Manual testing to automatic testing A formal training programme for testers at Bands 3 to 7

Coaching others in automation

Tracks: Band 6 quality assurance, Band 6 test engineering, Band 7 test engineering, Band 7 test management. Programme hours: 67.5 to 150.

Outcome: guide and coach others in automation, as the Practitioner and Expert level descriptions require. It also supports Part A dimensions Part A item 4: Leadership and Part A item 14: Responsibility for people.

Evidence: a coaching log for one or two cohort members from a lower band, with their feedback. Band 6 quality assurance also coaches a Band 4 or Band 5 colleague through their capstone (Module 16).

How it works

  1. Pairing. In hours 155.5–163 the training lead pairs each coach with one or two cohort members from a lower band. Coaches do not coach people they line manage.
  2. First meeting. Agree what the coachee wants help with, from their individual learning plan and current module. Agree how often to meet: 30 to 45 minutes in every 7.5 hours of learning is typical.
  3. Sessions. Use the session pattern below. Log each one.
  4. Feedback. In hours 193–238, the coachee writes a short piece of feedback in the log.
  5. Review. The coach brings the log to Gate 3 and Gate 4.

The coach's mentor remains the coachee's mentor. The coach adds practice and confidence; they do not replace the mentor or mark gates.

Session pattern

  • Goal (5 minutes): what does the coachee want from this session?
  • Reality (10 minutes): what have they tried? Ask them to show the code or the failure.
  • Options (15 minutes): ask before telling. "What could you try?" Pair on the keyboard only when needed, and let the coachee drive.
  • Way forward (5 minutes): one next step the coachee will take before the next session.

Good coaching habits

  • Let the coachee type. Coach by asking questions.
  • Explain why, not just how. Link back to the four core concepts: locate, act, wait, assert.
  • Praise real assertions. Challenge walkthroughs.
  • Never fix the coachee's gate evidence for them.
  • Keep to the spec's rules: synthetic data only, no secrets, every line explained.
  • Notice what you learn by teaching, and note it in the log.

Coaching log

Use coaching-log.tsv. One row per session.

View this document on GitHub materials/tracks/coaching-others-in-automation/index.md