As a coach for house league lacrosse, my association provides me with a skills progression chart (a href=”http://adam.goucher.ca/coaching/sdp/index.html”>2007 version) which indicates what kids are expected to know how to do, and when.

As both someone who has lead test teams and taught testing, I think progression charts for tester knowledge are fantastic. Some companies have these already and use them for job description and promotion purposes, but I think they lose some of their value when used in that way as they become not tools of growth but checkmarks to achieve.

Here is an example progression chart as related to testing.

|

Test Cases
| |—| | | | Junior | Intermediate | Senior | Lead | | Test Case Execution | I | R | R | R | | Test Case Creation | I | R | R | R | | Test Case Analysis | I | R | R | R | | Scenario Execution | | I | R | R | | Scenario Creation | | I | R | R | | Scenario Analysis | | I | R | R | | Session Debrief | | | I | R | | Session Execution | | | I | R | | Session Creation | | | I | R Legend:
I – Introduced
R – Reviewed

Some notes on implementation

  • This is just a guideline. If you have someone that is capable of moving up the chart, then by all means move them up.
  • The chart works best if you tailor it to the needs of your team; perhaps you don’t do SBT at wihch point those rows become nothing more than a distraction.
  • As the world you operate in changes, update the charts to reflect those changes.