Leave no man behind…. especially when it comes to your test guys
Your team is only as strong as your weakest link. And when it comes to the quality of a product, your weakest link from the production flow will determine that. You may say it’s a team effort and everyone has an input. And that would be true. But since every flow has at least one quality checkpoint – a testing “station”, if you want, – most of the time, the testing guys will take the blame.
How many times are certain deliveries pushed to production or merged without proper testing because the test engineers couldn’t argue the most efficient testing way, in order to deliver with the minimum of bugs in production?
Sometimes the design is flawed or tricky or, in other cases, it’s great, but a bit more complex than one would think at the first glance of an eye. And it’s difficult for the test engineers to come up with the best answer.
Even a small change in the code or in the configuration affects the entire system and its users.
That’s why the test engineers have to properly understand not just the testing process, but also the system they are testing. They need to visualize what’s under the “hood”, how does it work and what can go wrong. Simply put, how to ask the right questions.
And that needs specific training and hands-on experience.
Whenever the test guys are less skilled than our other team members, the chances of them failing to enforce specific testing procedures are higher than it should. This creates the context for not just flawed product released, but also extra tension within the team. In other words, not investing in the test team will not only negatively impact the product itself, but also the work environment, by adding unnecessary pressure. There is already a stigma hovering over the testing team – why reinforce it?
Truth be told, behind each good product release there is good team. As in a group of people who are the best they can be in their field of work, with the proper know-how and experience and who trust and value each other – professionally. This goes for every production step – including the testing process.
But if some of the engineers in our team have not only little experience, but they are struggling to keep up with the fast pace of the software development world – there is no wonder it’s difficult to trust them.
There is no wonder they seem unreliable.
We cannot remove them as “weak” links. Because we cannot just enforce testing with procedures – we need the team’s buy in. We need the human discernment and sound judgement.
The answer is simple – let’s “fix” them.
What we really need to do is to upskill the test engineers – so they can properly do what they are supposed to do.
Let’s invest and educate and support them in the learning process. We need them and we need them in their best version of themselves.
