Nonviolent Communication in Testing: Observe, Don't Judge - Maroš Kutschy

From Blame to Clarity: Enhancing Team Conversations

In this episode, I talk to Maroš Kutschy, a QA technical lead passionate about automation testing and self-improvement. We go into the topic of nonviolent communication and its impact on tech teams. Maroš explains its four core components: observations, feelings, needs, and requests. We discuss how simple changes in language can greatly improve team dynamics and communication. For example, he illustrates how expressing yourself without blame opens up clearer dialogue.

"So yes, there is a lot of communication for testers." - Maroš Kutschy

Maroš is QA Technical Lead at Ness Košice, Slovakia. His hobby is automation testing. He likes leading and mentoring colleagues, learning new automation testing framework and helping people to enter the world of testing. In 2022 he was speaking at ‚Testing United‘ in Prague, ‚Nordic Testing Days‘ in Tallinn, ‚Tacon‘ in Leipzig, ‚HUSTEF‘ in Budapest, and ‚Test Dive‘ in Cracow. In 2023 he was speaking at ‚Software Quality Days‘ in Munich, 'HalfStack' in Vienna, 'SEETEST' in Bucharest and 'SANAE BEER.EX' in Bratislava. He likes self-improvement and leadership books, stoic philosophy, and exercising in the gym.

Highlights:

• Mixing evaluation with observation is a form of communicative violence: saying "John procrastinates" is an evaluation, while "John delivered fixes on the last day of the sprint for two sprints" is an observable fact a manager can act on.
• Saying "you disappointed me" shifts emotional responsibility onto another person; nonviolent communication reframes this as "I was disappointed because I needed to discuss open questions," keeping ownership with the speaker.
• Feelings and non-feelings are distinct: "I feel ignored" describes how you interpret someone else's behavior, while "I feel frustrated" names an actual internal state and communicates it honestly.
• Vague requests block action; a request like "send me automation reports more often" leaves the recipient guessing, while "send me reports on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday" gives a clear, executable instruction.

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