AlexanderHaslam2010
The environment you work in

21. @ewebber
People who
have autonomy
over their
environment are
up to 32% more
productive
Craig Knight and S. Alexander
Haslam 2010

22. Alignment enables
autonomy
@ewebber

23. @ewebber
Spotifyengineeringculture2014

24. Take a chunk of time out
of the office, together
(every time there is a new team, change
of team of change of focus)
@ewebber

25. Create opportunities
for teams to build
empathy from the start
@ewebber

26. @ewebber
This is me
(drawn by me)
The conditions
I like to work in
The times/hours
I like to work
The best ways
to communicate
with me
The ways I like to
receive feedback
Things I need to
work well
Things I can
struggle with
Things I love at
work
Other things to
know about me
Team manual
Ausermanualfor me:CassieRobinson

27. Have the space to ask
questions, highlight
assumptions raise issues
and identify opportunities
@ewebber

28. The team is the team
@ewebber

29. @ewebber
Handoffs between functional areas
Product
manager
Designer
Developer
Tester
Users

30. Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users
@ewebber
An early multidisciplinary team

31. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

32. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

33. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

34. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

35. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

36. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

37. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

38. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

39. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

40. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

41. @ewebber
Key person dependencies
?
Product
manager
Designer Developer Tester Users

42. Diffusion of responsibility
(the bystander effect)
A person is less likely to take
responsibility for action or
inaction in a group when they
believe others likely will
@ewebber

43. Diffusion the diffusion
by offering to help
(don’t assume someone else will)
@ewebber

44. And keep offering help
…in standups
…in retrospectives
…in passing
@ewebber

45. And keep teams small
@ewebber

46. @ewebber
Deepspecialistskills
Broad understanding
An effective team is made up of T-shaped people

47. Who is responsible for what?
@ewebber
Delivery lead
Role
Product lead
Role
Tech lead
Role
Designer
Role
Etc…
Delivery
lead
Product
lead
Tech lead
Designer
Etc…

48. Reduce work in
progress and
encourage
pairing
@ewebber

49. @ewebber
Expertise Experimentation
Creativity
FrancescaGino:RebelTalent

50. @ewebber
Deepspecialistskills
Broad understanding
T-shaped people
Deepspecialistskills
Broad understanding
Deepspecialistskills
Broad understanding
Deepspecialistskills
Broad understanding

51. Don’t make
everything a
blamestorm
@ewebber

52. “Regardless of what we discover,
we understand and truly believe
that everyone did the best job they
could, given what they knew at the
time, their skills and abilities, the
resources available, and the
situation at hand”
Norm Kerth
@ewebber

53. @ewebber
Release
Review /
Learn
Make

54. @ewebber
Release
Review /
Learn
Make

55. @ewebber

56. See how what
you make is
used, it might
not be what
you expect
@ewebber

57. @ewebber
Teams are most effective
when they feel responsible
for what they are making
and to each other

58. @ewebber
Help create that through
• team autonomy
• team empathy
• T-shaped people teams
• alignment around a goal
• small iterations and user research

59. @ewebber

60. Thank you
Emily Webber
@ewebber
emilywebber.co.uk / tacitlondon.com