Fostering positive working relationships is key in today’s diverse and distributed work environments. Every tiny bit of effort helps in bettering working relationships. No one can be perfect, and there are always opportunities for improvement in every one of us. In this blog, let us look at topic of “Software Testing: Fostering Positive Working Relationships”, and how to achieve it. The following are some methods that we could look at.
Listen to understand, then seek to be understood
Active listening is a great skill. While discussing issues in software with developers, or while discussing requirement gaps with customers or conveying them to the product owners, software testers would appreciate that, even though they have to make their point, it is better to listen to the developers’, product owners’, or the customers’ point of view on why things are the way they are. Understanding their point of view is achieved by listening actively to what they convey. The understanding would lead to providing better or alternate solutions, or to put across the proposed solution in a more effective way. This is also applicable while discussing budget allocation for infrastructure or asking for more personnel to the management.
Use Effective Communication Techniques
A couple of days back, I wrote about effective communication techniques for Software Testing professionals. Effective communication helps in fostering positive working relationships with all the stakeholders.
Conducting Oneself Professionally
It is always important to conduct oneself professionally, respecting the other person. There could be differences in point of views, but that does not mean the respect to the other person should be reduced. Especially in Software Testing, there are chances that the feedback given by the testing professional could be misconstrued to be attacking the other individual, because the feedback is oftentimes negative towards changing status quo and making the product better. Hence the software testing professional need be extremely careful in their communication to stay professional in giving feedback and interacting with other stakeholders.
The Common Ground Is Always A Better Product!
The end goal that all the stakeholders are trying to achieve is always the best product. But there would be times when there will be differences of opinion in how, where, and when that betterment will be achieved. It is important for the software testing professional to always stay focused on the common ground, and negotiate on the how, where, and when aspects. There will be give and takes, but at the end of the day, a better product is in the best interests of everyone concerned.
Innovation helps – propose alternatives
There could one way that the software tester thinks that things will be better, but possibly there could also be alternate solutions. It would be great to be innovative in coming up with alternate solutions in solving the issue at hand. Before a discussion, it would be great to have a list of alternatives so that they can be discussed and the other stakeholder can pick one that’s agreeable to them.
If something is important, follow up
With a whole lot of things to be handled on everyone’s plate, it is often possible that people will forget or don’t give priority to what you have to say or propose as a Software Testing professional. It is not that they are ignoring you, it is just that they see some other things as higher priority. It is up to you to take up your cause and follow up with them to bring things to resolution. Follow ups should be done in a non-intrusive, friendly manner so that the other person feels motivated to look into the matter and work with you to resolve it.
Hope you got a good glimpse on the topic of “Software Testing: Fostering Positive Working Relationships” in this blog. If you need help in your organisation for improving working relationships between software testing professionals and other stakeholders, please reach out to me. Glad to help!