Description:
This two-day course focuses on developing a strategic approach to distributed test project management, effective communication, bug-database management and metrics, resource evaluation, and successful test execution, as well as many of the “soft” skills needed to lead and manage offshore teams. Implementation and use of test management tools and documentation will also be covered. Application of these concepts will be demonstrated in class examples, discussion and exercises. In this class you learn how to best to prepare yourself for leading and managing offshore teams to maximize test productivity while minimizing quality risks and stress.
Who Should Attend:
Experienced software testers, test engineers, and project managers who will be planning for and executing the testing of a software development project – anyone who wants to develop practical test-planning and test-group management skills for successful management of software test projects.
Course Materials (included):
We provide a handbook (approximately 400 pages) that includes copies of the course slides, sample test plan materials, sample matrices and graphs, and lists of useful print and online resources.
You Will Learn:
At the completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Understand how distributed development is different than single site development
- Understand models of offshoring and common issues for offshore resources
- Analyze differences in development lifecycles, such as waterfall and Agile, and their unique differences with offshore teams.
- Assess staff skill set and experience for optimal task distribution and management.
- Build and execute a variety of test strategies
- Build communication infrastructure to support visibility into testing.
- Setup communication for project success, reduced stress and to build trust
- Understand and manage the politics of leading test projects
- Report on project-progress and test-coverage
- Use risk analysis to improve visibility and software quality
- Understand the essentials of test management documentation
- Write and communicate meaningful test plans
- Better manage the bug database
- Make use of meaningful project and bug-database metrics
- Understand the test tools available for use on a project
- Use leadership skills for better test execution and staff retention.
- Explore and understand a wide variety of cross-cultural issues
- Focus on areas of “working with Americans” key to test and software development projects
- Use leadership, coaching and team building techniques
- Use training to build skill, prevent problems, mitigate risk, retain staff and reduce turnover.
- Successfully close the test project
- Conduct useful project postmortems and collect feedback for continuous process improvement.
Course Outline:
Overview of Leading Offshore Test Projects
- How are they different?
- A new understanding for the role of a Test Lead and Manager
The Big Picture
- Getting your own house in order: Standardize, formalize, and document your software development and testing process
- Unique issues with offshore testing and QA not found in development
- Setting expectation for best performance
- Build transfer process and “What we do each week. “
Analyzing your Staff
- Examine the skill sets for offshore Test Engineers and the impact on task distribution and execution
- Developer testing vs. Tester testing
- Understanding of the end-user
- Common software project problems and their effect on testing
- What is high quality? Customer satisfaction? What is a bug?
Test Strategy and Test Plan
- Test Strategy and How to Test
- Coverage and the goals of testing
- Risk-based testing, prioritizing and test selection
- Making a meaningful and useful Test Plan
Test Project Documentation and Deliverables
- Test Case Management Tool/QC
- The Bug Tracking System
- Project and Defect Measurement and Metrics
- Reporting Progress: Status Reports
Common Issues for Test Leads
- Leadership
- Coaching
- Team Building
- Working with the team at home
Excellent communication: the key to successful projects
- Fostering Good Communication
- Communication tools and infrastructure
- Dealing with “tribal knowledge”
- Knowledge transfer
Soft Skills
- Building trust
- Working across cultures and “Working with Americans”
- Potential cultural problems
- Delivering bad news, Saying “No,” Keeping Secrets– transparency and visibility in work
- Being on-time and issues of time, criticality of work and deadlines
Using training to solve problems
- Mechanics of training and coaching to set yourself up for success
- How training can solve process and practice issues.
- Definition of areas for training
- Staff retention and turnover.
Closing out the test project
- Activities during Final phase
- Post release and preparing for the next project
- How to conduct useful post mortems
Prerequisites:
One year of experience in software testing, a year of experience in software development management, or equivalent. A full understanding of quality theory, project sizing and estimation, various test strategies, and experience documenting test projects.
