Applying Emotional Intelligence to Testing

MJ AM Tutorial

10/13/2014 8:30:00 AM

"Applying Emotional Intelligence to

Testing"

Presented by:

Thomas McCoy

Australian Department of Social Services

Brought to you by:

340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073

888-268-8770 ∙ 904-278-0524 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.sqe.com

Thomas McCoy

Australian Department of Social Services Australian software testing professional, teacher, and journalist Thomas McCoy has worked in the IT industry for more than two decades. Much of this time was spent as a software developer and IT manager with Australian government agencies. Wanting to make a greater contribution to software quality, Thomas re-oriented his career into the emerging discipline of software testing and has been an enthusiastic promoter of the profession ever since. At conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Asia, and the United States, Thomas is a popular keynote speaker, who has received several best presentation awards. You can reach Thomas at [email protected].

Speaker Presentations

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Apply EI to your testing 1

Apply Emotional Intelligence to Your Testing

Thomas McCoyBJourn, BSc, DipEd, MInfTech

Canberra, Australia

Privacy Agreement

Because some of the topics in this session may relate to sensitive thoughts and feelings, could I ask you to keep the discussions taking place today confidential? Thanks.

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Topics• Introduction• What is

Emotional Intelligence?

• How high isyour EI?

• Motivation• Conflict• Stress• Anger

Management

• Assertiveness • Nonverbal

Communication• Listening Skills• Empathy• Feedback • Introversion and

Extroversion• Inspiring Others • Summary and

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Introduction


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What is Emotional Intelligence?


What are emotions?

• Impulses to act

• Root of word is “motere” (Latin verb “to move”) plus prefix “e-” to connote “move away”


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Emotional IntelligencePopularised in 1995 by New York Times science journalist andHarvard University psychologist,Dr Daniel Goleman through enormously successful book


“EI is about how well we handle ourselves and our relationships.”• Self Awareness Knowing what we feel and why (can help good intuition

and decision making)

• Self Management Handling distressing emotions in an effective way Being in tune with negative emotions when we need to

but also generating positive emotions e.g. enthusiasm

• Empathy Knowing what other people are feeling

• Social Skills Being able to interact positively with other people


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What is EI?

The ability to use our

understanding of emotions,

in ourselves and others, to

deal effectively with people

and problems in a way that

reduces anger and hostility,

develops collaborative effort,

enhances life-balance and

produces creative energy.

Tester Developer


Four key EI skills

•Self Awareness

•Self-Management

•Social Awareness

•Relationship Management


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Self-awareness

• Emotional self-awareness

• Accurate self-assessment

• Self confidence

Being aware of your own emotions and recognising their impact


Self-management

• Emotional self-control

• Achievement orientation

• Transparency

• Optimism

• Adaptability

• Initiative

Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses under control Is that a

bug?


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Social awareness

• Empathy

• Organisational awareness

• Service orientation

Being able to tune into how others feel and to read situations


Project Retrospective

Relationship management

• Developing others

• Inspirational leadership

• Influence

• Change catalyst

• Conflict management

• Teamwork and collaboration

Being able to guide the emotional tone of the group


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Amygdala

“Amygdala Hijack”


EI: What it is and isn’t• It’s self awareness, not self obsession

• It’s managing feelings so they’re expressed appropriately; it’s not suppressing emotions or giving in to them

• It’s handling relationships and this doesn’t necessarily mean “being nice”. (For example, EI can mean confronting someone with an uncomfortable truth like “your program needs to be rewritten”)


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“IQ gets you hired, but EQ gets you promoted.”

Anonymous


“The secret of success is sincerity.

Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.”


Jean Giradoux

Successful French writer and diplomat

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How high is your EI?


EI Self Assessment

• Read through each of the 10 questions and circle your chosen answer

• We’ll do the scoring afterwards


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How did you go?

Percentage Meaning

Above 80% Excellent

50% to 80%OK, most people score

around 65%

Under 50% Some things to think about

Please note that this test is just supposed

to give you a rough indication, and a

“flavour” for EI; it is not a serious

psychological instrument.

How can we use EI in testing?1. In test execution, we can trust our

intuition and gut feelings to revealsomething about the systemwe are testing:

anger confusion frustration surprise impatience amusement

2. In the broader testing context, it applies to the many, complex interactions that happen in an IT project


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Connecting emotionallywith end users

Is this the user’s reality?


Motivation


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Why are you in testing?

Did you choose testing …

… or did testing choose you?


The Testing Mindset

• Like to break things

• Like to criticise

• Cynical

• Inquisitive

• Pedantic

• Attention to detail

• Meticulous

• Persistent

• Pessimistic

• Sceptical


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What motivates you about testing?

Money

Finding bugs

Criticising the developers

Being part of the team

Contributing to quality

Helping the company

Intellectual challenge

Protecting the end user

Give me a hug,

I found a bug!


What motivates other roles in the IT project?

• Senior Manager: everything under control

• Project Manager:cost and schedule

• Business Analyst: required features are implemented

• Developer: code runs correctly

• Marketing: popular features are included, product ships on time

Implement NOW!


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Conflict

Conflict

• Our profession, with its high risks, is a breeding ground for conflict

• We constantly face unrealistic deadlines, stress, anger and frustration


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Conflict resolution1. View person as a potential ally2. Clarify perceptions: yours and theirs3. Focus on shared goals4. If past issues are stopping you from

moving forward they may need to be discussed

5. Try to be empathic and good humoured6. Follow up on any agreements in writing

to avoid disagreements later


If all that fails …• Maybe you’re dealing with an office

psychopath• Sometimes it’s not you, it’s them

Book was written by a Sydney forensic psychologist, who gave a lecture on criminal psychopaths, and afterwards an audience member came up and said “that’s just like someone I work with”. This inspired him to write the book.


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Stress

Stress

The experience of a threat to our well-being which gives rise to a physiological reaction to prepare us for fight or flight.


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Stress prevention• Exercise and nutrition

• Clarity of purpose clear vision and values so you can focus your

energies e.g. we exist to help the end user

• Support network

• Life balance

• Self esteem

• Challenge self defeating beliefs e.g. can overwork if you believe you must be

perfect and never let a bug get past you


Stress management• Be assertive (sometimes

we need to say “no”)• Relaxation• Letting go of things that aren’t worth

fighting for

• Appreciation of what’s going well in life

• Calming self talk


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Anger Management


AngerAnger is part of a defence system to deal with threat and usually results from frustration. People often either:Keep a lid on it

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Dealing with anger

Emotionally

Intelligent

Emotionally

Unintelligent

ActiveAssert

YourselfLet Loose!

Passive Calm Yourself Give In


Self-talk while you’re stewing

• I can find a way of saying what I want without being angry

• My anger will upset me and everyone else

• It’s not about right and wrong, it’s about different needs

• I can keep calm and relax

• It doesn’t help to get upset

• If I lose control, I could lose out

• I’m not going to do anything crazyor insult anyone


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Stopping the amygdala hijack1. Say “STOP” in your head

2. Take a deep breath

3. Breathe out slowly. Relax the muscles in your face, mouth and jaws

4. Take another deep breath

5. Breathe out slowly. Relax the muscles of your shoulders, arms and hands

6. Face the other person. Start again in a calmer state of mind

7. Breathe slowly


Assertiveness


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Assertiveness

I Win I Lose

You Win Assertive Passive

You Lose Aggressive ????


Assertiveness is being self-assured and confident without being aggressive

Assertive behaviours

• Refusing requests

• Standing up for your rights

• Expressing personal opinions, including disagreement

• Expressing justified displeasure and anger

• Initiating and maintaining conversation

• Giving and receiving compliments

• Making requests (e.g. asking for favours or help)

• Expressing appreciation


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Assertive verbal skills1. Saying “no”

2. Broken record

3. Forced choice

4. Dismissing andrefocusing

5. Embeddingstatement in question

6. Fogging

7. Asking for details

8. Compromising

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No!


Nonverbal Communication

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Communication Element

Words7 %

Body language55 %

Voice tone38 %


Nonverbals• Touch

• Voice

• Space

• Gestures

• Eye contact

• Facial expressions

• Body movements and posture


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Mirroring


Nonverbal communication• Eye contact Duration of contact and

expression in eyes

• Facial expression Is it happy, angry, sad,

masklike, etc?

• Tone of voice Is it warm, bright and

confident or fearful and constricted?

• Posture and gestures Relaxed and open?

• Intensity Reflects the amount of

energy and will vary with situation and audience

• Timing and pace Are responses coming too

quickly or slowly?

• Sounds that convey awareness and understanding Such as “hmmm”


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Using your voice

• Paralinguistics: “it’s not what you say but how you say it”.

• Voice tone is 38% and comprises: Emphasis Volume Pitch Inflection Articulation Pace


“Did you finish the test plan?”• Did you finish the test plan?

(has it been done?)

• Did you finish the test plan?(was it you who finished it?)

• Did you finish the test plan?(is it finished?)

• Did you finish the test plan?(as opposed to some other plan)

• Did you finish the test plan?(as opposed to the test strategy)


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Listening Skills


Time spent on different communication activities


Writing9% Reading

16%

Speaking30%

Listening45%

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Why does listening matter to us?• Obtain richer information than from writing

because we have words and nonverbals

• Can ask questions

• Encourages others to share with us

• Means they will listen to us too

• Helps team members resolvetheir own issues

• Increases our perceived IQ


Whole body listening• facing speaker

• leaning forward

• nodding, smiling

• eye contact

• friendly noises “ah ha”

• mirroring

• not playing on mobile devices


Need to watch and listen to ensure

words are consistent with

nonverbals

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Effective listening• Clear your head

• Listen (don’t be thinking of the next question or your response)

• Allow silence (don’t interrupt)

• Don’t daydream

• Use acknowledging responses but don’t just parrot (people are wise to this)


Effective listening

• Don’t finish sentences

• Don’t change subject

• Avoid distractions

• Avoid mind reading

• Avoid a premature solution


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Active listening

• encouragement

• clarify meaning

• check accuracy

• check feelings

• summarise content

• acknowledge what was said



Empathy

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Empathy• Sits between Apathy and Sympathy

• Means understanding somebody from their point of view by sensingand experiencing theirfeelings and perspective

• We should seek to understandbefore being understood

• A key skill for testing professionals


Empathic questions

• Short general open questions Who, what, where, when, how

• Encouragement Tell me more, go on

• Seek clarification In what way did you resolve the issue?

• Focus on what matters to the person How is that important to you?


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Why do we need empathy?

• Persuasion

Means we better understand other person which leads to appreciation of their position

• Conflict management

Conflict is often based on misunderstanding

• Networking

Empathy helps us develop influence

• Client needs

If we don’t empathise we can’t serve them


Feedback


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Testing Definition (old)

“To tell somebody that he or she is wrong is called criticism.

To do so officially is

called testing.”


• This role has been fading away

• It eventually became “trusted advisor” (EI sanitised term)

• And now we are even more touchy-feely, as members of self-directed teams

The “Quality Cops?


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Emotionally laden critical terms• Bug

• Defect

• Deviation

• Error

• Fail

• Fault

• Problem

These words are from the ISTQB Glossary and carry emotional baggage. “Incident” is a more neutral term, as is “test query”.


Vehicles for public “criticism”

• Metrics

• E-mails

• Incident reports

• Newsletter items

• Public conversations

• Testing summary reports

• Team meetings or discussions


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Of course, we are also at the receiving end

How do we feel when:

• Our incidents are rejected?

• Our expertise is questioned?

• We are blamed for faults appearing in Production?


Giving emotionally intelligent criticism

1. Not in public (if possible)

2. Use the kiss-kick-kiss sandwich

3. Don’t personalise (talk in the abstract)

4. Never, ever, say “don’t be defensive”

5. Praise good things at all times

6. Ensure they’re OK

7. Admitting our own mistakes


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Feedback vs. criticism

• Feedback is a broader term than criticism (sometimes called “negative feedback”)

• While it often features criticism and unpleasant observations, it can also include praise and support


Effective feedback needs to be:


• fair

• accurate

• specific

• structured

• outcome oriented

• focused on behaviour, not person

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Giving Feedback• Do it in private

• Make it a positive experience

• Be sensitive to person’s reactions

• Prepare your comments in advance

• Be specific and give examples

• Use “I” statements e.g. “I feel it might have worked better if …”

• Ask for the person’s response e.g. “what is your reaction?”

• Talk about positives (especially in summing up)

• Provide specific suggestions

Don’t do this


Opening words Describe

1. When you… problem behaviour

2. It causes… objective consequences

3. And we feel… feeling

4. Could you… change that is needed

5. This would mean… effect of change

6. We would feel… how people would feel

7. What do you think? give control back to person


A feedback sequence

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The internal critic• Aspiring to high

standards can make us critical of ourselves

• “Professional pessimism” can spill from the workplace into our lives

• Can lead to negative self talk

Crikey, how could you

have missed that?

Even Wally would have

found it! You’ve really

messed up big time!


Silencing the internal critic1. Stop the thoughts by yelling “stop” (to yourself)

2. Take some deep breaths

3. Replace the negative self talk “Everybody sometimes misses a bug; I’ll review my

methods to see why”

“There’s no telling what Wally would have done and it’s not relevant”

“I’ve proven my value to the project in the past, I’ll keep doing that in the future, and can learn from this experience”


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Learned optimism

Optimist Pessimist

Permanence Just a

temporary

setback

Will go on

forever

Pervasiveness Specific to this

situation

Will affect my

whole life

Personalisation Was caused by

many factors

It’s all my

fault

Different ways of thinking about “bad events” that can also help silence the Internal Critic



Introversion and Extroversion

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How they are different

• Introverts get their energy from within and tend to be quiet, thoughtful, and like being alone

• Extroverts get their energy from outside and tend to be talkative, outspoken and love the company of other people


Book by Susan Cain


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Adjusting our style

• Programmer: introvert?

• Tester: introvert/extrovert?

• Sales: extrovert?

• Project manager: extrovert?

• Client: introvert/extrovert?



Inspiring Others

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Words

• Love

• Faith

• Hope

• Belief

• Honour

• Promise

• Connectedness

• A brighter day


Body Language• Intense eye contact

• Sincere expression

• Upright but relaxed posture

• Good hand gestures with lots of pointing

• Shifts around slightly while he speaks, conveys energy

• Uses open gestures and touches heart

• Serious and intense expression, sometimes a half smile


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Voice

• Clear and calm delivery

• Good use of pitch, pace, pause, and projection

• Speaks more quickly and loudly as he gets towards the end


Emotions• Heartfelt and sincere

• Positive and enthusiastic

• Connectedness and community: repeats USA often

• Humility: "my presence here is unlikely", “I owe a debt”

• Empathy: story about child who can’t read and senior citizen who can’t get medicine “that matters to me”STAR West 2014 Version 1.0

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Techniques• Uses repetition

• Uses famous cliches “I am my brother's keeper”, “Out of many, one”

• Uses stories with vivid verbal imagery: “slaves sitting around fire singing”, “naval officer patrolling”

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Testing Manifesto

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1. Our primary aim is to protect the organisation, developers and users from defective software.

2. We respect the talents and capabilities of our developer colleagues and appreciate the complexities involved in the software development process.

3. Similarly, we are grateful that our developer colleagues understand and value our testing activities.

4. We are mindful of the fact that our colleagues are often working under substantial time and budget pressures, as we are too.

5. We acknowledge that we also make mistakes.


6. We seek to employ the most efficient and effective testing practices available to uncover issues.

7. While we have no desire to harm, criticise, or adversely affect our developer colleagues, we are nonetheless compelled to serve our primary aim.

8. We will report all issues dispassionately and factually, avoiding emotive expressions, and aiming to avoid apportioning blame on individuals or groups (where possible).

9. If we have raised an issue in error, we will happily cancel it provided an evidence-based explanation is given.

10. We are proud to be working alongside our developer colleagues, and the many other talented project team members, to achieve positive outcomes for all.


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Key Points


Key Points 1• Emotional Intelligence (EI) provides guidance on how to work

effectively with people.

• This is especially relevant to the testing profession, with its pressures and tight timeframes.

• EI breaks skills down into those relating to self and those relating to others.

• Unlike IQ, which declines into old age, EI can be improved.

• Your EI assessment result provides some guidance in relation to improvements you could make.


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Key Points 2

• The amygdala is an area of the brain that can cause a "meltdown" if we are not in control of our emotions.

• Motivation is important in understanding what drives us and others.

• Conflict is something we must deal with to be effective. (Contrary to popular belief, the absence of conflict does not necessarily mean things are going well.)

• Stress and anger management are important in our profession, which often involves long hours and weekend work.


Key Points 3• Assertiveness is a skill we must develop so we are not

constantly dumped on by work.

• Nonverbal communication is important for us to communicate effectively but also for us to understand the subtexts of the communication of others.

• The effective use of one's voice can be extremely powerful.

• These days, with hectic schedules and short attention spans we tend not to listen enough, and this is a skill worth developing.


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Key Points 4• Empathy is a skill that allows us to understand others more

deeply.

• Feedback must be given sensitively, especially with criticism being a core part of our role.

• We may have to silence our own “internal critic” at times.

• Many of us are introverts, which can present challenges when wanting to participate more fully in team discussions.

• Inspiring others is an important skill and we can draw on a range of EI techniques to achieve this.

• It may be time for us to construct an EI-inspired Testing Manifesto.


Recommended Reading


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Bradberry & Greaves 2009, Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Cain, Susan 2012, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Clarke, John 2007, The Pocket Psycho

Ellis, Albert 2002, Anger: How to Live With and Without It

Goleman, Daniel 1995, Emotional Intelligence

Goleman, Daniel 2006, Social Intelligence

Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee 2013, Primal Leadership

Jeffers, Susan 2006, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Seligman, Martin 2006, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Smith, Manuel 1985, When I Say No, I Feel Guilty

Stein, Steven 2009, Emotional Intelligence for Dummies

Wilding, Christine 2008, Teach yourself Emotional IntelligenceSTAR West 2014 Version 1.0

Thank You!

For any enquiries contact:

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

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