August 2022 Summaries

Alexander Lazaris is a QA Manager at Roam Digital, where he leads a team of 3-7 engineers. His responsibilities include promoting growth within the QA team, educating the company on best practices for quality development and products, assessing and standardizing QA practices and toolsets, aligning engineering beliefs and technologies across chapters, and monitoring project development. Lazaris is tool agnostic when it comes to testing and prefers experimentation with new tools before deciding if they are suitable for his team. He has experience in game development, having worked on a 3D educational/exploration dinosaur game and a classic Greek card game called "Xeri." Lazaris enjoys BrowserStack products for their ease of use and the ability to quickly convert local device tests into cloud-powered device farms. As a member of the BrowserStack Champions Program, he looks forward to learning from others in the community and sharing his knowledge on quality assurance. His advice for senior QA folks aspiring to be managers is to focus on mentoring, supporting, and growing individuals while expanding their skill set with people and cultural skills.

Leading a software testing team requires providing continuous guidance and career advice to team members, and the Testing Wheel is an innovative tool designed to facilitate this process by identifying growth areas across eight key categories: Understand the Project Need, Testing Essentials, Test Automation, Get it Done, Listen & Learn, Testing Team, Personal Growth, and Agile. This tool encourages both team leaders and members to independently assess skills on a scale from 0 to 7, and then compare assessments to highlight divergent views that can lead to meaningful discussions about career development. The Testing Wheel's adaptability allows it to be customized to fit specific team or company needs, making it a versatile resource for fostering individual growth and improving team dynamics. Additionally, a YouTube video and PDF template are available to help users implement the Testing Wheel effectively, encouraging feedback and adaptations to better suit their teams, thus highlighting the importance of personalized coaching in navigating the ever-evolving technology landscape.