QA Community Outreach Guide [DRAFT]

Purpose

  • To provide an easy guide for mozQA members to provide direction for new community members to help mold technical and communication competency.

"Tips to Live By" for MozQA

  • Actively engage with community members as if it was your first priority. The QA community is a place to not only test Mozilla projects, but also enjoy your time in.
  • Always ask questions if you don't understand what they mean
    • If they don't answer back after a certain length of time, make sure to ask if they're confused about something
  • Always answer questions promptly and accurately, but with a teaching point of view
  • Remember it's not what they can help you with, it's what the Mozilla QA community can offer them and/or how we can get them to where they want to get at

Initial Introduction for New Community Members

  • After the end of the first conversation, either one of two things should happen
    • If they have a specific interest in a specific area
      • Give them the contact information of the mozQA member who is in charge of that area
        • If WebDev, have them read the WebDev Volunteer Guide and contact stephend via e-mail
        • If Community Involvement, contact aakashd via e-mail
        • If Data Analysis, contact murali via e-mail
        • If Localization, contact tchung via e-mail
        • If Mobile, contact jmaher via e-mail
        • If OS Testing, contact marcia via e-mail
        • If Triaging, take part in Bug Days and/or contact tracy via e-mail
        • If Unit Testing/Automation/Tool Development, contact ctalbert
        • If Website Testing, contact whimboo via e-mail
      • After initial contact, offer a simple assignment to determine their level of competency (each person is in charge of determining a simple assignment) as well as reading material about the subject in QMO's doc tree
    • If no specific interest, ask them to run through Litmus test cases and find a subgroup they are interested in testing more
      • Ask them to read "Litmus Tutorial", "Litmus Triaging Guidelines", "A Bug's Life Walkthrough" and "Bug Triaging Guidelines" Docs on QMO
      • Once they have determined a subgroup, allow them to vet 1-2 test reports/bugs within one of your own subgroups and determine their competency

Determining the Next Step

  • Once they have incubated in their beginning tasks and have confidence that they are ready to assist further, make sure to promote them by giving them more authority and responsibility.
    • Each person has different abilities and interests. Make sure to ask them if they're interested in some specific authority and see how they do
    • Once this authority is offered, you need to treat them as a valued member of the community who can be depended on
    • If they ask for authority, give them a chance to deliver (and make some mistakes)