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You're a tester, in fact you're good at it…so good that you've been promoted to lead or manager of other testers.

You've probably realized that being good at breaking code and managing people, technology and process are really very different skills. You've probably also realized that you are living the consequences of your decisions (and others' decisions). But you're working so fast and hard that it's difficult to see the forest from the trees.

Come and learn the missing links. Managing Test Teams builds upon your foundation as a good tester. You'll learn how to plan and manage your team, co-workers and boss, how to implement effective QA process and how to implement and integrate QA tools and technology into your team. You'll describe the consequences (i.e.: frustrations) that you are living with. We'll travel back in time and see the decisions that were made, the ground work that was laid, the skills and processes that have created the consequences. Of course we won't leave you there. You'll learn what to change, how to change it and when to change it to get the most effective results.

Who should attend?
· Experienced Testers wanting a leadership role.
· Leads and Managers of QA/Test teams and departments.

Prerequisite: Technical Management Assessment Test for Leads and Managers. Take this short, online test and receive feedback on which courses are right for you.

Bring to Class:
· Representative sample of your team's bug reports and feature requests
· Representative sample of your team's test cases
· Sample of a test plan
· Sample of a testing project status report
· Screenshot of your bug database
· Lists of the pick list choices for the bug reports State, Status, Priority, Severity and other key fields that your team relies upon.

Course Duration: 3 days

What you get: a customized action plan, a buggy application to practice on (including requirements and specifications), tip sheets, likely interview questions, free two week follow-up support from the instructor, all class materials and new knowledge you can apply the minute you get back to work!

Next Steps:  >
1. Sign Up Now! for the online versions:

• Negotiation Skills
• Test Reporting
• Defining Test Cases
• Writing Test Cases
• Requirements & Spec Review.

Evaluating Your QA/Test Team
That's right, jump in feet first. You'll start the class by taking a look at where you are coming from. What do your team's bug reports, test cases, plans and reports look like? Where is your team in terms of QA process and technology? Where would you like to be? Then we'll start deconstructing your QA products and you'll learn how they affect your team's relationship with engineering and upper management. You'll begin work on your goals and action plan that will be completed by the end of the course.

Configuration Management and Source Control
You may not manage this or have control over it, it may not even be implemented on your project but it affects the QA/testing process and the overall quality of the final product. We'll discuss the importance of identifying revisions of software and documents and you'll see some of the tools that are designed for this.

Planning the Test Effort and Project Management Basics
You're in charge of testing a product. You've got your team off figuring out the test cases. Your job now is to negotiate and make agreements with the other departments. When will you get code? Are you expecting it to be really buggy or pretty tight? When will you report? What do the other managers think that you will report on? In this class you'll learn how to comprehensively plan the test effort and write the QA or Test Plan. You'll learn how to use project management software to schedule your testing and make sure that you have enough resources to do the job. It's not all talk, you'll be given a sample project, a template plan and schedule and you'll have a chance to plan the perfect project.

Developing a Team
The quality of the testers you choose has a huge influence on the success of your project and the quality of the product. How do you know that you are hiring good testers that will test thoroughly while not alienating the engineers? Learn how to define a job description, establish hiring criteria and design interview questions to determine if a candidate meets your needs and will mesh well with your team. But it doesn't end there because you will have to evaluate your team's performance. So, you'll learn how to use your interviewing tools to write effective performance appraisals. In class, you'll begin work on your own interviewing and performance tools.

Negotiation Skills
Time to market, quality, feature set and resources are all negotiable items during the life of a project. You'll learn about the trade-offs and how to present them to upper management. But, all bosses aren't easy to negotiate with, so we'll also talk about different personality types and valuable strategies that will help you get the time or resources you need to get the job done right. Of course, you'll get to practice these techniques in class.

Metric Analysis and Reporting to Upper Management
The testing is under way and the bug database is filling up. Everyone wants to know "how's it looking?" (Which really means "will we ship on time?") Learn how to design reports, charts and graphs to easily communicate the state of the project and the level of quality of the software. Learn what to say when cornered in the hallway with "how's it looking?" You'll get to review live project data and use a report template to compile a well written project status report.

Executing the Plan and Managing People
So, you've had the opportunity to plan the perfect project. But… life happens, so we'll discuss the many unplanned events that attempt to disrupt your perfect plan, including technical, personnel and corporate issues. You'll learn how to re-plan on the fly and when re-planning can actually cause more harm then good. How do you continue to motivate testers during project chaos, downsizing, and tight schedules and still create a tight knit team? You'll learn these skills and then practice. You'll take your perfect plan and we'll throw different real-life problems at you for you to re-plan. You'll discuss the different possibilities for re-planning, the consequences of your decisions and how you will manage your decisions.

Ready, Set…Action
No, you are not done yet! To wrap it all up, you'll review your team evaluation from the first day; we'll recap what you've learned and assess what's next for your team's process and technology improvements. Not all talk, you'll complete your action plan and time frames for you to take back to your team and implement.