???
Praises staff justly
: this non-trivial ability is highly related to having chosen good staff in the first
place, but even then, the difference well-timed praise can exert is considerable, lasting, and can
be measured by staff preparedness to work late and weekends. Praise is a currency which can be
devalued, particularly by being fulsome. A grimace and an earnest
???nice???
is often all that??™s needed.
??? Is
ruthless
: bad staff must be sacked; it is a gross discourtesy to other staff (however popular the
errant person may be) to retain them when they are evidently failing. Bad management also needs
to be identified and their effects prepared for.
??? Is
instinctive
: irrespective of the reassurances of team leaders or senior management when he
feels something is wrong he finds out what it is ??” it may be himself. There is always someone
who prefers emollient phrases to objectivity, and it??™s not the test manager.
??? Is
concerned for process
and support: a good test manager will have several back-of-the-envelope
process models, and have looked at:
??“ The tools needed to support the various processes
??“ The outputs of those processes
??? Is
objective
: he will have a limited (and possibly varying) set of objectives which he will attempt
to prove he has met with a judicious use of metrics. Everything he does can be related to one or
more of those objectives.
???
Motivates
: he will keep testers motivated partly by assessing the risk posed by particularly-critical
bugs, and ensuring that the developers, management and testers understand this risk, partly by
encouragement, recognition of achievement and feedback, and partly by being a reference point.
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