Software Testing Blog

In part two of our Testing the Limits interview with Michael Cooper (Senior Director, Enterprise IT Quality Assurance at T-Mobile) we get his thoughts on the difference between testing at startups vs. enterprises; the benefits of a well-run QA team; the turning point of his testing career and other topics. If you first the first installment, go read part I now.

uTest: In your opinion, what are the most difficult challenges of testing in the enterprise, as opposed to a startup environment?

MC: I find that the larger enterprises can oftentimes be more of a challenge because of their many disparate systems.  With end-to-end integration testing, our team is more focused on ensuring that all the systems work well together.

uTest: For NBA and WNBA fans out there, there is another Michael Cooper in the world. Who wins in a game of 1-on-1 hoops?  And who’s better at developing an actionable and effective test plan?

MC: While you can probably put your money on the other Michael Cooper in a game of hoops, T-Mobile does have a great partnership with the NBA.  Who’s better at developing an actionable and effective test plan?  Well, I would bet on myself for the test planning.

uTest: Looking back, what’s been your biggest surprise with regards to testing in the enterprise? The advancement of automated tools? A shift in QA methodology? Or something else entirely?

MC: Problems are similar from company to company, but it’s always a pleasant surprise to learn what a positive influence a well run Quality and Testing team can have on an organization.  When an IT organization is Quality focused, great things can happen!

uTest: True or false: Cost is not a concern for testing teams in global enterprises.

MC: False!  We are absolutely always looking for ways to lower the total cost of Quality.  What I have learned through the years, is that cheaper hourly rates and “free” open source tools do not always translate into lower overall costs.  In a large organization, if you skip testing or take shortcuts, the long-term costs can quickly outweigh any short-term gain.  It only takes one outage, revenue leak, or performance problem to quickly add up to millions of dollars in costs.

uTest: It seems to us that the larger the company, the more reliant they become on automated testing solutions. First off, is this the case? And second, could you explain T-Mobile’s approach to balancing automated testing with manual testing.

MC: It is true that large companies typically utilize many stable legacy applications, which lend themselves to automate regression testing.  In addition to regression testing, I push the teams to operationalize and automate any redundant repeatable task, such as test data creation and test environment setup task.

uTest: We’ve interviewed testing luminaries such as James Whitaker, James Bach, Michael Bolton, Cem Kaner and Patrick Copeland. Who do you follow or read when you want to expand your mind and challenge your ideas around QA?

MC: I am always reading up on, or trying to learn more about trends and new techniques in the industry.  Experiencing James Whitaker’s main stage presentation at StarEast in 2001 was a turning point in my career; it was right then that I realized there are other people like me, those who are passionate about testing.

uTest: You’ve managed some pretty large testing teams throughout your career. What advice do you have for QA managers whose testing teams are growing beyond 3-5 person teams?

MC: I recommend standardizing your testing deliverables and keeping track of metrics so you can manage by facts.  Be independent – by that, I mean do everything in your power to not have to report to development.  Speak your mind…without whining and complaining.  Learn from your mistakes!  If you or your team make a mistake or miss a defect, take responsibility and do whatever it takes to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.  And, finally, treat your team and your peers with the utmost respect and dignity.

uTest: On a similar note, is there a certain type of tester that is more suited to the challenges of testing enterprise software? What type of traits and talents do you look for when hiring testers at T-Mobile?

MC: I look to hire technical testers, who have the capability to understand the systems that are being tested.  It’s also important for testers to have a positive attitude.  If a candidate is whining and complaining about a past job during an interview – that is a red flag for me.

uTest: We always like to hear the “war stories” of software testing veterans. Any tales from the trenches that you would like to share?

MC: Before I started at T-Mobile, I had an unfortunate situation where I had to downsize my entire department.  This was obviously a very stressful situation, for all involved – including me.  One lesson I learned over the years is to keep my core employee team relatively lean, and then augment the team with contractors that I can flex up and down based on demand.  For areas that are outside our core competencies, I like to utilize managed services.

uTest: What’s Michael Cooper doing when he’s not in charge of T-Mobile’s quality assurance?

MC: I enjoy spending time with my wife, three children, and two dogs.  I usually workout every morning to help keep my stress levels in check.

Rapid Fire:

Better drinking buddies for testers: developers or designers?

If I had to choose I would go for the developers. After a few libations, the developers usually reveal who on their team is writing buggy code, which areas have inadequate requirements, and what areas they haven’t unit tested.

Favorite movie genre:

Comedy!  Because I believe it is important to have a sense of humor, especially in this line of work.

Least favorite exercise:

I find the treadmill boring because if I am moving I like to actually get somewhere.

Dream car:

My dream car will have full autopilot mode; it will be Wi-Fi enabled; it must have a ‘state of the art’ entertainment system; it runs on cheap or free power source; and it would be nice if it could fly, whenever the need arose.

Favorite tech blog:

Testing the Limits and www.tmonews.com

Editor’s note: That does it for this month’s edition of Testing the Limits. We have some great guests lined up in the months ahead, but if you would like to make a suggestion, send us an introduction.