Jesper Ottosen: Learning to Lead Testing Activities
summary
Claim: leadership is possible without a managerial role, and practical steps let individual contributors lead testing. Uses Hofstede cultural dimensions to explain org differences, a 1–4 scoring model (WLY mapping) to prioritise features, and references Team Topologies and glue work. Examples include a disaster recovery test with 300 people that becomes a yearlong project, cloud migration validation by scripting checks for provisioned resources, and stepping into a manager role during parental leave that leads to a promotion.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:09You don’t need to be a manager to lead
- 2:14Testing landscape
- 7:12Leadership vs management
- 10:30Test leadership in teams
- 15:30Cultural dimensions
- 17:18Psychological safety
- 19:33Why testing matters
- 25:35Prioritizing goals and risks
- 28:04Testing across organization
- 31:13First leadership steps
- 33:02Glue work in leadership
- 35:54Learning to delegate
- 37:00Assessing leadership skills
- 38:30Q&A
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