A Test Manager  / QA Manager should possess the skill of motivating his / her team. They should be able to motivate the testing team to perform at their best and successfully deliver challenging projects during tight schedules.

A tester can be motivated in many ways, some of them are:

• Praise for completed tasks
• Management approval
• Respect from peers and team members
• More responsibilities and independence
• Appropriate rewards like salary, recognition and more responsibilities, for accomplishments

Motivating the testing team as a Test / QA Manager

Many aspects of the project may make it difficult to implement these motivational measures.

Take an example of a project with impractical deadline. Assuming the tester works very hard, putting in extra effort and time but the product is delivered before all tests are complete, eventually resulting in a product with poor quality.

If the tester’s efforts are not recognized and measured irrespective of success of final product, it can be a huge demotivator.

• Suitable test metrics must be tracked to show that testers did an excellent job of testing, identifying defects, mitigating risks and correctly documenting test results.
• If this information is not collected and then published, the team may become demotivated due to not receiving due recognition.
• Recognition must not be only in the form of non-tangibles like management approval and peer respect.
• In tangible forms like promotions, more responsibilities and greater merit.
• Many opportunities could disappear in case of lack of respect for test groups among its peers.

Appreciation and respect for good testers can be gained if it is obvious they contribute to project or business value. This can be best accomplished by making testers a continuous part of that project since the beginning.

Due to their positive contribution the testers are bound to gain the respect of other stakeholders. The testers contribution must also be measured for reduction in cost of quality and product risks.

A Test Manager must motivate the individual team members and also promote them at the organizational level. Besides praising, the manager is responsible for giving honest feedback in case of mistakes, at the right time.

A just and reliable Test Manager should always lead by example.

The next topics explores how to communicate effectively as a Test Manager.

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