NOTE: Please review the last of this post if you are interested in an upcoming e-book.
During the last 4 months, I conducted a research project for an area I felt would be a great conference presentation on test managers. My goal was to do the following:
- Interview experts and practitioners in the field on three discussion questions
- Create a 50 question survey
- Initiate discussions on my blog regarding test managers and test management
- Initiate discussions on multiple LinkedIn sites for test managers and test management
Through the four months, I was able to gather input, quotes, and feedback from over 10 experts and practitioners in the field. I received an enormous outpouring of support and notes through the blog sites and LinkedIn groups. I was amazed at the amount of valuable data that was provided throughout the course of this research.
The most awesome part of the research project and data gathering was that my survey resulted in 275 survey takers, and the most revealing part of this was the three discussion questions at the end of my survey which were:
- Why did you want to be a Test Manager? (173 out of 275 gave detailed responses)
- What 3 to 5 things would you do differently if you had the authority to choose how your day would look? (148 out of 275 gave detailed responses)
- Which topics within your organization do you feel there is a lack of alignment or agreement? (136 out of 275 gave detailed responses)
I was able to condense the overflowing data into a 75 min presentation, which I shared at the Software Test Professionals Conference (STPCon) on April 23, 2013. You can see the presentation on YouTube (see below)
My next step is to compile all of the interviews, responses, survey notes, and other valuable data into a detailed e-book on the subject, and once published, I will share with everyone for a very affordable price. If you are interested in this e-book and would like to be notified when it is ready you can do one of the following:
- Add your email to the blog (over on the right) to be notified when I add new blog updates/posts (least favorable, probably)
- Post a comment on this post with your email I can use to notify you of updates to the e-book
- Email me at mikewlyles@gmail.com and let me know you’d like to be notified when the e-book is ready
I want to thank everyone who contributed to the survey, to the experts that gave their time and quotable material, to all those who posted on my blog, to those who joined in on conversations in LinkedIn, and also to Software Test Professionals for giving me the opportunity to share the information with a very large attending group at the conference! Without you guys, none of this would have been possible!
Best Regards,
Mike