Team building
- Drive project issues, even it means picking up another department's normal duties
- Share project related information with other departments
- Invite them to your test planning meetings
- Volunteer to help when they are behind schedule
Admit when you are wrong
Establishing credibility with senior management
If you are under new management, make sure to introduce yourself to all other department heads.
Offer up how proactive you like your organisation to be
Offer to send a link to your weekly report or monthly project review presentation
Always be prepared to share a quick status that will provide them with confidence
Be prepared for tough questions and bring along supporting data to back your report, it will also improve your confidence going into the meeting
Focus on the big picture, avoid personal issues, playing the blame game, trying to solve problems in the meeting, keep interactions brief
Show respect, always arrive early to meetings, listen actively, and follow-up.
Risk management and reporting
Prepare and maintain a list of project risks and a mitigation plan
Escalations are intended to raise awareness on a company problem and not be used to blame others
Any risk that later becomes an issue will need to be reported as early as possible.
Make sure you notify the department responsible for the issue and offer to help resolve it
Provide trend data, incoming defect rate, defect resolution rate, test summary data
When raising an issue, focus on the business impact
Publish results frequently and preferably online
Rallying the test organisation
Be involved wit actual beta trials
Volunteer to demo the product in your lab to potential customers
Sell your team in senior management meetings, use their names, introduce them to the executives
Share a compliment received from senior-management with your team
Through test-driven project management gain visibility, credibility, popularity, feedback, participation, and confidence throughout the organisation
