Kevin Harris: The New Test Manager’s Survival Guide

What does it take to make the transition from Senior Tester, Test Lead or Tester, into the Test Manager Role? The answer is that it takes a complete shift in your responsibilities, how you approach problems, and the ways that you think about yourself, and testing in general.

Speaker:

When you’re a tester, it’s all about the details. When you’re the Test Manager, then it’s all about the big picture. Instead of concentrating on applications, you now have to concentrate on people.

You need to know everything about testing, but never do any testing. You need to be good at helping your staff avoid mistakes, but be able to step back and let them make those very same mistakes. You will do things that one group of your stake holders love, but another group hates. You have to be able to learn from the past, be ever present with what’s going on now, while concentrating on how your team will improve in the future.

And now you have to think about budget. About resourcing. About helping other people with their careers. And the chances are that you won’t have done any of these things before…

In this talk we’ll talk through some real live examples and look at some handy hints and tips to make sure that when people turn round to check what you’re doing – you’re waving (and not drowning!)