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!!
T7
Test!Management!
10/16/2014!11:15:00!AM!
!
Leading Internationally-
Distributed Test Teams !
Presented by:
Dennis Pikora
Symantec
!
!
!
Brought(to(you(by:((
((
340!Corporate!Way,!Suite!300,!Orange!Park,!FL!32073!
[email protected]!H!www.sqe.com
Dennis Pikora
Symantec Whether creating test teams for startups or upgrading existing teams at larger corporations, Dennis Pikora creates a unique test and quality culture for each. Dennis focuses on customer expectations and the well-managed delivery of products within their schedules. With the passion acquired in his thirty-one years in the industry, he deftly navigates the pitfalls of development, test, and customer needs. As a tester, QA manager, director of engineering, and senior director of quality assurance with organizations in the US, Europe, and Asia, Dennis has broadened his scope while fine tuning his personal philosophy. He is a solid supporter of automation and applicable streamlined processes.
Leading Internationally – Distributed Test Teams
! (T7 Test Management) ! Presenter: Dennis Pikora
The Fine Print
! This material does NOT represent the views, practices, policies, standards or opinions of Symantec Corporation.
! All of the information and slides presented are the culmination
of experience, hard work and knowledge of the presenter.
! Keep an open mind and be prepared for a few old and new ideas.
! These principles apply to leading International Development Teams as well !
Why we are here: ! Senior Director ! 30+ Years Experience in Software Development/Test ! BS CS, MBA ! Managed & lead test teams in the US, UK, France, India,
China for Start-ups & Fortune 500 companies
! Intro: ! There are times that internationally distributed test teams
have been extremely beneficial & other times when being in the same time zone or continent would have been a blessing.
What to Expect: ! What the presentation is:
! It is a primer on what you might expect when you have 1 or more international test locations
! It may help you to avoid pitfalls ! It may provide new ideas and guidance on your journey
! This presentation is NOT a: ! final definitive answer on offshoring ! critique on leadership styles ! management 101 primer ! review of Organizational Behavior ! discussion on Agile
Multinational teams vs local Setting up remote teams - Time, Money, Ease
! Equipment ordering ! Sharing or the cloud
! Matrix management - Leadership roles ! Chain of command – local, remote or matrix ! Delegation to a new degree ! Extended organization can result in less control
! Language ! Interpreters may not resolve language barriers completely. ! Small misunderstandings can be fatal.
People ! Physical Presence ! Culture – Be prepared
! Work stops for the multi-national events e.g. World Cup ! Goal Setting ! Holidays and expectations ! Diploma mills and ambiguous titles
! Development and Management disagreements ! Agile can apply to remote testing projects
Details, Details, it is all in the details ! Management structure at your remote site
! Selection ! Trust ! Turnover ! Level of control over employee work
! IP and Processes ! Communication ! Motivation & Rewards ! Scrum of Scrum Mtgs as a management tool ! Site Mirroring – When & Why
! Cross Training
Sage Advice ! Once a quarter leadership visit ! Firing a third party test firm or individual
! Turnover, knowledge and skill issues " No test and/or poor programming skills " Over blown egos are a universal problem " Taking advantage of the company " Business before Pleasure
! If there is a problem, be prepared before taking any actions.
Never enough details ! Facilities
! Employee Safety ! Proper lab and development support
! Equipment cooling, equipment, software ! Who pays for any changes, requirements, etc.
! Laws are different –legal counsel ! Cultural issues–numerous books exist, if in doubt ask ! Holiday differences are a plus and a minus ! US representative at offshore site ! Representative here from offshore site
Equipment – The Hot Topic ! Equipment :
! Ordering ! Management & financial responsibility
! Sharing ! Cloud, single or multiple labs, WAN & VPN Critical
! True 24 hr. support, SLAs ! Penalties, DevOps and IT support
! Test Environments - support and failovers ! Work Visa
! Equipment import and export – Customs issues
Motivational factors ! Free “Ghost” Coverage – Not a Halloween joke ! Recognition
! Raises, Promotions ! Public acknowledgements of efforts
! Management and Leadership opportunities ! Contract firm ! Subsidiary ! Other arrangements
Problem Employees or Contractors
! Managers ! ICs ! Warning signs & Document, Document, Document ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
! It’s not you … It’s me …. ! Treating employees respectfully.
! Employment vs servitude. ! Corporate Atmosphere
! Test Process that is espoused when audited
! Different or standard levels of quality
Are you ready or will you be a wreck? ! Personal space – The lost frontier ! Siestas, meal times, Worker Councils, personnel data ! Caste/Race ! Favoritism ! Religion and world affairs ! National Holidays, Site holidays, vacations and shutdowns. ! Privacy Practices - Paychecks, Titles, Compensation
Is your work ever truly done ? ! Like Agile, make sure it is Done, Done, Done ! Overseas markets and laws change.
! Turnover and increased costs ! Facility security ! People skills
! Your involvement in their training ! Job satisfaction ! Personal security ! Communication
You/your country is not always #1 ! Do not carry biases
! Be even handed when dealing with external teams, partners and vendors.
! State upfront standards and expectations
! Ethics and level of commitment ! In a startup, successful leadership and management of an
international test team is even more critical.
Work vs personal time ! Be careful when discussing topics that are non- work related.
! Vacations & Hobbies ! Ownership or acquisition of goods ! Perception & feelings ! Timing
Views – Yours, Mine and Reality ! Perception and the halo effect
! For people and organizations do not let a prior success make you believe your external org will give you the same results for your product. Quality Leadership in a mkt can change.
! Stereotyping – Do not make assumptions that one country or
culture, organization can out code or out test another. ! Education ! Open learning outlets
Risk Management ! Sync with corporate disaster planning (Multi-Site) ! Document sharing, storage ! Know your legal rights for IP protection
! Protect your company before anything happens ! Courts and legal options vary ! Possible anti-American bias
! IT & Dev Ops - best friends or worst enemies
Avoid Monotony
! Automation and interesting work make a difference ! An area that has a lower wage base does not guarantee:
! Harder work/stronger work ethic ! High quality on monotonous tasks ! Quality of education
! Motivation Factors ! Group and cultural dynamics ! High unemployment
So can you have it all ? ! Agile and Waterfall methodologies ! Impacts to decisions
! New concepts to the external teams ! Authority structure and willingness to let teams decide ! Can Agile work across continents ?
! Automation development & fewer manual testers
Time Management # Vacation scheduling
# Substantial Variations
# Flex time at offshore locations: # Pros:
# Overlap working hours across time zones # Increase off-peak productivity
! Cons: ! Leader/Manager must be flexible
" Work early or late as meetings and emergencies arise. ! ICs may not like flex time to work with colleagues in India
or China
Work Environment is a factor
! Electricity & Broadband ! Temperature ! Sanitary Conditions ! Overtime
! Worker councils/unions ! Employee data protection
! Employee transfers ! Visas for employee training, transfer, site visits
Communication Management ! Recognition of expressions and vocal tones
! Gestures, posture ! Understanding vs agreement
! Business relationship tools: ! Trust & Respect ! Ensure clear communication flow ! Structured command and control ! Experience and leadership
Physical,Virtual or Hybrid ! Efficiency
! Achievable for a pure software app ! Avoid extraneous meetings.
! Virtual teams may force additional meetings. ! Large virtual distributed test teams can be problematic
! People not attending mtgs ! Unprepared delegate ! Conflicting priorities
! Prioritize concerns specific to their usage ! Diminished returns with too much feedback
Virtual Teams ! Real life Hybrid example:
! Concurrent Dev & Test Teams in France and China ! Teams responsible for unit, feature testing and defect fixes
! Used HPQC ! Coordination of customer testing by geographic units
! Results all tied up by level – each country held its own test review meeting (Issues, testing against plan)
! Two meetings a week with country test team reps ! Two meetings a week with dev teams reviewing fixes
Metaphors and references ! Do not use sports or country specific references unless you will
place these into context that the other international groups will understand
! When in one of your offshore locations it can be okay to put
ideas and statements into local context. ! Be mindful of facts ! Be aware of idioms
Team building exercises ! Exercises can be universal, others more country specific.
! Know the social norms, laws and expectations of the country ! Generic coding and test contests can be considered for the most part
universal ! Don’t make enemies or lose the respect of your remote
managers and teams. ! Identify current trend and use to advantage
Test Training, Mentoring, Comms ! Boost morale ! Sharing& building skills vs training replacements ! Change Management is a key piece of Leadership
" Some standards are universal " Others need to be communicated for process and
expectations " How these are communicated does matter
" Wikis, blogs, emails,1-1s, all department meetings " Q&A for folks will work better in small groups " Large sessions get the message out
Know When to : ! Send a person to a Beta Site – By Cost, Reward, Skill(s) ! Have managers prevent and shut down email wars quickly
! Time Zones can hurt in these circumstances so a zero tolerance policy is important.
! Clarify or restate material/expectations ! An unclear test case can cause a domino effect
Be a better manager or a great leader
! Know the differences and limitations of the firms/groups. ! Celebrate success and positive outcomes.
! Know what is being developed and tested. ! Do not lose the respect of the remote teams.
! Use Video (H.323), H.320 endpoints, audio and video conferences, Telepresence ! Explore all viable options
Where in the World is : ! Internationalization:
! Sales, Ease of use, etc.
! Corporate HQ ! What if you are leading the Test department and the remote
group is in the USA ?
Summary ! Celebrate differences, no cultural boundaries
! Diwali, Bastille Day and other events ! Define Formal SDLC -Agile vs Waterfall vs Exploratory
! Like your overall company culture, you project and create a culture within your automation and test departments.
! Respect Customs – e.g.Turban contests, tea time, ! Late dinner meals with staff peers when offsite, etc.
! Key Documents, Processes, and Communications are Critical ! Audits - Trust but verify
! Test Standards and International test team awareness ! Reach for the stars! ! Don’t miss by a mile or a meter !