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. |
| 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). Distinct from `skill-matrix-author` (a sibling that maps the team's capability today; the ladder defines what each level looks like over a career), from `hiring-rubric-author` in qa-hiring (scores external candidates against one role, not progression across levels), and from `performance-feedback-author` (a sibling producing feedback on one person's recent work; the ladder is the structure that feedback points at). 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 the `qa-manager` agent in qa-roles (which computes the single-team RAG digest from raw CI and tracker signals; this skill consumes such digests and writes the upward story), from the `head-of-quality` agent in qa-roles (which aggregates teams into a portfolio review; this skill is the communication layer either output feeds), and from `qa-okr-author` in qa-process (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. Distinct from `tester-one-on-one-planner` (sibling skill that plans the recurring conversation where this feedback is delivered), from `skill-matrix-author` (team capability map kept deliberately separate from performance data), and from `hiring-rubric-author` in qa-hiring (scores external candidates, not current team members). Use when a QA manager owes someone specific feedback this week, or when writing review input or a promotion case for review season.
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. Distinct from `hiring-rubric-author` in qa-hiring (point-in-time scoring of external candidates; this skill maps the existing team on an ongoing basis), from the sibling `team-capability-gap-analyst` agent (which consumes a completed matrix plus a roadmap and prioritizes the gaps), and from `onboarding-plan-author` (one new hire's ramp, not whole-team capability). 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). Distinct from `performance-feedback-author` (sibling skill producing a written evidence-based feedback artifact; this skill plans the recurring conversation where feedback lands), from `career-ladder-author` (the level structure growth conversations point at), and from the `quality-coach` agent in qa-roles (an adversarial Definition-of-Done reviewer of work products, not a people-conversation planner). Use when a QA manager sets up 1:1s with a new team, or when existing 1:1s have degraded into status meetings.