SO YOU WANT TO BE A QA MANAGER

Part Two



You’ve made your decision and you want to become a QA Manager. So blog two on this subject is all about you.

Where are you right now? Are you a tester? Are you a senior? A lead?

I’ve known managers from other fields that have moved to QA and have been successful. But generally speaking, it is easier and more effective to have “walked the talk”. If you do not have software QA/QC experience, you are at a disadvantage applying for, obtaining, and successfully managing a QA organization. I personally would not hire a manager with no experience specifically in the field.

Your people are going to know – immediately – if you lack experience. If you DO lack experience, your best hope is to throw yourself on the mercy of your staff and hope they will mentor you. Tell them that while you have experience in X, Y, and Z, and a strong quality bias, you will be depending on them to educate you in QA/QC specifically. Then listen to what they have to tell you and show some respect. If you want to get it, you’ll have to give it.

If you are currently a tester, senior, or lead with less than 5 years of experience, my suggestion to you is to pay your dues. Most QA Managers have more than 10 years of experience and many have much more. If, however, either chance or opportunity throws something in your lap, realize that you’re still relatively new to the field, hire the best people you can, and learn from them.

One thing I tell all new managers, or those that want to move in that direction, is that is helps if you are able to look at management as a game. It’s a game you can win. But if you can’t step back and “uninvolve” yourself from the work to the point where you can clearly see the entire playing field and make decisions that are not based on emotion, you can’t win the game. You can either be a pawn who can see only as far as the next square, or you can be a player, who has to be able to see and analyze the entire board. Every problem you get presented with, every issue, will require you to examine the board and make the best choice possible in order to win the game. If that sounds harsh, sometimes it IS harsh. But it does not mean you can’t care about your group or individual contributors. It means that you now have to make decisions based on what is best for the entire group and not for one person. Your judgements have to be balanced based on an understanding and top-level view of the whole picture; otherwise your entire group will suffer.

Say you’re a senior or lead with ten years or more of experience and you can’t understand what has been holding you back. Others have been promoted above you, possibly with less experience than you have. A general truth in regards to management is that no one is particularly anxious to sit down with you and talk about why you’re never going to be promoted. You’re going to have to either self-assess or force yourself to ask. If both of those give you no real answers, you may have to leave your current situation. Many people fail to recognize this reality. If it hasn’t happened in X number of years, it’s not going to happen. Either make the decision to accept things the way they are or move on. Inertia is a dangerous thing.

For the purposes of self-assessment, here are some things that may hold you back. You may read some of these and even rethink your desire to become a manager – is it worth it? Only you can decide what does and does not make you happy.

Look at yourself. Now look at your managers and executive management. What kind of appearance do you present? Do you dress the way they dress? Do you conduct yourself the way they conduct themselves? This is a basic for ANY type of management, but you need to project a professional image, both in dress and in action. That means you’ll have to make some decisions that may come hard to you. I know some people that would rather be working at Home Depot stocking shelves than to not wear jeans to work. That means their sartorial comfort is more important than money or status. Does that describe you? How much money would it take to get you to change your mind? For some, no amount of money is enough. For me, tripling my salary made the adjustment pretty easy. When you first start upgrading your “look” and demeanor, your peeps are going to harass you. Relax. After a few months, they’ll get used to it. Do you see why management may not have told you what the problem is in terms of moving ahead? No one wants to tell you that you look like a car mechanic and would be unlikely to inspire trust or professionalism in others unless you were doing an oil change. I realize some shops are extremely casual and even the VPs wear shorts and flip-flops, but those are the exceptions and not the rule. If you’re only interested in success in a company with that type of environments, you’re limiting yourself to a very narrow band of employers. If it makes you feel better, think of your suit jacket as a uniform. Or even a costume, if it amuses you. You do, believe it or not, get used to it.

Another management reality is that part of what you’re paid to do is to support and promote the vision of the company. If you are NOT willing to do that, there are many people out there perfectly willing to take someone’s money in exchange for helping them to make their vision happen. This means your old habits of dissecting and lambasting everything your management says and does is going to have to stop, if you haven’t already killed your career at a given company. Everyone always assumes that the people they’ve joked with, talked to, and trusted “won’t say anything”. You’d be much better off assuming the one thing you wish executive management wouldn’t have heard you say is the first thing that will be repeated to them. They probably know every evil thing you’ve ever said about them, your group, your peers, or the company to another person. This means you need to stop participating in bitch sessions and cease-and-desist cutting down your coworkers. Again, can you see why management might not discuss this problem with you? They can hardly say they aren’t going to promote you because of gossip and that they “think” you don’t like them, your peers, or the company. It’s all hearsay. But that hearsay is dangerous to you. Don’t participate in it and don’t promote it. If it’s too late for that, you might have already shot yourself in the foot.

Another common issue is that of an Uber-expert. Are you a pivotal part of a specific effort? Would that effort fail without you? If so, it’s unlikely you’ll be moved. Many, many expert people guard their expertise quite jealously. They don’t share knowledge freely; they don’t train and mentor other people. The general rule of thumb is that you can’t move on, up, or over unless someone else can take your job with no negative impact to the company. That means you have to conquer your fears that you will no longer be “important” and work yourself out of your current job. This doesn’t mean you don’t remain great at your current job. You should always do a great job. That means you get a reputation for setting things up so smoothly and providing such outstanding training that the company can afford to move you somewhere that will allow you to exercise those talents to an even greater extent. Your boss probably won’t tell you that. Promoting or moving you is a pain in the rear. But you can set yourself up to be promotable.

Does your management know what you’d like to do? Are they aware of your ambitions? There are times when you don’t want to communicate this information, like if you’re planning a coup and you want your manager’s job. By the way, your likelihood of making that happen is close to zero. It’s more likely you’ll be removed. But if you would not be taking someone else’s job, or just want to acquire management skills for career growth purposes, you’ll need to let your superiors know what your career goals are. They may choose to help you. And they may not. Still, it will be in the back of their minds as opportunities come up.

Do the rest of the staff like you? This sounds silly, doesn’t it? But it’s important. You may be offended – management isn’t a popularity contest, is it?

Yes, as a matter of fact, moving into management is sort of like a popularity contest. Your chances of being promoted above your peers if they don’t like you is roughly nil. Those that do get promoted and are not liked by their staff don’t last long. You don’t need to be their Very Most Favorite Person, but they have to like and respect you. Your managers need to like and respect you. People skills are more important than your technical skills once you move into management. This means you need to lose the attitude and start thinking of each of the people you work with as a client that can impact your future success. That includes your coworkers. Is everything all about you? Or do you make an effort to help others become successful and genuinely help them celebrate when they achieve that success? The support of your own coworkers, who recognize that you always lend a hand and care about helping them succeed can help catapult you into a higher-level position.

Let’s assume all of the above are taken care of. You dress and conduct yourself like a professional, you do great work, there’s someone who can take your place if you move on/up/over, the staff like you, and management is aware you’d like to progress.

What next?

Do you have a vision? Do you know what would help/improve QA at your company? Have you communicated any of it? How? What was the response? Your answers to this will tell you a great deal about how you’re viewed at your current company. If you’re known and respected, then someone listened to you seriously and either implemented or allowed you to implement (something). If you received a lukewarm response or a pat on the head, followed by being shown the door, you’ve got some work to do. You should constantly be looking for ways to improve and add value to your own job, your own group, and the company at large. You should make an effort to help your boss look good; he or she certainly won’t be helping you move ahead if you go out of your way to make them look bad. Every manager (and THEIR managers) want staff that are going to help the group and them personally to achieve their goals.

Does that mean you have to kiss butt? That makes me laugh. I don’t know any QA people that kiss butt particularly well. If you have objections or ideas, by all means communicate them – but learn to do so in a way that makes it clear you are trying to support company goals or the mission of your own group. Treat everyone like a client. And be polite. Above all, be flexible and realistic. Here’s something that you might not have heard elsewhere…..most management wannabes fail because of their own skewed expectations and not because of their environment, their company, or their management. You MUST look at your own company and environment and see where you fit into the picture. You might NOT fit into the picture and you need to see that clearly. Take the emotion out of it and assess your situation rationally. If you are structure-oriented and your development environment is loosely based on SCRUM with a chaotic mess for every sprint, you are NOT going to change corporate culture. You can look for ways to improve the QA/QC process for that chaos (and yes, there are ways to do that), but if you think you’ll be moved into a management position and will be able to Change the Way Everyone Does Things Around Here, think again. The reverse is true as well. Your highly-structured RUP environment with 20 layers of red tape isn’t going to move to agile methodology because you personally feel it’s the way to go. You need to focus on what you can do within your own realm of influence, make improvements, promote your successes, and then (and only then) step out and help other groups make some changes.

There is an exception to this. There are cases where executive management wants sweeping change and they want you to be the agent for that change. You’ll need to make damn sure they know what that means, or you’ll fail in a Major Way. They’re going to have to support you and force (yes, force, although the politically correct term is “encourage”) other areas to play ball with you. People resist change.

Is there already a QA Manager? Then you need to move to another firm. Unless the existing QA Manager moves on to a better opportunity, give up your fantasies of getting their job. Even if you GOT their job, if it’s at their expense (they’re let go, etc.), at least half the staff would hate you and your management peers would distrust you. You’d already be set up to fail. If you are a lead with 10+ years of experience and have led large teams, there is going to be a small firm out there willing to give you a title in return for your expertise. Larger firms are likely to prefer experienced managers.

By the way, being a lead is not like being a manager; making that assumption when applying for management positions would be an error on your part. While there are definitely some exceptions out there, most leads are responsible for the work produced by a small, focused group. They are not responsible for pay, evaluations, QA budgets, issues outside their group, the direction of the QA organization, etc. This is something for both applicants and the hiring organization to keep in mind. There will be a learning curve involved with hiring a lead for a management position. You, as the applicant, should be clear about your expertise. There will be adjustments for you too. Once you move from lead to manager, you’re no longer “one of the guys”. You will be treated differently by your staff and you aren’t going to enjoy some of those differences. You’ll need to step back from doing the work in order to manage the work. Your staff might be very careful about what they say to you. You might lose some buddies. It’s not that they don’t like you. It’s because your role and impact on their lives has changed. You’ll likely get some mutiny from unexpected sources. It’s likely to be one of the most difficult adjustments you’ll ever make in your career. You need to be smart and EXPECT these things. Don’t assume walking into your first management position is going to be a piece of cake just because your past manager was heinous and you “know” you would at least be better than him. You might turn out to be even worse. I’d advise anyone to go ahead and take whatever opportunities come their way and to learn from their mistakes. One thing is pretty certain – a beginning manager is going to make plenty of them. Once you’ve been a manager for 10 years, you’ll look back at this and nod your head – probably either smiling or wincing (or both)… I often think some of the best managers I know are those that acknowledged their mistakes, learned something from them, and kept moving forward. Everyone makes mistakes. You can’t allow them to cripple you.

Overall, my best advice is to show some patience and learn both your craft AND critical management skills. You can’t build and mold a great team in your chosen field unless you understand what a great team IS in your field. You can’t staff a great team unless you know how to recruit, interview, hire, motivate, and retain great employees. If you haven’t been a great employee yourself, how are you going to recognize one? Those are things you aren’t just “born” with; those are things you have to learn.

One of the biggest problems I see are staff with ambition far over and above what is realistic for their experience level. If you have five years of experience, it’s unlikely you’re going to be a good manager. You might be an outstanding QA/QC resource, but in terms of corporate maturity, your management peers will probably chew you up and spit you out. You need to be comfortable, confident, and able to deal with technical issues (which means you have to UNDERSTAND technical issues), personnel issues (Have you ever had to discipline someone? Fire them?), and corporate issues (How do you handle Manager Joe Fbeets going over your head to a director to complain about your team?).

After some thought, I believe a good QA/QC Manager should have experience with the following:

Every aspect of manual testing using a variety of project methodologies, both as a practitioner and as a lead. Experience has to include quality responsibilities for large, multi-million dollar efforts.
Test automation, both as a practitioner and a lead. The actual tool sets don’t matter.
Performance/stress/load testing, both as a practitioner and a lead.
Teaching/mentoring of low-level staff
Teaching/mentoring of lead personnel
Project planning (note – this is not test planning)
Coordination of testing efforts for a migration – the larger the effort, the better
Experience with user test coordination
Involvement with regional, national, and international QA/QC community
Involvement in corporate quality efforts such as CMMI, ISO, IEEE, Six Sigma, or better yet, experience with many of them
Standards, processes, and procedures whether for a group or on a corporate basis
Staffing (obtaining, motivating, promoting, disciplining, etc.)
Budgets
Dealing with difficult people/situations
Proposals
Negotiation
Public speaking/Presentation

Do you have experience with those areas? If not, consider that when you’re looking for QA/QC management position, it is likely you will be competing against people who do.

So how do you get that experience if you don’t have it? First of all, many companies offer courses around some of the “soft skills” and they pay attention to what courses you take. So take them. Some of them will be snooze-fests. Some you’ll find interesting in spite of yourself. You’ll meet some new people and make some contacts. Offer to get involved in efforts that give you the experience you need. If there is absolutely no way you can get the experience you want at your current company, move on. Do you have constraints that limit your choices? Keep looking, and don’t give up. Be picky about your jobs; choose those that fit into your career path. Don’t have a career path? That’s your fault. No one is obligated to give you a career path. An employer merely pays you X for Y services. Your career is YOUR responsibility. I see a lot of bitterness over this last point. If you like your job, but there’s no advancement and that is your goal, you need to shake your employer’s hand, thank them for a great learning experience, and move on. They can’t necessarily give you what you want and need, even when they think you’re a great employee.

Lastly, I can’t give you better advice than to say you need to force yourself to step outside of your comfort zone to really grow your skills. Volunteer for things that make you feel insecure. Make yourself learn.

I realize a lot of you will think “bullshit” to yourselves. You don’t want to hear what I’ve just said, you don’t believe it, and/or you have some idealized views of “how it should work”. Or how you wish it would work. Or you know some exception that magically had everything handed to them on a plate and you want that too. Don’t we all? But I can only share with you the truth as I’ve experienced it and hope you find it useful.

Bon chance!

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