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Thinking Through Your Role

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TEST Huddle
TEST Huddle

Key Takeaways: - A diagramming method that helps discuss roles - A one page analysis heuristic for roles - Why roles matter on projects https://huddle.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/resource/people-skills/thinking-through-your-role/

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Thinking Through Your Role James and Jon Bach james@satisfice.com jobach@ebay.com
Reinventing my role @ …an experience report Reinvention: Looking at the way a problem has been solved and acting as if we are solving it for the first time. A process of how we move from one way of thinking to another and how might we create solutions unburdened by rules.
My eBay career: 2011 to present Director QE Search (Front End) Director Live Site Quality QE/PM End-to-End Solutions QE/PM (CommerceOS) Quality Evangelist Engineering Excellence lead 2012 2013 2014 2015 20162011 reorg reorg reorg
4 QE Manager: Search Front End Mission: Manage a team of 8 Quality Engineers Establish trust and credibility • Collaborate with PM/PD team peers • Coach my team – inspire and build them up • Serve my team – shoulder their burden • Partner with other teams (Search Back End) • Understand dependent teams • Learn about tools and techniques • Develop relationships with adjacencies (Support) Triangles are tasks. Blue means requested from my manager; orange tasks come from me
5 2011 Opportunity: Director: Live Site Quality Cultivate Testing Culture
6 2013 : QE / PM : End-to-End Solutions • ScrumMaster for the team • Come up with scenarios • Run the OOSLA program • Triage bugs • Influence the design • Demo to other teams • Foster adoption
7 • Evangelize the framework standards • Coordinate with Documentation team • Make the standards easy to use • Host office hours • Triage bugs in the platform, drive closure • Analyze and drive environment fidelity • Run the OOSLA report 2014 : QE PM: Commerce OS Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
8 2015 Opportunity: Quality Evangelist • Host a bi-weekly discussion series • Run the weekly test leads meeting • Plan and coordinate events • Create a quality-centric monthly newsletter • Look for patterns and practices • Attend quality engineer meetings from across the org • Talk to customers • Define “Engineering Excellence” • Run the OOSLA report Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
9 • Continue the bi-weekly discussion series • Run the weekly operations meeting • Maintain the newsletter • Continue to attend quality engineer meetings from across the org • Plan and coordinate team events • Start a SLACK channel • Help with Agile Transformation • Align with efforts in other initiatives • Build an initiative core team • Administer the culture activity platform 2016: Engineering Excellence Lead Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
From the book “Explore It!” by Elisabeth Hendrickson Engineering Excellence Domains
Tester Live Site Quality Excellence Program Manager Practice Evangelist Leader Testing (mechanics) • Creating feature models • Having test ideas • Questioning • Product and project issues • Concerns & risks • Participating in bug bashes • Reproducing bugs from Support • Evaluation: Matching what is expected or desired to what is actually happening Discovery • What is this thing? • Where should we go today? • How does this work? • Finding other factors no one else has • Looking at a bigger piece of the puzzle • Finding out where we may be broken if conditions change (i.e. Anticipating) Storytelling • Writing a bug report • Writing a status report • Talking at standup • Creating scenarios for testing • Creating reports, but testing the data and user expectations • Helping others tell THEIR story (newsletter) • Make it easy to tell stories (e.g newsletter) Testing as a process of optimizing attention
What is a Role? “A person's allotted share, part, or duty in life and society; the character, place, or status assigned to or assumed by a person.” [Oxford English Dictionary] 1. A task someone is currently performing. (“My role is checking this output.”) 2. A task associated with a contract. (“The testing role is unstaffed.”) 3. Some element in relation to other elements. (“What role does Slack play in your team?”)
Scope (what the role covers)  Responsibilities  What depends on it  What it depends on Power (what the role influences)  Authority/Sponsorship  What roles control it  What roles it controls Value (what the role does for people)  Specific problems solved  Necessity to organization  Desirability to others  Prestige for actor Cost (what the role takes from people)  Cost of the actor, equipment, and materials  Cost to accommodate the role  Cost due to other roles becoming complacent Requirements (what role/actor needs)  Environment & tools  Skills & knowledge  Motivation  Outside support Openness (how actors relate to it)  Ownership & commitment  Casual shareability  Informality  Interruptability  Simplicity  Legibility Presence (when & where it operates)  Persistence  Responsiveness  Disruptiveness Commitment (acceptance of duty)  Investment of energy  Accountability Competence (ability to perform)  Study and practice  Self-evaluation Readiness (operational status)  Anticipating events  Adapting to new conditions  Maintaining efficiency  Troubleshooting Coordination (relating to other roles)  Mission negotiation  Resource negotiation  Helping and accepting help  Respecting agreements  Failover strategy  Status reporting  Delivery Dimensions Of Role Expectations Of Actors Elements of Role http://bit.ly/2c062wN
Introducing “Rolegrams” Elements of Roles Contract: an expectation to behave a certain way or perform some service Person: capable of behaving certain ways and performing services Task/Duty: some activity that solves a problem Boundary object: an artifact serving as a medium of exchange between people or roles
Types of Contracts Explicit Contract: an explicit agreement or formal protocol Fuzzy Contract: an unspoken or vague agreement; informal protocol Open Contract: an agreement involving actors who may come and go
Types of Tasks/Duties Formal: a duty knowingly performed and acknowledged; a task performed in some systematic way Fuzzy: duty not explicitly defined but also not optional; or a task that is performed, but not in a systematic way Conditional or Optional: an explicitly defined task or duty that is not necessarily required
Actors and Roles Actor: Person fulfilling contract Roles (unstaffed) Socially Competent Actor: Person who requires tacit knowledge/skill in order to perform well. Mechanistic Actor: Person or machine who requires explicit knowledge/skill only in order to perform well.
Thinking with Rolegrams When you see a triangle, think: - Who is doing this? Then where is the circle? - What other tasks need doing? Should there be more triangles? - Is this a duty? Then it needs a rectangle around it. - Is this reasonably formal or is it fuzzy? Is it optional? When you see a circle, think: - Is there an agreement to do something? Then where is the rectangle and triangle? - Is this person also doing other things? Then where are those triangles? - Who SPECIFICALLY is this actor? Is it always the same person? - Does this actor need to be a human or can a tool do it? - How does this person get prepared or trained for this role? When you see a square, think: - Is there an actor in this role? Then where is the circle? - Are there specific required tasks? Duties? Then where are the triangles? - Is this agreement formal or fuzzy? Open or closed? - What inputs or outputs are involved? Where are the hexagons? When you see a hexagon, think: - What form does this object take? - Are there other boundary objects? Where are those hexagons? - Is this used internally to the role, externally, or both? - Does this mean different things to different roles?
Example #1 “I’ll test the latest bug fixes in this build.” Tester Agreement to test Testing new bug reports build fixes
Example #2 “Download the new build and help us find a bug.” Bug Bash Participation Testing new bug reports build
Roles as nets: heuristics for self-management
QUESTIONS?
Mr. Deep vs Mr. Wide “I am a {specialist}, dammit” “I am a {generalist}, dammit” Obsessed Territorial Narrow Uncaring That guy is… But I am… Available Collaborative Versatile Caring Dedicated Responsible Skilled Caring I am… Distracted Unreliable Incompetent Uncaring But That guy is… Energy Dependability Skill Attitude
Mr. Deep vs Mr. Wide “I am a security tester” “I am a tester” Energy Dependability Skill Attitude Obsessed Territorial Narrow Uncaring That guy is… But I am… Available Collaborative Versatile Caring Dedicated Responsible Skilled Caring I am… Distracted Unreliable Incompetent Uncaring But That guy is…
Why do some people think a role is a prison or a fortress? This happens when role is defined as the only things you do and what no one else does. HIGH SOCIAL DISTANCE
So, what if we eliminate roles? You have probably experienced this.
I like to think of roles this way. A role is like a villa. It is a semi-private space. Someone dwells in it. Someone is responsible. But visitors may come and help. FLEXIBLE SOCIAL DISTANCE • Devs help testers. • Testers help devs. • But testers are ACCOUNTABLE for test process.

More Related Content

Thinking Through Your Role

  • 1. Thinking Through Your Role James and Jon Bach james@satisfice.com jobach@ebay.com
  • 2. Reinventing my role @ …an experience report Reinvention: Looking at the way a problem has been solved and acting as if we are solving it for the first time. A process of how we move from one way of thinking to another and how might we create solutions unburdened by rules.
  • 3. My eBay career: 2011 to present Director QE Search (Front End) Director Live Site Quality QE/PM End-to-End Solutions QE/PM (CommerceOS) Quality Evangelist Engineering Excellence lead 2012 2013 2014 2015 20162011 reorg reorg reorg
  • 4. 4 QE Manager: Search Front End Mission: Manage a team of 8 Quality Engineers Establish trust and credibility • Collaborate with PM/PD team peers • Coach my team – inspire and build them up • Serve my team – shoulder their burden • Partner with other teams (Search Back End) • Understand dependent teams • Learn about tools and techniques • Develop relationships with adjacencies (Support) Triangles are tasks. Blue means requested from my manager; orange tasks come from me
  • 5. 5 2011 Opportunity: Director: Live Site Quality Cultivate Testing Culture
  • 6. 6 2013 : QE / PM : End-to-End Solutions • ScrumMaster for the team • Come up with scenarios • Run the OOSLA program • Triage bugs • Influence the design • Demo to other teams • Foster adoption
  • 7. 7 • Evangelize the framework standards • Coordinate with Documentation team • Make the standards easy to use • Host office hours • Triage bugs in the platform, drive closure • Analyze and drive environment fidelity • Run the OOSLA report 2014 : QE PM: Commerce OS Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
  • 8. 8 2015 Opportunity: Quality Evangelist • Host a bi-weekly discussion series • Run the weekly test leads meeting • Plan and coordinate events • Create a quality-centric monthly newsletter • Look for patterns and practices • Attend quality engineer meetings from across the org • Talk to customers • Define “Engineering Excellence” • Run the OOSLA report Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
  • 9. 9 • Continue the bi-weekly discussion series • Run the weekly operations meeting • Maintain the newsletter • Continue to attend quality engineer meetings from across the org • Plan and coordinate team events • Start a SLACK channel • Help with Agile Transformation • Align with efforts in other initiatives • Build an initiative core team • Administer the culture activity platform 2016: Engineering Excellence Lead Blue triangles mean the task was requested from my manager; orange ones are my ideas
  • 10. From the book “Explore It!” by Elisabeth Hendrickson Engineering Excellence Domains
  • 11. Tester Live Site Quality Excellence Program Manager Practice Evangelist Leader Testing (mechanics) • Creating feature models • Having test ideas • Questioning • Product and project issues • Concerns & risks • Participating in bug bashes • Reproducing bugs from Support • Evaluation: Matching what is expected or desired to what is actually happening Discovery • What is this thing? • Where should we go today? • How does this work? • Finding other factors no one else has • Looking at a bigger piece of the puzzle • Finding out where we may be broken if conditions change (i.e. Anticipating) Storytelling • Writing a bug report • Writing a status report • Talking at standup • Creating scenarios for testing • Creating reports, but testing the data and user expectations • Helping others tell THEIR story (newsletter) • Make it easy to tell stories (e.g newsletter) Testing as a process of optimizing attention
  • 12. What is a Role? “A person's allotted share, part, or duty in life and society; the character, place, or status assigned to or assumed by a person.” [Oxford English Dictionary] 1. A task someone is currently performing. (“My role is checking this output.”) 2. A task associated with a contract. (“The testing role is unstaffed.”) 3. Some element in relation to other elements. (“What role does Slack play in your team?”)
  • 13. Scope (what the role covers)  Responsibilities  What depends on it  What it depends on Power (what the role influences)  Authority/Sponsorship  What roles control it  What roles it controls Value (what the role does for people)  Specific problems solved  Necessity to organization  Desirability to others  Prestige for actor Cost (what the role takes from people)  Cost of the actor, equipment, and materials  Cost to accommodate the role  Cost due to other roles becoming complacent Requirements (what role/actor needs)  Environment & tools  Skills & knowledge  Motivation  Outside support Openness (how actors relate to it)  Ownership & commitment  Casual shareability  Informality  Interruptability  Simplicity  Legibility Presence (when & where it operates)  Persistence  Responsiveness  Disruptiveness Commitment (acceptance of duty)  Investment of energy  Accountability Competence (ability to perform)  Study and practice  Self-evaluation Readiness (operational status)  Anticipating events  Adapting to new conditions  Maintaining efficiency  Troubleshooting Coordination (relating to other roles)  Mission negotiation  Resource negotiation  Helping and accepting help  Respecting agreements  Failover strategy  Status reporting  Delivery Dimensions Of Role Expectations Of Actors Elements of Role http://bit.ly/2c062wN
  • 14. Introducing “Rolegrams” Elements of Roles Contract: an expectation to behave a certain way or perform some service Person: capable of behaving certain ways and performing services Task/Duty: some activity that solves a problem Boundary object: an artifact serving as a medium of exchange between people or roles
  • 15. Types of Contracts Explicit Contract: an explicit agreement or formal protocol Fuzzy Contract: an unspoken or vague agreement; informal protocol Open Contract: an agreement involving actors who may come and go
  • 16. Types of Tasks/Duties Formal: a duty knowingly performed and acknowledged; a task performed in some systematic way Fuzzy: duty not explicitly defined but also not optional; or a task that is performed, but not in a systematic way Conditional or Optional: an explicitly defined task or duty that is not necessarily required
  • 17. Actors and Roles Actor: Person fulfilling contract Roles (unstaffed) Socially Competent Actor: Person who requires tacit knowledge/skill in order to perform well. Mechanistic Actor: Person or machine who requires explicit knowledge/skill only in order to perform well.
  • 18. Thinking with Rolegrams When you see a triangle, think: - Who is doing this? Then where is the circle? - What other tasks need doing? Should there be more triangles? - Is this a duty? Then it needs a rectangle around it. - Is this reasonably formal or is it fuzzy? Is it optional? When you see a circle, think: - Is there an agreement to do something? Then where is the rectangle and triangle? - Is this person also doing other things? Then where are those triangles? - Who SPECIFICALLY is this actor? Is it always the same person? - Does this actor need to be a human or can a tool do it? - How does this person get prepared or trained for this role? When you see a square, think: - Is there an actor in this role? Then where is the circle? - Are there specific required tasks? Duties? Then where are the triangles? - Is this agreement formal or fuzzy? Open or closed? - What inputs or outputs are involved? Where are the hexagons? When you see a hexagon, think: - What form does this object take? - Are there other boundary objects? Where are those hexagons? - Is this used internally to the role, externally, or both? - Does this mean different things to different roles?
  • 19. Example #1 “I’ll test the latest bug fixes in this build.” Tester Agreement to test Testing new bug reports build fixes
  • 20. Example #2 “Download the new build and help us find a bug.” Bug Bash Participation Testing new bug reports build
  • 21. Roles as nets: heuristics for self-management
  • 23. Mr. Deep vs Mr. Wide “I am a {specialist}, dammit” “I am a {generalist}, dammit” Obsessed Territorial Narrow Uncaring That guy is… But I am… Available Collaborative Versatile Caring Dedicated Responsible Skilled Caring I am… Distracted Unreliable Incompetent Uncaring But That guy is… Energy Dependability Skill Attitude
  • 24. Mr. Deep vs Mr. Wide “I am a security tester” “I am a tester” Energy Dependability Skill Attitude Obsessed Territorial Narrow Uncaring That guy is… But I am… Available Collaborative Versatile Caring Dedicated Responsible Skilled Caring I am… Distracted Unreliable Incompetent Uncaring But That guy is…
  • 25. Why do some people think a role is a prison or a fortress? This happens when role is defined as the only things you do and what no one else does. HIGH SOCIAL DISTANCE
  • 26. So, what if we eliminate roles? You have probably experienced this.
  • 27. I like to think of roles this way. A role is like a villa. It is a semi-private space. Someone dwells in it. Someone is responsible. But visitors may come and help. FLEXIBLE SOCIAL DISTANCE • Devs help testers. • Testers help devs. • But testers are ACCOUNTABLE for test process.