Strategic Decision Making

Strategic Decision Making

The modern workplace is very dynamic and competitive, which requires individuals to have practical decision-making skills that will give them an added advantage in the work environment. The roles of an SAP test leader include the development of test designs and strategies, provide quality assurances, and review of the existing technology systems while at the same time leading their implementations. These tasks require specialized training for the test leader to carry out their duties competently. This paper presents a detailed reflection on the importance of strategic decision making in successfully implementing the roles of an SAP test leader.

The skills gained during a student’s coursework in the SAP technology enable them to practice in any field, be it corporate or government. When working in a financial company that recently developed a website for banking, an SAP leader is required to provide the necessary software tests to ensure services of the highest quality. The leader needs to come up with a strategic team that will manage the operations of the financial website for the commercial company. The vital decision-making skills learned in the coursework help the leader to form a team with skilled and talented members who will successfully operate the website. Making strategic decisions involves several uncertainties as to whether the plans or the groups will effectively perform their tasks in the testing process (Myers et al., 2017). Some possibilities that the test team might have is if something will come up or if something goes wrong and such. A strategic decision considers all the uncertainties of the team members and addresses them early enough so that they cannot affect the implementation of the project.

After setting up the team, the test leaders, together with the team members, set up the specific systems that will meet the institutional requirements, and effectively serve the customers. A critical component of the course work on the introduction to SAP software is the software validation and testing process that prepares the students for this particular job description. As a test lead decision making and the validation techniques are essential in excellently carrying out the control and organization of the testing procedures. An effective communication system helps in the coordination of the team members to ensure their participation in information sharing that will make it easy to control and monitor the testing process.

Testing required in every software development model, and so the banking website needs regular tests to evaluate its capability in serving the customers. Testing is very critical as it allows for the constant improvement of the performance, reliability, and the quality of the website. A leader equipped with an adequate understanding of the software testing procedures and management provides strategic leadership decisions. The leaders also have confidence that motivates the team members to perform their tasks in ensuring the reliability and highest quality banking website. The leadership and management skills learned in the coursework enables the student to effectively lead test teams through strategic planning, allocation of duties, and management of successful testing of any given software (Lyngso, 2017). Test management also requires a good understanding of the organizational cultures and structures in the workplace and develops plans and test strategies aligned with the company values and structures.

There are a lot of challenges in leading any project that requires the leaders to have creativity and flexibility in performing their duties and leading successful teams. Some significant challenges include inadequate resources and time to carry out the tests due to low budgets or short timelines allocated for the projects. The financial company allocated had allocated a fixed budget for the website testing and limited time but still maintained that they wanted a high quality project. The negotiation skills learned in the coursework helps in making strategic decisions at the workplace. Decisions that do not compromise on the quality of the project while at the same time ensure that both the project team and the company management get a fair deal. Effective negotiation techniques made it possible for the financial company to provide an additional budget for the website testing and also increase project duration. The added time gave the team enough time to do verifications and validation of some of the complex requirements on the banking website. The team also had quality time to evaluate the website and adjust the necessary elements that ensured the delivery of the highest quality services to both the company and the customers. The practical experience gained in the course work on an actual testing assignment makes the application at the work environment less difficult even when it is the first work application.

Negotiating a way out of a challenging situation demonstrates how risk-taking making a strategic decision can be, especially when looking at a long-term implementation plan. In the case of the limited company budget, it would have been easier to choose to work with the low costs but, of course, with compromise in quality (Hitesh, 2017). However, with strategic decision-making skills, it is possible to convince the management to increase the budgets and implementation timelines. To effectively implement effective decision making, the test leader must ensure the continuous involvement of project teams in every stage from the start of the testing strategy.