Gold Nugget ACT2LEAD Kari Kakkonen at Quality Beacon

This the presentation about the test leadership key takeaways condensed into a heuristic ACT2LEAD.
I presented this at DSTB Quality Beacon in Copenhagen, Denmark 21.10.2025
A as Add testing to everything
C as understand your Context
T as make testing Transparent
2 as use both human beings and automation/AI
L as learn continuously
E as Enable Quality Culture
A as Adapt to risks and value
D as diversify your testing

1. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEAD heuristic
Gold nugget 10 mins
Kari Kakkonen
DSTB Quality Beacon 21.10.2025

2. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
[email protected]
[phone]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karikakkonen/
Kari Kakkonen
Service Owner, Customer Expertise Development, Gofore
●Almost 30 years in testing, a bit less in agile, DevOps, and AI in all industries
●Author of ‘ACT 2 LEAD Software Testing Leadership Handbook’ and ‘Dragons Out’
●EuroSTAR Testing Excellence Award, Tester of the Year, Exemplary DevOps Instructor
●Volunteer at FiSTB, ISTQB, TMMi etc.
●Married, 1 son, kayaker, snowboarder, roleplayer, a cappella singer

3. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEADas a heuristic
Add
Add testing to all aspects so that testing is not a separate process
or phase. Lead it as a whole.
Organizational level Operational level
Contracts, budgets, team
structures…
Plans, development process,
DoD…

4. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEADas a heuristic
Context
Understand your context and lead testing accordingly.
There is not just one correct way to test or lead testing.
Organizational level Operational level
Business, culture, domain, regulations, contracts, budgets…

5. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT2 LEAD as a heuristic
Transparency
Create transparency in testing.
The better the visibility, the better it can be led.
Organizational level Operational level
Culture, capabilities, vendors…Test results, quality, risks…

6. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2LEADas a heuristic
2
Humans are good at exploring the product, and
automation is good at checking the product.
Organizational level Operational level
Budget, time, metrics.…
Pipelines, test automation,
exploratory testing…

7. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEADas a heuristic
Learn
Learn to test and test to learn.
Organizational level Operational level
Culture, community, training…Debriefs, feedback, pair testing…

8. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEADas a heuristic
Enable
Enable quality culture
where the importance of quality and testing are understood.
Organizational level Operational level
Budget, trust, team structure…Time, competencies, tools…

9. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEADas a heuristic
Adapt
Adapt testing to risks and value.
Organizational level Operational level
Risk identification and mitigation, value analysis,
focus testing on high-risk areas and value

10. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
ACT 2 LEAD as a heuristic
Diverse
Ensure testing is diverse enough.
The more diverse the testing, the more diverse information you get.
Organizational level Operational level
Recruiting, vendors,
improvement…
Test types and approaches,
test environments...

11. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
Actions to take
●Talk to your C-level for them to take ownership of quality
●Broaden testing awareness with your stakeholders
●Analyze people’s competencies and improve them
●Agree on what to delegate and what to keep
●Create, e.g., the job of Head of Quality Engineering
●Create organizational-level testing
○Policy, Mission, Values
○Strategy, Guidelines
○Community of Testing / Quality Engineering
○Rethink budgeting
●Use ACT2LEAD heuristic

12. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
Questions?
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Our services
●Talks (team days, community events, schools…)
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●Advisory, consulting

13. Copyrights © Marko Rytkönen Oy and Dragons Out Oy
www.act2lead.net
[email protected]
[phone]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markorytkonen/
[email protected]
[phone]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karikakkonen/
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