QA Managers are responsible for providing frequent and consistent communication for each member of their team. Celebrating the teamwork, treating team members with respect, and providing them with specific and actionable feedback are critical when trying to facilitate a productive environment. A productive environment can enhance the overall morale of a team and contributes to a healthy culture.
It’s very important that QA Managers make communication a top priority. Ensuring their team receives clear goals, consistent & constructive feedback, and cross-training teams are all very important communication strategies for the managers to keep in mind. It’s also important that QA managers build empathy across teams. A great way of doing this is by paring testers with developers so they understand each other’s roles and responsibility.
Communication Tips and Best Practices
It’s important that QA Managers communicate with internal and external stakeholders so they develop a strong working relationship with all. The primary communication channels for a QA manager include video conferencing, one on one meetings, email, and a preferred communication tool, like Slack or RingCentral. Timing is key with communication. It’s important to coordinate with remote team members to make sure they are all available to meet, and to be on time to each meeting.
The unfortunate Covid-19 scenario has made managing remote employees a more important skill than ever before. Not only are managers responsible for maintaining productivity during these trying times, but they are also responsible for keeping up the morale of the team.
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Best Practices When Communicating via Meetings
- Do not call on the fly meetings
- Provide a meeting agenda to the members so that they come prepared in advance
- If an important discussion needs to happen then ensure not to schedule it at the end of the day
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Best Practices When Communicating via Email
- Include a descriptive subject line
- If you expect or need an immediate response make sure to inform the recipient over IM as well
- Make sure to proofread and always make sure that spelling and grammar are correct
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Best Practices When Communicating via Project Tools Such as IM
- If you expect an immediate turnaround time for your request, IM is the best medium to reach out to your team member
- Email and IM channels go in tandem when it comes to requiring an immediate response to an official requirement
- Make sure that notifications are turned on so you are aware of new messages
A QA Manager plays a strong role in motivating the team, and should embrace the following tactics when trying to increase a QA team’s motivation and productivity.
- Mentor and analyze the team’s test metrics on a regular basis
- Publish the test metrics in executive summary reports and present it to stakeholders
- Continuously work to create new opportunities for team members to upgrade their skills
- Highlight and applaud team members accomplishments
- Organize team activities to engage the members and to let them empathize with each other
QA and Account Management
It’s important that a QA manager, onshore or offshore, collaborates regularly with the account management team to maintain a communication bridge between the client and QA team. It’s also important for QA Managers to provide the client with accurate and up to date project updates. These updates can take place weekly, monthly or quarterly and should be set up based on the client’s needs. During these reviews the QA Manager should provide a high-level executive summary to clients and keep them informed about any bugs, how time is being distributed, and an automation velocity and QA regression summary.
- Communication
- Timelines followed
- Team deliverables
- Quality of delivery
Need some guidance on QA Management? You can choose to partner with a QA services provider like QASource. Our 800 experienced engineers are skilled in all approaches of QA testing and are well-versed in executed automated testing across functional and non-functional test cases. Get in touch with a QASource expert today.
