Last year was really incredibly busy for me. Work stuff happened that was crazy hectic, then the "speaker" thing moved from 1st to 2nd gear. Then the broader community expanded a bit more - or maybe my awareness of it did. The local testing group moved from "once in a while" to "monthly meetings".
What am I looking forward to in 2012? That is an interesting question.
Personal/Professional Development
This is something that is kind of included in the following areas. There is much I want to learn and much I want to participate in - to help learn and see how things work in the world and not just in the theory/idea stage. Broadly, I want to "engage closer" in the local test community, the broader community of thinking testers, a variety of projects and meetups and... life.
So, a little more detail...
Projects, Writing, Work.
The day-job is the day-job. Yeah, there will be some interesting projects there, including a cool mobile device project. The projects I mean here are some interesting side-projects - things with other people. There are some cool initiatives with Matt Heusser that are interesting. Matt is a bundle of energy with lots of ideas. I'm flying as his wing-man on some items coming up (more on that as they get closer on the horizon.)
I'm looking into doing more writing. Writing is cool. It is work I can do anywhere and still have some semblance of a home life. Its funny - the more you write on a topic, the more you find there is to learn about on the same topic. So, if I can continue the process of writing/learning/sharing - so much the better. There are some magazines I've decided I want to approach about article submission - and follow-up on some contacts from late in 2011. Look for more on this in the near future.
This past August, I expressed an interest in getting more involved in the EdSIG - Education Special Interest Group of the Association for Software Testing. Aside from a few emails, I've been really lax in that. I want to change that this year. I'd like to become more involved with, and as a result learn more about, training software testers - helping them learn and think and grow as craftsmen.
Two interesting factors here - First is the announced Test Coach Camp the weekend before CAST - the Conference for the Association of Software Testing. This year's conference theme is The Thinking Tester - its going to be cool. The Coach Camp though is a new addition and it looks fantastic - a peer conference to talk about improving how we coach testers. I'm excited about that.
The second interesting factor is I volunteered to be a "contingency" instructor (I kind of missed the rush of people signing up to be "assistant" instructors because I let non-work email slip a bit while wrapping a project) for the BBST Foundations Course this March. I don't know if it will balance out, but I'm looking forward to it.
Community
Aside from the education and learning stuff, there are other aspects I'm looking forward to engaging (OK, note, don't try and write something after watching "Office Space" and trying to sound "professional"). The local tester group is up and running - next meeting is in two weeks and on a topic that should bring about good discussion - we're talking metrics. Oh yeah, pass the popcorn.
Toward the end of 2011, I began attempting to be more helpful in online forums - I'm afraid some folks consider my approach "annoying" - others seem to realize I'm asking questions to help me form an answer, and will "play along".
There are, of course, a pile of conferences out there - the mentioned CAST conference in July. STPCon Spring, I'm afraid I can't make work, but there are other possibilities out there. It will be a busy, fantastic year that way, I think.
Cool People
There are many folks out there that I spend time with as much as I can. There are others that, if I can, I want to spend more time with, learning from, learning with, sharing ideas and getting a clue. Now, some are broadly spread - over North America, Europe, some in India... So, kind of a "I'd like to and I'm not sure I can make it work, but I want to" list.
In generally alphabetical order, people I really want to find a way to hang with and learn from this year...
Perze Ababa Ajay Balamurugadas Bernie Berger Paul Carvalho
Salena Delesie Markus Gaertner Paul Holland Phil Kirkham
Micahel Larsen Darren McMillan Catherine Powell Mark Tomlinson
And of course, the folks I enjoy learning from already, although meetings are sometimes few and far between, and often only by Skype - Fiona Charles, Michael Bolton, James & Jon Bach, Griffin Jones, Nancy Kelln, Lanette Creamer, Matt Heusser, Mel Bugai, Lynn McKee... and all the rest.
For all you have done to help me learn, thank you. I look forward to learning with you all this year.
Showing posts with label oracles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oracles. Show all posts
Monday, January 2, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
On Patterns and Blinking and Puzzles and Expectation
Our family has a lot of traditions around the winter holidays, Christmas and New Year. One tradition is working on a massive 1,000+ piece jigsaw puzzle. We see it as beneficial in many ways. When the kids or grandkids are around, for them to participate ("become engaged") this thing that we are doing, they need to slow down. I've yet to take any pleasure from assembling a puzzle that can be whipped through in an hour or two.
Our puzzles tend to take a week or more to be completed. We'll start them one evening, then each day tinker a bit as each person has a few moments. In the evening, we try and set aside 30 or 40 minutes to work on the puzzle together. We've found it a great extension of "dinner table conversation" where we get caught up with each others' day.
Oh, we both like doing puzzles too, which is perhaps the biggest reason why we do them.
So, this year's puzzle was a photograph of a Scottish castle, no I don't know which one, with hills and mountains and things in the background, a bit of water near the castle (hard to tell if it is a river or a loch or merely a fair sized pond.) Like a lot of the better, or harder, puzzles, there were many bits that, well, looked a lot like other bits.
In sorting out which bits are which, you need to look for subtle differences - small changes or variances in the overall image. So, this last week, I had a portion that I was sure were part of the castle's battlements - the tops of the walls or towers. Then I noticed another piece - JUST like the one I had in my hand. but a little different. There was a small line in the piece I had that was not in this new piece.
I blinked. Literally.
The portion I was working on was indeed part of the battlements - but the reflection of the battlements in the water - not the actual "top of the wall" stuff. I was reminded of a defect I had spent time trying to track down on a recent project.
I had a set of expected results and behavior, my "oracles" - and the results - what I was actually seeing, were really really similar, but not quite what I was expecting. It looked right, but something did not feel right. What I was expecting, based on the described behaviors and expected results, was generally what I was seeing. But something did not feel right.
It was kind of like the puzzle pieces. One looked like what I expected it to look like. The other was, well, different.
That got me thinking about other things.
How many times are we certain that what we expect is really what we should expect? Is it not possible that the expectations are the "bugs"? What is it that makes the "expected results" "right"? Even when you are the one who created the "expected" results, how well do you really understand the software? Do you have a certain understanding as to what the changes will result in?
In my case, my "expected results" were what was at fault - both in the puzzle and the testing.
Once I realized my mistake in the testing, it became much easier to move forward. I will never know about the puzzle, I'm afraid. The orange tomcat who lives in the house with us decided that he had enough of us assembling the puzzle.
I believe, but am not certain, that we found all the pieces after he scattered them from the table.
Should we try and put that puzzle together in the future, I expect we'll find out about any missing pieces.
Our puzzles tend to take a week or more to be completed. We'll start them one evening, then each day tinker a bit as each person has a few moments. In the evening, we try and set aside 30 or 40 minutes to work on the puzzle together. We've found it a great extension of "dinner table conversation" where we get caught up with each others' day.
Oh, we both like doing puzzles too, which is perhaps the biggest reason why we do them.
So, this year's puzzle was a photograph of a Scottish castle, no I don't know which one, with hills and mountains and things in the background, a bit of water near the castle (hard to tell if it is a river or a loch or merely a fair sized pond.) Like a lot of the better, or harder, puzzles, there were many bits that, well, looked a lot like other bits.
In sorting out which bits are which, you need to look for subtle differences - small changes or variances in the overall image. So, this last week, I had a portion that I was sure were part of the castle's battlements - the tops of the walls or towers. Then I noticed another piece - JUST like the one I had in my hand. but a little different. There was a small line in the piece I had that was not in this new piece.
I blinked. Literally.
The portion I was working on was indeed part of the battlements - but the reflection of the battlements in the water - not the actual "top of the wall" stuff. I was reminded of a defect I had spent time trying to track down on a recent project.
I had a set of expected results and behavior, my "oracles" - and the results - what I was actually seeing, were really really similar, but not quite what I was expecting. It looked right, but something did not feel right. What I was expecting, based on the described behaviors and expected results, was generally what I was seeing. But something did not feel right.
It was kind of like the puzzle pieces. One looked like what I expected it to look like. The other was, well, different.
That got me thinking about other things.
How many times are we certain that what we expect is really what we should expect? Is it not possible that the expectations are the "bugs"? What is it that makes the "expected results" "right"? Even when you are the one who created the "expected" results, how well do you really understand the software? Do you have a certain understanding as to what the changes will result in?
In my case, my "expected results" were what was at fault - both in the puzzle and the testing.
Once I realized my mistake in the testing, it became much easier to move forward. I will never know about the puzzle, I'm afraid. The orange tomcat who lives in the house with us decided that he had enough of us assembling the puzzle.
I believe, but am not certain, that we found all the pieces after he scattered them from the table.
Should we try and put that puzzle together in the future, I expect we'll find out about any missing pieces.
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