Don't Be the Quality Gatekeeper: Just Hold Up the Mirror

One of the greatest temptations of test managers and their teams is to be the quality gatekeeper-the ones who raise the gate when testing reveals little and keep it closed when they believe that defects (found and unfound) risk the project. Invariably, this role creates an expectation from stakeholders that if the release fails or a major flaw occurs in production, the test team is at fault. Based on his sometimes-painful experiences, Mfundo Nkosi shares his insights on how testing teams can maintain credibility and increase their influence by holding a mirror up to the project rather than becoming the quality police. Mfundo describes the process of maintaining a risks and issues log, writing an informative test closure report, and clearly communicating status-the good and the bad-in a non-threatening way. By focusing your testing mirror on the positives, negatives, issues, concerns, recommendations, and lessons learned, your test team will provide a critical tool to help business and stakeholders make informed decisions.