K. J. Ross & Associates

6 / 530 Little Collins Street Melbourne

VIC 3000 Australia

M: +61 416 117 931

T: +61 7 5553 5601

E: taflinem@kjross.com.au

The Carrot or the Whip –

What Motivates Testers?

Dr. Tafline MurnaneK. J. Ross & Associates, Australia

EuroSTAR 2010

About me• Senior consultant at K. J. Ross &

Associates in Melbourne, Australia (specialist testing consultancy)

• Previously worked as developer(before moving to the dark side…)

• Test management, test process improvement, training, mentoring

• Completed PhD in software testing (yah that’s right, a whole PhD on testing…)

• Co-editor of ISO/IEC 29119 Software Testing

• Passionate about testing…

Carrots?

…or whips?

Overview

• What motivates testers?

• Motivation models

• Motivating approaches

• De-motivating approaches

• Motivation programmes

• Summary

What Motivates Testers?

Positive attributes

Analytical

Curious

Perfectionists

Planned, systematic

and meticulous

Persistent

Crusaders

Practical

Moralists

Negative attributes

Little empathy for

developers

Perfectionists

Undiplomatic

Skeptical

Stubborn

Too focused

Glamour seekers

• Testing can be destructive process, intent on finding faults

• Mindset quite different to developers

– Break it rather than build it! (crash-test dummies?)

Motivation Depends on Individual Goals

• Goals provide motivation, increasing productivity

• Each tester has different goals & ways of

satisfying them

• Identify goals that match team & company goals

– Achievable

– Make testers stretch

– Career planning

– Roadmaps

Motivation Models

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

• Hackman & Oldham's Motivating Potential

Score

Focuses on

needs,

motivation &

human

psychology

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self-

actualisation

personal growth,

fulfilment

Self-esteem

achieved status, responsibility,

reputation

Belongingness & Love Needs

family, affection, relationships, work group, etc

Safety Needs

protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc

Biological & Physiological Needs

basic survival – air, food, water, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc

Investigation Approach

• Surveyed 33 testers (Australia, New Zealand,

Europe, India, South Africa & UK)

1. What things are motivating for testers?

2. What do you do to motivate your testers?

(Test Leads and Test Managers)

3. What things are de-motivating for testers?

• Compiled qualitative & quantitative data

• Mapped to Maslow’s hierarchy

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1 - Biological 2 - Safety 3 - Love &

Relationship

4 - Self Esteem 5 - Self

Actualisation

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

% o

f P

eo

ple

Recognition of Needs

Self-esteem & self-

actualisation

responses were

most popular!

Biological & Physiological Needs– basic survival

What is it?

• Competitive salary

• Food, water (beer?)

• Comfortable environment

• Flexible & sensible hours

How to achieve it?

• Provide the above!

How common was it?

• Everybody needs it, but was rarer– 39% mentioned biological needs

– 15% mentioned money

Safety Needs

What is it?

• Job security, stability

• Protection

• Predictable behaviour

• Safe to make mistakes

• Secure environment

How to achieve it?

• Protect your team!

How common was it?

• Least common (30%)

Belongingness & Love Needs

What is it?

• Friendship & teamwork

• Welcoming atmosphere

• With it, easier to communicate

How to achieve it?

• Lead by example

• Law of reciprocity– Ask nicely

– Give approval

– Team building

How common was it?

• More common (45%)

Self-esteem

What is it?

• Self respect

• Acceptance

• Respect

How to achieve it?

• Enable strengths to be recognised & respected– Reward & appreciate

– Responsibility

– Contribution

– Review & take interest

– Good relationship with developers

How common was it?

• Most common! (73%)

Self-actualisation

What is it?

• Desire to become everything a tester is capable of

How to achieve it?

• Support testers in being best they can be! – Achievable goals

– Accountability, deadlines

– Challenging, varied work

– Problem solving, creativity

– New skills

– Career progression

– Training, conferences, mentoring

– Build teams testers want to be a part of

How common was it?

• Second most popular (58%)

Key Motivators and De-motivators

Career Progression – Roadmaps

(motivator)

• Performance appraisal process

– Where are you now?

• Capabilities, contributions

• Training, conferences, events

• Awards

– Where do you want to be?

• 1, 3, 5 years…

– What projects, roles & training

do you need to achieve this?

Rewards for Finding Defects

(motivator or de-motivator?)

• Avoid rewarding defect counts only, e.g.

– Easy low severity defects rather than complex critical defects

– Raise defects that aren’t really defects

• Better to reward value, e.g.

– High severity defects

– Number proven defects before go-live

– Verification of system completeness

Task Boards (motivator)

• Create task board for test team

– Visible project tasks & individual tasks

– Visible progress

– Visible rewards

• Realistic budget & schedule

• Board needs ownership

Not Enough Time (de-motivator)

• Unrealistic budgets

or timelines

• Code overrun

• Rush to utilise

technology without

training or budget

• Heroics required

Peer Review (motivator or de-motivator?)

• Feedback

– Constructive

– Feedback sandwich

• Peer review

– Test artifacts

– Defect reports

– Developer artifacts?

• Use good examples as

basis for improvement

Communication (motivator)

• Keep testers in the loop

– Regular meetings

– Walk floor daily

– Team lunches

– One-on-one’s

• Know where they fit

• Feedback

• Appreciation

• Include in decision making

Good Relationship with Developers (motivator)

Bad Relationship with Developers or

Business (de-motivator)

• Causes of conflict:

– Second class citizens

• “Developers are treated as being

more important than testers”

– Physical separation

– Not enough time or resources

– Schedule slippage

– Product too unstable to test

– Reported bugs not fixed

Passion for Testing

(motivator)

• People who like testing are

naturally motivated!

• Those assigned to testing for

wrong reasons will likely be

unmotivated, e.g.

– Lack of other jobs

– Retrenchment

Be an Inspirational Leader! (motivator)

• Lead by example!

• Mentor, trust & reward

• Pick right person for task

• Focus on what can be done, not what can’t

• If anyone fails, we all fail!

– Don’t point fingers

– Protect team

• Seek organisational support

Motivational Programmes – Goals!

1. Assess motivation (individuals, team)

2. Ask & identify goals

3. Map individual goals to team & company goals

4. Develop roadmap

5. Carry out improvements

6. Assess progress

7. Repeat!

Summary

• Every tester has different goals

– provides motivation,

– increasing productivity,

– leading to better quality software!

• Guide testers in defining goals & roadmaps

• Be a motivational & inspiring leader!

Thank you!

I hope this presentation has motivated you

Dr. Tafline MurnaneK. J. Ross & Associates

Melbourne, Australia

taflinem@kjross.com.au

M: +61 416 117 931

Visit http://softwaretestingstandard.org for information on

the new ISO/IEC 29119 Software Testing standard

Acknowledgements

• Big thanks to testers who participated in the

survey, which included testers from:

– Coles Group (Australia)

– City West Water (Australia)

– Delta Axiom (Denmark)

– Department of Human Services (Australia)

– K. J. Ross & Associates (Australia)

– Software Quality Systems (India, UK, South Africa)

– Soft Ed (New Zealand)

References – Textbooks & Websites

• A. H. Maslow. A Theory of Human Motivation.

Psychological Review, 50:370-396, 1943

• Anne Mette Jonassen Hass, Guide to Advanced

Software Testing, 2008

• Craig & Jaskiel, Systematic Software Testing, 2002

• Dinesh Maidasani, Software Testing, 2007

• Sarah Rees, The Art of Test Team Management and

Motivation, STANZ 2007

• http://www.basdebaar.com/motivate-your-team-members-248.html

• http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=30

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