An integral part of my interviews is that I ask candidates after discussing each single experience or action they did: what were the results? How did you measure your action? And to my disappointment, most candidates reply with the simple consequence one would expect out of an action. For example, I introduced performance testing for the first time in my company. What were the results, I ask? We became able to do performance tests for our projects. Another example, I created knowledge sharing sessions where QA Engineers from different teams can formulate holistic understanding of the product. Well, what were the results? All QA Engineers learned more about the product.
As you can see, these statements are like the statement: the sun rises, then it’s morning. But while that can be said about the sun, in the professional life, as you know, initiating performance testing practice or organizing sessions in themselves can mean or lead to nothing.
The key is that with each action you take, you need to identify what’s your hitting spot that you are looking to influence – that’s your metric. Then, you put the tools that enable you to monitor and measure it. Only at that time, you can apply your action; then, check if it made an impact. Did anything change or nothing happened? Or perhaps it changed to the worse. With that knowledge you can drive and calibrate your action.
Forget mere actions. Define the metric and how you will measure it with the action. It is Impactful Results that you can demonstrate to yourself before others is what matters behind any action.
