Clare Norman - The art of activating quality people

Talk Description

In this episode of Leading with Quality, Rosie Sherry sits down with Clare Norman, Senior Quality Coach at Co-op, to explore the nuances of the quality coach model and the "creative spark" that keeps testing exciting after a decade in the industry.

Clare shares her journey from ocean modelling scientist to quality advocate, detailing how she manages quality across cross-functional teams without being the one to actually execute the automation. They dive deep into the importance of facilitation, the concept of "wobbly" code, and why the future of testing lies in holistic systems thinking rather than just scripted checks.

You will hear about:

• How Co-op transitioned away from dedicated testers to a coaching model where developers own the test automation
• Why facilitation is an underestimated skill and how to create space for diverse perspectives within engineering teams
• How to use ensemble and pair testing to impart a "tester’s nose" to developers, designers, and product owners
• Why test automation is only a small slice (of cake) of the overall quality picture, alongside observability, research, and collaboration
• Practical ways to identify team weaknesses (like accessibility) by paying attention to retrospectives and "collective intelligence"

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Rosie Sherry

CEO & Founder at Ministry of Testing

She/Her

I've been working in the software testing and quality engineering space since the year 2000 whilst also combining it with my love for education and community building. 🎓 MoT-STEC qualified

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Clare Norman

Senior quality coach

she/her

Passionate about making software better for humans. Fascinated by the psychology behind user interactions. On a mission to sprinkle more joy into our software.