[All Things Quality] People Are Not Fungible



fun·gi·ble

[fuhn-juh-buhl]
adjective Law.(especially of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.
Origin: 

1755–65; Medieval Latin fungibilis,  equivalent to Latin fung ī )to perform the office of + -ibilis 

Money is fungible. One bill can be freely exchanged for another. Gasoline is basically fungible. You can fill your car up at one station or another without worrying that you are putting something different in your gas tank.

But people are not fungible. Bob is not the same as Bill. Patty is not the same as Paula. Keith is not the same as Carla.

And, while I like for everyone on my small QA Team to be well-rounded, knowledgeable, and flexible, they aren't all the same. Some of them have more experience than others. Some of them are better at testing back-end systems than others, some of them are better at front-end systems. Some are terrific at deeply analyzing systems having no written Requirements, while others need more guidance. Some are particularly good at test automation, while others tend to focus on manual testing. They are people, and people are not fungible.

So, I get particularly annoyed when I am asked to "throw some QA" at a project and the implication is that I can just pick whoever happens to have 2 weeks available at that particular time and assign him or her for some testing. And if nobody happens to be available in that slot, I'm annoyed at the suggestion that I can just bring in someone new and have them be productive on day one, hour one.

We don't roll people from one random project to another without any thought and without any preparation. We can do better! We put more thought into it - thought about what is the best for the project, best for the company, best for the individual tester. We match up the skill set and the availability with the project needs, in order to achieve the best work we can do. We owe that to the business.

If all testing were the same, and my test team consisted of a hoard of mindless, faceless robots - then it wouldn't matter. Two weeks of testing needed? No problem, clone number 336 is scheduled to be available then. We don't have any clones available for that project in December? No problem, we'll rent two from uClone.

But all testing is not the same. And in particular all people are not the same. Testers (and people in general) are not fungible!

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.