So, I haven't been blogging this week, but I wanted to share what I'm working on. As a test lead, I have quite a few tasks in process that I need to complete by the end of August. I have a difficult task as my team does more human testing that requires interaction with the real software than most teams, which is not very popular at any company at this point in time with software management teams who wish that everything would be static, test case based, and automated. We do very broad testing across MANY applications (well 16 applications is the most so far). I've taken some of the inspiring things that I've learned at recent conferences and by reading some blogs about some of the new directions in testing techniques and have tried to align my goals to them. I have sanitized the portions that are company specific so I could show you and also get some feedback if you can see some ways I could improve my goals to match my real overall mission.

Mission Get R Done=My overall mission is to meet any criteria needed to satisfy management which may not be useful for our team once the product is ready to test as soon as possible so that I can focus all of my time in actually testing with a user perspective as efficiently as possible.

Mission No Sucky Automation Drain=Make sure that maintaining and writing automation doesn't conflict with or take time away from the actual testing during the project.

Mission Not a Programmer Don't Wanna Be Thanks=My third goal is to not waste time learning skills that I'll never apply in my job or that I don't have talent for and interest in. I have extreme passion for learning, so why let that go to waste?

1: People Management-Lead Media Validation for (product) to deliver quality media testing in the scheduled time for all (# of) languages. This includes communicating status and escalating issues when needed.
Success will be measured by: Completing Media Validation as agreed upon in test plan on time.

This is a slam dunk and now finished. We finished early, so a big check mark for this one. I learned while doing this project that I can actually handle getting 1000+ emails per day and not cry or hurt anyone, even after working 3 weekends in a row and having little sleep.

2: Individual and People Management- (New Test Case Management Tool)-Enter at least one (list of charters for session based testing) into (Test Case Tool). Lead discussions about levels of granularity and work with the team to pick a consistent way to enter (high level exploratory testing task and collaborative testing sessions) into (Test Case Tool). Explore the possibility of moving other documentation, such as the main (testing charters) for new features into (Test Case Tool). Explore using session based test management practices in (Test Case Tool) for clearer test coverage documentation as well as for reporting automation results.
Success will be measured by: Standards for use of (Test Case Tool) are agreed upon within the team (based on ability to use features in the tool as they are delivered). All team members can use (Test Case Tool).

Whoa, I took a first look at (tool still barely alpha) and I'm very worried. My goals are realistic, but I think my job may be to educate the team creating the tool on what we do in testing that is more high level and dynamic (not test case driven or automation driven). We may have an obligation here to communicate up that the future of testing is not just automation and scripted test cases.

3: Individual-Create Personal Learning Syllabus including milestones for tracking each quarter for development of technical skills and leadership skills through 2008. Areas of study to include (6 month long leadership training that I applied for and was chosen of 1 of 5 people who get to go company wide) training (starts in January), conference attendance, Book learning, Tutorial learning, and hands-on scripting practice. This is an annual goal, but syllabus and being on track is the quarterly goal portion. Learning plan to be agreed upon by (my Direct Manager) and prioritized by the team needs and by what is most applicable to the team.
Success will be measured by: Delivery of personal learning plan, attendance/completion of lessons and projects agreed to and skills learned.

I love me some James Bach. Seriously. Take his self education tutorial. It was beyond inspiring for me. This goal before his seminar was a boring list that made me want to cry of courses other people felt I should take, most of them at way to low of a level to be useful.

4: Individual-Create a detailed and informed Automation Test Plan and lead team members in executing the plan. Plan is to be based on goals laid out in the overall Test Plan for (Project-This Version). Test plan involves collaboration with other teams to avoid duplication, and planning for tracking effectiveness and coverage of automated tests as well as completion of implementation. Plan will also outline dependencies on tools in development, such as (Java Based Automation Tool) and (Test Case Tool).
Success will be measured by: Delivery of Automation Test Plan that aligns with overall (Team) Test Plans and (Business Org and Company) initiatives.

This shall be done, for sure. I am researching all of the points of how to make a better automation plan. This is time #3 for me, so hopefully it is a charm. The automation that resulted from the last 2 plans I created was not as ideal as I'd hoped, so new ideas are always really appreciated.

5: People Management-Mentor and interact with team members to keep focus and achieve clearly defined goals while (New Product Version) is not yet ready to test. Help identify list of features for (New Product Version) with team members. Help define and collaborate with team and (My Direct Manager) to establish documentation for (New Product Version).
Success will be measured by: Meeting non-testing deadlines on time, as a team, such as dates for documentation and automation. Progress is being made on personal learning goals across the team.

I'm not sure what the best way to do this is. Have you ever had a lead who was really effective in this area? What did they do that worked well? Any horror stories? I don't want to be known as the lurking stalker of my company or be seen as micro-managing anyone. This is one area where I'm quite new. I used to be a very technical lead and most of my interaction with those on my team was in an educational/research role. Now I'm moving further into a role where I collaborate and lead conceptual discussions and mentor people. It's a different set of skills I'm finding.