How to be a Better Test / QA Manager?

Congratulations, now that you have become a Test / QA Manager in your company. So how do you aim to turn from a novice QA Manager to the Best QA Manager? Well, help is at hand. :) Read on for simple but effective advice to make this transformation.

• Knowledge : The first thing you should attempt to focus on would be on understanding your project, and its associated domain very well. If you do not know the product well, then how will you manage its quality? Its paramount for you to spend time to learn the software, understand its features, interfaces, dependencies, impact touch points, technologies etc. Sometimes this deep knowledge is what will allow you to make decisions in critical situations for your project. Do not ignore this area. You cannot expect to manage a software test project just by assigning and delegating tasks to your team, and leave it to them to decipher and understand the system. That does not work. Period. 

• People Management : It is said that the number 1 reason why people leave a company is because of their manager. Well, so does a manager now start looking after the testing or the people, you might be tempted to say. The answer is a manager is the guide, the leader that the entire team looks towards. Granted not everyone in the team might give you a good reception when you start. But you can take it as they need to see some genuine action which will be beneficial to them to repose their trust in you. Super tip to do when you newly join a team as a Test Manager is to have one -on-one meetings with all the team members. Understand their pain points, any issues that they are carrying from their previous manager, their expectations etc. These sessions will also allow you to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Do this.

• Emphasis on Quality : As a team manager your primary responsibility is to ensure that the quality of the product is top notch, defects are getting caught and fixed, and when the product releases there are as few issues as possible. So how do you do this? Well start playing a bit with the test metrics, gather the defect data for the last 3-4 months, check the current number of defects that are present in the defect management tool, open bugs, not reproduced bugs etc. Some deep analysis here will give you actionable points to get started on the drive to improve quality.

•  Client Management : As a test manager you will be exposed many at times to your client, than not. Strike a good rapport with your client. Make him feel that you are ever available to discuss any concerns that he may have. And make sure you keep him abreast of all the happennings which you are doing to keep your team happy, motivated as well as for ramping up the productivity of the team.

So get started on these points enumerated above, and you are all set towards becoming a better software test manager. Good luck :)