diff --git a/contributors/devel/testing.md b/contributors/devel/testing.md
index 6bac2bd24..8c5b300a6 100644
--- a/contributors/devel/testing.md
+++ b/contributors/devel/testing.md
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ make test  # Run all unit tests.
 If any unit test fails with a timeout panic (see [#1594](https://github.com/kubernetes/community/issues/1594)) on the testing package, you can increase the `KUBE_TIMEOUT` value as shown below.
 
 ```sh
-make test KUBE_TIMEOUT=-timeout 300s
+make test KUBE_TIMEOUT="-timeout 300s"
 ```
 
 ### Set go flags during unit tests