How do I know I'm a Quality Coach?

Sitting within a team & helping teams with software testing doesn't necessarily make you a quality coach. A quality coach thinks and behaves differently from a software tester. Fundamental to the philosophy of quality coaching is that the team owns all aspects of quality. They are accountable for the quality and, by nature, should be empowered to make decisions on quality.

A quality coach guides, supports and rallies a team to collectively own and improve quality through facilitation, education, experimentation and visualisation. They are a passionate advocate for quality.

It's a bit of a mental shift, so here are eight ways a quality coach behaves differently from a software tester.

1. As a software tester, you champion quality within a team. As a quality coach, you help the team collectively be quality champions.
2. As a software tester, you test for gaps between product expectations and product reality. As a quality coach, you help teams explore these gaps.
3. As a software tester, you look at quality attributes related to the product. A quality coach helps teams explore these quality attributes as early as possible so the team can act on that information.  
4. As a software tester, you ask, "how do I know the product is good enough? As a quality coach, you ask, "how does the team know if the feature is the right one to build, if the product is built right and if the product continues to support our customers beyond deployment"?  
5. As a software tester, you develop the software testing strategy. A quality coach facilitates workshops for teams to develop their software testing strategy.
6. As a software tester, you decide what should be tested based on risk. As a quality coach, you help the team identify risks. Ultimately the team chooses how much testing takes place.
7. As a software tester, you might look for ways to improve your software testing approach. As a quality coach, you help the team identify a quality improvement program that they act on.
8. As a software tester, your goal is to remain an integral part of the team. As a quality coach, your goal is to become dispensable to the team.

The critical differentiator is enablement. A quality coach enables a team to own their decision-making by building up a team's skills. In contrast, a test lead or software tester's work contributes to team output and may coach other team members to help them out.

Sometimes the roles naturally morph from software tester to quality coach. For example, you could be a software tester in a team who, through coaching, discovers they've made their software testing role redundant. You then assume the role of quality coach for multiple teams.

If you transition from software tester to quality coach, stepping back from being closely linked to the team's work can be difficult for both software testers and teams. You may be aligned with a team but no longer directly contribute to team output. With that change can come a sense of loss and 'not belonging'.

It can also be a complex transition for teams who are used to software testers taking on tasks associated with the team output. A quality coach's role is to help a team adjust to that change. A practical way to do this is to identify the tasks a software tester typically does and then discuss how the team will ensure those tasks get completed.

I believe neither the role of software tester nor quality coach is 'better' or worse than the other. They're just different. Some people prefer to be software testers; others love being quality coaches. Some contexts work better with a software tester in the team, and others work better with quality coaches. Tech is a big place, with room for everyone and many approaches.  

Which role do you think you are in?

Ask the Book

Welcome! Ask anything from the Handbook.

How can I start improving quality without slowing delivery? What should I focus on first as an engineering leader? How do I coach teams toward better systems thinking?