Joe Strazzere is a longtime software tester and test manager, blogger, an active member of the online testing community, a sports fan, and a recent grandparent. Here, Alan Page chats with Joe about his love of testing, his career in test, and his philosophies of test management.
Alan Page: Most testers have an interesting story about how they found the profession. What's your story?
Joe Strazzere: I do have a story. I'll let others judge how interesting it is.
My first career was in mainframe IT. I started as a programmer/analyst and worked my way up to management. A few jobs later, I was laid off and joined my family's fast-food business with hopes of helping them develop more restaurants. That didn't quite work out.
I gave a referral for a DBA who had previously worked for me. She was applying for a QA job at a rapidly growing startup. During the referral phone call, the recruiter asked if I'd be interested in a position with the company as well. I interviewed there and landed a job as QA lab manager. While I knew very little about QA and had never been a tester, I was able to capitalize on my domain knowledge in their field, my overall background, and my management experience. It turns out that I love testing and QA!
So, basically, I went directly from making sandwiches and salads on a Friday to managing in a QA department on a Monday.
Alan Page: You’ve been managing testers for a long time. What’s your philosophy on test management?
Joe Strazzere: I just looked it up. I’ve been managing testers for twenty-three years—yikes, time flies!
I guess my philosophy is something like "Find out what is really important to your stakeholders, then find a way to deliver." Oh, and "Never forget that you are managing people, not resources!"
About the author
Alan Page became a tester in 1993 and joined Microsoft in 1995. At Microsoft, Alan has worked on versions of Windows, Windows CE, and Office Lync and has functioned as Microsoft’s director of test excellence. Alan is currently having a blast as a member of the Xbox team. Alan writes frequently about testing on his blog and is the lead author of How We Test Software at Microsoft.
