Managing the Testing Process: Practical Tools and Techniques for Managing Hardware and Software Testing

9.6. Pink Slips: Layoffs and Liquidation

According to Denis Meredith, 20 to 30 percent of testing and quality assurance organizations are disbanded within two years of their formation.^[] Informal discussions on Internet testing discussion groups like SWTEST-Discuss during the early 2000s recession has suggested that testers bear a disproportionate burden in layoffs, especially in economic downturns. Anecdotally, I can attest to the credibility of these observations, having experienced multiple layoffs as a test manager. In some cases, I was asked to wield the ax; in others, I—along with most or all of my test team—got the ax.

^[] See materials prepared for Denis Meredith's training course "Software Testing: An Integrated Approach," presented September 23-27,1991, at the University of California at Los Angeles, p. I–19.

For obvious reasons, companies don't tend to post big notices around the cube farm six months before a layoff, saying, "Get your resumes ready; here comes Chainsaw Al." In some instances, even the line managers might not know what's coming, although they usually do get a few clues. Based on my admittedly limited experience, and the shared experiences of some of my colleagues, I recount here some worrisome warning signs:

Being asked to participate in an employee ranking exercise, especially if this procedure involves every manager in the company.

I have never seen these rankings used for anything other than whacking the bottom rungs off the ladder.

Noticing a decline ...