White Paper –

Motivating Testers – What’s in a role?

The results of a motivation survey of over 600 testers are presented in this paper.  The study separated out the survey respondents into six distinct testing roles: Developer/Tester, Test Analyst, Test Lead, Test Manager, Test Consultant and Head of Testing.

The factors and job characteristics that affect testers in each of the roles are compared and contrasted, as are the range of activities they perform.  It is clear from the results that different roles are best motivated by different factors and job characteristics, and, for some factors, something that motivates testers in one role demotivates testers in another.

The effects on motivation of education, professional qualifications, experience levels, salary, and outside interests for each of these different roles are also reported.

Motivating Testers – What’s in a Role?