Tuesday 11 November 2008

Management Hint #1

Neville the new QA manager was assigned to a project halfway into its lifecycle
Determined to make a good impression he sent round an email promising a one-to-one meeting with all the testers on the team to find out their skillsets, problems and targets

The email had a mixed response

Eric the Enthusiast felt excited, maybe at last the project would start to really get moving and he jotted down his ideas in his notebook
Clive the Cynic scoffed at Eric and told him it would never happen, he'd seen and heard it all before
Frank the fence sitter chuckled at Eric and Clives squabbles, he had a little hope that Eric would be proved right but also suspected that Clive would be vindicated

Neville's first week went in a blur as he learnt about his new project and he sent out an email aplogising for not meeting with everyone but it was firmly on his agenda
Eric felt disappointed but still made another addition to the list in his notebook and tried not to look at Clive

Neville thought his second week had gone much better, he'd written some reports for the senior managers and had useful meetings with other managers on the project. Deadlines were tight but once he'd got his team motivated....
He started to draft his email

Eric's notebook had stayed in the drawer all week and instead Eric and Clive got together to draw up a sweepstake on when their meetings with Neville would happen

3 comments:

Laura said...

You are too funny...love your posts... been following them for years....you hit the nail on the head Phil. I could/would add that poor Neville the new QA Manager's enthusiasm waned as he began to see the proverbial light that is the glass wall and ceiling which hinders oh so many QA teams...I do hope you will add another chapter to your saga in the near future...

Unknown said...

So who was Colin?

Nice one though, I do know that feeling when projects overwhelm you and there are days you almost forget there is a team

Phil said...

well spotted Michael, Clive now stays as Clive all the way through and Eric doesnt change to Erik
Ever thought of getting a job as a tester ?