I offer my skills, expertise, and time in exchange for the pay I get from a business [employer]. You too do that, right? That's how I make a livelihood and take care of myself and my family.
That means the business is a critical entity to me!
If I do not understand the business,
- I cannot do software testing and automation that adds value
- I will not be in a position to lead and deliver
- I cannot help myself to grow in the professional and competing world
This blog post is a sub-part of the blog post "The Common Challenges as a Software Tester and How I Overcome -- Part 4".
The business and its service as a software solution are in need of software testing
- But, what the software testing is supposed to be and what it has to do, is mostly driven from the project management and decision to the business
- That way it looks like a business problem
- It is a project management and decision problem that is made to appear as a business expectation
- This is a different and unique problem statement; the business carries it
- I will share my experiences and learning on this in the next blog post -- Project and Software Test Engineering: The Top 5 Challenges I See Today -- Part 4C
In Software Testing,
- We focus on the risks as well
- With the help of my testing, I try to learn the risks and help the stakeholders to know about them
The same here!
- I try to learn the risks of the below five challenges
- Because, it impacts me, my team members with whom I work, and my family members
- By learning the risks, I will be better informed to make decisions so I can deal with the impact and have control of the situation
Here are the first few challenges that I witness in Software Testing around the Business context
- My Work, My Fit, and Company Goals
- Whose Opinion of Me Weighs and Influences My Growth?
- Understanding the Decisions and Moves in a Project and Org
- Sighting and Understanding the Dynamics of Changes
- Being Hard to Replace -- The Myth
My Work, My Fit, and Company Goals
Why it is a challenge?
How I'm solving it?
- I can get easily deceived here
- By believing I'm adding value to the organization
- And, get into thought I and my work is valued and needed
- But the manager and organization may have a different opinion
- It does not get communicated until one day when I'm called into a meeting that includes the HR staff
- Read this blog post
- It is about learning how my work fits the company's goals
- I evaluate this consistently with my manager and her/his stakeholders
- Yet, there will be differences and mismatches based on multiple factors
- The business is one such critical factor
Whose Opinion of Me Weighs and Influences My Growth?
Why it is a challenge?
How I'm solving it?
I ask and discuss with my manager -- How I and my work are perceived by the person who has the authoritative decision? This helps me to see how I and my work are interpreted by different people. It helps me to discuss and clarify if it is being perceived in other ways.
- Of course, how I see myself stands first and it is more important
- This is a challenge I have to balance throughout my lifetime
- In the business and political world, to be in a better position for what I earn, it is important for me to know -- How am I perceived by the one who is more authoritative, powerful, and influential in the decision?
- There is a person above my manager and all other managers, whose decision matters and maybe final
- Do I, my work, and the value addition from my work to the organization, are visible to this person?
- How does she/he perceive my work?
- How will my work be rewarded?
- This matters to me because my growth in the company and what I earn, depend on it
- I work for this!
- We all work for this, right?
- Yet not all get what one wishes for! Why?
- To be honest, for most of the years, I said to myself -- "My work speaks for itself, and no need to bring visibility to it"
- But, in reality, it does not go that way always
- Most times the manager who does One-on-One regularly will not have a clue about what I'm doing though we meet every month to discuss
- Then how someone else will know?
- This is the reality!
- Today,
- I step up and talk about my testing team's work and value
- Also I talk about the work and value added by other teams with whom I work as a team
- I step up and talk about my work and its value
- I step up and say how we are solving it as a team
- I step up and say what's my contribution to the team's work
- I find ways to bring visibility into my work, my role, and my value addition
- I advocate for it
- In a way, I'm a sales and marketing person for my work and presence
- If I do not sell and market my work and presence, no one will do it unless I have a supporting and strong manager
- I show how fit I'm to the equation of the organization's goals and plan of execution
- Yet, this is a challenge of [for] everyday
- I will be evaluated every day by different stakeholders
- My past accomplishments are history and it does not work in the long run
- What I do today and how I'm doing it, matters in alignment with the organization's goal
- Do I make a fit with my work and the value I bring and add? How?
- I will have to balance myself here in the business and political space
I also talk and discuss with the authoritative person about
- My work
- The value being added from my work and my role
- My fit to the organization's goals and how I'm aligning with it
Understanding the Decisions and Moves in a Project and Org
Why it is a challenge?
- The decisions and moves that happen in a project and organization will have an influence on everyone
- Sometimes we will not be said why the decision is made, or, we will not even know a decision is made
- I will be annoyed and uncomfortable with the outcome and happenings from the decision made
- The decision can be in terms of
- What one draws as a salary and benefits
- The termination of certain roles and people
- Cut down on benefits and compensations
- How we work and deliver
- And, more
- This can make me be off trail and not align with the goals and decisions of project management and organization
- This sends a different perception about me to the project management and business
- This will surely not do good to me
- There will be reasons behind the decision made and changes happening or to happen
- My manager will also not be aware of why certain decisions are made
- I have to accept it
- I talk to my manager asking why a decision and change in the priorities when I observe it
- This is important to know
- Sometimes my manager may not share about it if it is not disclosable to my role and I respect it
- Talking and conveying the direction with what can be shared and cannot be shared is a skill!
- As I say, awareness is a skill
- When we are involved in the work we do, we lose sight and attention to what is happening outside the work on the floor and organization
- There are certain heuristics that we can use to identify the changes happening
- With whom we work
- With operations that are executed in our work
- For example,
- the number of meetings [increased or decreased],
- the calendar of my manager and of the authoritative person,
- the project and business tabulation,
- and more
The functioning of a service company is different from a tech product company. Be it an enterprise or a start-up or a mid-sized setup, how the floor runs, is different. I will have to tune myself to be a better observer and spot the changes. The quicker I do it and discuss about it with my manager and the authoritative person, it helps me.
I'm learning and building the skills here for the last seven years.
Sighting and Understanding the Dynamics of Changes
Why it is a challenge?
- The outcome of decisions, changes, and changed priorities need not be bad always
- But, certain decisions and changes affect badly and it will be unexpected
- This will have long-term effects on mental health and physical health
- Being a leader, I should help my team to navigate through it with awareness
- At least, I should be in a position to give the heads-up
- This may not be possible always, but my team trusts me and I need to keep it practical and in the business orientation
- I should be in a position to handle it with my emotions in control
- The growth of my team people, my growth, and the benefits we earn can be impacted
- Business and its dynamics are so unpredictable, it changes and it brings an impact on people who are with it
- I have been impacted by it!
- In a way it is good that it happens
- But, can it be prevented and get off from being impacted?
- How to spot and understand the change and the dynamics of the change?
How I'm solving it?
- For first, I need to remain calm and not in the anxiety when there is an impact or when I spot the changes
- The floor reflects the changes; just I have to be observant
- I share the same with my team and tell them to spot a few heuristics
- For example
- If someone on your team who did not bother about what you are doing comes all of a sudden and asks for a demo of your testing, automation, and any of your work
- The regular catch-up or one-on-one is no more done or its frequency has increased
- The type of questions coming to you and what is expected in an explicitly said time period
- The body language
- How I'm included in the project and team for my role?
- Is my work appreciated in public on the floor?
- Did I get a personal message or email as appreciation and not as public as others in the team receive?
- And, more
- I should be in a place where I can spot it if something of this kind is happening
- Talking to people helps
- This is okay if it is something to do with me; that way I can fix it
- What if it is nothing to do with me or my work, but happening?
- I seek clarity from the person whose opinion matters and from my manager
- I see nothing can be done in much
- All is, I need to be skilled and be aware so that I don't put myself into the worst situation
- Today, I work to be a better observer in these areas each day
- I have not done it in the past as I was lost very much in my work and practice
- I missed the indicators which I could have used for my benefits and the team's benefits
As I said, know your organization and its business. Know your team and its people. It is different from other organizations, businesses, and people.
Being Hard to Replace -- The Myth
Why it is a challenge?
- We are said and expected -- to be skilled and be so skilled it is hard to replace
- This is a myth!
- Software Testing is also helpful to break illusions and know the myths to which we are blind and biased
- When the software versions we build are replaceable, we, who are developing it are also replaceable
- If not by another version, the competitor will come up to replace
- It is about serving value that is needed and building the strengths to sustain being resilient enough
- I was in assumption, it is hard to replace if I'm skilled
- 10 years back, I learned, that's not actually the story
- I'm easily replaceable given the context demands it
- I saw my fellow team members being replaced
- I saw myself getting replaced
- We all are replaceable
- It is a norm in business, competitive and political space
- There is always a valid reason and necessity for business to do so
- It is easy to fall into the illusion that I'm contributing and adding value
- Well, I will be actually contributing and adding value
- But, it may not be needed anymore for the business and organization
- If not needed, what's next? I need not say that to you, right?
How I'm solving it?
- I accept, I'm replaceable no matter
- what are my skills, expertise, personality, and
- what value I bring and add to the board, organization, business, team, and product
- I keep myself in a position to not spoil my mental health and physical health
- I'm learning and being much more courageous than yesterday
- I ask for help when I need it with my network and communities
- I find alternative ways to have an income so that I help my family with the basic needs
- I also replace, what I see -- it has to be replaced
- By being better in
- Awareness
- Being contemporary
- Upskilling
- Being "the match and approachable"
- Being focused
Click here for returning to the blog posts:
- The Common Challenges as a Software Tester and How I Overcome -- Part 4
- Software Testing Practice: The Top 5 Challenges I See Today -- Part 4A
- Project and Software Test Engineering: The Top 5 Challenges I See Today -- Part 4C
