Dear Software Testing

This weekend, I saw a play that showed a manager driving out fear to lead his team to success. The play was ‘Dear England’ and dramatised Gareth Southgate’s term as manager of the England men’s soccer team.

The play shows Southgate using psychology. He hired the psychologist Dr Pippa Grange to be Head of People and Team Development. She was clear that she would not be doing performance psychology. Southgate wanted her to help the whole team. Dr Pippa Grange is shown working to remove fear from the team. 

Southgate also saw England’s soccer teams as a system. In the play, the England men’s and women’s teams work together as ‘One England’, and Southgate tells the players that ‘One England’ also includes the catering staff.

In the play, Southgate identifies taking penalties as a key weakness for the England team. Southgate, the team coaches and Dr Pippa Grange developed a theory to improve England’s ability to take penalties. Knowledge is built on theory[1]. The theory of how to take penalties was tested in the 2018 World Cup when England beat Colombia on penalties. The team learned that their theory of how to take penalties was a successful way to take penalties.

Southgate is a leader, he is a “coach and counsel, not a judge”[2].

In ‘Dear England’, we see psychology, systems thinking and the theory of knowledge transform the England men’s soccer team. We can use psychology, systems thinking and the theory of knowledge to transform our teams. This play is great management training.

Psychology, systems thinking and the theory of knowledge are three parts of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, which Deming used to rebuild the Japanese economy and help Ford become the most profitable car manufacturer in America.

Dear Software Testing, go to see ‘Dear England’ because it shows the use of techniques that will help you become a leader in test and quality(and the play will also make you laugh, smile and feel good!)

References

[1] The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming (1994, p102)

[2] The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming (1994, p126)

Further Reading

• Dear England at the National Theatre
• Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself by Dr Pippa Grange
• DemingNext eLearning from the Deming Institute that includes the System of Profound Knowledge (with a two-week free trial)