create products that customers love: a testing perspective

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Crea%ng Products Customers Love: A QE Perspec%ve

StarEast May 2015

Steve Hares Senior Manager

eBay

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A LiBle About Me

•  I’ve been in the soHware industry for over 30 years •  The past 6 at eBay in the Customer Support Technology

division •  Grew my QE team from 4 people to 60, one of the largest at

eBay •  Load and performance, heavy automaPon reliance, and

mulPple test methodologies •  All in support of delivering world class customer support •  Based on NPS scores, one of the highest rated CS experiences

in the market segment

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Look At Those Lines!

iPhone 6/6+ buying frenzy

Call of Duty madness


Why Do People Wait In These Lines?

“The products have to be terrific. And Apple’s products almost always are. Their quality is so consistent that people trust that whatever Apple comes out with next will also be fantasPc.”

-‐ Dan Lyons on why Apple customers wait in lines “It is usually the case that the reason a product or experience is very popular is because people realize it is of good quality”

-‐ Laura Brannon, a professor of psychology, Kansas State

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Quality’s Role In Making Long Lines

•  The quality of the product is key •  Customer Experience •  Quality builds trust •  Trust builds loyalty •  Quality and trust are differenPators

Customer Experience Rankings

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Customer Experience Drives Loyalty

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Customer Experience as DifferenPator

Ann Taylor

Chanel

Roots

Friendly, brand-building

experience

Lack of product knowledge;

slow

Fast, efficient, knowledgeable

American Express

Restoration Hardware

Linens ‘N Things

Kate Spade

Godiva

Non-inspirational experience

Amazon

Zappos

eBay Efficiency

Experience/Empathy

Source: Bain & Co. August 2008

4/23/15 StarEast Conference, Orlando, May 2015

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NoPce The Common Theme

•  Quality, Trust, Loyalty, Customer Experience •  Each is impossible without solid QE teams •  Your QE team is the guardian of the customer

experience •  Through this guardianship QE can: •  Influence products •  Drive success in the market •  Make it repeatable


Influencing Products

•  How does one become this guardian of the customer experience?

•  Be the customer •  Customer centric thinking and approaches •  Be at the table early and oHen •  Data driven approach •  ConPnuously seek to improve

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Be The Customer •  Use your own product religiously

ü  Create empathy for the customer within yourself ü  Drive change for a beBer customer experience ü  Create customer centric test strategies and plans

•  Work with customers as much as possible ü  Side by sides ü  Usability tesPng ü  User experience ü  Surveys and results analysis ü  Product demo’s, give a few !


Customer Centric Mindsets

•  Everything should be for the customer ü  This can oHen mean taking the difficult path ü  It’s not what’s easiest for the developer or yourself

•  Mindset for requirement reviews and test planning •  All tesPng should be end-‐to-‐end, customer centric •  Use different test methodologies where appropriate

ü  Persona or Role tesPng ü  Use Case driven ü  Data Modeling

•  Become a customer advocate. Be at the table. •  Speak out !!

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Be At The Table

•  Bring your influence early in the PDLC •  Requirements gathering •  Design decisions

•  When designs add complexity, speak out •  When code deliveries are poor, speak out •  Be part of the product introducPon team •  Evangelize within your organizaPon


Data Driven Approach

•  Wield your influence with numbers •  Be objecPve, not subjecPve •  Good metrics

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Data Driven Approach, ex. 1

* Used to delay a release to get a beBer quality customer experience


Data Driven Approach, ex. 2

* Used to drive an extra week of smoke tesPng to insure beBer customer experience

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ConPnuously Seek To Improve

•  Mistakes will be made and that is OK, once •  Learn from the mistake •  Run conPnuous improvement processes •  Be open and honest about the brutal facts •  Form partnerships and help others succeed


Conclusion •  No one knows the end to end customer experience like a good QE team

•  Being a good customer advocate will:

ü  See you sought out by others ü  Good visibility and recogniPon ü  Put you ahead of the developers for influencing product

success ü  Get people into those long lines !

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Q & A

Ask me anything you want !!

[email protected] Skype:stevehares


Thank You !

create products that customers love: a testing perspective

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