I recently had the opportunity to think about what I felt was significant as a QA Leader in an organization. So I wrote down some statements that I thought described what I valued in a QA Team. This list isn’t complete or perfect, but I felt like it was a good exercise and one worth sharing.

• People in QA should be empowered, embedded, engaged, and ever-evolving.
• People in QA have brains and should be encouraged to use them.
• QA is a craft that requires skill, knowledge, and experience to do well.
• Exploratory Testing is an essential and challenging skill set that should be the foundation of everything we do.
• Test Cases are just one tool in a big toolbox and should only be used when it makes sense.
• It’s important to understand the difference between testing and checking.
• “Manual” testing and automation are equally valuable in different ways.
• Testing is a lot of what we do but not all of what we do.
• The role of QA is proactive as well as reactive.
• Part of the role of QA is to help create an environment in which quality can occur.
• One of the QA team’s primary goals is to provide fast, actionable, and business-focused feedback about a product to stakeholders in order to make informed decisions.
• “QAing” isn’t a word and indicates a lack of understanding of QA and testing.
• Collaboration is the key to cultural change.

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