At the end of week 1, this place is looking promising. I've accomplished most of the initial assessment that I need to function here. This is the kind of stuff that's fascinating when looking back in the months or dare I say years ahead. I've learned about most of the key individuals and their roles as well as the political landscape, management styles, and tools.
I won't comment on individuals here, but know that it seems the bases are covered to keep the place running, and that some key people will be missed if they leave. I still need to better understand the roles in the producer, marketing, sales and enterprise. Also, I'm still sitting in a cube well away from the Engineering or Ops teams, so I still have to make the effort to see others.
There are a set number of tools that I need to use on a regular basis, but none of them looks overly oppressing or just a pain to use. Thinking back to prior gigs, I can recall Lotus Notes, Reflection, Baan, outsourced Mail (with ridiculously small quotas) or the absence of tools that stand out. Here, I'll need to use one project management site, a wiki for dept tasks and documentation and status, bug tracking, site monitoring tool, and requirements management... actually, there are more that I know I'm missing.
There are some points that you realize what you've learned over the years, and comparing a new place with the prior workplaces exposes that. Glad that I've had the chance to work at both large and small companies and that at least up front it appears this place is the best of both worlds in that it's small and dynamic while having the large company backing.
Oh, and for fun, I joined the fantasy football league. More on that for sure!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Why ForceQA?
I face a few immediate challenges at this new place.
One of which is the fact that I'm the only one here hired to specifically represent SQA. There are a couple people here who have "done QA" in the past, but there's the notion that it was just click testing around the website and not true QA. QA in fact may be over-used or mis-used around here. We may need a new term other than QA to get them away from the notion that QA = testing.
Another is that there are a wide number of products that this company supports. Each application doesn't necessarily have a huge number of features, but there are interdependencies between some of them, and in fact, there are integrated functions that will eventually be re-factored. The ultimate goal will be to make the look and feel consistent across the whole site.
Last, but not least is the fact that there are folks here who don't see a need for SQA. In fact, there's resistance to the idea that QA can be helpful or reduce work since there's more process built into the development cycle. Today, I met an engineer in a sister company who believed that QA wasn't needed to the point that he said it "stifled growth". If this is a common belief, I have my work cut out for me.
As some of you know, my approach to QA is not to work against the development team, but to work with them. Everyone's tenet should be the same - produce high quality software - and to that end, we all have to pull in the same direction.
So, will I need to merely be forceful in adapting my QA methodologies within the company? Or force QA down these people's throats? Indeed, we'll see...
One of which is the fact that I'm the only one here hired to specifically represent SQA. There are a couple people here who have "done QA" in the past, but there's the notion that it was just click testing around the website and not true QA. QA in fact may be over-used or mis-used around here. We may need a new term other than QA to get them away from the notion that QA = testing.
Another is that there are a wide number of products that this company supports. Each application doesn't necessarily have a huge number of features, but there are interdependencies between some of them, and in fact, there are integrated functions that will eventually be re-factored. The ultimate goal will be to make the look and feel consistent across the whole site.
Last, but not least is the fact that there are folks here who don't see a need for SQA. In fact, there's resistance to the idea that QA can be helpful or reduce work since there's more process built into the development cycle. Today, I met an engineer in a sister company who believed that QA wasn't needed to the point that he said it "stifled growth". If this is a common belief, I have my work cut out for me.
As some of you know, my approach to QA is not to work against the development team, but to work with them. Everyone's tenet should be the same - produce high quality software - and to that end, we all have to pull in the same direction.
So, will I need to merely be forceful in adapting my QA methodologies within the company? Or force QA down these people's throats? Indeed, we'll see...
New gig!
I migrated to a new place, after having worked at a startup for the last two years. It's a good transition since the last one was winding down. I wish them all well back there, and there are no hard feelings. It's just that the team was starting to get pretty lean and the company had been diving without much of a chance to pull up. So I leave an outstanding group of folks! Everyone still remaining - and some of those let go earlier - were the best crew I'd worked with through my career. Easy to keep in touch these days, and so I will. Onward...
The new place is an affiliate of a larger company. It still has a startup feel to it, though the company has the leverage and momentum to provide better facilities, benefits, and technology. Ultimately, I needed to look out for myself and the family.
I'll try to keep up with the progress and challenges I face here as I go along. I'll also pull into this experience some of those I have to draw from in my past.
The new place is an affiliate of a larger company. It still has a startup feel to it, though the company has the leverage and momentum to provide better facilities, benefits, and technology. Ultimately, I needed to look out for myself and the family.
I'll try to keep up with the progress and challenges I face here as I go along. I'll also pull into this experience some of those I have to draw from in my past.
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