QA and test departments often are composed of employees with business backgrounds who have little training when it comes to software testing. Though they are engaged, these team members can get overwhelmed by the thousands of test cases they have to execute over and over, and they don’t see a future career path in testing. What can be done to address these challenges? Join Sophie Benjamin as she presents her personal step-by-step recipe to transform QA and test teams and position them for success within IT. She talks about the essential roles in QA and test teams, their skills and contributions within the software delivery cycle, and tips and tricks to keep employees motivated and willing to invest in their careers. Attendees will leave with practical advice on what leaders and managers can do to ensure that their QA and test teams deliver results and add value to their organizations, today and in the future.

1. W9
Test Management
10/18/2017 1:30:00 PM
Transforming Your QA and Test Team
Presented by:
Sophie Benjamin
Videotron
Brought to you by:
350 Corporate Way, Suite 400, Orange Park, FL 32073
888-­‐268-­‐8770 ·∙ 904-­‐278-­‐0524 - info@techwell.com - https://www.techwell.com/

2. Sophie Benjamin
Videotron
Once the one developer who didn't like to do testing, Sophie Benjamin
committed to making software testing a well-respected career path. Sophie has
been working in the IT world for more than twenty-five years, acquiring strong
experiences in managing all IT roles. She has devoted the last seven years to
building and remodeling QA and test teams. Her experience focuses on
positioning QA and test teams as a strategic component of a strong partnership
within IT departments in order to contribute to the enterprise's objectives.
Sophie created a team of QA specialists that is now recognized as an ISTQB
platinum partner. She is currently the head of the QA department at Videotron, a
Quebec leader in the telecom field.

3. Sophie Benjamin
Head of the QA department at Videotron
Sophie.Benjamin@videotron.com
Transforming Your QA
and Test Team

4. Conference Overview
Transforming Your QA and Test Team
Let’s get to know each other The formula Questions?
Why this subject? The final word
Who am I
What do I do
My terminology
What do you leave with?Why people perspective?
What will you leave with?
A five steps approach
2Transforming your QA and Test team

5. 23 years in Software development.
Worked in IT department in several enterprises:
• Services (major lawyers’s firm)
• Retail and Distribution (Rona / Lowe’s)
• Banking (CIBC and National Bank)
• Telecommunication (Videotron)
Endorsed many roles of the IT world:
• Developer, Functional analyst, Development lead
• Manager for business analysts, Development,
Production support, Environment management
• Last 7 years devoted to IT QA and testing team,
remodeling and building those teams within
organizations.
Sophie Benjamin
3Transforming your QA and Test team

6. My current employer : Videotron
Consumers
Services
Enterprises
services
4Transforming your QA and Test team

7. QA & testing terminology
5Transforming your QA and Test team

8. Basic concepts
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Testing
Find defects in
the finish product
Define & Improve quality related
process & procedures
PROCESS ORIENTED
The operational techniques
and activities that are
focused on fulfilling quality
requirements
PRODUCT ORIENTED
Find defects in deliverables
6Transforming your QA and Test team

9. Testing over the time
7Transforming your QA and Test team

10. Why speak about that subject
from a human perspective?
QA and test team of the future?

11. Ultimate goal
Toolbox + Pride = QA Team
What will you be leaving with
at the end of the presentation ?
of Tomorrow
9Transforming your QA and Test team

12. One approach?
One path?
One size fits all?
No way
The best way to fail
10Transforming your QA and Test team

13. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization portrait
and expectation toward
testing team
Design your department’s
mandate & your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make it
happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
The Approach
5 step transformation process
11Transforming your QA and Test team

14. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization
portrait and
expectation toward
testing team
Design your department’s
mandate & your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make it
happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
The Approach
5 step transformation process
12Transforming your QA and Test team

15. • Software delivery model (waterfall, Agile, Mix)
• Project organization model: matrix model for resource
• Business tolerance to minimum level of quality – make sure you know
your business expectations
• Business drivers (80% of the time) : time to market or budget or scope?
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze your organization
Subjects of your analysis
13Transforming your QA and Test team

16. Get the expectations
To get the right information, ask the right questions
• Do they believe development team need to do some testing?
• Do they want to engage business people in accepting the product?
• Is security testing important in your business?
• Do they believe in quality control?
• What is their analysis of your department at this state?
• What do they think of it?
• What improvement would they like?
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
14Transforming your QA and Test team

17. • Efficiency: prioritize to implement the testing techniques, apply the
concept of re-using assets and automation
• Time to market:
• Diversify and adapt your department services.
• Implement as early as possible the left-shifting of quality and testing by engaging
development team with their shares of responsibilities
• Think of quality control (on the left side of the V-model)
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Link expectations with goals
Some examples
15Transforming your QA and Test team

18. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 1
Your objectives
16Transforming your QA and Test team
Step one accomplished! Your analyse brought you to know your
objectives

19. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization portrait
and expectation toward
testing team
Design your
department’s mandate
& your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make it
happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
The Approach
5 step transformation process
17Transforming your QA and Test team

20. Choose your core services and competencies
Design your department’s mandate
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
18Transforming your QA and Test team
Static & Dynamic
testing
Certification
Automation, testing
tools support
Quality assurance
Quality control
services
Methodology
governance &
support

21. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Sample : QA & testing mandate
• System test phase
• Quality Control
• Certification
Primary responsabilities
Key shared responsabilities
•Report project quality metrics
•Deliver product quality as expected
Success parameters
Indicators
Decision rights
Organisational parameters
Leader
Veto
Financial target
Influence
19Transforming your QA and Test team

22. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Think about alternative model
Design your team’s structure
Methodology support
Non functional tests
Automated test
Manual test
Quality control
Strategy & architecture
Services
QA Team Dev Team ExternalEfforts
Greater focus of QA Team on strategy,
training, mentoring and end-to-end QC
Upstream continuous testing leading to less
corrective actions downstream
Increased automation allowing to reduce
efforts, focus manual efforts where relevant
20Transforming your QA and Test team

23. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Decision grid
Your team’s to deliver
Core Flex Specialized
services
Quality
Control
Capacity Planning X X
Standard market - + X X
Proprietary system/Legacy + - X
Good candidate to automation X
New technologies - + X X
80% small changes + - X
80% Big projects/large teams - +
80% Agile team X X X
21Transforming your QA and Test team

24. Quality &
Testing
Test analyst
QA Lead
QA
Manager
Tester
Automation
dev
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Who do you need on your dream team?
Allow yourself to dream
22Transforming your QA and Test team

25. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
The last grid you should use:
***: Think also to who should supply. Internal IT (security team, business, or else) or specialized firms
Roles Internal staff(#)
(junior, intermediate, senior)
External(#)***
QA manager 3 -
Test lead 10 4
Test analyst 20 10
Tester 10 30
Automation developer 4 8
Team composition sample
Design your dream team
23Transforming your QA and Test team

26. Step 2
Your mandate
24Transforming your QA and Test team
Step two accomplished! Your design gave you a clear
mandateand a portrait of the teamto deliver.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5

27. The Approach
5 step transformation process
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization portrait
and expectation toward
testing team
Design your department’s
mandate & your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make it
happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
25Transforming your QA and Test team

28. Build a professional team
What skills to consider?
To build a complete professional profile requirement, consider those 3 categories :
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
26Transforming your QA and Test team
Business knowledge:
systems & process
Testing competencies &
technical skills
Soft skills

29. Entry job, you start there with basics:
• Business agent knows business system usage and process
• Developer with quality concerns
• Anyone browsing web sites, purchasing on e-commerce
Expectation?
• Execute test cases, rigorous, instinctive testing
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Tester
What else? Curiosity, quick learner, wants a technical career!
27Transforming your QA and Test team

30. Regular developer could easily be “test developer” IF :
• They learn basic testing concepts and terminology
• They have same soft skills of being rigorous and want to deliver quality. They
report their bugs, correct them, etc…
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Test automation developer
28Transforming your QA and Test team

31. Profile :
• Technology Engineer or Solution architect
Expectations ?
• Designing complex testing solution
• Optimized testing environment
• Design or optimized specialized testing laboratory
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Test engineer and Test architect
29Transforming your QA and Test team

32. Testing training and true technical competencies :
• Knows different test cases derivation techniques, test types and test techniques
• Masters techniques for test analysis and design. Knows how to write test cases
• ISTQB certification or equivalence is one recognition of those skills.
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Test analyst
Standard profile : What is the differentiation with testers?
Test analyst will always make the best of his job by making sure that the coverage is
optimized - with the least numbers of tests cases!
Curious Rigourous Structured Inventive
30Transforming your QA and Test team

33. Software testing :
• Understand and knows how and when to use the different test strategies
• Uses the best techniques to monitor, control and report test progress
• Can evaluate and report level of quality or risk-level in a risk-based approach
• Understands architecture and infrastructure, influences environment req’s
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Test lead
Project management or coordination :
• Can do planning, reporting of activities
• Can manage and report testing budget
• Can align all participants of testing activities on their roles, what is expected
31Transforming your QA and Test team

34. Soft skills that are so essentials
• Diplomat, negotiator, mediator
• Relational leadership, influential leader
• Clear, structured and fluid communication skills
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
Test lead
32Transforming your QA and Test team

35. Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5
The symphonic orchestra!
Right music, right instrument, right tempo!!
Test lead
Like a maestro
Can detect potential gap or inefficient duplication of efforts/activities
between test phases
33Transforming your QA and Test team

36. Step 3
Your team of professionals : built with competencies & skills
34Transforming your QA and Test team
Step three accomplished! You have developed
your professionals’s profile.
Step 1
Step 2
Step
3
Step 4
Step 5

37. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization portrait
and expectation toward
testing team
Design your department’s
mandate & your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make
it happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
The Approach
5 step transformation process
35Transforming your QA and Test team

38. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Identify the GAP
Dream team vs Actual
Ressource Function Status Business
Score
Technical
Score
Soft
Score
John Test lead permanent 5 4 4
Sara Test lead Consultant 3 4 2
Paul Test analyst Permanent 3 2 3
Lise Tester permanent 4 1 2
36Transforming your QA and Test team

39. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Ressource Testing
techniques
ISTQB
Certification
Automation Quality
Control
Technical
Global
Score
Tom 4 5 3 4 4
Anna 4 5 4 2 4
Lyne 5 0 2 2 2
Bill 2 0 2 1 1
Technical skills profile
Gap grid sample
37Transforming your QA and Test team

40. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
• HAVE A VISION!!!!
• HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN
• SHARE IT and make it happen!
The winning formula
How to get there?
38Transforming your QA and Test team

41. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
1. Identify your “champion”, within the team. The relationship with teammates and
having their respect is as important as the competencies.
2. Share your actual profile evaluation about people, skills and competencies, and your
target that will allow you to fulfill your services.
3. Go in detail with every member that plays a role Make sure that every one knows
what is expected of them, with who should they collaborate.
Six tools to help you deploy
Leadership & knowledge
39Transforming your QA and Test team

42. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
4. Make sure we all engage in playing that role [You are part of your team]
5. Make sure you engage your IT colleagues in that transformation:
a. Talk the same language. Testing terminologies are not our exclusive language.
b. Provide them training on testing and what is expected from their test phase
c. Make sure they understand what are your services in quality control activities and
testing methodology support are.
Six tools to help you deploy
Engagement
40Transforming your QA and Test team

43. Six tools to help you deploy
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
6. Make sure there is support and facilities, incentives to engage them in becoming a
Dream team [some suggestions / ideas ]
a. Establish incentive testing certification program
b. Build up internal training material, lunch & learns on subject your team would
choose.
c. Let your team increase their pride in their profession (simple recognition action)
d. Demonstrate the gains to projects and efficiency they bring by applying their
techniques
e. Create a testing community. Global or by role held by your champions or experts
Incentives & support
41Transforming your QA and Test team

44. Step 4
Your winning formula to deploy
42Transforming your QA and Test team
Step four accomplished! You have deployed
SUCCESSFULLY with your TEAM.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5

45. Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Analyze organization portrait
and expectation toward
testing team
Design your department’s
mandate & your team
Develop roles definition
=> what are the skills and
competencies required?
Deploy to make it
happen
Promote your successes
at all levels!
The Approach
5 step transformation process
43Transforming your QA and Test team

46. Promote your success
To who? Why?
Your sponsor, stakeholders, colleagues :
• Testing is not a solo mission.
• It is a chain that needs the participation of almost every IT role
Your TEAM :
• Demonstrate that the job is easier when you master your “art”
• Promote that it is their doing, their success!
• They did all that just by embracing the change, wanted to develop
themselves.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
44Transforming your QA and Test team

47. Report improvement using
• Regular measures about test velocity & quality
• Use testing dashboard trending over time & projects
Get a snapshot using surveys or audit results to capture growth of
• Team competencies
• Level of engagement
• Business and management satisfaction
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Promote your success
What? How?
45Transforming your QA and Test team

48. Step 5
Let’s celebrate and start again
46Transforming your QA and Test team
Step five accomplished! You have promoted
your TEAM’s SUCCESSES.
You can now start your continuous improvment!
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5

49. The final word
All the ingredients for the winning formula!
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Analyze
Design
Develop
Deploy to make
it happen
Promote Step 5
47Transforming your QA and Test team

50. The final word
Master your art
QA Team
of Tomorrow
48Transforming your QA and Test team

51. Transforming Your QA
and Test Team
Questions ?