tafline murnane - the carrot or the whip-what motivates testers? - eurostar 2010
DESCRIPTION
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2010 presentation on The Carrot or The Whip-What Motivates Testers? by Tafline Murnane. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/TRANSCRIPT
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K. J. Ross & Associates
6 / 530 Little Collins Street Melbourne
VIC 3000 Australia
M: +61 416 117 931
T: +61 7 5553 5601
The Carrot or the Whip –
What Motivates Testers?
Dr. Tafline MurnaneK. J. Ross & Associates, Australia
EuroSTAR 2010
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About me• Senior consultant at K. J. Ross &
Associates in Melbourne, Australia (specialist testing consultancy)
• Previously worked as developer(before moving to the dark side…)
• Test management, test process improvement, training, mentoring
• Completed PhD in software testing (yah that’s right, a whole PhD on testing…)
• Co-editor of ISO/IEC 29119 Software Testing
• Passionate about testing…
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Carrots?
…or whips?
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Overview
• What motivates testers?
• Motivation models
• Motivating approaches
• De-motivating approaches
• Motivation programmes
• Summary
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What Motivates Testers?
Positive attributes
Analytical
Curious
Perfectionists
Planned, systematic
and meticulous
Persistent
Crusaders
Practical
Moralists
Negative attributes
Little empathy for
developers
Perfectionists
Undiplomatic
Skeptical
Stubborn
Too focused
Glamour seekers
• Testing can be destructive process, intent on finding faults
• Mindset quite different to developers
– Break it rather than build it! (crash-test dummies?)
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Motivation Depends on Individual Goals
• Goals provide motivation, increasing productivity
• Each tester has different goals & ways of
satisfying them
• Identify goals that match team & company goals
– Achievable
– Make testers stretch
– Career planning
– Roadmaps
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Motivation Models
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
• Hackman & Oldham's Motivating Potential
Score
Focuses on
needs,
motivation &
human
psychology
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-
actualisation
personal growth,
fulfilment
Self-esteem
achieved status, responsibility,
reputation
Belongingness & Love Needs
family, affection, relationships, work group, etc
Safety Needs
protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc
Biological & Physiological Needs
basic survival – air, food, water, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc
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Investigation Approach
• Surveyed 33 testers (Australia, New Zealand,
Europe, India, South Africa & UK)
1. What things are motivating for testers?
2. What do you do to motivate your testers?
(Test Leads and Test Managers)
3. What things are de-motivating for testers?
• Compiled qualitative & quantitative data
• Mapped to Maslow’s hierarchy
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
1 - Biological 2 - Safety 3 - Love &
Relationship
4 - Self Esteem 5 - Self
Actualisation
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
% o
f P
eo
ple
Recognition of Needs
Self-esteem & self-
actualisation
responses were
most popular!
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Biological & Physiological Needs– basic survival
What is it?
• Competitive salary
• Food, water (beer?)
• Comfortable environment
• Flexible & sensible hours
How to achieve it?
• Provide the above!
How common was it?
• Everybody needs it, but was rarer– 39% mentioned biological needs
– 15% mentioned money
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Safety Needs
What is it?
• Job security, stability
• Protection
• Predictable behaviour
• Safe to make mistakes
• Secure environment
How to achieve it?
• Protect your team!
How common was it?
• Least common (30%)
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Belongingness & Love Needs
What is it?
• Friendship & teamwork
• Welcoming atmosphere
• With it, easier to communicate
How to achieve it?
• Lead by example
• Law of reciprocity– Ask nicely
– Give approval
– Team building
How common was it?
• More common (45%)
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Self-esteem
What is it?
• Self respect
• Acceptance
• Respect
How to achieve it?
• Enable strengths to be recognised & respected– Reward & appreciate
– Responsibility
– Contribution
– Review & take interest
– Good relationship with developers
How common was it?
• Most common! (73%)
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Self-actualisation
What is it?
• Desire to become everything a tester is capable of
How to achieve it?
• Support testers in being best they can be! – Achievable goals
– Accountability, deadlines
– Challenging, varied work
– Problem solving, creativity
– New skills
– Career progression
– Training, conferences, mentoring
– Build teams testers want to be a part of
How common was it?
• Second most popular (58%)
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Key Motivators and De-motivators
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Career Progression – Roadmaps
(motivator)
• Performance appraisal process
– Where are you now?
• Capabilities, contributions
• Training, conferences, events
• Awards
– Where do you want to be?
• 1, 3, 5 years…
– What projects, roles & training
do you need to achieve this?
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Rewards for Finding Defects
(motivator or de-motivator?)
• Avoid rewarding defect counts only, e.g.
– Easy low severity defects rather than complex critical defects
– Raise defects that aren’t really defects
• Better to reward value, e.g.
– High severity defects
– Number proven defects before go-live
– Verification of system completeness
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Task Boards (motivator)
• Create task board for test team
– Visible project tasks & individual tasks
– Visible progress
– Visible rewards
• Realistic budget & schedule
• Board needs ownership
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Not Enough Time (de-motivator)
• Unrealistic budgets
or timelines
• Code overrun
• Rush to utilise
technology without
training or budget
• Heroics required
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Peer Review (motivator or de-motivator?)
• Feedback
– Constructive
– Feedback sandwich
• Peer review
– Test artifacts
– Defect reports
– Developer artifacts?
• Use good examples as
basis for improvement
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Communication (motivator)
• Keep testers in the loop
– Regular meetings
– Walk floor daily
– Team lunches
– One-on-one’s
• Know where they fit
• Feedback
• Appreciation
• Include in decision making
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Good Relationship with Developers (motivator)
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Bad Relationship with Developers or
Business (de-motivator)
• Causes of conflict:
– Second class citizens
• “Developers are treated as being
more important than testers”
– Physical separation
– Not enough time or resources
– Schedule slippage
– Product too unstable to test
– Reported bugs not fixed
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Passion for Testing
(motivator)
• People who like testing are
naturally motivated!
• Those assigned to testing for
wrong reasons will likely be
unmotivated, e.g.
– Lack of other jobs
– Retrenchment
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Be an Inspirational Leader! (motivator)
• Lead by example!
• Mentor, trust & reward
• Pick right person for task
• Focus on what can be done, not what can’t
• If anyone fails, we all fail!
– Don’t point fingers
– Protect team
• Seek organisational support
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Motivational Programmes – Goals!
1. Assess motivation (individuals, team)
2. Ask & identify goals
3. Map individual goals to team & company goals
4. Develop roadmap
5. Carry out improvements
6. Assess progress
7. Repeat!
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Summary
• Every tester has different goals
– provides motivation,
– increasing productivity,
– leading to better quality software!
• Guide testers in defining goals & roadmaps
• Be a motivational & inspiring leader!
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Thank you!
I hope this presentation has motivated you
Dr. Tafline MurnaneK. J. Ross & Associates
Melbourne, Australia
M: +61 416 117 931
Visit http://softwaretestingstandard.org for information on
the new ISO/IEC 29119 Software Testing standard
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Acknowledgements
• Big thanks to testers who participated in the
survey, which included testers from:
– Coles Group (Australia)
– City West Water (Australia)
– Delta Axiom (Denmark)
– Department of Human Services (Australia)
– K. J. Ross & Associates (Australia)
– Software Quality Systems (India, UK, South Africa)
– Soft Ed (New Zealand)
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References – Textbooks & Websites
• A. H. Maslow. A Theory of Human Motivation.
Psychological Review, 50:370-396, 1943
• Anne Mette Jonassen Hass, Guide to Advanced
Software Testing, 2008
• Craig & Jaskiel, Systematic Software Testing, 2002
• Dinesh Maidasani, Software Testing, 2007
• Sarah Rees, The Art of Test Team Management and
Motivation, STANZ 2007
• http://www.basdebaar.com/motivate-your-team-members-248.html
• http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=30
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