We have a few Agile teams here at Ramsey Solutions. The best thing about these Agile teams is that people from many disciplines come together to work toward a common goal. It isn’t uncommon to have development, creative, UX, quality assurance, product ownership and marketing sitting around a table, figuring things out together. This process isn’t new to anyone who’s had experience with an Agile team.
One of the outcomes of having the product team working closely together is better communication. It forces the team to raise issues and solve problems together. This causes each discipline to get in each other’s workflow. It’s not any different with quality assurance (QA).
Working on an Agile team provides a huge opportunity for QA to communicate concerns, potential risks and how something should be tested. But if you’re in QA, how do you foster a team ownership of quality? There are a few things you can do.
First, work on your communication skills. Make sure that issues are clearly documented. Use whatever tools you need to, including screen capture or screen share. If you’re working with a remote team, don’t be afraid to hop on a video chat. Remember that it’s not QA against development—you’re all working toward the same goal. Make sure you foster that in how you communicate. Don’t be afraid to ask others their opinions of the criteria or how they might go about testing something. Include the team in the conversations you have around quality.
Second, let others in on how you test things. Don’t keep test plans a secret; make sure they’re well documented, and let others have input. While you’re likely the most knowledgeable person on the team when it comes to how to test something, don’t be afraid to step aside and teach others about your process. Know that the team owns the overall quality of the product. While it’s your responsibility to make sure things are tested and that requirements are clear, don’t be afraid of team-wide testing or allowing others to inform how you might test something.
Third, have fun. Bugs will happen. No product is perfect, but ensure that hurdles don’t steal your joy. Celebrate the team wins. Ship a new feature? Give a shout-out to the developer that worked on it. Did UX and front-end pull together to work out some kinks? Acknowledge them. Become the most positive person on the team. People will notice, and when they have a problem in the future, they won’t be afraid to approach you with it.
Assuring quality isn’t the same as quality control. While it isn’t always easy, sometimes the best thing to do is to step aside and allow others to contribute. Owning quality isn’t only the responsibility of QA, and by being open to team contribution, you’ll allow people to contribute to the QA process overall.
What are some things your team has done to foster team ownership of quality?
