Developing an offshore context-driven testing - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Developing an offshore context-driven testing team

Lee Hawkins

Principal Test Architect

Dell Software (Melbourne)

@

therockertesterSlide2

Who am I?

15 years at Quest Software / Dell Software in Melbourne, Australia.

Really

testing since 2007 after attending Rapid Software Testing with Michael Bolton.Current role is Principal Test Architect.

We deliver scalable and affordable solutions that simplify IT and mitigate risk. Our offerings, when combined with Dell hardware and services, drive unmatched efficiency to accelerate business results.Slide3

How did I get here… and why did I bother?

Because I want to share my story…Slide4

Why China?

vs.Slide5

Starting to build our test team

First hired Charles as a senior manager.

Hired testers and automated test developers.

“Standard” tester job spec.Good verbal English language skills a must!Not actively involved in the hiring decisions at this end.After about a year, we had:7 testers, and

6 automated test developers.Slide6

The testing team

Aaron

Caroline

BreezeCindyElfin

Keven

Scott

Testing experience

before Dell

:

2-5 years:

5+ years:

0-2 years:Slide7

Challenges

Cultural differences

Language barriers

Traditional testing status quoSlide8

Dealing with cultural differencesSlide9

Cultural differences (1) - training

Stereotypical / too traditional

No substitute for real interactions

Better than nothing!Stopped us making basic mistakes

Chinese cultural training sessions in

MelbourneSlide10

Cultural differences (2) - the big tickets

Belief

in rigid

hierarchy, from ConfuciusElders are respectedSeniority is valued & respectedCriticizing or questioning seniority is just not the done thing. Group harmony is very important.HierarchySlide11

Cultural differences (3) - the big tickets

Politeness, respect, harmony

Pride, social

positionGaining faceLosing faceFace"Saving Face in China" (Anne-Laure Monfret, French Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong)Slide12

Cultural differences (4) - practicalities

Too

scared to

email, Lync or call the “architect”. Visiting them and making personal connections helped build trust and more open communication.“Tell us how to become a testing expert like you”Give them permission to disagree with me.Encourage them to question everything, don’t just follow me. Tell me I’m wrong.Constant reinforcement that it’s OK to disagree.Slide13

Cultural differences (5) - tips

There is no substitute for face-to-face meetings to build trust relationships, so visit the team and visit often.

Small gifts for the team work well (gain face).

Demonstrate your interest in learning the culture and show respect for it. Take the team for dinner.Treat the offshore team as part of the team.

Learn some basic phrases in their language.Keep abreast of the news headlines in their country.Did I mention visiting the team? Do it. And do it again.Slide14

The language barrierSlide15

Language barrier (1) - learning

Our Melbourne cultural training

also included

a basic introduction to Mandarin.

We devote a few hours per week (within work time) for them to improve their English, both in office study groups and through online

learning.They are enthusiastic and strongly motivated to improve their English, so take advantage of that.

On-going process on both sides.Slide16

Language barrier (2) - written vs. verbal

Written

BA to write user stories

Provide feedback on session sheetsUse simple and consistent languageVerbal

Talk better than listenDon’t ask yes/no questionsUse simple and consistent languageSlide17

Language barrier (3) - cultural influences

China - primarily

concerned with maintaining face and group harmony

.Western culture

- find and convey information, these individualistic societies thrive on debate and disagreement is OK.

The way Chinese express yes or no is not straightforward…

Yes – more like “maybe”

No - evasiveness over explicit disagreementMaybe – often equivalent to “no”Slide18

Language barrier (4) - tips

Hire people with some English

skills and provide

opportunities for them to improve (within work time).Leverage their strong motivation to learn English.

Use consistent language and terminology.Simple is good. Repetition helps.

Learn to understand cultural nuances.

Learn some simple greetings and phrases.Help out with English classes during visits (remember, you’re visiting often).

Simple is good. Repetition helps.Slide19

Challenging the testing status quoSlide20

Testing (1) - background

All

of our testers had only been in factory

testing environments before.Original expectations

were pretty low.Decided to try exploratory testing

under supervision from day one!Young and inexperienced team,

but very enthusiastic and eager to please.Encouraged them to

take risks, be critical, and think creatively.

“The

only thing more difficult than starting something new in an organization is stopping something

old”

(Russell

Ackoff

)Slide21

Testing (2) - mechanics

Communication

Daily standups

Phone and LyncRegular visits (have I mentioned this before?)Tools

WikiUser storiesSession sheetsReference materialsJIRA

Story and task managementDefect trackingXMindMind maps in session sheetsSlide22

Testing (3) - reality checks

Reinforcement

that we want them

to question.Some still see ET as risky and struggle to know when to stop testing.

Local leadership is critical. Regularly

make priorities very clear.Learning via books, blogs, etc. is slow.

Learning during face-to-face sessions is much faster.

Communication infrastructure needs improvement.Slide23

Testing (4) - tips

Believe in your

people. Always be available for them.

Create an environment where it’s safe to fail - and they feel supported and rewarded

.Be patient and recognize the need for very close support in the early stages (including

frequent visits).

Acknowledge their contributions and successes – helps them be even more motivated, gains face for them.Make it easy to find good quality product information to help with

testing.Make it easy to record testing notes.Look for

leadership potential to create local leaders.Slide24

Success?Slide25

Measuring success (1)

Comments from Development Manager

:

Finding the right defects - defects

that cause workflow breakages or would cause annoyance to a customer.I

really do feel that I can trust any of the testers to do the same quality job as any local resource.Although

in a remote location, they are an active part of development and often don’t feel remote.Slide26

Measuring success (2)

Completing feature testing within sprints (most of the time

).

Satisfied customers - no significant production defects.Our team champions the adoption of Exploratory Testing

in other teams.Zero staff attrition (so far).

Team morale is good (anecdotally).Able to work independently of Melbourne leadership.Slide27

Thanks!

So concludes the trailer, now for the main event!

lee.hawkins@software.dell.com

@therockertester