EuroSTAR Conference

Europe's Best Software Testing Conference

Track Talk F6

The New Test Manager’s Survival Guide

Kevin Harris

10:00-10:45 CEST Friday 16th June

What does it take to make the transition from Senior Tester, Test Lead or Tester, into a fully-fledged Test Manager Role? In this talk we’ll go through the things that you know you need to know; the things that you don’t know you need to know; and all the things that you think you need to know, but don’t!

It’s a role that is full of contradictions – you need to know everything about testing, but never do any testing. You need to be good at helping your staff avoid mistakes, but be able to step back and let them make those very same mistakes. You will do things that one group of your stake holders love, but another group hates.

You have to be able to learn from the past, be ever present with what’s going on now, while concentrating on how you will improve in the future.

And as a new manager you’ll now have to deal with all the people that you’ve been protected from in the past. The VP of Engineering who expects you to know the test status of every single bug and story. The product manager who wants everything done yesterday. Your best tester who now wants to leave. Budget, recruiting, tooling, training and staff development – it’s now all your responsibility. How can you stay strong and ensure you’re doing everything possible for your staff and your customers, when having to juggle so many new responsibilities? In this talk we’ll talk through some real live examples and look at some handy hints and tips to make sure that when people turn round to check what you’re doing – you’re waving (and not drowning!).

What you will learn

  1. The most important part of the Test Manager role is the people side. People first, process second, product third
  2. You can get to choose what kind of Test Manager you want to be
  3. The Test Manager role is completely different from a senior tester or test lead role, and you should consider that before deciding that it's the role you want to pursue

Session Details

  • Intermediate
  • 45 Minutes
  • Includes 15mins Q&A
  • Leadership & Management
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Session Speaker

Kevin Harris - EuroSTAR 2023 Speaker

Kevin Harris

QA Manager – SixWorks, UK

Kevin is a Test Manager with more than 20 years test experience (he started when he was 12!!!), with the last 15 years of that working in an Agile environment in a variety of successful, and not so successful (!) companies. Kevin has been talking at Test Conferences since 2015, where he gave his very first talk at EuroSTAR in Maastricht. Since then Kevin has spoken on a variety of topics, mostly related to Testing in an Agile environment, and has recently given keynotes in Europe and South America. Kevin spends most of his spare time running, writing, reading, watching films, avoiding tomatoes, and trying to not kill the goldfish he just got for his garden pond.

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