Test automation + transformation: it’s all about the people

Customer interviews are easily my favorite part of any conference. They provide an inside view into what people have been able to achieve in the real world, and how they have overcome specific obstacles along the way. They humanize any event, whether it’s virtual or in person. This was certainly the case at the spring Tricentis Virtual Summit.

Chauntel Greaves and I had the opportunity to learn from quality leaders at Prologis, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey PCIS, and Hiscox on how embracing plans focused on people – team empowerment, cross-team collaboration and customer-centric approaches – have led to successful business outcomes and transformations.

We connected to the hearts of businesses that are driving to new levels despite the collectively-challenging past year, and witnessed their unwavering enthusiasm for the possibilities ahead.

Julio Da Silva: Agile appreciation

For Prologis, taking on an Agile transformation started off as a process change but quickly evolved into a people transformation. During our discussion, Julio Da Silva, VP of Business Systems Engineering, detailed the growing pains of moving away from waterfall for both IT and business stakeholders. Despite its challenges, this change certainly was worth it since it has made Prologis a much more dynamic and rewarding place to work.

“When you start bringing over QA engineers to do the automation, the overall morale of the team actually goes up! In this new world, my automation testers are working side by side with the developers and feel way more engaged with the project team. They are developing skills and feel more valued.”

 

Johann Gaggero: Empowerment and happiness

At Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey PCIS, Johann Gaggero, Head of Omnichannel QA, is putting people at the center of how they will continue to elevate their company and team brand. Over the past year, LVMH has launched an empowerment plan for the testing group. This empowerment plan aims to provide resources to the testing organization to better understand both the end-to-end processes they create, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the customers they are creating it for. When asked about how they will measure the success of this program, Johann focuses not just on the business KPI’s, but the happiness of the team.

“We must measure the efficiency of the team from one year to the next. I try to also measure my team’s happiness. When we have a happy team, they are really involved in their job and we can get the best of what they can do. It’s also one of the goals of the training plan I have put in place – so everyone feels empowered and responsible for something.”

 

Brietta Smith: Acceleration through collaboration

Although some companies still maintain separate operations between their IT department and other business units, that is far from the case at Hiscox Insurance. Their Director of Test Practice, Brietta Smith, shared with us the great lengths that different business departments have reached when collaborating on major releases and ensuring quality.

“We worked with Business Analysts in each of the functional areas of Hiscox – underwriting, billing, claims, etc. To be able to do that level of collaboration and to be able to talk through what we were seeing was exceptional. I think it spoke volumes for our ability to release as fast as we did and with the level of quality we did.”

For Hiscox, quality is not just a tester’s responsibility, but the responsibility of everyone involved. To further grow the agility and precision of testing within the organization, Hiscox also created a designated position within the organization to sit within the overall testing practice and focus on finding areas of improvement.

 

Focus on the people

We closed out each interview by asking Julio, Johann, and Brietta to share what they felt contributed most to their recent success. To no surprise, they all explained (in their own way) why it’s so important to focus on the people and build from there:

• Invest in culture – create a high-performance culture where everyone adds value
• Be customer oriented – never stop learning what you can do to better align your goals with that of the end customer
• Collaboration pays off – the more we work together, the more we can achieve

Want to hear more insights from amazing industry leaders (including Julio, Johann and Brietta)? Subscribe to the Tricentis podcast “Transformation in 10” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.