How to Build a Successful QA Team with Natalie Cole | Why Didn't You Test That? #25

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Welcome to episode 25 of the Why Didn’t You Test That? Podcast. In this episode, Rich Jordan and Ben Riley are joined by special guest Natalie Cole, a Software QE Manager and Quality Advocate. Together, they discuss the people, processes, and technology involved in building a successful QA team!
Natalie Cole, starts the discussion by sharing her experience managing a team of 10 QAs and software engineers. She highlights the importance of people, process, and technology in building a successful team.
Natalie emphasizes the need for the right people with the right skills and work ethics, implementing best practices and processes, and utilizing the right technologies. She also discusses the challenges of shifting towards a test pyramid approach and the importance of involving QA in all phases of the software development life cycle.
Natalie advocates for QA and emphasizes the financial and brand benefits of quality testing. The most important aspect for Natalie is catching the majority of defects in QA before critical defects reach production. She emphasizes the importance of conducting root cause analysis and post-mortems to understand and prevent defects. Rich Jordan adds that psychological safety is crucial in using metrics effectively and avoiding blame.
The conversation also covers Natalie’s approach to hiring, focusing on work ethic and asking detailed questions about past projects. Natalie also mentions the importance of self-education and staying up-to-date with industry trends.
The team also touches on the benefits of practising Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) and the importance of communication and collaboration in eliminating defects early. Natalie advises QE managers to believe in themselves, understand their leadership style, and continuously improve their processes.
Listen to the full episode to learn more!
The Curiosity Software Podcast, hosted by Rich Jordan, Huw Price and the Curiosity team! Together with guests, they share their insight and expertise in driving software design and development in test. Learn how you can improve your journey to quality software delivery, by considering how much do you really understand about your systems, and when things inevitably go wrong, why didn’t you test that?
Time Stamps:
01:50 Building the Right Team and Implementing Best Practices
07:24 Implementing the Test Pyramid and Catching Defects Early
11:08 The Challenges of Implementing the Test Pyramid
13:00 Shifting QA Left and Advocating for QA
18:05 Changing Internal Views of Quality
23:28 Measuring QA Effectiveness with Metrics
25:00 Preventing Critical Defects in QA
27:50 Assessing Work Ethic in Hiring
30:55 Understanding how users use your Software
32.48 Keeping up with QA Technology Developments
35:00 Involving QA Early in the Software Development Lifecycle
39:00 Practising BDD & the 3 Amigos
43:22 Continuous Improvement and Innovation in QA