Grouplet Guide

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  1. Introduction

Introduction

Grouplets are teams of volunteers that address concerns affecting a broad segment of the organization.

They are usually self-forming, although they may occasionally be initiated by managers and executives. They often have no authority and few, if any, direct resources. It’s incumbent upon grouplets to recruit volunteers and make the best use of their time.

This guide aims to provide aspiring grouplet organizers with a “bag of tricks” for:

  • Getting a grouplet organized and productive very quickly
  • Maintaining team cohesion over time
  • Understanding the various forces at play in an organization
  • Making the undertaking high-impact and fun

This guide contains content also found in the Automated Testing Playbook, based on Mike Bland’s Unit Testing Perspectives presentation, which is licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Mike’s talk The Rainbow of Death and his (very) long-form article Goto Fail, Heartbleed, and Unit Testing Culture contains many more details and examples regarding the Google Testing Grouplet’s effort to drive adoption of automated testing, upon which much of this advice is based.