MoT Leeds hosted a panel discussion on Leading with Quality, which sparked a lively debate on several topics. The unexpected one was which AI had written the questions! It didn't, it was all me. Here are a few of the questions and some captured / paraphrased responses.
If everyone is responsible for quality. What is a leader’s responsibility?
Enabling the team to feel safe bringing up concerns and annoyances. Let them vent. Scott Kenyon.
How do you ensure ownership? Set a vision. This is what good looks like, then praise where needed. Emily O'Connor.
Leaders are a guiding hand. They show the way. The quality person doesn’t do ‘it’, they empower the team to do’it’. The goal isn’t quality software, it’s ROI. Adam Clarkson
Has Shift Left gone too far?
With good processes and involving everyone, then no, as it’s just a good process. Adam Clarkson
If you do all the pre-planning and engagement but end up with poor software afterwards, shifting left is pointless. Shift left across everything is pointless. Emily
Shift left is more towards the code. Right is towards the BAs. We should be in the middle. Everyone is an engineer now, but being an analyst is more important. Companies want SDETs. Consultants want analysts. Scott
Are we burning out testers and devs by making them learn everything?
Do engineers need to learn design, etc? No. We can ask questions of those who should know. Testing is my speciality. Wider awareness takes away from my ability to ask questions. Emily
As a tester, I’m the first customer to use it. Customers could know anything and everything. Scott
The World Economic Forum said resilience is a key skill that technology people should have. Scott
A team of QAs with no automation knowledge had automation added to their job title. The amount of AI slop produced was amazing. Emily
A great automated test was once a great manual regression test that is always needed, but can be coded. Scott
If I've missed tagging anyone, I apologise, just let me know and I'll add you on.
