Fundamentals of Test Management: Pick your battles (and have some fun while doing it)

Do you know how many I Do’s there are in the ABBA song? Or how many products Ikea has?

People attending our EuroSTARtutorial on Monday October 31st now know this..

Of course not only that, but as we had SO much stuff to share on our topic Test Management – Pick Your Battles, we thought it would be good to incorporate some fun elements as well. And so we did by including quizzes during the day.

We were joined by around 60 professionals who were eager to learn more about how to deal with challenges related to project management and test management or business, or what to think of all those trends that we have to keep up with.

Fundamentals of Test Management

We began with discussing the fundamentals of test management where we paid attention to the key value of knowing the context. We went through building a Test Strategy, what should it contain in order to help you in your adventure as a test manager.

We discussed the key elements that it should address: what are the product risks, what will your approach be to provide information to the stakeholders. Who are those stakeholders? How should you organise yourself and your interactions with the world around you, so what does your governance structure look like. And finally, but not to be handled only at the very end…: how will you organise the acceptance of it all. And all this while considering the context.

Having a firm grip on and understanding of these fundamentals should help you in picking your battles with project managers that for example cut your time short, or limit your budget. It also helps you in dealing with stakeholders that might have conflicting interests. Just to name a few of those challenges.

To experience what was discussed, we came up with some exercises that really got the best out of the participants. Who could have known that wooden stirrers actually can serve as a replacement for screws..? Or that it is possible to build an Ikea table without the instructions?

All fun aside; it was great to have the discussions as a result on intentional provocative statements as well. Lots of sharing of experience and related Do’s & Don’ts was done and that is what it is all about when you come to these events. You want to learn, experience and have some fun as well. And by the active participation of all, this is exactly what was achieved. Tack!