Hell of a Tester

Should all testers learn to automate? Or shift left? Or shift right? Are the wrong questions. The correct question is, should everyone in the team do what is in the long run the most valuable thing to do for the good of the team & product & customers.  The answer to that question is Yes. This is the question you should be pondering, when thinking about what and how to do stuff.  This is the question you should be pondering, when thinking what you are best at, and how you can best help the team.  Forget your role. Forget the hype.  Instead ask yourself, what should I do now that will in the long run provide most value to the team & product & customers. Then (learn to) do that. And you are going to do great. Now, and in the future.

I've worked in quite a many places, all having different levels of hierarchy and bureaucracy. I hate that stuff. If a team needs a tool that they think will help them to do better work, why do a "request" from some manager not let the team decide? If a team thinks they would benefit of a new coworker, why let a manager decide who and where to hire and not the team. If team members think they want some yearly reviews, why not let them do those themselves (or just skip those and do something else instead)? And if there are issues why not let the team sort them out, instead of waiting for a manager to "do their job". The more I've worked, the more I've started to think that good teams should just be allowed to do all this. Give them the freedom and responsibility, and expect great results. Lead by providing resources, giving feedback, communicating about the vision. Let the team decide what to do, and how to do it. Let people work to their full...