!!

T7

Test!Management!

10/16/2014!11:15:00!AM!

!

Leading Internationally-

Distributed Test Teams !

Presented by:

Dennis Pikora

Symantec

!

!

!

Brought(to(you(by:((

((

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

888G268G8770!H!904G278G0524!H!sqeinfo@sqe.com!H!www.sqe.com

Dennis Pikora

Symantec Whether creating test teams for startups or upgrading existing teams at larger corporations, Dennis Pikora creates a unique test and quality culture for each. Dennis focuses on customer expectations and the well-managed delivery of products within their schedules. With the passion acquired in his thirty-one years in the industry, he deftly navigates the pitfalls of development, test, and customer needs. As a tester, QA manager, director of engineering, and senior director of quality assurance with organizations in the US, Europe, and Asia, Dennis has broadened his scope while fine tuning his personal philosophy. He is a solid supporter of automation and applicable streamlined processes.

Leading Internationally – Distributed Test Teams

!  (T7 Test Management) !  Presenter: Dennis Pikora

The Fine Print

!  This material does NOT represent the views, practices, policies, standards or opinions of Symantec Corporation.

!  All of the information and slides presented are the culmination

of experience, hard work and knowledge of the presenter.

!  Keep an open mind and be prepared for a few old and new ideas.

!  These principles apply to leading International Development Teams as well !

Why we are here: !  Senior Director !  30+ Years Experience in Software Development/Test !  BS CS, MBA !  Managed & lead test teams in the US, UK, France, India,

China for Start-ups & Fortune 500 companies

!  Intro: !  There are times that internationally distributed test teams

have been extremely beneficial & other times when being in the same time zone or continent would have been a blessing.

What to Expect: !  What the presentation is:

!  It is a primer on what you might expect when you have 1 or more international test locations

!  It may help you to avoid pitfalls !  It may provide new ideas and guidance on your journey

!  This presentation is NOT a: !  final definitive answer on offshoring !  critique on leadership styles !  management 101 primer !  review of Organizational Behavior !  discussion on Agile

Multinational teams vs local Setting up remote teams - Time, Money, Ease

!  Equipment ordering !  Sharing or the cloud

!  Matrix management - Leadership roles !  Chain of command – local, remote or matrix !  Delegation to a new degree !  Extended organization can result in less control

!  Language !  Interpreters may not resolve language barriers completely. !  Small misunderstandings can be fatal.

People !  Physical Presence !  Culture – Be prepared

!  Work stops for the multi-national events e.g. World Cup !  Goal Setting !  Holidays and expectations !  Diploma mills and ambiguous titles

!  Development and Management disagreements !  Agile can apply to remote testing projects

Details, Details, it is all in the details !  Management structure at your remote site

!  Selection !  Trust !  Turnover !  Level of control over employee work

!  IP and Processes !  Communication !  Motivation & Rewards !  Scrum of Scrum Mtgs as a management tool !  Site Mirroring – When & Why

!  Cross Training

Sage Advice !  Once a quarter leadership visit !  Firing a third party test firm or individual

!  Turnover, knowledge and skill issues " No test and/or poor programming skills " Over blown egos are a universal problem " Taking advantage of the company " Business before Pleasure

!  If there is a problem, be prepared before taking any actions.

Never enough details !  Facilities

!  Employee Safety !  Proper lab and development support

!  Equipment cooling, equipment, software !  Who pays for any changes, requirements, etc.

!  Laws are different –legal counsel !  Cultural issues–numerous books exist, if in doubt ask !  Holiday differences are a plus and a minus !  US representative at offshore site !  Representative here from offshore site

Equipment – The Hot Topic !  Equipment :

!  Ordering !  Management & financial responsibility

!  Sharing !  Cloud, single or multiple labs, WAN & VPN Critical

!  True 24 hr. support, SLAs !  Penalties, DevOps and IT support

!  Test Environments - support and failovers !  Work Visa

!  Equipment import and export – Customs issues

Motivational factors !  Free “Ghost” Coverage – Not a Halloween joke !  Recognition

!  Raises, Promotions !  Public acknowledgements of efforts

!  Management and Leadership opportunities !  Contract firm !  Subsidiary !  Other arrangements

Problem Employees or Contractors

!  Managers !  ICs !  Warning signs & Document, Document, Document ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

! It’s not you … It’s me …. !  Treating employees respectfully.

!  Employment vs servitude. !  Corporate Atmosphere

!  Test Process that is espoused when audited

!  Different or standard levels of quality

Are you ready or will you be a wreck? !  Personal space – The lost frontier !  Siestas, meal times, Worker Councils, personnel data !  Caste/Race !  Favoritism !  Religion and world affairs !  National Holidays, Site holidays, vacations and shutdowns. !  Privacy Practices - Paychecks, Titles, Compensation

Is your work ever truly done ? !  Like Agile, make sure it is Done, Done, Done !  Overseas markets and laws change.

!  Turnover and increased costs !  Facility security !  People skills

!  Your involvement in their training !  Job satisfaction !  Personal security !  Communication

You/your country is not always #1 !  Do not carry biases

!  Be even handed when dealing with external teams, partners and vendors.

!  State upfront standards and expectations

!  Ethics and level of commitment !  In a startup, successful leadership and management of an

international test team is even more critical.

Work vs personal time !  Be careful when discussing topics that are non- work related.

!  Vacations & Hobbies !  Ownership or acquisition of goods !  Perception & feelings !  Timing

Views – Yours, Mine and Reality !  Perception and the halo effect

!  For people and organizations do not let a prior success make you believe your external org will give you the same results for your product. Quality Leadership in a mkt can change.

!  Stereotyping – Do not make assumptions that one country or

culture, organization can out code or out test another. !  Education !  Open learning outlets

Risk Management !  Sync with corporate disaster planning (Multi-Site) !  Document sharing, storage !  Know your legal rights for IP protection

!  Protect your company before anything happens !  Courts and legal options vary !  Possible anti-American bias

!  IT & Dev Ops - best friends or worst enemies

Avoid Monotony

!  Automation and interesting work make a difference !  An area that has a lower wage base does not guarantee:

!  Harder work/stronger work ethic !  High quality on monotonous tasks !  Quality of education

!  Motivation Factors !  Group and cultural dynamics !  High unemployment

So can you have it all ? !  Agile and Waterfall methodologies !  Impacts to decisions

!  New concepts to the external teams !  Authority structure and willingness to let teams decide !  Can Agile work across continents ?

!  Automation development & fewer manual testers

Time Management #  Vacation scheduling

#  Substantial Variations

#  Flex time at offshore locations: #  Pros:

# Overlap working hours across time zones # Increase off-peak productivity

!  Cons: !  Leader/Manager must be flexible

"  Work early or late as meetings and emergencies arise. !  ICs may not like flex time to work with colleagues in India

or China

Work Environment is a factor

!  Electricity & Broadband !  Temperature !  Sanitary Conditions !  Overtime

!  Worker councils/unions !  Employee data protection

!  Employee transfers !  Visas for employee training, transfer, site visits

Communication Management !  Recognition of expressions and vocal tones

!  Gestures, posture !  Understanding vs agreement

!  Business relationship tools: !  Trust & Respect !  Ensure clear communication flow !  Structured command and control !  Experience and leadership

Physical,Virtual or Hybrid !  Efficiency

!  Achievable for a pure software app !  Avoid extraneous meetings.

!  Virtual teams may force additional meetings. !  Large virtual distributed test teams can be problematic

!  People not attending mtgs !  Unprepared delegate !  Conflicting priorities

!  Prioritize concerns specific to their usage !  Diminished returns with too much feedback

Virtual Teams !  Real life Hybrid example:

!  Concurrent Dev & Test Teams in France and China !  Teams responsible for unit, feature testing and defect fixes

!  Used HPQC !  Coordination of customer testing by geographic units

!  Results all tied up by level – each country held its own test review meeting (Issues, testing against plan)

!  Two meetings a week with country test team reps !  Two meetings a week with dev teams reviewing fixes

Metaphors and references !  Do not use sports or country specific references unless you will

place these into context that the other international groups will understand

!  When in one of your offshore locations it can be okay to put

ideas and statements into local context. !  Be mindful of facts !  Be aware of idioms

Team building exercises !  Exercises can be universal, others more country specific.

!  Know the social norms, laws and expectations of the country !  Generic coding and test contests can be considered for the most part

universal !  Don’t make enemies or lose the respect of your remote

managers and teams. !  Identify current trend and use to advantage

Test Training, Mentoring, Comms !  Boost morale !  Sharing& building skills vs training replacements !  Change Management is a key piece of Leadership

" Some standards are universal " Others need to be communicated for process and

expectations " How these are communicated does matter

" Wikis, blogs, emails,1-1s, all department meetings " Q&A for folks will work better in small groups "  Large sessions get the message out

Know When to : !  Send a person to a Beta Site – By Cost, Reward, Skill(s) !  Have managers prevent and shut down email wars quickly

!  Time Zones can hurt in these circumstances so a zero tolerance policy is important.

!  Clarify or restate material/expectations !  An unclear test case can cause a domino effect

Be a better manager or a great leader

!  Know the differences and limitations of the firms/groups. !  Celebrate success and positive outcomes.

!  Know what is being developed and tested. !  Do not lose the respect of the remote teams.

!  Use Video (H.323), H.320 endpoints, audio and video conferences, Telepresence !  Explore all viable options

Where in the World is : !  Internationalization:

!  Sales, Ease of use, etc.

!  Corporate HQ !  What if you are leading the Test department and the remote

group is in the USA ?

Summary !  Celebrate differences, no cultural boundaries

!  Diwali, Bastille Day and other events !  Define Formal SDLC -Agile vs Waterfall vs Exploratory

!  Like your overall company culture, you project and create a culture within your automation and test departments.

!  Respect Customs – e.g.Turban contests, tea time, !  Late dinner meals with staff peers when offsite, etc.

!  Key Documents, Processes, and Communications are Critical !  Audits - Trust but verify

!  Test Standards and International test team awareness !  Reach for the stars! !  Don’t miss by a mile or a meter !