Coaching

No matter who you are, making progress on your personal or company goals can be challenging.

As a coach I offer help to individuals: solo testers, test leads, test managers, developers, development leads, and project managers — and to students aspiring to those roles.

When you’re a coaching client, my first goal is to help you to reconnect with things that you already know how to do. My second goal is to connect you with the confidence you need to apply what you know, and take the steps you want to take in your work and career.

How I Can Help

That depends on who you are, and what you want to address. For instance…

If you’re a project or development manager, you might need strategies to organize your developers to make maximum progress, so testing doesn’t interrupt them or slow them down. You might need strategies to organize your testers, too, so that they can perform fast, efficient testing when risk is low, and do the deep testing that your product needs when risk is greater. Maybe you want to be able to evaluate the skills of the testers you have, or the skills of testers that you might hire.

If you’re a test manager, a test lead, an individual tester, or a testing student, you might want ideas on how to test something, or to organize a group of people to test it. You might want help in articulating the value of testing. Perhaps senior managers are asking for estimates, or for metrics or measurements on the quality of the product, or of the testing.

If you’re a developer, you might be working with a team of testers, or with none at all. You might want to sharpen your own testing and risk analysis skills. Maybe you want to know how to divide testing work responsibly, figuring out what kinds of testing you need to do versus the kinds for which you can reasonably ask for help.

My experience is that my clients already have it within themselves to solve their problems and make progress, but they’re stuck. More than anything else, they need a jiggle, a reframe, or a fresh perspective to get unstuck. From there, they can confront confusion, see things more clearly, and address problems with confidence.

My Qualifications

I’ve worked as a program manager; a test lead; a tester; a programmer; a documenter; a technical support representative. I’ve been a full-time employee, a contractor, and a consultant. I’ve run my own company for twenty years. I’ve both given and received coaching, too. I’m saying all this not to boast, but to let you know I’ve been around.

How It Works

Typically we meet for a free introductory session and identify areas where you’d like to make progress. After that, we set up periodic chats on a schedule that works for both of us. Usually coaching sessions are online, but if we’re in the same place at the same time, we can meet in person.

How Long It Takes

That depends on the issue at hand, of course. I often help people get things sorted out within that first (free!) session, after which there’s no obligation to continue. We work together until you feel you’ve got what you need, and then we stop.

What It Costs

I want to be able to help you wherever you are, so pricing depends on what you need and what you can afford. At the end of the first session (which is always free), we’ll agree on terms for subsequent sessions.