What is Quality Coaching, Why Should Testers Care And What Difference Does It Make For Our Teams?

22nd September 2022
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Stu Day's profile
Stu Day

Head of Quality

Vernon Richards's profile
Vernon Richards

Quality Coach / Senior Quality Engineer

What is Quality Coaching, Why Should Testers Care And What Difference Does It Make For Our Teams? image
Talk Description

This is just a fancy name for “Testers”, right?

Maybe, maybe not. Let’s talk about it and find out!

We’ve been leading, mentoring and coaching quality teams for over a decade.

They’ve even been known to do that work together over the years! During that time, they’ve seen attitudes to testing change and evolve.

One recent change is the increasing amount of “Quality Coach” and “Quality Engineer” roles appearing in companies.

Is this a fancy name for the same kind of “Tester” roles that exist already, or is there something significantly different between them?

We believe there are and will highlight the differences during the conference!

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

  • Define Quality Coaching and Quality Engineering
  • Compare the difference between quality coaching and quality engineering roles versus traditional testing roles
  • Contrast how their current approach differs from a quality coaching and quality engineering approach
  • Choose from more options to deal with quality and testing challenges that crop up in their work
Head of Quality
I've been in the software testing & quality world since 1997 and love it. I'm a senior leader, a coach, international speaker, workshop facilitator, writer & founder of Quality Talks.
Quality Coach / Senior Quality Engineer

I’m a Quality Coach & Tester that helps orgs, teams & individuals understand the relationship between quality & testing to help them build better products & deliver more effective services.

I’ve been testing since 2002 starting with video games on PS2, Xbox & PC. It may not sound like a real job but it’s the truth!

By day I’m a Senior Quality Engineer at a health tech night I run Abode of Quality. Here is one of my core values:

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude (& how you’re thinking) about the problem.” - Captain Jack Sparrow (the part in brackets was my addition though!)

I believe that quality & testing problems are actually people problems in disguise! Often the cause of these problems is misaligned goals, different perspectives, low empathy for colleagues, and the list goes on.

Using my coaching skills in the quality & testing space, I believe the most effective way to serve the business, is to help teams & individuals gain new perspectives about themselves & their teammates.

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