9 Steps To Becoming A Great QA Lead - KMS Technology

04/08/2017 9 Steps To Becoming a Great QA Lead | KMS Technology
(https://www.twitter.com/kmstechnology) (https://plus.google.com/105622817941041630200/about) (https://www.linkedin.com/company/kms-technology)

(https://twitter.com/share?
(https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?
url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
technology.com%2Fblog%2Ftesting%2F9-
(https://www.kms-technology.com)
steps-steps-
to- to-
becoming-
becoming-
a- a- RESOURCES
SERVICES BLOG (https://www.kms-technology.com/blog) COMPANY
great-great-
(https://plus.google.com/share?
(https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

qa- qa- url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
(mailto:?
lead.html&text=9
CONTACT lead.html&title=9
Subject=9
(https://www.kms-technology.com/contact)
Steps Stepssteps-
steps-
Steps
To To to- to- To
Becoming
Becoming
becoming-
becoming-
Becoming
a a a- a- a
GreatGreatgreat-great-
Great Testing | Feb 25, 2014
QA QA qa- qa- QA
Share Lead)Lead)lead.html)
lead.html)
Lead)
9 Steps To Becoming a Great QA Lead
At some point in their career path, dont all Senior Testers want the responsibility of being a QA Lead?
Becoming a QA Lead isnt just about how good of a tester you are. Once youre a great tester you need to develop speci c skills to be
e ective in a QA Lead role.
First, lets look at the typical expectations of this role:
E ectively manage a test team (usually 5 or more)

Understand the testing process
Implement a testing process
De ne scope of testing in projects
Deploy and manage test frameworks
Implement and record QA metrics
Manage and select QA tools & processes
It is important that you work on the following mindsets, in addition to testing skills, as your career progresses. While doing so will
help you attain your individual goals, and also bene t your projects. If a team is working with these mindsets together, collectively,
theyll deliver higher quality work.
1. Learn how to influence project members in a positive way

Build enthusiasm and team morale with non-work activities and recognition, engage in discussions of technology & test
approaches/solutions with the team, identify strengths of the team members and leverage them within the projects, build a positive
attitude and learn from past mistakes, establish team vision and objectives with a team charter, provide responsible autonomy
where possible. Creating this positive team atmosphere demonstrates both leadership and management capability.
2. Report your findings in context of its business value

Focus on the data that is being communicated back to stakeholders, from your ndings as part of testing the data should be in
context of how the behavior observed is detrimental to the objective of the feature or application being developed.
3. Be a provider of information and service, rather than a process enforcer

Identify as much information about your ndings that help track the root cause of the issue, and learn to o er your validation and
analysis services as frequently as possible to the developers on the team.
https://www.kms-technology.com/blog/testing/9-steps-to-becoming-a-great-qa-lead.html 1/3
4. Learn to provide and identify information to make informed decisions versus simple bug notes

Rather than appear as a gate-keeper of quality, learn to present ndings and recommendations of its impact to the end goal of the
application or feature underurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
testmini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kms-
this will allow the project stakeholders to make the correct decisions, as well as help the
developers isolate and resolve identi ed errors.
steps-
steps-
5. Focus on exploring and learning
to- to- about the products that you test
Build your domain knowledge becoming-
becoming-
about the product, along with understanding the business objectives of the product. Exploring the
product will help identify new a- features
a- that may not have been clearly designed or implemented. Questions raised by testers o en
great-
help product owners with better great-
work(https://plus.google.com/share?
ow(https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?
designs
and developers with better scenario implementations.
(mailto:?
6. Learn to identify items thatlead.html&text=9
slow down testing
lead.html&title=9
Subject=9
Steps Stepssteps-
steps-
Steps
Analyze how testers spend their time on most working days. Pay attention to the e ort associated with setting up the test
To To to- to- To
environment, test data, test prerequisites, etc as these are the best candidates for reuse and streamlining. Tracking e ort and time on
Becoming
Becoming
becoming-
becoming-
Becoming
these will also let you evaluate where actual testing time is being spent on a project, and help improve on tasks that are slowing the
a a a- a- a
team delivery down.
GreatGreatgreat- great-
Great
QA QA qa- qa- QA
7. Recognize the extent that automation offers to your project, and also identify its limits
lead.html)
Lead)
Understanding scope of automation framework will enable you to establish a balanced test approach, allowing you to leverage the
bene ts of automation testing, while allowing you to balance the creation, execution, and maintenance e ort associated with
automation for delivering the maximum ROI from testing.
8. Sharpen your technical, testing and business skills

A great tester never stops learning. Continuing your education as a tester is critical to a long career that advances in leadership. Be
sure to stay on top of the industrys latest trends, attend educational training, and study great leadership styles.
9. Share your experiences successes and failures

Attending local testing and QA meetups allows you to share your experiences and receive advice from others in similar situations. If
there are no local meetups in your area, forums on So ware Testing Club or LinkedIn are a great start to nd other testers to
network with.
Remember, even if your goal is not to be the QA Lead, mastering these mindsets is critical to becoming the best possible team
player and ultimately, a better tester.
MUSH HONDA
VP of Testing
Share this article: (https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?

(mailto:?
Subject=9
technology.com%2Fblog%2Ftesting%2F9-steps-
Steps To
steps-to-becoming-a-great-qa-
Becoming
to-becoming-a-great-qa-lead.html)
lead.html&text=9
lead.html&title=9
Steps
a Great
Steps
lead.html)
To Becoming
To Becoming
a a
GreatGreat
QA
QA Lead)
Lead)
QA Lead)
You may also like:

steps-
steps-
to- to-
becoming-
becoming-
a- a-
great-
great-

(mailto:?
lead.html&text=9
lead.html&title=9
Subject=9
StepsStepssteps-
steps-
Steps
To To to- to- To
Becoming
Becoming
becoming-
becoming-
Becoming
a a a- a- a
GreatGreatgreat-
great-
Great
QA QA qa- qa- QA
lead.html)
Lead)
(https://www.kms-technology.com/blog/testing/role-of-the-tester-in-the-world-of-devops.html)
Role of the Tester in the World of DevOps (https://www.kms-technology.com/blog/testing/role-of-the-

tester-in-the-world-of-devops.html)
Testing | May 5, 2017
Vice President of Testing, Adam Sattereld, recently had a great sessionwith over 150 people at QASymphony's Quality Jam. Adam discusses his
experiences as a tester bringing quality into the DevOps process, with key strategiesto ensure quality...
READ MORE (HTTPS://WWW.KMS-TECHNOLOGY.COM/BLOG/TESTING/ROLE-OF-THE-TESTER-IN-THE-WORLD-OF-DEVOPS.HTML) (https://www.linkedin.com

(https://twitter.com/sha
(https://www.facebo
(https://plus.goog
(mailto:?
mini=true&url=https%3A%2
url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.
url=https%3A%2F
Subject=Role
u=https%3A
technology.com%2Fblog%2Ftesti
technology.com%2Fblog%2Ft
technology.com%2Fblo
technology.com%2F
of the Tester
of-the-tester-in-the-world
of-the-tester-in-the-wo
of-the-tester-in-the-w
the-tester-in-th
in the World
devops.html&text=Role
devops.html&title=Role
of DevOps)
of the
ofTe
th
WorldWorld
of DevOps)
of DevOp

9 Steps To Becoming A Great QA Lead - KMS Technology

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

9 Steps To Becoming A Great QA Lead - KMS Technology

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

04/08/2017 9 Steps To Becoming a Great QA Lead | KMS Technology

(https://www.twitter.com/kmstechnology) (https://plus.google.com/105622817941041630200/about) (https://www.linkedin.com/company/kms-technology)

First, lets look at the typical expectations of this role:

E ectively manage a test team (usually 5 or more)

1. Learn how to influence project members in a positive way

2. Report your findings in context of its business value

3. Be a provider of information and service, rather than a process enforcer

8. Sharpen your technical, testing and business skills

9. Share your experiences successes and failures

Share this article: (https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?

You may also like:

Role of the Tester in the World of DevOps (https://www.kms-technology.com/blog/testing/role-of-the-

READ MORE (HTTPS://WWW.KMS-TECHNOLOGY.COM/BLOG/TESTING/ROLE-OF-THE-TESTER-IN-THE-WORLD-OF-DEVOPS.HTML) (https://www.linkedin.com

You might also like