The incompetent relies on repeating previouslyused
procedures. The competent test manager will have a plan for his test team, and will have
published it to everyone who needs to see it well in advance. He will update it as required.
??? Totemism or fixation occurs when some artefact becomes imbued with particular meaning, its
form and use becomes so fixed in a manager??™s mind that its original purpose is forgotten. It
becomes a totem of the manager??™s existence. Thus a document or tool becomes divorced from its
function of conveying information. Examples:
??“ Unusable quality systems: a software subsidiary of one multinational has a quality system
certified to ISO 9000 only for the packaging of its product: the quality management system
says nothing about software.
??“ Unrealistic plans or dates (???that date is cast in concrete!???)
??“ The bottom line: like any good lie, this totem has a grain of truth in it. If some objectionable
course of action does less damage to the bottom line than inaction then a totem has been
created.
??“ Particular machines; the obsessions exhibited by managers and staff for or against Windows,
Linux or MacOS are examples.
??? An inability to estimate is as common a human failing as forgetfulness. It remains a key link in
understanding the start of project failure because if exposed, it is difficult to defend. Thus the
incompetent??™s inability to estimate is only matched by their refusal to do so.
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