F10 – 604: The Secret Skill: How to Sell Testing

Track: Test Leadership

A software tester must have and use many skills to be effective in their work. The one that is most under utilized, or not used at all, is the skill of “selling”. This is a communication skill that has profound impact on a tester’s ability to do their job and get support for it. It also has impact on the project and company as a whole. Ineffective communication on a project is one of the main failing points identified time and time again. By learning to “talk in the same language” as your target audience a tester will be better able to convey important information and get buy-in to what the testing group is doing and why. The presentation will discuss the following topics; recognizing who your audience is, what are the things that catch their attention, how to speak in “their” language, different techniques (hard vs. soft selling) to get your message across, how to and what to listen for from your audience, when is the best time to be a salesman versus a tester, and the affects this skill can have on the tester and company as a whole. Attendees will come away with information and a new “skill” to increase their value to the project and company, and for themselves too.

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Session Speaker:

Jim HazenJim Hazen – Consultant, Connected Testing
Jim Hazen is a veteran of the software testing trenches. He has over twenty years of experience testing applications on the PC and Web platforms. Mr. Hazen has been involved with the start-up of testing groups at multiple companies and has done consulting work for the last 10 years. He has helped clients implement tools for functional automation, performance testing and test management. And worked with clientele management to achieve efficiency gains and the financial benefits associated to testing. Mr. Hazen has been a speaker at STARWest and other QA & Test conferences.