It is quite rare to have a position on a project explicitly dedicated to Test Management. It is often assumed that the Head of QA (QA Manager, QA Lead, or Test Lead) is, by default, responsible for implementing everything outlined below. In practice, based on my experience, test management responsibilities are typically shared between the project manager and the head of testing. Moreover, some of the listed activities are often left unaddressed.
This article is intended to document these critical responsibilities. The list is not exhaustive; it does not cover the most basic duties but clarifies the purpose of the Test Manager role, regardless of its title on a project. It is recommended for review, alignment, and discussion by owners, directors, project managers, and especially the Head of QA.
What are the responsibilities of a Test Manager?
Test plans cover smoke tests, comprehensive product testing, and regression testing. A Test Manager must oversee and ensure the relevance and proper upkeep of test plans within the chosen test management system. Work on test plans should function like clockwork.
- Application regression management at the level of manual testing.
The Test Manager ensures that automated test execution is seamlessly integrated into all required CI/CD pipelines, including releases, pre-release stages, deployment to the test server, and beyond, ensuring automated tests are part of the process.
- Developers and automated tests. Developers must be able to run any type of automated test locally, on the dev server, in a container, or by any other means convenient for them.
- Operational logistics. The Test Manager determines who (automation engineers, manual testers, or developers) analyzes and processes the results of automated tests. They track the progress of specific test runs, analyze results, report defects, assign tasks, and coordinate everyone involved in resolving issues. The Test Manager is responsible for formalizing a clear algorithm, maintaining its relevance, and implementing it within teams to ensure seamless execution.
- Notification control. The Test Manager ensures that the team receives regular emails or messages with the results of automated test runs and that the team follows the defined algorithm. For example, if the automated tests fail, the release cannot proceed, and the team must resolve the issue within the specified timeframe.
- Monitor code coverage and Unit Test quality. We don't just write unit tests; they must meet certain quality standards. We have specific goals we aim to achieve. Tasks on our project have a definition of "done"—clear criteria for completion, such as whether a task requires the creation of a unit test.
- Our automated tests should be easily maintainable. We should strive for simple, standardized templates (e.g., PageObject) that ensure maintainability and quality. Regular code reviews of automated tests should be conducted.
The Test Manager determines which manual test cases should be automated. They must understand how to allocate automation resources in a given iteration, depending on which parts of the product require stabilization or additional regression testing. Further prioritization is required when working on multiple products, systems, or subsystems.
- Test plans alignment. Test plans for manual and automated testing must be tightly aligned. Manual test plans should highlight cases for automation, and automated test plans should clearly indicate cases for manual testing.
- Coverage strategy. Address critical questions and make informed decisions: Are defects covered by automated tests? Which tests will be used—unit tests or UI tests? Track and ensure adherence to decisions, supported by the necessary metrics.
Systematically monitor the impact of automated testing on regression. Assess the reliability of automated regression testing — evaluating how trustworthy it is and how effectively the current level of automated tests reduces the workload of manual testers.
The Test Manager oversees the balance between unit tests (performed by developers and crucial for regression), UI tests, and integration tests (end-to-end UI tests involving multiple subsystems or backend integration tests). Through metrics and oversight, the Test Manager must identify areas that require more attention — understanding which tests need to be scaled. If a particular product area is unstable, it should be prioritized for testing. The Test Manager must also recognize which testing domains need improvement or focus.
- R&D and optimal solution selection. This involves identifying and applying specific strategies that significantly improve testing effectiveness in certain situations. For example, the Data Driven Testing (DDT) approach, which tests a wide range of input and output values for automated tests. The Test Manager should know when to implement the DDT approach and when it will provide the greatest benefit.
The Test Manager must ensure that test cases have a tangible impact on releases. At the organizational level, it is essential to maintain an established CI/CD process, of which testing is an integral part. No one should be able to bypass the Test Manager and, for example, push a hotfix into production without notice and discussion.
- Participation in delivery planning. The Test Manager must be actively involved in the planning of deliverables, with the ability to influence schedules and ensure alignment with quality objectives. Active participation in discussions with delivery and project managers is mandatory.
- Systematically manage hotfix situations from a QA perspective. Even when a hotfix in production is absolutely necessary, the Test Manager should establish a system for recording each instance and analyzing its subsequent impact on the project (e.g., the emergence of additional bugs in production due to shortcuts or deviations from established processes). A thorough analysis of each situation may reveal that the hotfix needs to be covered by automated tests to strengthen regression testing. In addition, it may be worthwhile to run a specific suite of automated tests in production overnight to ensure that nothing has broken, or to perform additional manual checks. Increase influence and advocacy for quality
- The Test Manager should increase their authority on the project and communicate the importance of quality to the teams.. They must escalate and highlight issues when necessary, advocate quality values to C-level managers, and eliminate informal agreements between developers and testers. Their role is to promote a professional approach to delivery quality and maintain independence in quality assurance decisions.
- The Test Manager oversees the integration of manual and automated testing into CI/CD processes, continuously improving and refining the associated approaches. For instance, they introduce new test suites for additional runs, optimize test execution times, conduct R&D on emerging tools, fine-tune automated test metrics, and advocate to senior management for a balanced approach to quality and speed.
The Test Manager ensures that these practices are implemented within a specific project or subproject and that they have a measurable impact on culture, quality, and delivery stability. Metrics are used to evaluate product stability after the implementation of these practices.
- Expanding the established culture to other projects or subsystems. The aim is to establish a standardized and routine process. The Test Manager formalizes and refines processes by introducing clear guidelines. A testing checklist is created for every new project (e.g., subsystem development or new integrations), serving as a tool for the rapid deployment of an automated testing process where all participants understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Disseminating and formalizing best practices. The Test Manager monitors all projects within the organization where new testing approaches are introduced or existing processes are enhanced. Their responsibility is to ensure that best practices are identified, applied, and propagated across all projects in the organization.
Checklist: What Should Be on a Project with Implemented Automated Testing
If you’re starting a new project and other projects already have established testing processes to some extent, it’s critical to ensure the following elements are implemented and considered from the outset.
Checklist:
- The project includes up-to-date test plans for various scenarios (e.g., smoke testing, full product testing, regression testing). Manual and automated test plans are clearly aligned and mapped;
- Automated test execution is integrated into all necessary pipelines (e.g., releases, pre-release preparations, application deployments to test servers) and runs automatically;
- Email notifications with the results of each automated test run are configured and distributed to the entire team;
- Developers have access to the automated testing project and the ability to execute automated tests independently;
- A designated individual is responsible for monitoring automated test runs, analyzing results, reporting defects, and overseeing the established process;
- Another designated individual is responsible for addressing defects according to a clearly defined process (e.g., making updates to the project code or automated test scripts);
- The Test Manager has a significant influence over the delivery schedule and actively participates in discussions with delivery and project managers.
