qa-team-management
QA people-and-org toolkit for QA managers and heads of quality: 5 skills (career-ladder-author, exec-quality-narrative, performance-feedback-author, skill-matrix-author, tester-one-on-one-planner) and 1 agent (team-capability-gap-analyst). Covers team capability mapping per ISTQB CTAL-TM v3.0 Managing the Team, IC/management career ladders, GROW-model 1:1s, SBI evidence-based feedback, and Minto-pyramid executive quality narratives.
Install this plugin
/plugin install qa-team-management@testland-qaPart of role bundle: qa-role-leadership
qa-team-management
QA people-and-org tier for QA managers and heads of quality: map team capability against ISTQB CTAL-TM v3.0 "Managing the Team", design IC and management career ladders, run GROW-model 1:1s, write SBI evidence-based feedback, and turn quality data into Minto-pyramid executive narratives.
Components
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Skill | skill-matrix-author | Build a QA team skill matrix (members x competencies x evidence-backed proficiency) and derive a gap analysis against the team's required testing skills, per ISTQB CTAL-TM v3.0 chapter 3. |
| Skill | career-ladder-author | Design a QA career ladder - parallel IC and management tracks, per-level criteria on constant axes, observable promotion evidence, and the anti-patterns (tenure promotion, management-only ceiling) named per level. |
| Skill | tester-one-on-one-planner | Build recurring 1:1 agendas with a protected status-vs-growth split and a GROW-model (Goal / Reality / Options / Will) coaching-question bank seeded from each tester's skill-matrix row. |
| Skill | performance-feedback-author | Draft evidence-based feedback and review input using CCL's SBI(I) model, with every Behavior statement pulled from work artifacts (bug reports, test code, review comments) rather than impressions. |
| Skill | exec-quality-narrative | Turn computed quality data (digests, KPIs, DORA metrics, escape trends, OKR grades) into an answer-first executive / QBR narrative structured by the Minto Pyramid Principle with cited numbers. |
| Skill | quality-status-digest | Computes pass rate, escape defects, and flake debt into a red / amber / green per-team digest, then rolls those same rows into a portfolio heatmap with STABLE / WATCH / INVEST tags. |
| Agent | team-capability-gap-analyst | Reads a completed skill matrix plus the upcoming roadmap and emits a prioritized capability-gap report with a train-vs-hire recommendation per gap; refuses self-assessment-only matrices. |
The components compose as a management loop: the skill matrix measures today, the ladder defines progression, 1:1s and feedback move individuals, the gap analyst converts matrix-plus-roadmap into training and hiring moves, and the exec narrative reports the outcomes upward.
Install
/plugin marketplace add testland/qa
/plugin install qa-team-management@testland-qaComposition with the rest of the marketplace
Skills
career-ladder-author
Build-an-X workflow that designs a QA career ladder - parallel individual-contributor and management tracks, per-level criteria across consistent axes, and observable promotion evidence per level - modeled on public engineering career frameworks (the Dropbox Engineering Career Framework, which includes Quality Engineer and SDET roles) and the career-development guidance in Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path (ISBN 978-1491973899). The ladder defines what each level looks like over a career - not a snapshot of the team's capability today, not a scorecard for grading external candidates against one open role, and not feedback on one person's recent work. Use when a QA org needs leveling criteria - before promotion season, during compensation banding, or when senior testers ask what comes next besides management.
exec-quality-narrative
Build-an-X workflow that turns already-computed quality data - weekly digests, KPI roll-ups, DORA delivery metrics, escape-defect trends, OKR grading - into an executive or QBR narrative structured by the Minto Pyramid Principle: governing answer first, MECE-grouped support beneath it, SCQA opening (Barbara Minto, The Pyramid Principle, ISBN 978-0273710516). Distinct from single-team digest computation (which computes the RAG digest from raw CI and tracker signals; this skill consumes such digests and writes the upward story), from portfolio-review aggregation (which aggregates teams into a portfolio review; this skill is the communication layer either output feeds), and from QA OKR authoring (forward-looking commitments; this skill narrates what happened and what it means). Use before a QBR, board update, or exec review when the data exists but the story does not.
performance-feedback-author
Build-an-X workflow that drafts evidence-based performance feedback and review input for testers using the Center for Creative Leadership's SBI model (Situation - Behavior - Impact, extended to SBII with Intent) - pulling every Behavior statement from verifiable work artifacts (bug reports authored, test cases and automation merged, review comments, charter session logs) rather than impressions or adjectives. Produces the written feedback artifact itself - not the agenda for the recurring conversation where it is delivered, not a team capability map (kept deliberately separate from performance data), and not a scorecard for external candidates. Use when a QA manager owes someone specific feedback this week, or when writing review input or a promotion case for review season.
quality-status-digest
Computes a recurring quality status digest from metrics that already exist: CI pass rate with an explicit denominator rule, escape-defect count, and a flake-debt score, assigns red / amber / green per area against stated thresholds, then rolls the same per-team rows into a portfolio view with a severity-by-blast-radius heatmap, STABLE / WATCH / INVEST tags, and a capacity flag. Keeps DORA delivery metrics separate from defect-leakage and flake measures instead of blending them under one label. Produces the status artifact only: it does not instrument anything, does not define SLOs or targets, and does not decide what gets fixed first. Use when a weekly quality review, sprint check-in, or quarterly portfolio review is due and the CI history, defect tracker, and quarantine list already hold the numbers but nobody has assembled them into one page.
skill-matrix-author
Build-an-X workflow that produces a QA team skill matrix - team members crossed with competency dimensions at explicit proficiency levels, each cell backed by observable evidence - then derives a gap analysis comparing the matrix against the team's required testing skills. Competency dimensions follow ISTQB CTAL-TM v3.0 chapter 3 (Managing the Team): professional, methodological, social, and personal competence. Maps the existing team on an ongoing basis - not a point-in-time score of external candidates, not the downstream prioritization of those gaps against a roadmap, and not one new hire's ramp plan. Use when a QA manager needs to know what the team can do today versus what its projects demand - before planning training, hiring, or work allocation.
tester-one-on-one-planner
Build-an-X workflow that produces recurring 1:1 agenda structures for a QA manager and each tester - a cadence plan, a per-meeting agenda with an explicit status-versus-growth time split, and a coaching-question bank built on the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) with QA-specific prompts seeded from the tester's skill-matrix row. Grounded in the 1:1 meeting styles cataloged in Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path (ISBN 978-1491973899). Plans the recurring conversation where feedback lands - not the written evidence-based feedback artifact itself, not the level structure those growth conversations point at, and not a review of work products. Use when a QA manager sets up 1:1s with a new team, or when existing 1:1s have degraded into status meetings.