A presentation at Austin Automation Professionals Meetup by Areti Panou
EMBRACING CHANGE VOL. II: FROM QUALITY TO PRODUCT ROLE Areti Panou, SAP SE @unremarkableQA
EMBRACING CHANGE VOL. I Slides & recording @unremarkableQA
• You have lots of responsibilities but little authority • If it needs to get done, it’s part of your job • You are in the middle @unremarkableQA
Hello! I AM ARETI PANOU Product Owner for CI/CD internal development tools at SAP SE @unremarkableQA
@unremarkableQA
BACK TO THE BASICS @unremarkableQA
“ … your organization’s software delivery capability can in fact provide a competitive advantage to your business. @unremarkableQA
“ … your organization’s software delivery capability can in fact provide a competitive advantage to your business. Quality Engineer HOW are we building this product and what OUTPUT will it produce. @unremarkableQA
“ The Product Manager deeply understands both the business and the users to identify the right opportunities to produce value. They keep the team focused on the why – WHY are we building this product and what OUTCOME will it produce. @unremarkableQA
Product Manager WHY are we building this product and what OUTCOME will it produce. @unremarkableQA
Product Manager WHY are we building this product and what OUTCOME will it produce. Quality Engineer HOW are we building this product and what OUTPUT will it produce. @unremarkableQA
FROM QUALITY TO PRODUCT ROLE Quality Engineer Product Manager HOW? ??? ??? WHY? ??? ??? @unremarkableQA
FROM QUALITY TO PRODUCT ROLE WHAT I WAS BRINGING WHAT I HAD TO CHANGE HOW? ??? ??? WHY? ??? ??? @unremarkableQA
BALANCED BACKLOG Include testing, maintenance and ensemble activities along with new features
WHAT I HAD TO CHANGE FOR THE “HOW?” Rely on the team to do the testing @unremarkableQA
WHAT I HAD TO CHANGE FOR THE “HOW?” Rely on the team to do the testing Depend on the team to come up with improvements about the delivery process @unremarkableQA
WHAT I HAD TO CHANGE FOR THE “HOW?” Rely on the team to do the testing Depend on the team to come up with improvements about the delivery process Learn to say “no” to colleagues @unremarkableQA
“ Customer needs, pain points and desires are “opportunities” – they represent opportunities to intervene in our customers’ lives in a positive way. @unremarkableQA
FROM TESTER TO QUALITY COACH Slides & recording @unremarkableQA
FROM TESTER TO QUALITY COACH If people are complaining can it be we don’t deliver what they need? Analyze the reasons of the negativity Slides & recording @unremarkableQA
FROM TESTER TO QUALITY COACH Talk to the users to find opportunities Organize user-shadowing Slides & recording @unremarkableQA
FROM TESTER TO QUALITY COACH Collect quantitative data • Come up with ways to know that your users are still happy • Get insights on the things they like the most Slides & recording @unremarkableQA
OBSERVING AND UNDERSTANDING USERS To properly test and improve a product, quality engineers seek customer input and insights @unremarkableQA
TALKING, TALKING, TALKING Putting my own biases away when talking to users I empathised with @unremarkableQA
TALKING, TALKING, TALKING Putting my own biases away when talking to users I empathised with Being confident around users I was not that familiar with what they do @unremarkableQA
TALKING, TALKING, TALKING Putting my own biases away when talking to users I empathised with Being confident around users I was not that familiar with what they do Learning to understand the business’ needs and constraints @unremarkableQA
BRINGING IN THE STORIES @unremarkableQA
FROM QUALITY TO PRODUCT ROLE WHAT I WAS BRINGING WHAT I HAD TO CHANGE HOW? Time allocation to improve quality Trust the team deliver in good quality WHY? Experience in analysing customer input Collecting the stories rather than testing them @unremarkableQA
• You have lots of responsibilities but little authority • If it needs to get done, it’s part of your job • You are in the middle @unremarkableQA
“ Maybe Quality and Product roles have a different focus, but they are not that different after all • You have lots of responsibilities but little authority • If it needs to get done, it’s part of your job • You are in the middle Consistent themes that unite the work of product management across job titles, industries, business models and company sizes. @unremarkableQA
THANK YOU! Any questions? Areti Panou | Product Owner for CI/CD internal development tools at SAP SE @unremarkableQA
BOOKS Some books to get started and better understand Produt Management: ○ Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri ○ Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres ○ Product Management in Practice by Matt LeMay ○ Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim @unremarkableQA
CREDITS & RESOURCES Special thanks to all the people who write contributed with their feedback and share awesome resources for free: ○ Embracing Change: From Tester to Quality Coach by Areti Panou ○ ○ ○ SlidesCarnival as presentation template Icons by Microsoft Photographs by ○ Spiral Arm of Milky Way by Lubo Minar ○ Lego Blocks on White Plastic Container by Scott McNiel ○ Five black rocks photo by Colton Sturgeon ○ Woman using gray building binoculars by Frederick Marschall ○ Fisherman throwing fishnet on water by Leung Kwok Tung Ktleung @unremarkableQA
Have a look what skills testers, quality engineers and quality coaches can bring to the product side of things as well as what are the challenges that one might face.
This presentation was given on October 19 and October 29, 2022 at the Austin Automation and at the Ministry of Testing meetups respectively.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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