People-Driven

People are at the heart of any well functioning organization.

For me there are two perspectives here:

The People-Driven approach of the QA Department as a whole (this page)
The People-Driven approach of my management style (this page instead)

When it comes to how I like to run a QA Department - part of it is that I expect everyone within it to have a People-Driven approach, which means the following:

Collaborative Culture

When it comes to QA Staff interacting with the rest of the development stakeholders, I think it's important for all sides to build a collaborative culture that cultivates trust and understanding. These things are established by creating awareness of different dependencies and what is important to each stakeholder while also creating awareness of ones own dependencies and to find compromises where necessary.

Utilizing all

I think it's equally important to be aware of everything that's available: different specializations, outsourced QA, etc. and make sure to make use of these expertise properly. I have also achieved awareness of this in the past by maintaining skill cards for each individual.

I have experience with working closely together with dedicated compliance QA, Outsourced QA Vendors and Community QA to get various jobs done.

Clear Roles & Responsibilities

I think one key responsibility of a QA Manager is to ensure there's a clear progression framework in place within the department that highlights different roles and their key responsibilities. This helps to legitimize career prospects within QA while also creating clarity of ones responsibilities.

I have experience with creating clear role descriptions from scratch for various QA Roles.

Peer Support & Mentorship

Working on a day-to-day, as a QA Manager I like to make sure that more senior staff help junior staff grow and learn through a mentoring system but also in general to make sure there's a supporting atmosphere within the team.

I have experience with creating mentorship processes for new employees and making sure they have a good onboarding experience as well experience with fostering knowledge sharing within the department.

Empathy & Respect

To me, having empathy and respect for each other is a core pillar to a well functioning team and I like to coach around these things to make sure this pillar is present within the team.

Knowledge Sharing

I have a lot of experience with facilitating knowledge sharing within a QA Department between peers by giving them a platform to hold presentations and workshops. I have also been heavily involved in the creation of QA Knowledgebases to ensure that the collective knowledge we hold is readily accessible and available to everyone.

Inclusive Culture

I like to make sure that everyone within the team feels welcome and safe to be themselves - whoever they are and whatever makes them unique as individuals. I have worked with all kinds of different people - both on a spectrum and not.

Utilizing Strengths

Within the development process, I like to make sure that people's strengths are utilized wherever possible, even if that leads them outside of their formal responsibilities, just as long as it does not compromise those responsibilities.

Conflict Resolution & Prevention

As a QA Manager I've seen my share of conflict between People and in large development teams with hundreds of developers, there is bound to be conflict. I have successfully resolved, coached around and mediated around existing conflict - both minor and severe while also taking a proactive approach to minimizing conflict in the first place.