作者：Tulay Tetiker McNally

作为领导者，我们应该帮助其他人理解QA团队对开发过程的价值，以突显他们的贡献。特别是在测试和测试员普通被低估的文化环境下，更有必要这么做。

测试是开发过程的必要部分，测试员与其他开发部门合作，不仅在保证开发时间和品质上做出贡献，而且使开发团队的技术债保持较低水平，从而确保开发顺利进展。

所以，如何组织QA团队？首先要有强大的领导，一支能干的分析师团队，一种团结协作的工作室文化。

QA(from startupia.org)

我们工作室的核心文化是BioWare取得成功的基础。核心价值提醒我们，我们必须进步，不只是改进游戏，还要让公司发展得更好。

我们工作室文化与我们的系统、结构和成员保持一致。在这样一个文化强大的地方，人们做事的动机是因为他们觉得他们在做正确的事，而不是因为有人要求他们去做。

BioWare的核心价值使我们的三方核心利益相关者（粉丝、雇员和投资者）保持平衡，体现如下：

工作的质量：关心员工，使BioWare成为一个最佳工作场所，使员工看到自己的成果和贡献，把自己的工作当作事业而不是职业。

产品的质量：强调我们必须总是致力于做出比上一个产品更好的产品。

企业精神：可以认为是开发更优秀的游戏，以更高效的方式工作等。

以上三点都体现了谦逊和诚实。这要求我们接受反馈、倾听和改进，总是追求更好的，在与外部团体交流互动时保持直率和诚实。

除非上层做好表率，否则别指望整个团队进步。上层应该建立一种氛围，提供一种愿景、激励政策，以及鼓励互动、合作和监督的机制。

我们的工作室的愿景是创造、实现和开发最高品质、最吸引人的游戏，用逼真的东西增强玩家的沉浸感，塑造令人难忘的典范角色和故事。

在BioWare，部门结构支持项目单元。它不是以项目团队为中心建立的。我们有强大的项目结构，其中项目经理和制作人主要负责他们从事的项目。

他们的关注焦点是整个项目的方方面面，如特点、品质和预算等。

每个学科（游戏邦注：包括美术、设计、程序或QA）的部门总监负责各个学科发挥最佳作用。以我个人为例，我负责战略计划、组织、监督，以及与QA主管一起培训QA团队。

我对我的学科、策略和员工的成功负责，也要承担失败的责任。在与其他工作室部门、项目主管的合作中，我的目标是保证项目和工作室的成功。当然，两个轴之间（项目和部分）可能存在矛盾，这就是为什么雇用肯合作、肯让步和交流能力强的人这么重要了。建立良好的人际关系和提高交流能力是关键。

制作人专注于当下的项目计划和他们跟进的产品，部门总监负责多件产品的长期计划、给项目安排合适的成员、改进开发实践和促进团队技能的提高。

在同时从事多个产品的大团队中，这种结构特别有效，我们的工作室就是证明。至于QA，我认为我们应该向部门报告，而不是向项目组报道，这样我们才能保持不偏不倚，支持所有学科的开发工作。

作为工作室和它的愿景、文化以及共同目标的组成部分，应该给工作室QA实现自身价值开辟一条有效的路径。

对我而言，每个从事我们的游戏的人都应该相信产品会成功，竭尽努力达到我们的共同愿景和目标，这是非常重要的。

在BioWare，我们的QA文化是：诚实、解答和乐趣。

1、诚实：我们要坦诚，这是首要的。开发产品的人会犯错，测试产品的人也会犯错。如果你不犯任何错误，那意味着你没有冒任何风险。只有接受错误，我们才能改正它（不要责怪其他人或其他部门）。我们的QA为自己的工作感到自豪，因为他们受到鼓励，竭尽所能为项目做正确的事。

2、解答：在一个始终变化的环境下，QA不断面临新问题。他们还要研究老问题，以便找到防止犯相同错误的解决方案。

3、乐趣：我们当然不会忘记享受乐趣。这意味着我们以积极的态度面对团队的工作。解决问题的必要过程就是发现问题；发现问题就意味着发现机遇。我们的QA乐意成为合作团队的一部分，总是寻找改进的机会。

为了实现这一愿景，我们必须与所有理解和持有相同目标的人共享承诺，一起付出努力。我们工作室的所有雇员拥有平等的机会发挥自己的全部潜能。我们平等对待所有员工，认可他们为公司做出的贡献，QA也不例外。

如果你想像我们一样成功，不应该只在团队中安排一名测试员，就指望奇迹发生。如果你想成功，你必须体现QA在开发过程中的价值。

可能要从小规模开始，看看他们与你的开发团队的合作情况，如果他们体现价值，那么就使用这次成功作为促进工作室发展的卖点。

总是体现价值，如果你想真正实现成功。如果QA不能“保证品质”，那么我很怀疑还有哪个部门能保证产品质量或有对产品质量负责。

产品质量是所有参与游戏的人的共同责任，人人都应该关注它。

很大程度上，QA两个字母在游戏行业中代表了耻辱和含糊，这个学科似乎必须改造自身，也许应该找一个新的名字或更适合的描述，才能有全新的开始。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Part 3: BioWare QA – A Culture of Integrity, Problem Solving – and Fun!

by Tulay Tetiker McNally

As leaders we need to help others understand the value that a QA team can add to development by making our contributions more visible. This is especially important in cultures where testing or testers have been under-valued.

Testers that are an integral part of development collaborate with ALL development disciplines to deliver valuable features on time and on quality, while keeping the technical debt to a manageable level so the development team can maintain a regular and reliable cadence.

So, how can you strive towards a quality organisation? It begins with strong leadership, a skilled team of analysts and a collaborative studio culture.

Our studio core values have been fundamental to the success of BioWare. Core Values remind us that we always have a need to improve, not only with our games, but also in making the company better all the time.

Our studio culture aligns our systems, our structure and our people. Where culture is strong, people do things because they believe it is the right thing to do, not because they are told to.

BioWare’s core values keep our 3 key stakeholders (fans, employees and investors) in balance and are defined as follows:

Quality in our workplace – focuses on our employees, making BioWare a great place to work and have our staff see their work and contribution as a career and not just a job

Quality in our products – emphasizes that we should always strive to make our next game better than the last

Entrepreneurship – This can mean developing games smarter, having more efficient processes in place and so on.

And all of this is in the context of humility and integrity. This can mean taking feedback, improving and listening, always striving to get better, being forthright and honest in our interactions with external facing groups.

An organisation cannot be improved only from the top. The top however can set the context and provide a vision, policy incentives, and mechanisms for interaction, coordination and monitoring.

Our studio’s vision is to create, deliver and develop the highest quality, most emotionally engaging games in the world. Engage the audience with something that feels real, create memorable characters and stories, and be genre-defining.

At BioWare, a department structure supports project units. It is not built around project teams. We have a strong project/matrix structure with the project managers and producers primarily being responsible for the project they are working on.

Their focus is on the overall scope of the title, the delivery of features on time, quality and budget.

Department directors of every discipline (art, design, programming or QA for example) are responsible for discipline excellence. I am, for example, responsible for strategic planning, organizing, directing and coaching the QA teams with a focus on my QA Leaders.

I am accountable for the success but also for the failure of my discipline’s processes and strategies and my staff. In conjunction with the other studio departments and project leaders, my goal is to ensure the success of the projects and of the studio as a whole. Of course there can be conflicts between the two axes (Project/Department), this is why it is so important to hire people that can collaborate, compromise and communicate well. Building good relationships and networking skills are key.

Where a producer on a game focuses on the immediate project plan and the product they are working on, the Department Director focuses on long-term planning across multiple products, staffing the project with the right people who have the right skill-set, driving continuous improvement of development practices and skills of their teams.

This structure is especially effective in fairly large teams that work on multiple products simultaneously, as it is the case at our studio. In the context of QA I feel it is important that we report into a department and not the project so we can be truly impartial and un-biased, supporting all development disciplines.

Being part of the studio and its vision, culture and having common goals with every other developer to ship the best story-driven games in the world, creates the path for truly embedded studio QA.

It is very important to me that everyone who works on one of our games believes in the success of the product and gives their best to deliver on our common vision and goal.

At BioWare our QA Culture is one of integrity, problem solving and fun.

Integrity, because first and foremost, we’re honest. People make software and people also make mistakes (including QA); if you are not making any mistakes, it means you’re not taking any risks. By accepting those mistakes we can work to improve them (without blaming one another or other disciplines). Our QA is proud of what they do, because they are enabled and encouraged to always do the right thing for project, to the best of their ability.

Problem solving, because in an ever-changing environment, QA continually encounters new problems. They also investigate old problems, by finding solutions to prevent them.

Last but not least we don’t forget to have fun. This is about having a positive attitude about the work the team does. A necessary part of problem solving is identifying problems; it’s also about discovering opportunities. Our QA are excited to be part of a collaborative group who are always looking for continuous improvement.

To realise this vision there must be a shared commitment, a collective endeavour with everyone understanding and aligning with the big picture. Every employee in our studio has equal opportunities to realise their full potential within the company. Every employee is treated fairly, respecting their contributions to the company and QA is no exception.

If you want to achieve similar success with embedded QA don’t just put a tester on a team and expect magic to happen. If you want to achieve success, you have to demonstrate value that QA can add to your development.

Maybe start on a smaller scale and see how they work with your development team and if they show value then use this success as a sales pitch to your studio for future growth.

Always show and demonstrate value if you want this (or any new model) to truly succeed. QA is not just about “assuring Quality.” – And I very much doubt that one discipline can do that or can be held accountable for the Quality of a product.

Quality is owned by everyone who is creating the game and everybody should care about it.

There is so much stigma and ambiguity attached to those two letters “QA” that it almost feels like the discipline needs to reinvent itself, and maybe finding a new name or more fitting description is a good start for a new beginning.(source:gamasutra)