A quality police dynamic can occur when teams become divided, and Quality Engineers are positioned, explicitly or implicitly, as the people who “approve” work. In this situation, they can become de facto gatekeepers rather than collaborators, which may create an “us vs them” dynamic in teams, lead to defensive behaviour around incidents and bugs, and reduce psychological safety.
Impact
- Developers and engineers may disengage from quality ownership.
- Quality Engineers may be blamed for missed issues.
- Collaboration may decrease rather than increase.
Root cause
This may happen when shared ownership is talked about in teams, but accountability is not truly shared. It can be noticeable in teams where authority remains centralised while responsibility is supposedly distributed.
This may happen when shared ownership is talked about in teams, but accountability is not truly shared. It can be noticeable in teams where authority remains centralised while responsibility is supposedly distributed.
