In this article, we will understand your expectations from the QA Team Lead. Let’s get started.
When a topic, especially a process-based one (For example: Creating a traceability matrix or test documentation review, etc) is discussed, the immediate question I get is: “Who does this? The QA lead or the team member”
This is proof that beginners often have a difficult time understanding the scope of work, roles and responsibilities. They only have a vague idea and are looking for ways to validate if their understanding is accurate or not.
Also, if you are thinking this is only an issue for newcomers, you are wrong. A number of managers/leads/coordinators also find the role definition/delegation of work to be an issue due to lack of clarity in this area. What to do themselves and what to delegate is often a dilemma for the QA leads.
Table of Contents:
What Should Be Your Expectations From QA Team Lead?
Just like some of you might think, I was wondering too that, “What if they don’t know, to begin with?” Won’t they figure it out as they go?” Yes, they do. But lots of time, efficiency and quality gets compromised in the process.
To avoid all that, we have outlined the major tasks that are part of STLC and the respective responsibilities in the form of the table given below:
Team Lead’s Responsibilities for Different QA Activities
| STLC activity | QA Team lead Tasks | Team member tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Project Kickoff- Start | Create and present the project highlights to the QA team and other stakeholders | To assist and let the team lead know of any improvements or inconsistencies |
| Test Planning | Create, Maintain, manage and enforce Test plan Risk analysis and management | To provide inputs on areas of the test plan document, such as: Scope Assumptions Risks Milestones and any other area that the team member has an input on. |
| Requirement gathering | Divide work based on modules of the application and choose team members as point of contacts for each module Decide on a time when this is to take place Let the team be aware of what is expected as an outcome (e.g.: list of requirements in a condensed point by point manner, understanding document, etc.) | Be in charge for your individual module Gather requirements through BRD/FRD review or walkthrough meetings Present/document them in the format expected, within the time allocated for this activity Provide suggestions or alternate point of view in case of incompatible formats or unachievable time lines |
| Test scenario creation | Work allocation Query resolution Template finalizing Setting deadlines Participating and contributing to test scenario creation | Create Test scenarios for the module allocated to you, with in the set timeline and in the format already agreed upon. Seek resolution either from the team lead or from the respective technical teams in case of questions |
| Test case documentation | Work allocation Query resolution Template finalizing Write test cases | Create test cases and data, when applicable |
| Traceability Matrix creation | Create template and share the guidelines on how to create a TM Work with the team and contribute to it | Contribute to the creation of the TM for the modules that you are individually responsible for |
| Test documentation review- internal | Set rules on what basis the review is to happen Set time lines and responsibilities be one of the peers and involve in the review process | Perform review based on the rules set and provide non-personal comments on your peer’s work |
| Test documentation review- external | Notify the BA and/or dev team that the test documentation(test cases) is ready for review and send the work product | On Standby to incorporate any changes suggested during the review process |
| Test readiness review | Create the review checklist Perform the review and present results to the Project manager Basic Sanity and smoke test and determine- are we ready we test? Give a go ahead to the QA team for testing | Wait for instructions on readiness Perform basic smoke and sanity test for the modules that you are individually responsible for |
| Test execution | Set test execution guidelines after seeking the team’s inputs Work on test execution Help new testers with catching on with the current application Report defects Review the defects reported by the team members to make sure that they are valid, not duplicates and complete in the description Escalate any showstoppers and make decisions on how to proceed in such situations | Execute test cases, set appropriate test case statuses and report progress Notify immediately of showstoppers or issues impacting testing timelines Report defects comprehensively |
| Reporting | Send daily status reports to all stake holders Represent the QA team in any status meetings Collect metrics based on overall testing statistics | Assist the team lead in all the tasks being performed |
| Test closure | Evaluate the exit criteria for when to stop testing Share the results of the exit criteria evaluation If the exit criteria is all satisfied, make the test closure report and send it to the stake holders providing the official QA sign off, include a list of known issues Collect details about the overall project- its successes, areas of improvement, lessons learnt, best practices implemented, etc and present them in the project retrospection meeting or document. | Assist the team lead in the test closure tasks |
| UAT | Gather the acceptance criteria from the UAT users to understand the parameters for their evaluation Share the acceptance criteria with the team and work with them on collecting or creating UAT test cases If necessary, train the UAT users on the application If necessary, be on standby for any assistance during UAT If necessary, perform some tasks during UAT and present the results to the client or UAT users for their go/no-go decision | Create/gather UAT test cases Perform or assist in UAT – when need be |
For all the processes mentioned in the above table, follow the links given below for more information:
- Test plan creation
- Requirement gathering and Test scenario writing
- Test case writing
- Test documentation review
- Traceability matrix creation
- Test readiness review and Exit criteria checklist
- Status reporting
- UAT
Here are a few tips for QA team members
1) Do NOT create your Test cases, defect reports, etc. with the expectation that if there are any problems with it, the team lead will find and fix them for you. Each individual is responsible for their work product and its quality. A team lead’s review is customary as an additional checkpoint and most often at a high level in nature.
2) Expect little to no hand-holding on a daily basis. No team lead should tell us what to do, every single day.
3) Communicate ahead in case of any concerns, red-flags or issues.
4) Unless your process restricts you from doing so, if you have any questions regarding the functionality or technicalities, please get in touch with the developers/BAs/other technical teams by yourself, without relying on your team lead to relay the information to you.
Tips for QA team leads
1) Consider the team’s opinion on timelines, schedules, effort estimations and planning
2) Establish strong processes so the team can work independently with minimum or no supervision
3) Keep the communication channels open and approachable
4) Be a team player and share responsibilities
Conclusion
That was a quick wrap up on team lead and team member tasks and duties in a typical QA team.
Also read => How to build a successful QA team? Leadership in Testing Part 1 and Part 2 here.
About the author: This article was written by STH team member Swati S.
Please don’t forget to share your experiences, feedback and questions in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.
Hey, that was a great read. Although have a question.
I’m currently a QA team lead (on business side) and we are working in 10 scrum teams since few months. I’m kinda struggling with “keeping an eye” on everything in these teams, as it’s quite overwhelming to know what’s going on 24/7 in each team. I’m already doing weekly meetings with all testers and are constantly in touch via our chat, but still I feel like I’m missing some important stuff going on in these teams. Also, we’ve agreed that each tester will be sending short reports for the end of the day (with info about what they’ve reported, if there were difficulties with environments and which tasks they were able to close).
Do you have any tips for such situation?
Best regards
Hey,
When you have 10 scrum teams its impossible to keep an eye on everything.
Assign some internal roles that testers can perform internal in their teams. So instead of going to each tester, you can contact 10 people from each team and get the update.
Don’t go in micro-control mode, that’s the best advice I can give. Make sure you have a clear DOR and DOD.. and make sure every scrum-team is “shift-left” minded when it’s about quality.
Also make sure every team have there own testdata-set and most of the time it’s handy to have a seperate testenvironment.
Testautomation should be part of the DOD for each PBI.. and should be in place.
Thanks , very informative to any QA .
Thanks for the efforts
Very nice post indeed.
I believe the matrix needs to be created by System Engineering staff. This group should be working with design engineers prior to even the start of coding.
The test manager will access this item ans assign staf to start drafting testing documents after its completion.
@Dayle: Well, the process differs from team to team. This is from an internal QA team stand point…great input though..Thanks for your readership!
@dinesh: Since automation is much more technical, it is usually sort of a work shop scenario and the team lead, team member difference is not as prominent.
This is an attempt from a process perspective.
Thanks for stopping by…
The article doesn’t seem to take in to account for the Agile workflow these days…
Article is perfect for waterfall 🙂
Thank you. Very clear roles.
Good article, outlines the workflow very well.
@All: Thank you!
It seems there are no sections on Automation testing – designing test scripts and frameworks or selection of automation tools that has to be decided by QA lead.
Rest of the article is very informative and very helpful for budding QA lead.
Hi Team,
In past years you published different articles on different topics and all were helpful.Thanks for your help and support to all QA members.
I saw your one of the article on ETL/Datawarehouse process. Can you please publish a series of tutorial on ETL/Datawarehouse testing process.
Thank you for such a good and useful article
Good article, I would like you to write one where you differentiate between QA lead and Manager roles also.
There should be a section in above article where it should be mentioned what all should not be done by QA lead