a test manager or a QA manager, and you've got this title, job title, and maybe you've made up your own job title, if you're in a creative organization. What really, how do you find out what you're supposed to do if you don't have a job description?
Johanna: Well, actually, if you don't have a job description, you're in luck. Because then you get to say, "What are the things I think I should be doing, and which of them provide the most value to the organization?" Now, especially you'd ask about test managers or test leads. I think anyone in that position… My favorite mission for being a test manager or test lead is to be able to assess the state of the product under development at any time and report on that state. Now, the nice thing about that is it says I get to test from the very beginning, I get to test everything about the product, right? So I get to test the project plan, the project schedule, the requirements… Now, that doesn't mean I have to do …-style inspections on everything, but I have an opportunity to look at everything. I have an opportunity to figure out how would I test this, assuming I had the time and the schedule, and how do I make time in the schedule? So, for people who are lead testers and test managers, and QA managers, I really like this notion of assessing the state of the product and reporting on it. For those of you who are also QA managers or possibly quality engineering managers, QE managers, you may be able to add a little process improvement there. Assess the state of the process at any time, and work with my peers to improve that. Now, because you have to work with the development managers and the project managers, everyone who's involved in your organization in producing products. You can't work on the process by yourself. You're not the only who uses it. So as long as you understand that you might be facilitating the process improvement, or bringing things to other people's attention for them to work on, that's a fabulous thing to do. For those of you who are project managers, I really like… I think of project managers as sort of… This is going to be a little weird, Carol, bear with me. You know, you're sort of like this chariot, Ben-Hur, but it's not just your chariot, there's everybody's chariot, and you've got your hands on all the reins. You can't pull on anything in particular, because then you're not managing the whole project. But you have to know when do you go to the front of the line, when do you go to the back, when do you leave from the middle, how do you know where everything is at any given time? And of course, as a project manager, you actually can't know that. But you can get close. And the question is how close can you get? And how can you make sure you know where the project is at any time? So there's a… For me, the whole notion of being a technical lead or a manager in an organization is to be able to do some assessment - where am I? To know, where is it I wanted to go? And to see the difference between those two things. And then be able to take steps to solve the problems, the inevitable problems that show up. But not to necessarily make all of the decisions for my part
About the author
Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” helps organizational leaders see problems and risks in their product development. She helps them recognize potential “gotchas,” seize opportunities, and remove impediments. Johanna was the Agile 2009 conference chair. She is the technical editor for Agile Connection and the author of these books:
- Manage Your Job Search
- Hiring Geeks That Fit
- Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
- The 2008 Jolt Productivity award-winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
- Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management
- Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People
Johanna is working on a book about agile program management. She writes columns for Stickyminds.com and projectmanagementcom and blogs on her website, jrothman.com, as well on createadaptablelife.com.
