A good tester uses communication not only to 'let others know', but also to get the information they need. An even greater tester knows how to use communication as part of their actual testing, to focus their process and achieve better results. In this Webinar we will go over all the advanced aspects of communication and how to leverage them as part of your testing: - The communication process in testing - a 360 Degree view. - How to leverage communication as an ongoing part of your process. - Tips and tricks on how to communicate effectively with your project stakeholders.

1. Communica)on
Skills
for
Testers
Why
you
have
been
doing
it
wrong
all
this
)me…
With:
Joel
Montvelisky - Chief
Solu)on
Architect

2. What
we
want
to
cover
today?
What
is
Communica)on?
Typical
Tes)ng
Communica)on
4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Model
Communica)on
and
Career
Path
Maturity
Q&A
1
2
3
4
5

3. Who
am
I?
Professions
:
(last
20
years)
-­‐
Tester
-­‐
QA
Manager
-­‐
Blogger
-­‐
Speaker
-­‐
Solu)on
Architect
Prac)Test:
-­‐
Chief
Solu)on
Architect
-­‐
QA
Manager

4. About
✓ SaaS
ALM
Solu)on
✓ Simple
&
Intui)ve
–
yet
–
Professional
&
Flexible
✓ Integrates
with
Jira,
Selenium,
Jenkins,
Pivotal
Tracker,
QTP,
Bugzilla,
Ranorex,
SoapUI,
etc…
✓ Best
Darn
Support
in
the
Business
☺

5. What
is
Communica)on?
1

6. What
is
communica)on?
The
Goal
The
Players
• Sender
• Receiver/s
The
Channel
(encoding
-­‐
medium
-­‐
decoding)
The
Message
In
Theory,
we
think
of
Communica)on
like
this…
Every
communica)on
event
is
defined
by
4
components:
1
2
3
4

7. What
is
communica)on?
In
Prac)ce,
Communica)on
is
more
like
this…

8. What
is
Communica)on
Alignment?
Focusing
on
the
GOAL,
we
need
to
ask
ourselves
3
important
ques)ons:
– What
do
we
Want
to
Achieve?
– Who
is
Sending
and
Receiving
the
Message?
– What
Channel
Should
we
Use?

9. “Typical”
Tes)ng
Communica)on
2

10. Typical
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Bugs
Release
Notes
Test
Results
Tes)ng
Recommenda)ons
Tes)ng
Summary
Reports
Status
Updates

11. The
main
problem:
As
testers,
we
don’t
understand
the
GOALs
we
can
achieve
with
the
correct
Tes)ng
Communica)on.
Typical
Tes)ng
Communica)on
We
limit
Tes*ng
Communica*on
to
upda*ng
“everyone”
on
the
status
of
our
tes*ng,
when
we
could
be
achieving
a
lot
more...

12. Communica)on
is
the
Most
Important
Tool
of
the
Tester!

13. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
3

14. Construc)ve
Communica)on
Inves)ga)ve
Communica)on
4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Learning
Communica)on
Over
the
Wall
Communica)on

15. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
1:
Over
the
Wall
Communica)on
Over
the
Wall
Communica)on

16. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
1:
Over
the
Wall
Communica)on
Examples
!
Bug
Reports
/
Lists
!
Tes)ng
Results
/
Reports
!
Update
Presenta)ons
/
Emails
Objec.ve
Help
stakeholders
with
their
tac)cal
decisions.
Characteris.cs
! One
way
communica)on:
“Fire
&
Forget”
! Dry
and
fact
based
! “One
Size
Fits
All”
templates
Biggest
problem
!
Most
of
)mes
we
don’t
provide
any
new
informa)on
or
real
help.
!
It
enrages
more
than
it
helps.
Over
the
Wall
Communica)on

17. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
2:
Learning
Communica)on
Learning
Communica)on

18. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
2:
Learning
Communica)on
Examples
!
Reqs
&
Design
Review
Mee)ngs
!
1-­‐on-­‐1
mee)ngs
with
Dev
or
Product
!
Sessions
with
other
tes)ng
teams
Objec.ve
! Befer
understanding
of
the
AUT
! Create
awareness
of
tes)ng
in
Dev
&
Product
teams
Characteris.cs
! Mainly
inbound
communica)on
! Around
concrete
and
simple
informa)on
of
product
and
risks
! Introduces
some
stakeholders
to
the
tes)ng
process
The
Good
and
Bad
!
Great
first
step
to
get
informa)on
from
addi)onal
stakeholders.
!
Most
)mes
it
misses
the
chance
to
get
these
stakeholders
more
involved
in
the
tes)ng
process.
Learning
Communica)on

19. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
3:
Inves)ga)ve
Communica)on
Inves)ga)ve
Communica)on

20. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
3:
Inves)ga)ve
Communica)on
Examples
!
Mee)ngs
with
Support
to
analyze
)ckets
!
Mee)ngs
with
Pre-­‐Sales
or
Tech-­‐Sales
!
User
Profiles
(Personas)
!
Compe)tor
Profiles
!
Sessions
with
higher
management
Objec.ve
!
Get
more
complex
informa)on
on
the
AUT.
!
Understand
what
informa)on
is
needed
by
stakeholders
that
can
be
provided
by
tes)ng.
Characteris.cs
!
2
way
communica)on
channel
–
Expect
more
ques)ons
than
informa)on.
!
Provides
addi)onal
tes)ng
ideas,
not
necessarily
related
to
func)onality.
!
Usually
surprises
people
when
you
come
and
ask
for
a
mee)ng
–
Surprises
are
good!
The
good
and
the
bad
!
Provides
valuable
informa)on
on
non-­‐
func)onal
stuff
from
Real
Life
Users.
!
Awakes
interest
from
addi)onal
stakeholders
in
the
tes)ng
process.
!
Generates
noise
from
the
outside
–
some
Development
Managers
will
not
see
this
nicely!
Inves)ga)ve
Communica)on

21. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
4:
Construc)ve
Communica)on

22. 4
Levels
of
Tes)ng
Communica)on
Level
4:
Construc)ve
Communica)on
Examples
!
Pair
tes)ng
sessions
with
Dev
&
Support
engineers
!
Test
Planning
workshops
with
representa)ve
from
different
teams
!
Visits
or
sessions
with
Strategic
Customers
or
CABs
to
understand
their
usage
Objec.ves
!
Get
and
share
informa)on
and
involvement
with
internal
stakeholders
!
Generate
recogni)on
on
the
value
of
tes)ng.
!
Get
first
hand
informa)on
from
users
and
the
field.
Characteris.cs
!
2
way
communica)on
!
Internal
and
external
players.
!
Requires
advanced
skills
of
communica)on
and
group
management.
!
Generates
more
involvement
into
the
tes)ng
process.
The
good
and
the
bad
! Generates
recogni)on
on
the
value
of
tes)ng
! Requires
tons
of
prepara)on
and
execu)on
! This
is
a
long
range
gain
and
a
short
range
investment.
Construc)ve
Communica)on

23. Communica)on
and
Career
Path
4

24. Communica)on
and
Career
Path
Maturity
in
Tes)ng
Level
of
Communica)on
in
Tes)ng
Added
value
by
the
Tes)ng
Team

25. To
summarize
Communica)on
is
a
complex
mechanism
There
are
many
goals
testers
don’t
even
try
to
achieve
via
correct
communica)on
use
There
are
a
number
of
levels
of
communica)on
you
can
use
(smartly!)
to
advance
your
goals
The
befer
you
use
your
communica)on,
the
higher
the
percep)on
of
value
you
will
bring
to
your
team
1
2
3
4

26. Q&A

27. Thank
You!
joel@prac)test.com
hfp://qablog.prac)test.com/