You’re the Tester — are you making stand-up work for you?

Stand-up — that mandatory Scrum event that happens each day.

• That thing where you have 10 seconds to think of something to say to your peers to show you’re busy
• where you think about Netflix/lunch/the cat rather than listen to other people’s updates
• where you keep looking at the clock waiting for the finish so you can go have that social post stand-up coffee.

Sound familiar? We’ve all been there. But as a tester, you’re missing out. Big time. Stand-up is the crucial event of the day for you. Here’s how we should be doing it.

1. Listen to every update — And I mean really listen. As the champion of quality you have a responsibility to be aware of all current activity. To do this you need to know what each engineer is working on — do they need test input, are they following the correct test approach, is there an opportunity to pair, how can I add value.
   You won’t know this and you won’t be effective in your role if you don’t listen.
2. Ask questions — Stand-up is not a series of monologues. If the update is not clear, if the activity does not seem right to you, if you do not understand how this fits the sprint goal then question. You are the champion of quality — you need the information to be confident quality is being maintained. Ask.
3. Be annoying! — Stand-up can be hard. Maybe you’re new to the team, maybe there are seriously good engineers in your team. You probably don’t feel like asking difficult, challenging or obvious questions.
   But ask them, make them clarify their work and their test approach. Chances are you’re right and you’ll have made a difference. If not, the worst that’s happened is you’ve clarified they’re right and they’ll appreciate that! You are there to ensure quality is consistent so be annoying to ensure it is!
4. Know your update — Avoid that time when it gets to you and you mumble through some activities or repeat what you said yesterday (we have all been there! 😝) Ten minutes before stand-up, consider what you are going to say.. and ensure this is of value to the team. Think what the team need from you today and appraise them off this.
5. Know the bigger picture and keep the team aware of this — the developers will be focusing on one story or feature at a time. You will be the only one who is looking at the entire sprint backlog. Recognise you have this unique place and help the engineers keep the big picture in mind. Are they working on the right thing? Is it part of sprint? Is the priority right?
6. Make notes — How many people do you see taking notes at stand-up? Not many? Where else do you get a heap of information that will dictate your day and not try and remember these. So ensure you have a small notebook and write down queries and actions that you need to follow up. Feel silly? Don’t, you’re demonstrating your commitment.

Using stand-up effectively will bring benefits:

• the team will very quickly realise you mean business and that they can’t get away with meaningless updates. Suddenly stand-up will become a hugely useful activity for the team.
• Your standing in the team will increase markedly. Everyone will know what you expect and you mean business! Annoying tester = better quality!
• And they’ll respect you, which is crucial to deliver your role.

On a personal note, one of my teams best memories was the time I lost it at stand-up 😤- no-one was listening, people were talking in pairs, it was a complete waste of time ... so the mild-mannered tester became a raging beast for a minute, berating my peers for being completely unprofessional! The scrum master took note and stand-ups markedly improved thereafter! Don’t be afraid to shake things up a little!

As the tester, you have a responsibility to champion quality and the stand-up is your chance to ensure the team is working as you need them to. Not using stand-up effectively will hinder your ability to do your role.

So remember — prepare, listen, ask and take notes. Change the way you view stand-up and it will very quickly bring benefits. And that post stand-up coffee will still be there! ☕️