Next Level Leadership

10th March 2022
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Dave Harrison's profile
Dave Harrison

Sr Director, Quality/Quality Coach

Next Level Leadership image
Talk Description

This talk will take the 25 years of prior experiences with being promoted into different leadership levels and roles and communicate the lessons learned, things to watch out for, and how leadership 'scope' can expand or contract given the leadership opportunity that one find themselves. 

This talk will be structured for multiple takeaway ideas, targeted at people who are in different stages of their careers:  (recent college grads/new testers, management-track-not-yet-promoted, first-time-managers-leaders, ready-to-advance-managers-leaders, established managers-leaders)

By the end of this session, you'll be able to:

  • Considerations for first-time leaders and managers and what are the most important priorities to take on starting out
  • Once you are promoted within the leadership/management path, how can responsibilities vary, especially if you find yourself in a leadership role and not a management role
  • The differences between leadership and management that I've learned over the years, and the various outcomes from what I've learned
  • Career path considerations for testers regarding leadership, management, organisational structure and other aspects
Sr Director, Quality/Quality Coach
Dave Harrison received his first 'testing assignment' in the late 80's, and has been working in software testing since the early 1990's. Early projects in his career involved working on the first macintosh laptops and products that facilitated 'telecommuting' along with early versions of web browsers from Netscape and Microsoft. He then grew his career by pursuing leadership opportunities with Disney's e-commerce division, global travel brands, and some government contracting in healthcare techology. Dave has also been a key contributor to six successful startup companies. For the past nine years, he has led the software testing practice and an early stage quality coaching effort for one of the largest Fintechs in the world. Dave has attended Test Bash conferences since 2016, giving 99 second talks and helping with onsite and online discussion groups.
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