SQS Test Manager Forum

SQS hosted a Test Manager Forum at Croke Park on May 20th.

The event hosted a number of talks along with a demo of Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010. The Test Manger element with its seamless integration with sharepoint is very impressive and I'm itching to get my hands on the software to try it out myself.

Fortunately, luck smiled on me and I won a book on the tool. So watch this space for follow ups.

The day was great, the talks gave a foundation for additional discussion during the numerous coffee breaks which was ideal. All too often, a conference is so crammed full of presentations, that the attendees don't have the opportunity to chat and discuss.

Hopefully, the forum will run again next year! It was great to chat with fellow test managers and listen to their thoughts and opinions.

Transition to a Test Management Role

So, this week, I place my individual contributor hat aside and I join the ranks of management.

It's actually quite overwhelming because my first instinctive reaction is to open the software and start testing! But that's the hero tester coming to save the day reaction which just frankly isn't appropriate.

I need to look at my team and ensure that we don't need hero testers!

I have a great team and my role is to facilitate them doing their jobs - to ensure that they have what they need to get the job done.

What does that mean? I'm not too sure but I have copious amounts of reading to get through over the holidays. Watch this space...