Testing Junior Management Course v2

Testing Junior Management

Course

Sharon Elgarat 24/October/2012

• Customer Interactions• Service Provider Negotiation• Resource Management• Exercise 1

• Organization• Owner of Tasks• Navigation in a Project• Attack Bottle necks• Employee Empowerment• Expansion Key Generator

Testing Junior Management Course

Sharon ElgaratSharon Elgarat

Organization Customer Interactions

TestingJunior Manager

Testing Management

Customer : Any Member in the Organization who can come to the Team with Demands

CDU & Site Management

ApplicationManagement

Require: Detailed Plans, Constant Updates, a sense of overall controlDeliverables: Meetings, Plans, Reports, Consultation before major decisionsThe Telecom’s

Business Unit

The Telecom’s Management

GSS Groups(Training, Testing,…)

Provide Deliverables

Requirements Setting Require:

Links from the Design to a Business Language, Clarity on System QualityDeliverables: High Level Design in Business Concept, Detailed Execution & Pass rate Reports

Require: Proof of Coverage, Exit Criteria Closure

Deliverables: Testing Strategy, Design Materials, Progress Reports, Closure Plan

Require: Coverage, Plans Transparency, Progress Updates, Exit Criteria Closure

Deliverables: Testing Strategy, Design Materials, Defect & Progress Reports, ATRR, PRR

Require: Coverage alignment, Quality Issues

Deliverables: Design Materials, Defect ReportsRequire: Knowledge Transfer, Activities Support

Deliverables: Resources for KT and Support

Organization Customer Interactions

What Goes on in the Customer’s mind when he comes to meet you:1. Who Gave the Cat permission to guard the Milk?2. I don’t want to Approve anything, I paid you to do it.3. We can’t go live without touching the system ourselves anyway4. Who checks we didn’t make mistakes in our Requirements?

How Can we ease the worries they wouldn’t even bring to light:1. Do not try to Deny you are an Amdocs Unit, but focus on the excellent skills by

coming very much prepared to the meeting with high quality materials only2. Emphasis the Responsibility on Quality is always on us, explain their approval is

only a confirmation they have no open comments, not a transfer of responsibility.3. Involve them before they ask for it, raise to them options on how we can make

the results clearer and more transparent for them, focus your report numbers to increase business understanding. Attend to every customer request with a ‘can do’ approach.

4. Put special attention on looking for gaps in the requirements and on Usability issues and Raise the Open Issues directly to the customer people who raised the requirements.

Organization Service Providers Negotiation


Deliver Services

Set Expectations

Service Provider: Any Collaborating Entity which enables the team to meet it’s Goals

Testing Management

CDU & Site Management

ApplicationSupport

Expectations: Coordinate efforts with other Testing teams, serve as escalation pointDelivered Services: Alignment of activities with other test teams. Environment management, HF management, FP for internal escalation

The Telecom’s Business Unit

External Vendor’s Support teams

Infra Support

Expectations: Provide insight in to business decisions

Delivered Services: Answer Business requirement Open Issues, Fix Requirement type defects

Expectations: Support Testing on External Systems to which the testers have no direct accessDelivered Services: Perform Test activities & Fix software defects on the external system

Expectations: Coordinate support efforts Delivered Service: Allocate Application Resources, Set Priority for testing issues, track defect fixing activities

Expectations: Provide solutions for raised Issues

Delivered Services: Answer Issues raised as First Level support, Fix Code/configuration issues

Expectations: Install and Maintain test EnvironmentsDelivered Services: Provide Environment page, upgrade, support HF deployment, Fix environment defects

Organization Resource Management


• Description: Team members experienced in testing life cycle activities

• Lead’s Activities: Tasks assignments, Status Tracking, Personal Care, Personal Growth & Learning. Internal Coordination

Testers: Environments:

Test Cases: Defects:

• Description: Physical & Logical Testing Platforms for Software installation

• Lead’s Activities: Set Requirements, Approve Changes as Env Owner, Coordinate activities on each Env by multiple Users

• Description: Documentation items of the Quality Issues reported in the Project’s life cycle

• Lead’s Activities: Supervise Defect lifecycle from creation till closure, report and priorities based on testing needs and business impact

• Description: Documentation Items of the Testing Activities and their Results

• Lead’s Activities: Supervise Coverage and Quality, Maintain and Enhance over time, Generate Reports

Resources: Any Entity which the lead can use to accomplish his team’s goals

Organization Exercise 1: Strategy Document

The Strategy document is the main location to define all Organizational related items .One of the main Sections in the document is The Deliverables list.

Try to Compile a list of all Deliverables the Testing Group Could be required to Provide in a Large Transformation Project which includes all Testing Streams (FAT, NFT, B2B, E2E)

Domain Deliverable DescriptionRequirement Management Requirement Traceability Matrix This deliverable maps Customer Requirements to the Testing Requirements/Use Cases which would later be

mapped to the Testing MaterialsPlanning Acceptance Test Plan A document that defines TIS scope, strategy, coverage, test types, entry and exit criteria, etc….

FAT Design Acceptance Test Calendar Highlights A set of documents describing All Testing calendars and flows which are mapped to the test requirements

E2E Design Calendar Highlights A Document describing scenarios per E2E flow including all Actions on all Systems in the flow. Containing additional section for E2E Physical devices requirements

FAT Execution Preparation Execution Perquisites List A list of perquisites required for the start of Acceptance Testing executionFAT Execution Preparation RFA Calendar execution summary report RFA (Ready For Acceptance) calendar will be executed on one Acceptance Testing environment to insure

environment readiness. In scope of the RFA is a set of end to end flows.

Overall Execution Preparation

Readiness Review summary report Based on this report readiness review meeting(s) will be conducted EPT and Amdocs to decide on RFA Milestones

Overall Test Execution Daily status and defects report During Acceptance Testing execution, a daily report that will be provided to report testing plan, progress .vs. plan, status of defects and main issues.

Overall Test Execution Acceptance Testing phase summary report

A comprehensive report summarizing the results of a specific phase of Acceptance Testing.

Overall Test Environment Management

Environments Planning & Environments Management

A document explaining the configuration and technical management of the Acceptance Tests environments

Bill to Bill Test Design Bill to Bill Coordinated flow Detailed Design

Detailed Test instructions aimed to achieve coordinated execution of B2B flow on BSS & Legacy environments

Bill to Bill Test Execution Daily Bill to Bill Progress Report Progress and findings of B2B Tests ReportBill to Bill Test Execution Bill to Bill Test Summary Report A comprehensive report summarizing the results of the comparison tests conducted during Bill to Bill

Screen to Screen Test Design

Screen to Screen Coordinated flow Detailed Design

Detailed Test instructions aimed to achieve coordinated execution of S2S flow on BSS & Legacy environments

Screen to Screen Test Execution

Daily Screen to Screen Progress Report Progress and findings of S2S Tests Report

Screen to Screen Test Execution

Screen to Screen Test Summary Report A comprehensive report summarizing the results of the comparison tests conducted during Screen to Screen

NFT Design NFT Detailed Test Plan A document detailing the planned coverage of performance and operational testing scope, types of test iterations, means of measurement and success criteria.

NFT Execution NFT Summary Report A document detailing the results of the NFT. For performance – an analysis of online transactions and KPIs as well as batch durations. For OPT – a summary stating the OPT activities and results.

• Responsible for Success• Step in to a Role• Exercise 2• Plan to Succeed• Delegate & Monitor• Exercise 3• Modular thinking• Evaluate to Prevent Risks• Exercise 4



Sharon Elgarat

Owner of Tasks Responsible for Success

TIS GL – assuming Responsibility is the name of the game: Customers Perspective: “We paid so we will not be Responsible” Amdocs Management Perspective: “You are the Experts, you stand at the Gate” Applications Perspective: “We Fixed what you defined as Issues” Testers Perspective: “We did what you said in the order you told us to do it in”

Who Assigns the Final Atomic Tasks to the People who perform them? Who Defines Priority between tasks which testers can’t do at the same time? Who Tracks and Reports the team’s Progress? Who represents the team’s Interests in Managerial meetings? Who sets Reviews for the team’s materials with Customers and Service Providers?

GL = Responsibility for tasks in his Domain / PM = Accountability for the same tasks

Who Defines the Team’s Requirements and Commits on the Team’s Deliverables?

Owner of Tasks Responsible for Success

Assigning tasks always remember: A GL always has at list One Tester - Himself

Taking on Test Activities allows the GL to:• Maximize utilization in small projects• Estimate tasks by knowledge• Take decisions based on Understanding• Relate to Tester’s Difficulties• Provide a Tester’s outlook in Management discussions• Support his testers both on escalation and expertise.• Report out with the real issues and not just Defect number and TC counts

Managing a Group & Taking on a Test design or Test Execution task is extremely difficult.

But it makes you: This: Instead of This:

Owner of Tasks Step in to a Role

Item First Impression Failure ImpactAccepting the Task from your Manager

• Define the borders of the tasks just a bit wider then he did• Formulate a presentable document to explain your

approach• Request the Resources you need, don’t wait for the to be

defined for you

Your Manager will manage your domain and you will be reduced back to a glorified senior tester.

Approaching your Customers

• Answer each question being asked regarding your Domain• Emphasis you are Responsible for the Quality, especially

when discussing review needs.• Give them a sense your door is open • Prepare your reports to give them clarity on the items they

expressed concerns for

Your Customer will start testing themselves.They will approach your managers with escalation and risks on items you could easily answer

Assigning Tasks to your Team

• Be Ready with a Modular flexible Plan• Set the Borders of your Answers wider then their questions• Keep an overall Direction to the tasks you assign to each

tester to generate a sense of Growth• Set a Kickoff meeting to explain your management approach

Testers will feel out of touch with the project and will either do the minimum or would try to set a direction of their own

Setting your Requirements to the Service Providers

• Build your own plan but listen to any plan they already made• Present the minimal corner stone items you must insist on• Show you adopt your plans to fit their already working

procedures• Insist on clear ETA for each Required item even if those are

not Final ETAs

Service Providers will work based on Priority and not based on Plan. Escalations on delay risks will be ignored as no agreed milestones were set

Owner of Tasks Exercise 2: Personal Management Approach

Every Manager has his own approach, one which fits his Personality, his Skills and his view on the employees working under him

In the Team’s Kick off meeting, after presenting the Project and the Challenges the team will face it is recommended to clarify to the team what is your Management Approach.

Write in your own words a short 5 minutes speech presenting your view of the relations your employees can expect they will have with you and the way you expect them to work

Simulate such a Discussion in small groups (4-5) – rotate the role of the Team Leader

Owner of Tasks Plan to Succeed

Plan your Team

Analyze the Project’s needs

Look for the focus areas

Recruit / Train Expert FPs per

area

Plan your ScopeDefine Testing

Calendar Groups

Enter as much Modularity as

Possible

Assign tasks according to

knowledge plan

Plan your ReportsDefine Cycles

based on Timeline

Estimate progress & delay risks

Plan slightly under expected

Progress

Owner of Tasks Delegate & Monitor

Fight to Avoid Strive to Create in Testers

• Similar background & Training• Expected to Produce Similar quality• Often Replaced after short KT• Measured in Test Cases Executed• Think of the same narrow issues• Take responsibility only on Testing tasks• Care for Progress only in a narrow area• View the smallest picture Possible

Trained As SpecialistsBrain Storm between different approaches

Encouraged &Trusted to think while testing

Measured by contribution to quality

Assume Cross Project Responsibility

Are Clear of their Necessity to the Project

Owner of Tasks Exercise 3: Brainstorm

One of the most Rewarding and Growth encouraging tasks area for testers are the Cross Project Activities.

Brainstorm as a Class on the Possible Cross Project Activities a Group Leader can assign to testing team members

Keep in mind, once assigned the GL must allow the Tester a free hand with the task with him only monitoring in the background

Monitoring On-Testing Defects (Delivered/Answered)HF Deployment

& HFs alignment Control

FP for Environment Upgrades & Sanity Defect Meetings Testing

RepresentativeBusiness ProcessesAlignment FP On Site Activities

Coordinator Remote Site Administrative leadExternal Vendors

CoordinatorTesting Deliverables Coordinator

Owner of Tasks Modular thinking

Fight to Avoid Strive to Be

Sharon Elgarat

• Count Test Cases to asses work load

• Provide Customers outputs in %

• Assign tasks based on Design

• Main Goal to execute all Tests

• Follow Numbers

View workload in Functionality Items

Provide outputs in Business Flows

Assign tasks based on scope

Main Goal is to Deliver Quality Software

Follow Business Processes

Owner of Tasks Modular thinking

• Keep your Scope View on Scenario (Use Case) Level – Calendars are only Packaging

• Assign tasks per Calendar but do not fear to add additional testers to handle Specific scenarios

• Direct testers to Alert ‘Blocked’ only after reviewing the status of all scenarios

• Allocate short added tasks to Blocked testers keeping Priority on the original task

• Keep a bank of small Ad-Hoc non Mandatory Design Improvement tasks for Downtime periods

• Build a Growth / Training plan which would allow growing a Second Focal point for each area - allocate tasks based on the planned knowledge area growth.

Owner of Tasks Evaluate to Prevent Risks

Prevent Risks you will Raise Prevent Risks against you

• Analyze your plans for dependencies on other teams

• Plan contingencies in each item

• Schedule agreed Milestones for each item with reasonable ETA

• Periodically Evaluate & report readiness as a separate list

• Re-Plan based on Contingency once milestones are not met and keep a list of delay items and mitigation actions taken

• Analyze Plans for Items which depend on you

• Define clear deliverables and ETAs

• Present the Deliverables to your team and define internal FPs for Delivering

• Report Periodically on Progress of the Deliverables as a separate list

• Raise potential delays (before they ask) and request impact evaluation for a specific estimated delay period

Owner of Tasks Exercise 4: Simulation

You have Called a Conference meeting with the following managers:1. The CDM – has no experience with testing groups & doesn’t understand the role of SI2. The Infra Manager – Doesn’t want to work as he us under budgeted and stressed with tasks of

earlier groups in the project lifecycle3. The Application Line Managers – Don’t care about your phase as it is after their view of the

delivery and they are only planned to give Defect Fixing support, not to take responsibility on any testing task beyond System Test.

You have been told your project start execution 6 weeks from now, will last for 14 weeks and will include Functional Testing of 2 large CRs in each of the following applications: CRM, OMS, AR & AMDD. You are trying to agree on the following items: Delivery Drop Dates, Number of recommended Environments, Upgrade Duration, Communication method with the support

Task 1: Divide in to Small Groups (4-5) and build a plan which would be the base of discussionTask 2: Simulate in each Group the Discussion with 1 member playing Testing Lead and the rest play the other Roles in the meeting.

• Project Turning Point• Turning Point Identification• Exercise 5• Prior Turning Point decision

making• Post Turning Point decision

making• Exercise 6

• Organization• Owner of Tasks• Navigation in a Project• Employee Empowerment• Expansion Key Generator


Sharon Elgarat

Navigation in a Project Project Turning Point

Decision making is most Crucial and Complex at Peak Focus Periods.

In Testing the Peak Period is the Execution Period

The Execution Period can be divided roughly to two Sub Periods: Independent Testing – Low Priority High Transparency Testing – Top Priority

The switch between the sub periods happens on a unique Turning Point.

Testing experts must identify the Turning Point has occurred and switch their method of communications to fit the High Transparency requirements of the second Period. This is crucial for the customer relations, so he would feel you adopt to their needs.

Proper Test Activities Planning Can delay the Turning Point but Testing Leads must be prepared for it at all times as most triggers are external (not fully within testing team’s control)

Navigation in a Project Turning Point Identification

A Project will always start in Independent Testing sub period and will end with High Transparency Period. The Key to successful Execution is the Identification of the Turning pointTrigger Initiator Means to Delay the turning point Impact of Failing to

Recognize turning point

Customer was asked to Approve System will go live

Account Management

Share results at high business importance area before they ask. Report to the Account on progress

High added effort to share results on all testing areas during Execution

Customer feels out of touch with the system

Business Leads

Be Sharp on training timeline & always Answer the customer’s questions with a bit more then they asked for.

Customer will request to Test himself and will start raising “escaping” defects.

Defects list has grown beyond estimated closure capability

Delivery Application Leads

Follow Closure Progress, Shift tasks from main open defect contributors to allow stability.

Management will panic and demand added reports and meetings

Progress has dropped far beneath plans

Account Management

Re-plan and publish the new plan together with the first report showing large delay

Higher management will try to Micro manage your team forcing non testing methods

Customer lost trust or confidence with Amdocs

Account Management

Insist to present your team as independent, 100% transparency, keep a direct open channel of communication with the customer

Test results will be scrutinized by the customer, customer will start testing himself

Navigation in a Project Exercise 5: Share your Experience

All Projects face a Turning point at some point in the project.

Look back at some of the projects you participated in.

See if you can Identify the Turning Point you faced and if the team identified it on time

Share your Experience with the audience

Navigation in a Project Prior Turning Point decision making

Take the Open Road

• Build a Full Report from day one, representing the entire activity and Keep it as Fixed as possible – even in the title colure and total number of TCs reported – update only the results of the former day

• Keep Top Defects reported as the smallest list possible, report only real blocking defects, for the rest contact applications directly to fix, minimal escalations

• When defect severity is not certain prefer the higher value to try to get the fix on time• Let applications resolve defects at their own time, even if the defect is critical, escalate only in test blocking

issues.• Assign tasks on as wide as possible area, avoid creating too high focus and defect backlog in specific

application• Move testers between tasks to make sure overall progress is kept even if a specific area is blocked• Give Testers chances to work on areas they are not experts on, fresh eyes are good for the project and new

experience is good for the testers

Navigation in a Project Post Turning Point decision making

Steer to calm water

• Do not Change your Daily report format, special messages should be sent separately or logged in a separate document attached to the report.

• Make sure to keep the Top list with Top Critical Business Severity defects and not Testing Blocking items which are not Critical for the business. Limit the defects list to show up to 3 top defects per application.

• When defect severity is not certain prefer the Lower value to push for Stability (fixing only what is Mandatory)• Instruct testers to contact developers and assemble bridges with parties investigating defects• Focus activities on high risk areas, even if TCs are done allow ‘wiled testing’ to search for hidden defects• Allow Testers to join the investigating team of issues even if their progress will be diminished• Assign tasks to testers per their expertise to limit items raised due to knowledge gap• Proactively approach Customer representatives to look for areas Customer Satisfaction is low in and support• Work closely with Version managers to insure Fixes control is kept and available fixes are delivered regularly

and not in large uncontrolled blocks

Navigation in a Project Exercise 6: Set Turning Point Instructions

Your Project has Crossed it’s Turning point.

Customer Requests for added information is starting to accumulate rapidly

Testers stand confused how to balance the new demands from the customer with their Current tasks.

Provide your team a set of instructions which would help them cope with the new situation.

Navigation in a Project Exercise 6: Set Turning Point Instructions

Hi AllAs you must have noticed our Customer is getting more and more involved in our execution as we now approach critical decision making points.As testers our role is first and foremost to provide our customer the ability to make those decisions. We will send an expert to focus on quickly answering those questions. Still customer requests for information must be handled as first priority, any question you receive must be answered with a professional approach and a patient attitude.In case they contact you face to face always send out a MOM of the meeting, as we must have a written documentation of each such discussion. Make sure to keep me posted in any such MOM or Email correspondence.To allow execution progress to remain according to plans and still put focus in the areas where the customer focuses his view I have reorganized your next tasks, see the attached excel for your new tasks.Before opening defects Try to call all the relevant people to Conferences to make sure we open the defects on an agreed view. Opening defects please be extra carful when choosing severity, we must push for stability so make sure the defect’s severity is not too high if the fix is not a must for current Go Live.Thank you and good luck with all your next activities

• Identification• Turning the table• Exercise 7



Sharon Elgarat

Attack Bottle necks Identification

Too many tests for one Tester

Unclearnext step

Multiple tests depend on the same resource

Impossible TestsRedundant Tests

Late CRUn-communicated Function

Surprising new customer request

Attack Bottle necks Turning the table

Flexible Thinking

Control and Delegate

Attack Bottle necks Turning the table

Points to Remember: Your Design is not Holy A Customer’s request is Holy The Best is never the Only No number is set in stone Tests only have value if the result is unknown Responsibility is not an item that can be shared If you didn’t report it, it wasn’t done Scope is driven from the system’s capabilities Reduction in resources forces rethinking Reduction in Tests is not necessarily reduction in scope

Attack Bottle necks Exercise 7: Group Simulation

Collect in to groups of 4, appoint each time one to be the Manager and Rotate every 10 minutes.

Simulation storyline:Your team is stuck, they keep reporting they are blocked in every flow, execution rate is dropping far under the planned progress.You collect the team to a discussion, to try and get back on track.

Participants playing Team members are free to raise different cases from their own experience to help the manager cope with real live situations.

• Support & Resolve Issues• Exercise 8• Personal Care• Growth Engine• Exercise 9



Sharon Elgarat

Employee Empowerment Support & Resolve Issues

Generate Trust Perception

Intervene as Escalation point

Define an area where the tester is Independent, so decisions will be his to make

Do not Overturn Tester decisions without Consultation, let him overturn his own decisions when needed

Push for direct communications between testers and developers assigned to investigation of defects

Keep yourself updated and guide the tester to make sure the work is done according to your vision

Work constantly to remain highly knowledgeable of wide area in the solution

Explain to testers as you make decisions in their area, so it will remain their area

Join Defect discussions only after testers failed to reach an agreement in the first attempt

Explain your decisions from a Customer view – minimize higher escalations

Employee Empowerment Exercise 8: Simulation

A Tester Opened a Defect for a gap in a design, Ordering information was restricted from all Search lists as required, but can be accessed from the interaction work list. Defect is therefore opened as behavior is against the spirit of the Customization

Application refuses to take the defect stating it was never mentioned as part of the CR.

The Tester has had several discussions with the Application support and Application leads.

The Defect was Answered asking to Cancel as this is a Change Request and not a problem.

You have been called to a meeting with the tester, Application support, Application line manager and CDU representative.

Simulate a Discussion, in a small group and discuss the different approaches the testing lead could take in such an event

Employee Empowerment Personal Care

Know your People: Family State, Health conditions, Travel expectations,….

Personal Emergency is First Priority: Sudden sickness, Family Emergency,….

Consider Personal events: Family and Friend’s Events,…. (Learn to Say No ahead of time)

Define Employee Profiles and assign tasks accordingly: • Customer facing - Frequent Flyers with Good people skills• Area Focal Points – Highly dedicated with high availability for long support hours• Expert Designers – Can’t Fly but have good Trainer skills

Stay updated: Talk to your team members regularly on non work related items

Employee Empowerment Growth Engine

Promotion Options - Ask for the Natural inclination but Never Promise

Lead Expert

Assign tasks with high responsibility needs

Assign tasks with high Knowledge needs

Define Goals to Promote

Communication Skills

Define Goals to Promote Trainer Skills

Provide Managerial Cross Project Roles

Provide Focal Point Cross Project Roles

Train in Strategy & Tasks allocation

methods

Train in Analysis & Testing

Methodologies

Send to participate in Management Opportunities

Send to participate in New testers training

Opportunities

Striving for Excellence – Demand as basic precondition for any growth opportunity

Efficiency Skills

Assign tasks with defined time frame

Assign tasks to teach new aspects

Define Goals to Push for improved results with the same tasks

Define Goals to push to develop personal

abilities

Reflect progress in reports and follow up

Reflect results in documents and review

Employee Empowerment Exercise 9: Evaluation Discussion

Split in to pairs in which one will play the Role of the Manager while the Other takes one of the following Characters:1. Ambitious George: A relatively new Employee with Ambitions to become a

manager and a high motivation to learn but pure technical skills in testing methods and pure Application knowledge

2. Senior Francine: A Senior tester who has an area of expertise and experienced all the activities in a normal testing lifecycle so he feels he is repeating his work in known territories

3. Personal Frank: An Employee which has not managed to develop any expertise area as he has many personal issues (frequent sickness / frequent family issues)

4. Confident Judith: An Employee which feels as an Excellent tester with Technical skills are above average. but has severe lack in Team player attitude and lack of dedication.

5. Shy Richard: An Employee which has confidence issues although he has excellent performance and you would like him to reach for more although he is still afraid to.

Try to provide the Character points which will lead him on the best path for his position.

Your Questions

Sharon Elgarat

Employee Empowerment

Sharon Elgarat

• Natural Evolution• Exercise 10• New Challenge• Exercise 11



Sharon Elgarat

Expansion Key Generator Natural Evolution

Reflect out Customer

Satisfaction

Implement Lessons Learned

Study new tools and

Methodologies

Take on any side Activity

Retain knowledge for next activities

Once a version ends use personal relations with the customer, which were built during the project, to request feedback on your work

Reflect the Feedback contents to your team emphasizing both strong and weak points raised as lessons learned on what to keep and what to improve

Reflect the Feedback contents to your management emphasizing the strong points which could help leverage TIS in the next project proposals

Reflect the Feedback contents to other groups in the project (account, CDU) emphasizing the intimate relations achieved



Satisfaction


Study new tools and

Methodologies



Collect Lessons learned from within the team and from external groups Request both Positive (to keep) and Negative (to improve) Lessons. Filter the collected items to items which don’t depend on forces out of the team’s

control (management intervention, special recruitment, budget dependencies,…) Split the Lessons Learned to items with recommendation a team member can handle Assign an Owner from the team to each Lesson Learned and set a due date for

implementation Follow up on the implementation of the lessons learned by each owner. Reflect out to your management, the customer and any involved external groups on

the new lessons leaned implemented in the project



Satisfaction


Study new tools and

Methodologies



Select areas in which the team has prior indication of an issue with the current methods of working or areas in which the team performs the same thing in the same way for a long time

Assign each area to a team member to investigate possible options to improve the tool/method of working

Brainstorm within the team on the best option proposed by the owner of the area Implement the new agreed tool/method in a small side task before using it in a larger

project Publish to the larger group your experience with the tool/method to help them

adopt or avoid the item, according to your recommendation.



Satisfaction


Study new tools and

Methodologies



From the point Testing Ends till The System is stable in production there are many activities within the account which require testing support

Show a Proactive approach by presenting yourself to the people involved and offering assistance.

Once the request becomes a formal provide an estimation for the effort – keep it as low as possible

Approach any request for assistance with a ‘can do’ attitude Give your customer the feeling:

You know he needs you and you will not abuse that trust You see his goals as your own and fight to help him meet them Your advices are based on the Customer’s Interests only



Satisfaction


Study new tools and

Methodologies



Testing Knowledge must always be maintained in an organized Activity Library, use any available moment you have to make sure testers update their knowledge in to the Activity Library

Even the best Organized written knowledge base is no match to a good expert’s understanding and experience – define your ‘core’ team and fight to retain them in the project even at slow activities periods

Expose your core expert focal points to the customer so your customer will know them by name and could better understand the added value in selecting your team for the next tasks

Expose your core expert focal points to the Development so they could know ahead of time of any new development which is in their area of expertise.

Expansion Key Generator Exercise 10: Brainstorm – Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned:One of the Strongest tools to show you are an evolving group invested in Improvement

Individually: Raise Items you Remember either as Problematic or as Exceptionally good Analyze the Item looking for a Recommendation which can be taken for next Project Translate your Recommendation to an Item you/your team can be responsible for

As a Group: Select one of the items raised in the Class Discuss it to entertain additional Recommendations Brainstorm different Implementation options for each recommendation. Select one of the Recommendations based on criteria of:

Quality of the resolution (how much of the item the recommendation handles) Success potential to implement Duration of the implementation

Collect Internal

Pain Points

Internally Analyze Solution Options

Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points

Analyze Solution Options

Present to The

Customer

Invite team members with Experience with the System/Project to a Brainstorming session Raise the Subject as “As a Customer Supper User what are the Pain points of your

Account?” Search for Pain points in all Account elements (Software, Hardware, Procedures,

Methodologies, Subject Management, System Integration) List all agreed pain points, split the list to two:

Items with which TIS can provide solutions Items which TIS can collaborate with Other groups to provide solutions

Expansion Key Generator New Challenge

Collect Internal

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect Proposal solutions for each Pain Point – in TIS and with Collaborating groups Analyze the feasibility of each Proposed Solution Analyze the Benefits to the Customer of each Proposed Solution Translate the Benefits in to Dollars – Both in Current Cost Reduction and in Revenue

Increase Analyze the Costs of each Proposed Solution Prepare a Summary Presentation slide of the Pain Point and the Solutions Analysis Prepare a General Proposal for each Pain Point including up to the top 3 Solutions as

Options to select from


Collect Internal

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Schedule a meeting with Amdocs Account Management to Coordinate the Approach to the Customer

Collect all Pain point Summary Slides to an Overall Presentation showing multiple Items representing the Proactive effort made by the team to Improve the Customer’s experience with services in TIS domain.

Schedule a meeting with Customer Management to Present the TIS Initiative Schedule follow up meetings per Pain point the Customer decided to proceed with –

meeting goal to select the agreed solution Follow up on the Selected solutions through Sales, till Final Implementation


Collect Internal

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Set a repeating Quarterly/Monthly session with Customer representatives to Collect Pain Points – no one knows Customer pain points as well as the customer but often no one takes the time to gather them

Lead the Brainstorming sessions with the focus on Customer view of pain points in any region of experience in his day to day work – Amdocs or non Amdocs related.

List all agreed pain points, split the list to two: Items with which TIS can provide solutions Items which TIS can collaborate with Other Vendors to provide solutions


Collect Internal

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect Proposal solutions for each Pain Point – in TIS and with Collaborating Vendors Analyze the feasibility of each Proposed Solution Analyze the Benefits to the Customer of each Proposed Solution Translate the Benefits in to Dollars – Both in Current Cost Reduction and in Revenue

Increase Analyze the Costs of each Proposed Solution Review Analysis results with Collaborating Vendors Management to filter unapproved

solutions Prepare a Summary Presentation slide of the Pain Point and the Solutions Analysis Prepare a General Proposal for each Pain Point including up to the top 3 Solutions as

Options to select from - Gather the Proposals from All involved vendors to present a complete Integrated solution level proposal


Collect Internal

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Collect External

Pain Points


Present to The

Customer

Schedule a meeting with Vendors and Amdocs Account Management to Coordinate the Approach to the Customer

Collect all Pain point Summary Slides to an Overall Presentation showing multiple Items representing the Proactive effort made by the team to Improve the Customer’s experience with services in TIS domain.

Schedule a meeting with Customer Management to Present the Trusted Advisor Service Analysis outcome

Schedule follow up meetings per Pain point with aim to select the agreed solution Follow up on the Selected solutions through Sales, till Final Implementation

Sharon Elgarat - TIS Group Leader


Expansion Key Generator Exercise 11: Brainstorm – New Service Options

Everyone can Sale

As a Group Try to entertain different possible answers to the following question:What is the next Direction TIS can grow in to?

In your discussion keep in mind the current capabilities TIS has, the resources TIS has access to and the needs of the Customers TIS can provide services to.

Thank YouSharon Elgarat

Sharon Elgarat

Testing Junior Management Course v2

Documents

Transcript of Testing Junior Management Course v2