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From the KWSQA Town Hall Meeting...

On April 18th, 2007 the KWSQA held it’s first Town Hall meeting, and it was a resounding success!

Members were invited to learn about initiatives the executive team are pursuing for next season, share ideas about the future of the
KWSQA, provide feedback on how the organization is operating, and ask any questions for the executive to answer. With approximately
40 members in attendance, there were a lot of great questions, suggestions, and feedback for the executive to take away. We
have already made some plans for implementing improvements within the organization in the upcoming season—others will be developed
in the upcoming months.
Thank you for your valuable participation and recommendations. Many thought that this meeting provided a sanity check for the organization,
and that we should do this at least every other year. Please contact any of the executive or info@kwsqa.org with suggestions,
comments, and feedback at any time. We look forward to hearing from you!

Themes: Are you aware we have them? Does it provide any value?

♦ Few members knew there was a theme, or thought it was important.
♦ Pros: Helps to focus topics for presenters, and is a guide for the executive.
♦ Cons: Could limit speaker topics; may discourage some members from attending for a season if the theme is not appealing to them.
♦ Suggestion: Have 80% of meetings directly relate to the theme, and allow flexibility with the remainder.
Executive Plan: Members will be invited to provide theme ideas for the 2007-2008 season, and will vote to
select the winning theme via a poll on www.kwsqa.org.

Speakers: We usually have very high quality speakers that are rated high in the surveys. Are we getting the right ones?

♦ Majority of members were happy with the speakers this season. Some people felt that the level of content was not communicated accurately, or in a timely fashion.
♦ Suggestions:
⇒ Have speaker assign a rating for target audience (introductory, intermediate, and advanced) to help members determine whether the meeting content is suitable to
their needs.
⇒ Publish an agenda with details of what the speaker will
talk about in advance (so members can determine if the topic is appropriate to their needs).
⇒ The general experience level of the membership could influence the level of the presentation. Use a poll or feedback form question to gauge the experience level of meeting attendees.
⇒ Have speakers that are developers, project managers, or business representatives. People in these roles can provide insights for testers to consider.
Executive Plan: There will be an increased focus on obtaining
speaker biography and presentation details earlier so that it can be shared with the membership at least 3 weeks prior to the meeting date. Members are invited to provide speaker recommendations.

Topics: Topics are often speaker driven. General topics tend to be Testing, Quality and Leadership.
What would you like to hear about?

Some Suggested Topics:
♦ Detailed Testing Comparisons – What are others testing; how do other companies plan their testing; and what is in their test plan.
♦ Communications and Leadership – Communication skills; how to work with difficult people.
♦ Tools – Automated and otherwise; open source or purchases; tools for testing with continuous integration.
♦ Certifications – What certifications are available and who has them. What education opportunities are available.
♦ Sharing Amongst Member Companies – Their products and services; tools used; processes used on a regular basis. Back to a grass roots sharing of ideas.
♦ Development Methodologies – How testing fits into (operates within) each methodology.
♦ Testing for Specific Technologies – For example, Desktop applications, web-based applications, xml, .net, etc.
Executive Plan: A lot of good ideas! Some will be used for upcoming meeting topics. Will also investigate
doing some additional smaller workshop format meetings for the more specific suggestions.

Food: Do you like what is offered?

♦ Almost always mentioned on the surveys.
♦ There are limited choices; we are happy to consider other options.
♦ Cost of Membership is low due to this.
♦ No comments were made from members.

Meeting Time and Duration: Are we meeting at the right time? Are meetings the right length?

♦ See TQM Volume 6 Issue 3 for poll results at www.kwsqa.org
♦ There is some interest in longer meetings, or an evening meeting, but the results were not overwhelming for or against.
♦ Meeting times can be an issue for members that travel further for meetings.
♦ It was noted that TASSQ tends to lose money on some evening meetings, especially if people commit but do not come (i.e. meal ordered but no payment to compensate).
♦ Suggestions:
⇒ Have longer meetings if needed based on the topic and content of the meeting
(i.e. not all would be longer).
⇒ Use an evening meeting for a special event – it’s not really convenient for
most on a regular basis.
⇒ Have meetings that start late afternoon so that it occurs immediately following work and is over by dinner time.
⇒ Start lunch meetings at 11:50 and end at 1:05 or 1:10. This should add
enough time for most speakers.
Executive Plan: Remaining current season meetings will start earlier at 11:50am. A late afternoon meeting will be trialed next season. Other changes will be assessed and planned for in upcoming months.

Mentorship Program: Is there a need for this in our community? Are members interested in being mentors? Are there members that are searching out mentors?

♦ Idea is to connect people who want
to teach or share with those who want to learn more. Some possible ways to implement this is via e-mail or a forum. This will need to be cooperative between parties.
♦ There was a lot of interest in this.
Could be used to mentor with someone
in the “next” position that you are interested in moving into. Executive Plan: Will work on implementing
a mentorship program in the upcoming months. Plan to set up 1 or 2 meetings for networking opportunities so people can get to know others for mentorship opportunities. Provide coaching on how you find a mentor, what do you look for
in a mentor, etc..?

Website: How often do people visit this site? What information should be on the site?

♦ Website is not actively used by most members.
♦ Suggestions for Content:
⇒ Post speaker topic, bio, presentation, and links to speaker’s site.
⇒ Put executive contact information, and KWSQA mailing address in a more obvious location.
⇒ Resource Library – recommended books, websites, magazines, etc..
⇒ Have people share sample test plans, test cases, process ideas, etc.
⇒ Host a Forum again! There was a lot of interest in this. Use a separate discussion list (vs. mailing list),
and allow ability to subscribe to discussion threads.
⇒ Website could be used to facilitate the Mentoring program.
⇒ Share membership statistics: role (QC, QA, Quality Manager); industry representation; experience
level.
⇒ Training centers available for QA / QC courses and training, and recommendations.
⇒ Make more use of polls.
⇒ Opportunities for Peer-to-Peer sharing among embers
Executive Plan: Working on expanding content for KWSQA website further, and it’s reputation, in the upcoming
year. Will make contact information more accessible, and make more use of polls. Will investigate setting up a forum, resource library, training recommendations, and mentoring programs.

The Quality Mark: Is this of interest? What
should we be including?

♦ The goal this year was to increase content to 8 pages each issue (mission accomplished!) from the 2 - 4 pages in recent years.
♦ Would like to increase content to 12 pages per issue in the next year or two, and become a widely recognized and sought-after QA newsletter. We need content from you to do this! For example: Articles, Tips & Tricks,
Funny/Scary QA Stories, Dear Qualtarro questions, Member Profiles, Book & Article Reviews,...
♦ Majority of members read The Quality Mark newsletter.
♦ Suggestions for Content:
⇒ Have people share sample test plans, test cases, etc.
⇒ People liked the member profiles—do
more of these!
⇒ Resource Library Reference list
Executive Plan: Working on expanding content for TQM further, and TQM’s reputation, in the upcoming year. Gather more content from
membership—see “what we need from you
” above.

Conference: What is the interest level in this? Good opportunity to be on a committee.

♦ There was a lot of interest in our organization offering a conference next
season.
⇒ Planning needs to start now, and
we are looking for people to be
involved on a Conference Committee.
Contact pres@kwsqa.org or
info@kwsqa.org if you are interested
in this opportunity! Executive Plan: Planning for the conference
will be done by a Conference
Committee. The KWSQA Executive
have some recommendations to start
them off: Hold conference in May
2008. Do 2 or 3 tracks around personal
development, testing, and quality
assurance. Offer at least two half-day
workshops within these tracks.

Membership Cards: Would like to be able to do attendance through a card reader?

♦ This is intended to improve check-in time and enable the executive to track
meeting attendance. Members would need to carry the card and swipe it on
their way into a meeting, or sign in manually. Non-member options would still be available—they line up to pay. Need to determine the expense for this.
♦ Suggestions/Comments:
♦ Have 2 lines for meeting entry... members could go in a different door and do self sign-in? Exec Note: This was tried in the past without success. Perhaps more communication on a process change to use 2 lines would help.
⇒ Is this really necessary? This seems fancier than required.
⇒ Have a sign-in sheet that would be passed around during meeting. Exec
Note: This can be disruptive to the speaker and is higher risk of not being
accurate. Manual review and entry required to track attendance, and ensure payments were made.
⇒ Barcode on card is quick and less bulky than a key chain fob (like you
get at a gym perhaps). Attendance tracking is easier. Executive Plan: Will generate a business case and estimates for implementing
a membership card and card reader system. Will investigate whether
there is someone on the executive who can do the technical work to set this
up. Stay tuned for details.

Courses: Should we continue to offer courses?

There was a lot of interest in our organization offering courses. Consider content that is not a series (e.g. not dependent on attending earlier sessions).
Executive Plan: While we are very
interested in continuing to offer courses
in the future, we decided to focus energy on putting on a great conference next season. We are hoping to include half day workshops, which may help those looking for a course.

Other QA Organizations: We try to keep in touch with other local (Toronto and London) QA
organizations. Are there other organizations
that we should interact with?

♦ Consider having developers come speak to testers (eye opener)
⇒ How does the exec interact with other
organizations? Exec Note: Sharing
what’s coming up; networking; speaker
contacts / topics.

Executive: Several key positions will be open this year! Submit nominations now!

Join the Executive
– this is a great opportunity and experience. There are key positions available for next year. “Many hands make light work.” Consider joining the exec and
help to implement some of these great ideas.
♦ Nominations are being accepted now; Contact pres@kwsqa.org or info@kwsqa.org if you are interested in this opportunity!
♦ The new Executive will be announced in June.

Paypal: Would people use this to pay membership fees?

♦ Mechanism for members to register and pay in advance using credit card.
Intended to speed up registration period at each meeting, and would be very helpful during the first couple of weeks of season when payment volumes are higher. Corporations can still mail in
cheques if desired.
♦ Neil Price-Jones has recent experience with the Pay Pal solution
with TASSQ, and will forward feedback to the exec. TASSQ did not pass the admin fee onto the membership this year.
♦ Neil had some good feedback about this (what if they couldn’t attend last minute
– do they get money back, no financial gain for member in using paypal, no financial gain for KWSQA with
admin fee we absorb, not very usable if corporation is paying for cost upfront).
Executive Plan: Will generate a business case and estimates for
implementing a Paypal payment system. Stay tuned for details.

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