如何構建成功的QA團隊
How to build asuccessful QA team

原作者：SharathR Bhat

譯者：Jeff, 黃啟魯, Testone, Wally

日期：2009-10-22

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本文來源於作者Sharath R Bhat的一個帖子。
所謂偉大的測試團隊是什麼意思？
“擁有明星隊員的團隊是好團隊，但沒有一個明星隊員的團隊是一個偉大的團隊”——無名氏。
上述的引言使我們進入了偉大團隊及其特性的討論之中。這篇文章源於作者在不同團隊中的工作經歷，對團隊成員在時間非常緊迫和專案非常複雜的情況下的表現的觀察。本文適合於那些想尋求合適成員以求在專案中有出色表現的軟體測試團隊。

How to build asuccessful QA team

This a guest post from author“Sharath R Bhat”
What do we mean by a greatsoftware testing team?
“A team with a star player is agood team, but a team without one is a great
team.” - Author unknown.
The above quote from Author leads us to discussion on greatteams and its characteristics. The article stems from experience gained whileworking for different teams, observation of team members behavior under timepressure coupled with complex nature of project.This holds good for SoftwareTesting team which finds prominence place in a project activities and requiresright mix of people for performing these activities.
Why does some softwaretesting team fails and others succeed? Isthere any solution for this problem.The answer is “Yes”/”No” – depends on howthe team member aligns himself towards common goal of the team not at the costof suppressing his team members interest but working together with commonunderstanding of problem at hand.
The success also depends on leadership attributes possessed by Test Leads–“Captain of ship”.
The objective of this article is to help software testengineers or any person who believes in team work,to understand characteristicsof high performance team and how to cultivate them in their own teams.
Success of team in long run doesn’t depend on individualwho is considered “STAR” but does depends on all who form clusters of starsthat makes great team.
Characteristicsof Great Software Testing Team
Initial stage - Ask yourselffollowing question:
Does your new team memberknows the reason he has been selected for the team?
New members of the team are often puzzled about theirpresence in team.Although you may argue that he/she need not know purpose andjust work on task assigned to him/her.This is assumption made by many highermanagement people.By clearing defining the roles and responsibilities helpsindividuals to understand the project in bigger context.That includes therelevance of his/her job,skills of individuals that could be contributedtowards the projects,share common team goal which was defined earlier.This doesbring great commitment towards the work and hence contributes towards itsquality.
Ownership:When project complexity increases in terms of tasks andteam size, it would not be possible to keep track of individuals tasks bysingle leader.Hence the solution to this would be assigning Ownership toindividuals. However this virtual leadership often act as a impediment ratherthan solution if not considered appropriately. Mere appointment of individualas Owner without considering a serious thought of whether he/she could managetheir team would not bring desired result.
Individuals acting as owners should have mindset which matches leaders mindset and the pride ontheir part to act as future leaders. These are people who could make differenceby carrying along with them their team members and the same people by showingIndifferent attitudes towards their team will disintegrate the team. The taskof owners is not merely restricted to assigning task to team members but tounderstand task at hand, situation at much broader perspective and bringingcommon level of understanding among their team members. Support their teammember at the time of difficulty of handling task,word ofencouragement,correcting their mistakes by not acting as lead but as apeer,acting up on ideas or taking advice for appropriate situation fromexperienced members would certainly benefit towards shared goal. Collaborationand a solid sense of interdependency in a team will defuse blaming behavior andstimulate opportunities for learning and improvement.
Knowledge ofseasoned players in the team
The term-seasoned players indicates the person who hasspent considerable amount of time in same project or similar kind of work. They are resources who have vast knowledge aboutproject. By channeling their knowledge in proper way,the entireteam could be benefited.These individual should show an act of diligencetowards others work rather than arrogance.It is commonly said “Past successbreeds arrogance”. They are higher performers who’s absence could be felt in ateam but it should be not sole criteria as there are equal chance for otherswho has similar caliber to act at this position.
Motivation –Key Factor
Motivation is not all about giving speech when members ofteam are assembled but rather every effort should be made to tailor thesespeech to address each individual. This means each of team member has uniquequalities and unique working style. This task is rather complex than said forTest Lead since it will bring effort on leaders part to sense the team member’sfeeling not only to task assigned to members but also on project as whole. Positive attitude of lead will energies team– This is quoted from experience working for one of great test team.If theleader complains about long working hours or insisting the team members to workat schedule which is impossible to meet, your team will reflect your attitude.He/She is true leader who inspite of unreasonable schedule instills theconfidence among team members to believe in their abilities and at the sametime working at the background on his part to justify his team members effortworking on unreasonable schedule but bring an extension to these schedule tomake his team members job simple.
Recognition
Everyone likes to be recognized for his/her work.When anindividual is awarded for his/her work,the responsibility of team lead shouldbring reason for individual recognition in front of others. The team leaddecision for these kind of task should be impartial.This does bring greatrespect for the awarded individual by members in the team. They would be actingon similar grounds and ultimately team benefits from their collective response.Very often that members working for virtual leader often are not recognizedsince due to zero visibility to the leader of team. It is virtual leader whohas to bring on table the accomplishment,contribution done by team membertowards their task.This indicates that virtual leader is future leader who doestake care of members of his team and well received by members of his team towhom they always wanted to be associated in future.
One-One basisMeeting
It is often seen that roles and responsibilities for themembers are defined and assessment is done at the end of project.Agreed that itis formal process.But informal talk like One – One basis adds to this formalprocess as well. These informal meeting should address issues at present whommembers wont feel like conveying during group meeting, future opportunities for members, identifying futureleaders/owners of the team and equally acting on issues at handafter feedback from team members.Timely and appropriately delivered feedbackcan make the difference between a team that hides mistakes and a team that seesmistakes as opportunities. The responsibility for poor performance is usually afunction of the team structure rather than individual incompetence; yet, it isindividuals who are sent to training programs for fixing. If team members feellike they are pitted against one another to compete for rewards andrecognition, they will withhold information that might be useful to the greaterteam. When a team has problems, the effective team leader will focus on theteam’s structure before focusing on individuals.
“Don’t tell people how to dothings, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” -George Patton
Conclusion
There are plenty of things to be considered while buildingsuccessful team.The key words – Unity,Trust,Respect for others opinion andacting without fear are ingredients for great test team,in general for anysuccessful team. After reading this article look at your team and questionyourself “Are you working in great test team” or “ Will you make every effortto build great test team”.Then don’t wait,try next second to build “GreatSoftware Testing Team”.
“Coming together is a beginning,Keeping together is progress, Working together is success”. - Henry Ford
Over To You!
What do you think from your experience, What are yourcharacteristics for building a successful QA team?
About author: Sharath R. Bhat is a Software Test Engineerat Torry Harris Business solutions, Bangalore and has more than three yearsexperience in software Testing. An ISEB/ISTQB Certified Test Engineer andworked in Telecom, Finance and Healthcare domains. Areas on technical expertiseinclude testing Web Applications, Client-Server, Data Warehousing andMiddleware applications built using “Kabira”.

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