Back to an old new team

Last October, I rejoined a former team but this time as a test lead. Previously, I was a tester in this team but I got pulled out in Nov 2010 to lead another test team. That other project had come to an end, and the options that my manager had for me was to either go back or join QS (another division). I ended up going back. It was like joining a new team altogether though. Only 1 of the original set of testers I knew remained.

One of the first things I did was try to collect my bearings. I wanted to know where is what, how do I find this, and so on. It was a bit all over the place. My OC-ness kicked in and I ended up centralizing the available testing-related materials and tools, and deploying the structure to the team. I didn’t want any new guys feeling lost as I was, and I don’t think you should need to ask more than 1 person for stuff that should be readily accessible to you.

Next up, I worked on the training materials. Again, I remember having received a lot of references (some obsolete) and not knowing where to start. So I made a visual outline. In the course of doing so, I also identified needed training topics with no available references. I prepped a couple or so slides for some of the topics, and also revisited the older ones. Still a long way to go, but at least the ball is rolling. My teammate, Tin, has taken over the training area so that’s one thing off my back.

In one of our earlier test team meetings, Tin facilitated a rant session to identify potential areas for improvement. The thing with rant sessions though is they’ll only work if someone drives the initiatives for improvements, otherwise you’ll end up with just a list of rants. There were nice ideas, but there weren’t any plans on working on them. Those things won’t just happen. I asked for a copy and posted them in a tab in my excel task list. That was another thing the test team didn’t have prior, btw, a task list or a less forgettable way of tracking the stuff they were doing for the test team. So far, I’ve picked off some of the low-hanging fruits marking them off to indicate whether something was or is being done for them.

(I’m nearing the edge of the page, need to wrap up.) Feeling lost or frustrated has been the starting point for all these. There are some things that shouldn’t have to be as difficult as they are. There’ll always be something to complain about. But you either let it defeat you (in which case you’ll just keep complaining about it) or you actually do something about it. It doesn’t have to be so radical so as to change things overnight– baby steps are fine — as long as you’re heading towards something.

Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.

[Notes, Feb 2012]

A mashup of 2 writings on meetings

Last year, in my more personal blog, I ranted about meetings. Currently, I’m down to 3 regular meetings per week. For the testers’ meetings, I think they previously had the meeting manager role rotate across the members. But I opted to just preside over the meetings for now and so far we’ve been starting on time, I prepare beforehand for whatever needs to be announced or discussed so I reckon the meeting goes smoothly, and we end earlier if not on time.

So I mentioned I had ranted about meetings, here are just some excerpts from the rants…

[Jul] …What turns me off about meetings anyway. Here’s the stuff I loathe about meetings… all center on it not being done right:

1. Meetings that don’t start on time. Time is eaten up waiting for everyone to arrive. And just as you’re about to start someone excuses themselves so that’s yet another delay.
2. Meetings with no agenda. No point, no objective, no direction.
3. Meetings without someone presiding well over it. When the discussion has gone off track, it simply continues to go downhill.
4. Meetings wherein attendees are ill-prepared.
5. Meetings wherein attendees are there but aren’t really present.
6. Meetings with no minutes. Yes, commit everything to memory.
7. Meetings wherein the same things are being said over and over again. This happens when folks aren’t really paying attention, or when someone comes in late and asks the same thing.
8. Meetings that drag on for hours.
9. Meetings that were set on a short notice without the slightest hint of apology for being called at a short notice. Yes, my life revolves around you — I have no other plans that would have to be moved around.

[Nov] …In instances like these, I feel penalized for actually being on time and for even bothering to book the conference room ahead of time. Which is weird because those should be as expected. So no more Ms. Nice Punctual guy. I’m setting some meeting policies.

1. Be there on time! +/- 5 minutes. Especially if you’re the one who called the meeting.
2. Notify! Notify in advance if the meeting is canceled. Notify if there are changes to the meeting. Period.
3. One third to two thirds in and the meeting hasn’t started buys me the right to consider the meeting canceled.
4. If the meeting location was initially set as TBD, let folks know where the venue is even before the meeting starts.
5. If you’ve hijacked my room reservation, I can politely kick you out of the meeting room.