How to build a QA Mindset from scratch - Chapter 2 - Day-to-Day Work
Throughout my personal and professional journey, I've encountered diverse challenges. It's clear that developing a QA mindset demands time and effort, with the ultimate goal of aiding others.
The new year has started and let’s continue building the QA mindset. So the first days and months have passed since you have accepted the new role, so the first question that you should ask yourself is How can I make my contributions more visible and recognized by both the team and the organization?
By now, you should have acquired basic knowledge about the organization and gained insights into how quality assurance is perceived by both the team and the organization. Consider fundamental aspects such as whether your input is sought for specific discussions on features or ask for documented issues or test procedures.
Drawing from my own experience, after the initial three months, I began compiling a list of areas, processes, and knowledge that warranted improvement. It becomes crucial at this stage to familiarize yourself, at the very least, with your team members' names and those individuals who may not be your daily coworkers but can offer support in expanding your expertise.
How do I do it?
I take notes in my paper notebook write down the problem and then elaborate simple comments such as:
What steps can I take to enhance this situation?
Who can I reach out to for assistance?
I proceed to schedule meetings or send emails to individuals who can provide clarification on any uncertainties.
Additionally, if the proposed solution can benefit a broader audience, I prepare a presentation for both my team and potentially a wider audience.
In my current professional role within a team responsible for releasing a crucial product that significantly contributes to the company's profits and a product that is worked by other teams in different ways, I observed that the user stories and tasks lacked comprehensive information. This resulted in spending more time on testing activities such as execution, creating test cases, and adding details to tickets post-implementation – a deviation from the expected efficiency.
Taking note of these observations and drawing inspiration from other teams' practices regarding user story structures, I initiated a direct conversation with my Head of QA during our 1:1 meetings. In these discussions, I shared my concerns and presented ideas aimed at improving our approach. Subsequently, I suggested preparing a presentation for the entire team, seeking their input and review.
The motivation behind these actions is not solely personal but rather driven by a commitment to enhance the team's processes and, ultimately, contribute to the organization's future success.
When I presented the concept of incorporating acceptance tests into the User Story to the team, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. However, an initial concern arose regarding the optimal timing for this integration. As a team, we collectively decided to leverage the refinement phase, extending it slightly to create these tests. While not the ideal scenario, as the refinement ceremony ideally deals with already crafted user stories for added details and increased efficiency, we recognized that achieving a 1% improvement is better than none.
The key lesson learned from this experience is the importance of being a team player. Success comes not only from individual achievements but also from actively contributing to the improvement of team processes and aligning oneself with shared goals.
When your team embraces a new idea that leads to a noticeable reduction in production issues, enhances the efficiency of issue identification and resolution (such as in a test environment), and allows for proactive impact assessment on other teams resulting from Feature A, the outcome is the recognition and acknowledgment of your efforts. The work you've undertaken begins to gain visibility and has the potential to be acknowledged as its positive effects become evident.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Wishing you delightful QA days ahead!
Stay on for the next Chapter on QA mindset - How to build exploratory testing