Apart from keeping up to date with the latest tools and technologies, a tester has to bear tremendous pressure from other groups. When a tester is testing an application or product, there is constant pressure from the business users to release it at the earliest. Even if the there is slippage in schedule by the development team, the overall release date is not changed which puts extra pressure on the testing team. The development team, the business users, the senior management, everyone wants to push the release to production. It seems that the whole world except the testing team wants to push the release out to production at the earliest.
What should the testing manager do in such a scenario? The testing manager is the only person who is standing alone to stop/delay the release until the release is of acceptable quality. A testing manager should act as a gatekeeper of the release. If he/she succumbs to the pressure from other groups, then later on the accountability of any post-release defects comes on the testing team.
How can the testing manager handle such pressure situation? The testing manager should rely on well defined testing process. During the test planning stage itself, the testing plan and process should be clearly documented. The test plan and process should be got approved from all stakeholders. This helps in handling the pressure situation. The test manager is then viewed as the person who is implementing the agreed upon process, rather than an individual person who is delaying/stopping the release.
I as a testing manager have faced several such high pressure scenarios, and this technique has helped a lot to disperse the pressure to other stakeholders.
