build a successful global training program (effectively training)

8/14/2019 Build a Successful Global Training Program (Effectively Training)

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Copyright (c) 2009 LogiGear CorporationAll Rights Reserved. 1 1

.

Build a Successful

Global Training

Program

Michael Hackett

Copyright (c) 2009 LogiGear CorporationAll Rights Reserved. 2


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Welcome

Today well talk about how bestto prepare yourself for trainingoffshore teams to do their job

AND have less stress leadingmanaging offshore teams.


Overview of thediscussion

First, well talk about theproblem and training as thesolution.

Then, some of the importantfacets of training and

considerations for the solution. Describe the necessary topics.

Tips from the road: Setting

yourself up for success.

Q&A


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Where are we now?

Some typical problems:

We already offshored and need to fixheadaches.

We are about to offshore and want todo it right.

I have to work in my office till myoffshore teams comes in to make sure

they get started on the days prioritiescorrectly and come home too late!

My work week begins Sunday nite withthe teams Monday morning meeting.

My project team has no trust in theTest Team!

I am constantly saying the samethings over and over...

I spend too much time managing myoffshore team!


A not-soFunny story

Sleepless in Silicon Valley

We keep passing the batonbetween California and India, andthat way we can cram a lot morework into a 24-hour period, saidJeff Hawkey, vice president ofhardware engineering atPortalPlayer, who conductsevening meetings from the office oron his laptop at home. A lot ofnights, I go home, tuck the kids intobed and then get on the conference

call.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7781510/


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Where are we now?

The solution to these problemsis not more late nite phonecalls or trips away from home

or complaining about incorrectstatus report! The solution is

better training!


Deeper Problems

More serious than late nitephone calls:

spending all your time reviewingbugs,

endless questions

not getting effective testing,not-the-whole-truth information,

missed bugs,

wasted time and money,

failed projects!


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How can training help?

Extensive training for test teams:

Train the team to do their job!

Establish trust,

Set guidelines and establishmetrics to manage against,

Provides for good and effectivework,

Implement process andcommunication infrastructure,

Remove questions about whatto do and when,

all, easier said than done.


Essential Training Areas

Communication methods and

expectations Your Test and Project Process

Product

Domain Knowledge

Product Technology How to Test

Set-up English training wherenecessary

Cross-cultural and Workingwith Americans


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By the Way

Different teams, various

countries will have differentneeds.

India, China, Russia, Mexico,Canada, Vietnam, Philippians-wherever, have different needs.

btw, this work is not only for theoffshore teams. US teams needtraining for working with offshore

teams as well.


Before you buy the planetickets

Get Started PlanningCommunication and

Your Test and Project Process


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Before you buy the planetickets

There is preliminary work to do

before putting trainings together.

Map the goals. What problemsare you trying to solve?

Define the audience. Who areyour testers?

What things do I need to beaware of as I make plans?

Fully define your process.

What are the topics I need?


Planning a Program

In this chapter we will cover:

Communication, communication, andmore communication!

What is Micro-communication?

Building Trust

Who is your staff?

Unique issues with Testing/QA notfound in Development

Getting your own house in order: cleanup, organize and document yourprocess!

Setting Expectations

What is this Tribal knowledge thing?

Reliance on Six Sigma, CMM, etc.


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Communication givesVisibility

Visibility into:

What is happening,

What is not getting done,

Progress and productivity,

Problems, issues, roadblocks.


Communication givesVisibility

How do you get visibility?

Status Reports

Daily Reports

Bug Tracking System

Test Case Manager

Project Web Page

Project Dashboard

whatever you use!

Have this nailed down with easyreferences.


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Micro-communication

What is microcommunication?

Microcommunication is total,thorough, complete, open,detailed communication thatenables you to NOT micro-manage.


Visibility from Micro-communication

Aside from micromanagement

being bad practice, it is verydifficult to micromanage 8,000

miles away.

What are the options?

Microcommunication.


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Micro-communication

We want microcommunication

not micromanagement.

How do we get it?

- Provide infrastructure, trainingand expectation oncommunication processes andmethods.

- Manage against poor, missed

and wrong communication.


Microcommunication

Hint for success

Build a structure for reporting,metrics, tools for sharing files,tools for communicating- set upthe infrastructure and train onit.

The more avenues forcommunication the morechance of success: only IMand daily status reports? No,

add a test case manager,blogs/discussion boardthreads, etc.


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Communication

IM communication- difficult to share

or archive, valuable, quick, usewisely!

Email is impersonal and oftennuanced and leaves much room formisunderstanding.


Training builds Trust

Spending time with the remote

test team, you and others onyour team will open lines for

questions, informalcommunication, getting

answers, getting information,sharing project experiences,etc. All of this time needs tobegin building trust. Trust youwill be honest with them, trust

they can be honest with you.


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Training builds Trust

Building trust is not typically a

major reason to train US teams. It is for offshore teams!

Training gives youmore confidencework is getting executed the wayyou intended as well as giving theoffshore testing teammoreconfidence they are doing what youwant!

Having trust in each other needs to

open the door for the delivery ofinevitable bad news.


Unique Problems ofOffshored Testing

How do you hire people for your

team at home?What skills? What experience?

How are people hired for theoffshore teams?


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Who is your staffoffshore?

Who are your employees? What

experience do they have?QA/Testers? Domain experts?Tech Support?

Your offshore team will, more than

likely be different. May be more technicallyskilled

than typical US team.

Right out of college?

Compare the two teams. Adjustyour training.


Who is your staffoffshore?

The various skill levels of the

home team and the offshoreteam may have you re-considerwhat work to send and whatwork to keep in the home office.!

Example:

send automation

send low-level & API testing

keep business process

keep user scenario


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Some problems you may face from theteam makeup that are unique to the

current offshore hotspots: Developers who do not want to do

QA/Test work

Many hope to graduateto development

Testing is not valued in softwaredevelopment.

Technically trained people may notnecessarily want to test.

Developer testers may not want tocriticize their future co-workerdevelopers.

These may be issues some of us face inthe US, but they are rare. They aremuch, much more common- dependingon the country- offshore.



Outsourced development has one

reputation, outsourced testinganother. In many countriestesting is considered throw awaywork- only a vehicle to get thereal development work. After one

training session I conducted inIndia, the Engineering Managertold me I never knew testingwas a real job. I put my worststaff on testing projects.


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What does this mean for your

training?1- You may well be training a

much more technicallysophisticated or skilled groupthan your US team.

2- You may have to teach thevalueof testing.

3- You may have to selltesting asa job!


Be a Better Test Lead!

Having an offshore team will

increase your workload andincrease your managementoversight.

But! It will also make you a bettertest lead!

It forces you to be more organized,

Document more

Communicate better

Manage change better


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Your Test and ProjectProcess

Define the test and development

process to the extent you can Set the process, train on theprocess and stick to it!

Provide templates Show examples Make a weekly meeting

schedule and stick to it. Use your tools

Test case manager Bug tracker



Use tools to facilitate and increase

visibility and information transfer: SharePoint, eRoom, projectpage, blog

A must- somekind of documentcontrol, VSS, CM tool.


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What Documents should the team

expect: MRDs PRDs Test plans Test Cases Etc.

Make a checklist since this is often thesame from project to project.

Train on How projects work, What to do each week, What happens when you get a new

build,

What to do first, What to do if, back-up tasks Meetings schedule


Setting Expectation

Setting expectation combines

communication, trust, and yourTest/Dev process

Expectations for:

Weekly/daily production goals Each day do xyz

On Mondays do this

By Friday afternoon do this


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Setting Expectation

for Process:

How many test cases per week

How many bugs per week

What you should expect from us

What we send you

When/how.


Setting Expectation

Why does a smoke test get done

first? Why do you have to close bugs

as soon as possible in a buildcycle?

How often do you do a fullregression suite and what does itmean.


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Setting Expectation

How will they know if they are

doing a good job? Remember, in some countries,

many of your employees may beright out of school, it could betheir first job or first company

setting. Let them know what youexpect.

Setting expectations will providefor more trust.


Be a Better Test Lead

A few special process topics:

Change control Metrics

Status reporting

Communicating status

Status reports

Must be uniform and defined


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Change Control:

Talk about how your teammanages change.

Describe the businessenvironment for change.

This is- in almost every case Ihave seen- a totally new topic foroffshore teams.

Opinions developed here maynot be helpful.



Change Control:

Importance of How to

Communication of

There are very real probabilitieshere for problems ranging fromhurt feelings to missed bugs!Anticipate and train to minimize.


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Metrics and Measurement

Let them know they will bemeasured.

Training: explain themeasurements, what they meanand why you need them, how

are they used...

Remember: What you measurewill increase.

Whatever measurements or

metrics you choose, make sureyou are gathering correctinformation!


Tribal knowledge

What is Tribal Knowledge?

Learning by osmosis Water cooler conversations

Encourage it!

Plan to facilitate it: build infrastructure,

joint participation at meetings, jointdocument reviews, open and easyphone lines, video conferences

Work to increase 1-on-1communication among teammembers. Dont be the only gate

through which information can pass.


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ISO/Six Sigma/CMM

Great opportunity for failure here:

Dont rely on their text bookprocess for good work!

Has your Dev process been

audited to a certain CMM

level? If yes, you may need torely on their processes.

For the overwhelming majority of

US companies, all this means

is paperwork and no higherquality!


ISO/Six Sigma/CMM

For a variety of cultural, educationaland work experience reasons (the

mix depending on what country youare talking about), getting your testteam thinking out-of-the-box needscreativity training. This is particularlytrue when you are dealing with staffcoming from a CMM mindset.

The type of tester training thathappens overseas, if any, is usuallynot test training but requirementsvalidation training following CMMprocedures. These processes are

not very common in the US yet areoverseas. It is very often shockingfor offshore teams to hear many USdevelopment teams, frankly, couldcare less!


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Training the OffshoreTeam

"A cookie store is a bad idea.

Besides, the market researchreports say America likes crispycookies, not soft and chewycookies like you make." --Response to Debbi Fields' idea

of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.


Most Important

What is your product?

Internal users? Consumer? B2B? Competitors?

Who uses it?

What is the skill level of the users?

For example- accounting product:

users may be CPAs and data entrypeople. What are their accountingknowledge levels? Computer skilllevels? Why is this productworthwhile?

How do they use it?

Sell your product. Get them excited!

Dont be boring here!


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Most Important

What technologies is your

product built with/on? Need to know the 3rd party

components?

Java, c++?

Session-based or cookie based

state? Client or server side error

checking?

whatever.

Important for:

Gray box testing Leverage tech abilities of staff.


Most Important

For most test teams, having a

balance between testing from abusiness users perspective andtesting from a technicalperspective is key.

A good rule of thumb with

offshore teams is hire fortechnical knowledge, train forbusiness knowledge.

Plan and budget for extensivetraining on the product and

business domain. It will pay off!


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Most Important

From end-to-end user scenarios

to simple requirement validation,I would not rely on either thecurrent test cases or a usermanual as the sole learning toolsfor domain knowledge.

Conduct a very interactivetraining session about the users.

Set up exercises with mockusers from a made-up officewhere different students will

have different roles and tasks inusing your product.


Most Important

Making credit card processing

software in China where bankingconsultants, McKinsey & Co.,estimate fewer than 1 per cent ofthe country's population has acredit card, and more than half ofthose accounts are inactive, how

can you expect your test team totest from a users perspective?

If you are developing stocktrading software in Russia, evenif one of your testers says they

have knowledge of stock tradingin Russia, will that be useful forUS users or SEC compliance?


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How to Test

"If you have enough monkeys

banging randomly ontypewriters, they will eventuallytype the works of WilliamShakespeare."

Training the Offshore Team

How to Test


How to Test

Knowledge of Testing and QA,

particularly of American-styletesting is virtually unknown in thecountries most popular foroffshoring.

If you onlytrain the team toexecute your test case database,count on large staff turnover andmissed bugs.


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Train to test not tovalidate

Validation- the easy work.

Testing- significantly harder.Training to sniff out bugs, to

hunt for bugs is a skill-building

activity that needs planning,materials, hands-on exercises,teamwork, and monitoring.


Developer Testing andTester Testing

Who are your testers?

Good Developers dont alwaysmake good Testers

Good Testers dont always makegood Developers


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How to Test

How to testtraining needs to

include, depending on the team,basics such as:

model-based testing,

equivalence class partitioning,

forced error testing,

cause-effect graphing, writing user scenario,

requirements-based testing.

Give your team all the knowledge

they need, not only test yourproduct but to understand whattesting is about!


How to Test

Will you rely on this team to do

Gray-box testing? Attack-based Testing,

Error Guessing, Defect Isolation.

You will need to teach effectivetesting skills if you expect toget effecting testing!


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How to Test

To have an effective offshore test

team you will have to do training ona variety of more abstract topics:

Exploratory testing style- what it is,how to start, how to measure, whenis it most effective,

Test case design style such asSoap Opera testing- what is it, howto write the test cases,

Common approaches to breakingsoftware, for example, James

Whittakers How to BreakSoftware.


What is a Bug?

Tech issues

What is a bugas a code issue isoften different from a bugas a userissue.

consider this as you choose whattesting to send offshore

How to test for buffer overflowsversus developing effective userscenarios require different training.

Some developers have no interestin the user experience and are

much more fascinated by thesystem level workings of the code.


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What is a Bug?

What is customer satisfactionfrom a

American reference point is verydifferent from understandings ofcustomer satisfaction in manycountries.

You have 2 bridges to cross here. Developer testers- what is a bug?

All testers- what is customersatisfaction?


Setting Expectation

Expectation of what is a bug:

Show an old version of yourproduct or another product, showthe types of bugs validation,data, error guessing, random,

Give the team old product to test

with known bugs. See how theydo. Give them an hour withhints/no hints.


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The Soft Skills

Tough Training:English

Political Issues

Cross-Cultural


English

We are two countries separated by a

common language.Winston Churchill quote on the UK and US.

English skill varies greatly! Ireland

India China

Russia

Mexico

Canada

Philippians

wherever


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English

Not much to say here- the

offshore team either hasenough English skill to make

the project a success ortheoffshore team has enough

English skill to give youconstant headache. If it is thelatter- you better set up anEnglish Training program!

Hint: Taught by American orCanadian- not Brit or Aussie!


English

Hint- you may want to make sure you

have some people on the team whowere hired because, in addition toother skills, they are excellentEnglish speakers. This is neededfor writing bug reports, status

reports and ease of phonecommunication. They may also actas lead or moderator of phonemeetings.

Many companies try to hire nationals

who have lived in the US or anotherEnglish-speaking country.


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Cross-Cultural

Cross-cultural training

How to work withAmericans


The Possibilities areEndless!

How to say no (the ability to say

no varies between cultures) How to question a person of

authority- for example, questioningthe domestic Test Lead may belooked upon as rude in some

cultures Speaking up to voice opinions and

suggestions on testing and process

How to think outside the box

Understanding group dynamics,from how to do brainstorming, toworking with or without groupconsensus.


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Cross-Cultural

Special and delicate training is

needed in: the importance of getting the whole

story and not half truths,

the importance of building trust andtrust being a two-way street.

Do research on your offshorelocation. Do your homework,

anticipate problems, train to fixthem!


How to Work withAmericans

Doing business with Americansisprobably not a new topic for youroffshore team.

These are usually long rooted, sensitivetopics.

When these differences are described,explained and reasoned through,

allaying personal fears and alsotraining US staff on working with theiroffshore team, the lets meet halfwayparadigm works well

It also gives a performance guide torefer and remind against.


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Cross-Cultural Glossary

Using Words like:

Test Validate

Look at

Deadlines

Drop-dead date

Reliability Usability,

can be very easily misunderstoodor differently understood thanyour intention. Be as clear as

possible- where needed, make aglossary.


Example Training:No Secrets

Tackle the Hard Stuff

Problem (common): You dontwant to get incomplete, wrong ormissed information because itmay be difficult for some teammember to deliver.

During training say: Dont holdback information, it only makesthings worse.

This is ineffective.


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Example: Training on NoSecrets

Inability to give bad news:

Especially true in certaincountries

Especially true with outsourcing

Inability to say No

Inability to admit mistakes andlose face

So


Example: Training on NoSecrets

I built up images, examples,

games, fun, materials


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Did it work?

No, not at first.

BUT! The test lead then managedagainst it. Gave feedback,immediately, showed whatshould have happened instead.

In the end- it worked usingunconventional, targetedtraining.


A word about Trainingand Managing

Training on a defined process will

workfor some people.What do you do when the process isnot followed?

Some people will not followguidelines for any number ofreasons.

My suggestion:

1- do not retrain the group.

2- manage/retrain onlythose who arenotfollowing the process.

3- hope the team gossips (everyonedoes).


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Training Your DomesticStaff

The domestic team also needs

training on soft skills andprocess if the project is to besuccessful. A key training topicis better communication,including:

how to conduct virtual meetings status reporting

importance of kickoff meetings

using IM for trivialcommunication.



Training you home team should include:

processes for working with offshore

teams the importance of sticking to internal

team processes

improving documentation

build processes, including acceptancetesting and transfer

what to do when the offshore team hitsblocking issues and the domestic teamis unavailable

what the offshore team can do duringdowntime

how to improve communication provide for Tribal Knowledge transfer.


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Your home team must be aware of howtheir behavior will be interpreted by theoffshore team.

Americans in team meetings often makejokes, political comments, and openlycriticize superiors or management.Depending on the country, this can be

looked upon as disrespectful and neverdone. I have seen offshore test teamslose respect for the US team based onconversations we may find trivial.

We need to be more aware of our ownhabits that may create project friction and

give training on preventing it wherepossible.



Use of He and She/ Him and

Her as well as it, that, them

Train both teams to use nouns- notpronouns.

Jane will finish the test plan and send

it out.She needs comments on it back by

Friday.

Instead say:

Jane needs comments back on thetest plan by Friday.


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Cross-Cultural Example:Top 5 Issues

Soft skills example:

Use training on communicationor work ethic to open doors tounderstanding, trust andcommunication.

It is important you do thisexercise during training forboth the US and offshoreteams.


Soft skills example:

In this exercise you brainstorm thetop 5 things that get in the way ofexcellent work conditions.

After the brainstorm you then comeup with ideas about how to

eliminate these issues.

Promise to bring these problem andsolution items back to thecounterpart teams.

Let the teams do the work ofdeveloping the ideas of how totrain it!



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Offshore team in Country X Top 5 issues:

The US team is always in a rush andtelling us to go faster but we cannot makemistakes.

They forget to tell us things that happenand we get frustrated we do things wrongand want us to work late to fix theirforgetting.

We are so constrained by the test casesthey sent us to do we feel bored.

They are always adding things to theproject even at the end. It is a problemthey are so unorganized.

We ask questions and often hear nothing

at all back from them.



US-based test team Top 5 issues They drop whatever they are doing at

noon and go for lunch. Whether in themiddle of a meeting or a time sensitiveprocess- it is lunchtime.

They dont work as fast as we do. They are so many questions I cannot get

my own work done anymore and amemailing them late into my evening.

They dont always tell the truth aboutwhat is going on. They tell us what wewant to hear.

Women managing men can be difficult intheir culture. We have a few women testleads.



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How these items get dealt with will varydepending on team dynamics, company

culture and the culture you are dealingwith, among other things.The point is not that one group drops their

cultural imprint on the other group andsays we are right, you are wrong.

The point is that each team learns how tocommunicate about these things, works

with each other, and helps each otherover hurdles.We cannot change other cultures overnight,

just as they cannot change us overnight.We need to be aware of difficult areas,

since they are inevitable.This more difficult training will decrease

stress, improve communication, providegreater work efficiency and have happierteams and greater project success.



What we just learned

English

Cross cultural workTraining the US team

These may be the most

difficult or delicate- butare quite important toreduce headaches!


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Set yourself up for Success

Type of Trainings

The Training MaterialExams

Turnover

Easier for you


Types of Learning

Spend time considering the mosteffective method for training

delivery

Face-to-face

On-line

Video

Reading

Tribal

Using it

Dont think you can send the testcase database and have anyonelearn from that or effectively test

from that. Video conferencing: not too

successful for interactive learning.


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Types of learning:

There must be some face-to-face.

Q&A Get to know team

Must break formality.

Tell the truth easier

Better communication

Ask more and better questions


Training Material

Face-to-face

Costly Time-consuming

Verbal and non-verbal training

Weight of importance

Event will foster more focus Definitely most effective.


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Training Material

Must review your current

training with a fine tooth comb,looking for words like fine tooth

comb.

Dont user your canned

trainings. Looking for:

images,

idioms,

cultural references, assumed knowledge.


Training Material


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Training Material

Remove from material and your

delivery: Low man on the totem pole

Toe the line

Hit a homerun

dead in the water

wishful thinking like a bat out of hell.

I have seen these phrases inmaterial or used during training

for offshore teams or with non-native English speakers. Counton misunderstanding!


The Young and the Restless

All My Children

Soap Opera Testing


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Soap Opera or SerialTesting

Kittie Party

Kkusum


Training Material

Add more games Add more exercises Use classroom time prepare you for

the communication needs of yourteam.

Example:

Think of test cases on the fly: putpeople on the spot if that is whatyour team needs.

Brainstorm Move around the room. Work in teams. Ask questions allaround the room.


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Training Material

Exercises and Examples:

Work in the bug database,product and test casemanager,

Set up machines in 4 cornersof the room. Break up into

teams Work live.


Training Material

Time: if you can give your current

material in, for example, two daysto a new US employee: do notexpect you can give this training intwo days to an offshore team!

Train in phases.

Brain Overload- too many terms,too much material.

Send a glossary in advance

Leave reference material.

Post what you can to your

Sharepoint/eRoom, Project Portal.


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Exams

Crucial! Important addition to typical US

team trainings- give exams onmaterial given (presented trainings,documents, tools).

Teams pay more attention whenthey know they will get tested.

Exams push people to ask morequestions You will find out if you are

understood! Also, who is a good tester or good

at English

Most important: Who needs extrahelp.


Exams

Note:

Writing exams is difficult. Making them appropriate for

your material and as a gaugeof comprehension is important.

Test on tough topics.

What is a passing grade?Failing? What to do if fail?

Make exams easy to grade.You dont want to spend your

nites somewhere gradingexams.


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What you should expect

More technically savvy team

than US More eager

Greatly differing English and

communication levels.

Change material or plan on thefly. (unplanned examples, localexamples, go slower)


Warning

IP Loss

Staff Turnover Too many trips


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IP Loss

For most teams, this is not a

problem. For some, it might. Check with the powers-that-be

if there are any limitations towhat you can give your

offshore team.


Staff

Staff Retention

Retention is a problem in mostoffshoring areas.

Use training as a method ofretaining staff.

Lay out a training program as

a Knowledge or career path Certify your team in yourBody of Knowledge.

Staff Turnover How can you keep the staff

trained with turnover you arecertain will happen?


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Staff Retention

Training programs on sexy topics

like: Doing business with

Americans,

English language,

software developmentlifecycles and softwareengineering best practices

software QA and testing

This can have a very positive

effect on staff retention.


Staff Turnover

You need to prepare for inevitablestaff turnover.

I hopeyour test team is not theproving ground for the nextdeveloper hires. If it is, count onmore training trips.

Begin a train-the-trainer program withyour best test team members.


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Train-the-Trainer

Pick the superstar/s in the group:Get them extra training, more

documentation, PowerPointpresentations, reading material.

Connect specialist US-team contactsto specific offshore team members.

Have a bug database expert, acustomer expert, a test technologyexpert, etc.

I recommend videotaping yourtraining sessions as a tool for train-the-trainer.


Train-the-Trainer

Pick a few topics to pass-off.

As you add staff incrementally,you will not have to maketrips.


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Re-cap

Analyze your staff.

Nail down your process anduse it!

Focus on communicationinfrastructure.

Training on Product, Users,Domain may be mostimportant.

Train on How to Test

Soft Skills are the most difficultbut will be the most rewarding!

Build a program for further newstaff.


Offshore Team Training

Q&A


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LogiGear Corporation

Michael [email protected]

www.logigear.com