How can QA professionals improve their strategic thinking?

What is the business impact of your project/module? What's the number of users? How much do they use your feature(s)? What revenue is getting generated from that? All these questions should help you get an idea of the impact of your QA contribution on the company's business. Combine that with overall market insights, and you should get a fair understanding of the general impact of your work.

Gain a deep understanding of the organization's overall business goals and objectives. Aligning QA efforts with these objectives ensures a strategic approach.

Improving strategic thinking in QA involves honing skills beyond technical expertise. Here are some ways QA professionals can enhance their strategic thinking: 1. Understanding Business Goals 2. Learning the Big Picture 3. Risk Assessment 4. Critical Thinking 5. Communication Skills 6. Continuous Learning and Adaptability 7. Collaboration and Networking By incorporating these practices into their work routine, QA professionals can elevate their strategic thinking, contributing more effectively to the overall success of software development projects.

First is to understand the difference between strategic and tactical or operational. Strategic is something which has a significant impact on how operations can be done. E.g. Should we hire people with strong technical or strong attitude or communication. Whats our strategy to grow people in next 2-3 years. Thinking about some of these things will require in depth knowledge or domain, industry and customer so acquire that

In my experience, it helps to start with an understanding of the broader ecosystem in addition to knowledge of your organization and to use frameworks that help you analyze (e.g. porter 5 forces, industry and product life cycles, etc) to better understand what maybe driving the currents and waves that you are navigating.

You cant manage whatever you cant measure so its always best to have KRA's well defined and in line with Customer expectations. This alignment is very important. Organization goals, customer expectations and individual KRAs should all be in sync

I agree, and in my experience, it’s also helpful to map and include dependencies within and across teams and organizations; to look beyond one time period, and to be quantitative even when it’s difficult or early. This might suggest there are several input and/or output measures to be managed to, where feasible.

SMART goals are always a good guide. Suggest also considering FAVS goals - Few, Achievable, vision-based, Simple. Combining the two guides makes for fewer and more manageable goals which are meaningful.

Contact Mark Lado. Mark is an experienced pro for manyyears pro in QA. I’ve known Mark for many years at TRW Automotive. Let me know if you don’t have Mark’s contact details…

I agree, and in addition to gaining insights from peers and SME’s, might also look for case studies from fairly different products, organizations or market. It may be that you’re navigating change that’s new to your organization, but it may be change that others have already navigated with new best practices already learned and you may be able to speed up learning curves and/or avoid some pitfalls.

Continuous Process Improvement: Implement a continuous improvement mindset for enhanced efficiency. Crisis Management Skills: Develop crisis management skills for strategic navigation. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Leverage data for informed and strategic decision-making.

If QA professionals want to improve their strategic skills then the first thing they should do is get out of QA. Sad but true.

Involve in discussions beyond operations and day to day work. Attend industry events and conferences on the domain and subject matter to have an in depth knowledge to build your perspective

To enhance strategic thinking, QA professionals should start by thoroughly understanding the scenario, dedicating time to analyze, and striving for a clear picture. Cultivate a creative and positive mindset, embracing a continual learner's approach. Actively listen to others, absorbing knowledge beyond your expertise. Stay informed about industry developments, and revisit fundamental principles. This holistic strategy empowers QA professionals to navigate complexities, innovate, and contribute effectively to their teams and projects.

MSA Measuring Systems Analysis: this is instrumental to understand how big is the challenge, and what tools you have to measure it. Only then, you can discuss QA, ideally with strong statistical rigour, but we know in practice qualitative plays an important roles as much as quantitative.