I started with my new company this year. And when I came here, the test team had a bad reputation. Managing from trans-Atlantic, bringing in offshore, being a bit offshore at the same time, even if dev is sitting also here, and having someone on the team, most people try to avoid due to bad communication skills. The team members here in Munich were not talking to each other, areas in the system were split between people, even if nearly all parts of the system interact some how.
To break the ice, I tried to communicate as much as possible with development and project management. But nobody came to my desk.
So I brought in the “Bowl of Communication”. Being a hobby woodturner helps. I put that nice thick bowl of beech on my desk and filled it up with sweets. I positioned it near the door, so that everybody coming along would see it. And it soon started to work. People came in, to grab some sweets, have some small talk, used the chance to discuss something technical.
During summer the bowl was empty. Could have brought gummi bears, but chocolates are always good, and our room was tooooo hot. Yes sir, south side, and no air-condition. Visitors came more scarcely.
In September the weather got better again. The project was a bit frustrating, so bring in the sweets again. And it helped again. People were stopping by again, sometimes several times a day. Bringing in news from the project, adding information on where to look more intensively, letting of steam, discussing bug reports, philosophizing about the specification. And all supported by a small bag of gummi bears or chocolates.
What one small bowl of sweets can change…
And yes, that’s “Explore it!” by Elisabeth Hendrickson (@testobsessed)
Always good to have some interesting looking books on the desk. Sometimes also a good way to start communication!!!
Test Pappy 
Nice post…
Hi Patrick, I miss your bowl of communication and of course you 🙂 See you, Frank
We miss you, too.