I really don't have time to be writing this blog entry. I should be working on the exam study guide for the Black Box Software Testing (BBST) course I'm taking through the Association for Software Testing (AST.) If not that, I should be finishing answers submitted some time ago to Ask the Tester through STP. I'm getting there, but a couple of the answers I wrote I'm not really satisfied with. I also should be polishing the slides for the presentations I'm doing at STPCon next month. ALMOST done, is not DONE. Right?
I needed to come up for air after having a bit of a break in my schedule though.
One of the commitments I have that is fairly long-standing is teaching drumming. Since July, I've been working with a group of absolute novice drummers with a pipe band on the East side of Michigan - about two hours from my home. So, we got together once each month in July, August and September, then twice a month since then. We met on Saturday afternoons for four hours.
The youngest student is eight years old, the oldest is in his late 30's. The goal was to teach them enough where they could play with their band. Two students had some drumming experience outside of the world of bagpipe bands: one is a middle-school student learning drums through school; the other is his dad. Dad had some drumming but no formal training. The lesson in July consisted of "This is a drumstick. This is how you hold a drumstick."
The first week of December, one of the students made a comment that he felt like they were doing a lot of exercises but bot really getting what they needed to actually play with a band. I asked what he meant. He said "We do all this stuff, I'm learning a lot but I'm not sure how it applies to me playing in the pipe band." My response was "You all are closer than you think. There is no reason why at least two of you will not be able to play with the band at the band's ceilidh (a party/celebration - lots of music and dancing and bagpipes) in February. Everyone else will be able to play with the band by May." They looked at me in complete disbelief.
The next lesson, shortly before Christmas, I passed out a new exercise, a full sheet of music. I told them, "This is a drum salute that you will all be playing in February. All of you can play everything on this page."
Their performance was last night. My lady-wfie and I, grandson as well, drove across the State to go to the band's ceilidh, which is their biggest fundraising event of the year. The place was packed - hundreds of people in a hall. A short introduction and the drumming students came out first - before the full band. Then they played. They did really well. I was terribly proud of them and what they had done.
When they finished as a group, the pipers marched into the hall and joined them. The students who were not quite ready stepped back and moved off stage while the other drummers played the rest of the performance. At the end of the night, this band came out again along with the two guest pipe bands and played together. Some of the stiudents went out to play with the other bands, some did not feel comfortable doing that. No worries. No pressure. The idea was to have fun.
All of them are reinvogorated. The most consistent comment I heard from them was how much fun they had playing. Even the ever-so-cool teenage boy smiled and said that was a lot more fun than his school stuff.
So, after driving back across the State this morning (hoping to beat the nasty weather predicted) I was thinking about the drumming students experience and my own with BBST. Part of the opening lecture was about reading carefully. I muffed two questions on the last quiz and one on the one before because I did NOT read carefully enough.
In working on answers to the essay questions in the exam study guide, I find myself challenging my own statements, thinking hard about the answers and running through them in my mind. I am finding myself more challenged than I have in some time to look at how I think about things, testing in particular.
In the current project at work (yeah, I'm trying to keep up with that as well) I find myself thinking about concepts I've just read or re-read from the course. (If the boss thinks I was passionate about how testing can be better at the company before this course, look out!)
It IS more work than I expected. I knew it was going to be a lot of work; it is simply more than I thought it would be. At the same time, I'm also having fun learning and stretching how I think about things. That is very rewarding in itself. So, yeah, like the drumming students, I'm having fun.
Oh. I forgot to mention that STPStanley came along with us. We took a lot of pictures and will be posting some of them shortly.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Speaking and CASTing or Presenting Your Ideas In Context
I'm really excited today.
I find test conferences amazingly inspirational. What I find to be the best part of many conferences are the converstions that presentations can inspire.
One way to get a lot of ideas out there is by lightning talks - quick presentations on a topic. Sometimes, that's it. Somebody talks for a few minutes and the next person gets up and talks on a totally different topic.
Some conferences, like CAST, are different. Any time someone presents an idea (gives a talk) there is scheduled time for discussion. If the participants in the discussion want to continue their chat after the alloted period of time they can grab a corner or a hallway and carry on. The next person gets up and gives their presentation and the cycle repeats itself.
Now, the CAST version of "lightning talks" has often been an "emerging trends" session track. This year the take is a little bit different. The idea is that you can check out the conference schedule and see what is being presented, what topics are being discussed. If there is one that you believe should be discussed and you want to present it, you can submit a proposal for the Emerging Topics track.
This track will feature 20 minute time slots which include 5 to 10 minutes of discussion, for the topic that people want to speak on and believe would be important.
Here's the cool part.
Instead of signing up on a paper stuck to a wall, you, the person with the idea, can enter a proposal at a WIKI set up specifically for this. (The good folks at Socialtext are contributing the wiki space, thanks folks!)
If you would like to speak at CAST 2011, you can propose a topic for the Emerging Topics session.
Now, each topic is slated for 20 minutes with at least five minutes for discussion. If you think that you would need more time to "do justice" to the topic, please make your case and reasons clear. The deal is, the more topics that get more time, the fewer the number of people who will have the chance to speak. So, the organizers would really like to make that the exception than the rule.
To propose a session, you need to join the CAST 2011 Socialtext group and create a wiki page using the proposal template.
Once you have created your proposal, other folks will be able to vote and comment on your proposal and others as well. You can read the notes, change your porposal - and evaluators can return and comment repeatedly as well, and change their scores!
Voting will be cut off a little early - right now the plan is July 15th. That way we can create and post a coherent program before the conference so folks can see what may be of interest to them in advance. The idea is to take the feedback from votes in serious consideration, along with conference theme and reputation of the speakers.
Now for the part that I am personally excited about...
In order to apply email either Matt Heusser (matt.heusser@gmail.com) or ME (peterwalen@msn.com) and ask to be invited to the CAST 2011 Emerging Topics Group on Socialtext. One of us will send you an email about the group and a link to follow. From there you can follow the instructions to add a talk or comment on a talk or whatever.
We also may need some help - one or two people to manage the rooms. Depending on how things go, that role might be expanded to include some wiki gardening and possibly help creating the schedule. You could be an ombudsman, sergeant-at-arms, or whatever other title you'd like.
We can not offer any compensation for helping out, nor for giving a talk. If you give a talk or help out, I would be personally in your debt. I can tell you from my previous experience that the conference will have greater value for you in that you can build deeper relationships, be more engaged and generally have a ton of fun while learning.
Matt says "One thing I can promise if you give a talk or help out with emerging topics: At CAST two thousand and eleven, at least ... you'll never have to eat a bagel alone."
My take is "If you give a talk or help out with the emerging topics at CAST2011, I'll think you're way cool."
UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!
July 20, 2011 -
The Submission and Voting period is now closed, selections and a schedule have been made. This has been an interesting, thought provoking and fun project to work on. I am looking forward to meeting everyone in person after communicating by email and telephone.
Thanks to all who participated - Pete
I find test conferences amazingly inspirational. What I find to be the best part of many conferences are the converstions that presentations can inspire.
One way to get a lot of ideas out there is by lightning talks - quick presentations on a topic. Sometimes, that's it. Somebody talks for a few minutes and the next person gets up and talks on a totally different topic.
Some conferences, like CAST, are different. Any time someone presents an idea (gives a talk) there is scheduled time for discussion. If the participants in the discussion want to continue their chat after the alloted period of time they can grab a corner or a hallway and carry on. The next person gets up and gives their presentation and the cycle repeats itself.
Now, the CAST version of "lightning talks" has often been an "emerging trends" session track. This year the take is a little bit different. The idea is that you can check out the conference schedule and see what is being presented, what topics are being discussed. If there is one that you believe should be discussed and you want to present it, you can submit a proposal for the Emerging Topics track.
This track will feature 20 minute time slots which include 5 to 10 minutes of discussion, for the topic that people want to speak on and believe would be important.
Here's the cool part.
Instead of signing up on a paper stuck to a wall, you, the person with the idea, can enter a proposal at a WIKI set up specifically for this. (The good folks at Socialtext are contributing the wiki space, thanks folks!)
If you would like to speak at CAST 2011, you can propose a topic for the Emerging Topics session.
Now, each topic is slated for 20 minutes with at least five minutes for discussion. If you think that you would need more time to "do justice" to the topic, please make your case and reasons clear. The deal is, the more topics that get more time, the fewer the number of people who will have the chance to speak. So, the organizers would really like to make that the exception than the rule.
To propose a session, you need to join the CAST 2011 Socialtext group and create a wiki page using the proposal template.
Once you have created your proposal, other folks will be able to vote and comment on your proposal and others as well. You can read the notes, change your porposal - and evaluators can return and comment repeatedly as well, and change their scores!
Voting will be cut off a little early - right now the plan is July 15th. That way we can create and post a coherent program before the conference so folks can see what may be of interest to them in advance. The idea is to take the feedback from votes in serious consideration, along with conference theme and reputation of the speakers.
Now for the part that I am personally excited about...
In order to apply email either Matt Heusser (matt.heusser@gmail.com) or ME (peterwalen@msn.com) and ask to be invited to the CAST 2011 Emerging Topics Group on Socialtext. One of us will send you an email about the group and a link to follow. From there you can follow the instructions to add a talk or comment on a talk or whatever.
We also may need some help - one or two people to manage the rooms. Depending on how things go, that role might be expanded to include some wiki gardening and possibly help creating the schedule. You could be an ombudsman, sergeant-at-arms, or whatever other title you'd like.
We can not offer any compensation for helping out, nor for giving a talk. If you give a talk or help out, I would be personally in your debt. I can tell you from my previous experience that the conference will have greater value for you in that you can build deeper relationships, be more engaged and generally have a ton of fun while learning.
Matt says "One thing I can promise if you give a talk or help out with emerging topics: At CAST two thousand and eleven, at least ... you'll never have to eat a bagel alone."
My take is "If you give a talk or help out with the emerging topics at CAST2011, I'll think you're way cool."
UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!
July 20, 2011 -
The Submission and Voting period is now closed, selections and a schedule have been made. This has been an interesting, thought provoking and fun project to work on. I am looking forward to meeting everyone in person after communicating by email and telephone.
Thanks to all who participated - Pete
Monday, January 17, 2011
Motivation and Passion, or, Don't Harsh My Testing Buzz
So, part of my daily morning ritual is to check email, check logs for runs I may have kicked off overnight, then check the "sanity" file. That contains links to a few comics on the web. One is Dilbert (duh, its like computer/engineer/geek/argue-about-best-Star-Trek-series heaven) the other is a web comic called Urban Jungle.
One of the Urban Jungle comics last week was interesting. For folks who've done anything for a period of time, the idea of burnout, or "Why am I doing this?" may not be a completely unknown feeling. Keeping that feeling at bay can sometimes be a challenge.
Now, Lynn McKee has given some really, really good stuff on testers, motivation and passion. I've attended two session she presented where she has done a fantastic job of moving people, particularly testers, forward to find ways to keep testers, and their leaders, passionate about what they do.
Other folks have made the observation that the problem for many leaders is to avoid de-motivating them.
Generally, I'm in the "You're responsible for finding your own inspiration" camp. Most of the time I think testers can and should seek out and develop their own sense of purpose and motivation - the drive to become better.
Now, I know that is not going to happen with every tester. I've worked with some who learned things thus and see any attempt to change thus as an accusation that doing thus is wrong or bad. Reminds me sometimes of the quote (I don't recall who said it) that people are more firmly wed to their ideas than to their spouses.
I also know that some folks will do what they are told to do and figure that the easiest way to get along is to, well, get along and not "make waves." After all, if you make waves or stick your neck out or do something non-conformist, bad things may happen.
If I were to think seriously about this, I'd suggest folks, managers and bosses and workers alike, think about what they do. If everything is going great do you need to consider learning something different? Are there newer skills that you can pick up? Are there new ideas getting floated around out there? How about new technologies?
I understand some reluctance on several of those points. I probably share them. After all, most folks who have done anything with computers or software for more than a few years have seen ideas bubble up, get embraced as the "next great thing" then fade away into oblivion. The funny thing is, a few years later a new name will be slapped on the idea or approach and it will be repackaged and rebranded as the "next great thing."
So what does that mean for you? Are you so complacent as to rest absolutely assured in what you do that you can wait for the bosses to tell you the next thing to learn? Are you so certain that what you are doing now will be the way you are doing things in five years? Really? Will there be no new ideas that can enter your thinking? Will there be no new insights to drive your curiosity?
If you are a testing boss, do you mandate every minute of what your people do? How about your resources? Are your people resources, like reams of paper or ink and toner cartridges? Are your people assets to be developed and nurtured?
If I was the Universal Lord of Testing, with the authority to mandate one thing to all testing groups and bosses everywhere, it would be this: Allow some time each week for your people to see if there is something of interest to them that they want to learn more about. Then, let them learn about that.
Foster the sense of curiosity and excitement that you felt when you were learning about computers and software and programming and all the way-cool technology stuff. Even if the first machine you worked on is now sitting in a museum, I suspect you had that feeling once upon a time.
If you are not a boss and are a tester, I'd mandate this: Make the time to look for something of interest to you that you want to learn more about. Even if the boss does not "permit" it, the boss is ignoring the order from the Universal Lord of Testing (me) and therefore that "don't do it" order you get from them is improper and MUST be ignored. Even if you spend a few minutes at home, you know, your "own" time, surfing the web, looking up on-line testing discussion groups or looking for a local testing group, you may find more rewarding things than you know currently exist.
As my lady-wife is fond of saying, "In 10 years, you'll be 10 years older whether you do anything to make yourself better or not. You may as well make yourself better during that time." She's really smart that way.
So, you take charge of your own career. Join an association - even if you need to pony up the membership fees yourself. Buy some books, even if the company won't reimburse your expenses, the read them. Find someone to share ideas with - or just ask questions of them. Find something that is of interest to you and learn about it.
The tricky thing is that it doesn't matter if you're a tester or a boss or, something else. You can learn and improve and discover things to make yourself better. If you're a boss, lead by example. If you're not a boss, check what the boss is doing. If the boss is always looking for new stuff, new ideas and new thoughts, tune in and see what is happening. Maybe you'll learn something.
If the boss isn't doing that, meh, they're a boss not a technician. You're a tester. Make yourself better. Its your career.
One of the Urban Jungle comics last week was interesting. For folks who've done anything for a period of time, the idea of burnout, or "Why am I doing this?" may not be a completely unknown feeling. Keeping that feeling at bay can sometimes be a challenge.
Now, Lynn McKee has given some really, really good stuff on testers, motivation and passion. I've attended two session she presented where she has done a fantastic job of moving people, particularly testers, forward to find ways to keep testers, and their leaders, passionate about what they do.
Other folks have made the observation that the problem for many leaders is to avoid de-motivating them.
Generally, I'm in the "You're responsible for finding your own inspiration" camp. Most of the time I think testers can and should seek out and develop their own sense of purpose and motivation - the drive to become better.
Now, I know that is not going to happen with every tester. I've worked with some who learned things thus and see any attempt to change thus as an accusation that doing thus is wrong or bad. Reminds me sometimes of the quote (I don't recall who said it) that people are more firmly wed to their ideas than to their spouses.
I also know that some folks will do what they are told to do and figure that the easiest way to get along is to, well, get along and not "make waves." After all, if you make waves or stick your neck out or do something non-conformist, bad things may happen.
If I were to think seriously about this, I'd suggest folks, managers and bosses and workers alike, think about what they do. If everything is going great do you need to consider learning something different? Are there newer skills that you can pick up? Are there new ideas getting floated around out there? How about new technologies?
I understand some reluctance on several of those points. I probably share them. After all, most folks who have done anything with computers or software for more than a few years have seen ideas bubble up, get embraced as the "next great thing" then fade away into oblivion. The funny thing is, a few years later a new name will be slapped on the idea or approach and it will be repackaged and rebranded as the "next great thing."
So what does that mean for you? Are you so complacent as to rest absolutely assured in what you do that you can wait for the bosses to tell you the next thing to learn? Are you so certain that what you are doing now will be the way you are doing things in five years? Really? Will there be no new ideas that can enter your thinking? Will there be no new insights to drive your curiosity?
If you are a testing boss, do you mandate every minute of what your people do? How about your resources? Are your people resources, like reams of paper or ink and toner cartridges? Are your people assets to be developed and nurtured?
If I was the Universal Lord of Testing, with the authority to mandate one thing to all testing groups and bosses everywhere, it would be this: Allow some time each week for your people to see if there is something of interest to them that they want to learn more about. Then, let them learn about that.
Foster the sense of curiosity and excitement that you felt when you were learning about computers and software and programming and all the way-cool technology stuff. Even if the first machine you worked on is now sitting in a museum, I suspect you had that feeling once upon a time.
If you are not a boss and are a tester, I'd mandate this: Make the time to look for something of interest to you that you want to learn more about. Even if the boss does not "permit" it, the boss is ignoring the order from the Universal Lord of Testing (me) and therefore that "don't do it" order you get from them is improper and MUST be ignored. Even if you spend a few minutes at home, you know, your "own" time, surfing the web, looking up on-line testing discussion groups or looking for a local testing group, you may find more rewarding things than you know currently exist.
As my lady-wife is fond of saying, "In 10 years, you'll be 10 years older whether you do anything to make yourself better or not. You may as well make yourself better during that time." She's really smart that way.
So, you take charge of your own career. Join an association - even if you need to pony up the membership fees yourself. Buy some books, even if the company won't reimburse your expenses, the read them. Find someone to share ideas with - or just ask questions of them. Find something that is of interest to you and learn about it.
The tricky thing is that it doesn't matter if you're a tester or a boss or, something else. You can learn and improve and discover things to make yourself better. If you're a boss, lead by example. If you're not a boss, check what the boss is doing. If the boss is always looking for new stuff, new ideas and new thoughts, tune in and see what is happening. Maybe you'll learn something.
If the boss isn't doing that, meh, they're a boss not a technician. You're a tester. Make yourself better. Its your career.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
2011: A Look Forward
On SQA Forums, someone posted a question about "New Year Resolutions." There were many of the usual suspect types of responses, e.g., get in shape, lose weight, gain training, learn something new...
I posted that some years ago I resolved not to make any "resolutions," as in commitments to myself, that I knew I would most likely not be able to fulfill. Yeah, a little snarky, but it was also pretty honest.
Therefore, as my last post was a look back on 2010, as I was sipping a brandy last night chatting with my lady-wife as she knitted and some show was on television, I had some thoughts running through my head. Pretty sad, eh? The days of running off to the local Scottish Society's Hogmanay are distant memories. Most of our friends we'd get together and play music to welcome the new year are now widely dispersed. I wonder if that makes us "old" - Hope not.
Ah yes, my thoughts.
Some of this I actually started thinking about late last year. I sent some emails to a handfull of people asking them for assistance. In some ways looking for advice, and in otherways, to be sounding boards for my thought processes. There are changes coming that I've been pondering.
For most of my career in software, I've worked for someone else. For most of that time, it was working for companies where producing software was to support their primary business. The software was not their product, it supported the product or its delivery. To be honest, working on the product the company makes is fun. It can be frustrating when I don't have the option of actually talking to the people who asked for a change or enhancement, and I speak with people who may understand what the people who asked for they really mean.
The Road Ahead...
The interesting thing is I've been thinking about the future. Well, not THE future, but what lay ahead for me professionally and how that may impact the family. It would seem there are several items that are possibilities for the coming year. One path would be to look for new work opportunities, either as a contract/consultant or as a full time, permanent employee. Yeah, as if "permanent" means much.
Community
Another option is to become more involved in the testing community. Actually, I started working on that as well in 2010. What I mean is that reading blogs other folks write is a good way to learn what they're thinking is. Reading and participating in on-line forums is another way to both learn and become involved. Well, doing that as much as I can right now.
Of course, more actively engaging in both of these types of activities is on my list of things to do this coming year. Ya know, the funny thing is, the more I talk with folks about things I learn and have learned, the more I learn myself.
Local Testing Groups
Another thing, the local testing group, GR Testers, has been going in fits and starts for a while. Meetings have been sparse of late. The most recent one, December, was kind of fun. There were a bunch of us sitting around a table, lots of wings, good beer and folks talking about testing. Good way to spend an evening. There's another meeting coming up Monday, 3 January. It makes it the first time in quite a while that there were back to back monthly meetings. Normally, they are officially held every other month. It seems that as more people are showing an interest, the meeting frequency will pick up.
I wonder how many other local testing groups are out there that have a meeting schedule based on "whenever" instead of "We meet at this time, and here are the next couple of topics we're focusing on at these meetings..." I believe that the more people know about local groups, the more they are invited to participate and the more information that is available about them, the more active and the stonger the community there is.
I think that pretty well sums up what I'm looking to do with the local group. I believe that getting more people involved and talking about testing is vital to improving not only our individual tradecraft, but the abilities of the local community. Sharing well reasoned ideas can do nothing but good, presuming all are allowed to learn and ask questions
Personal Development
Now, I realize that any of the above activities can lead to improving any individual participating. What I mean here is something a bit more. I had been signed up for the BBST Foundations course offered by the Association for Software Testing for a session in in the fall of 2010. Things happened and that session was cancelled. I could not take the session offered as an alternative.
The GOOD news, for me, is I am signed up to take the Foundations course this spring. YEAH! I am really looking forward to this. Everyone I know who took the course raves about it. Big-time excited.
I've continued reading blogs and articles and books and talking with people and... everything else. My goal is to continue learning and to continue to share what I learn.
For conferences, I'll be attending and presenting at STPCon in March in Nashville. I bought myself a birthday present and renewed my AST membership in October. If I can work it out, I'll be attending CAST in August in Seatle.
At the day-job, I've continued to be a pest, and will do so for some time. The cool thing is the boss is good with it. Something about "pushing everyone to improve..."
So, that is a combination of goals, intentions and plans for 2011. What the future will really bring, I'm not sure.
On the other hand, the lady-wife did give me a list of places where she'd like to live should a relocation option present itself...
I posted that some years ago I resolved not to make any "resolutions," as in commitments to myself, that I knew I would most likely not be able to fulfill. Yeah, a little snarky, but it was also pretty honest.
Therefore, as my last post was a look back on 2010, as I was sipping a brandy last night chatting with my lady-wife as she knitted and some show was on television, I had some thoughts running through my head. Pretty sad, eh? The days of running off to the local Scottish Society's Hogmanay are distant memories. Most of our friends we'd get together and play music to welcome the new year are now widely dispersed. I wonder if that makes us "old" - Hope not.
Ah yes, my thoughts.
Some of this I actually started thinking about late last year. I sent some emails to a handfull of people asking them for assistance. In some ways looking for advice, and in otherways, to be sounding boards for my thought processes. There are changes coming that I've been pondering.
For most of my career in software, I've worked for someone else. For most of that time, it was working for companies where producing software was to support their primary business. The software was not their product, it supported the product or its delivery. To be honest, working on the product the company makes is fun. It can be frustrating when I don't have the option of actually talking to the people who asked for a change or enhancement, and I speak with people who may understand what the people who asked for they really mean.
The Road Ahead...
The interesting thing is I've been thinking about the future. Well, not THE future, but what lay ahead for me professionally and how that may impact the family. It would seem there are several items that are possibilities for the coming year. One path would be to look for new work opportunities, either as a contract/consultant or as a full time, permanent employee. Yeah, as if "permanent" means much.
Community
Another option is to become more involved in the testing community. Actually, I started working on that as well in 2010. What I mean is that reading blogs other folks write is a good way to learn what they're thinking is. Reading and participating in on-line forums is another way to both learn and become involved. Well, doing that as much as I can right now.
Of course, more actively engaging in both of these types of activities is on my list of things to do this coming year. Ya know, the funny thing is, the more I talk with folks about things I learn and have learned, the more I learn myself.
Local Testing Groups
Another thing, the local testing group, GR Testers, has been going in fits and starts for a while. Meetings have been sparse of late. The most recent one, December, was kind of fun. There were a bunch of us sitting around a table, lots of wings, good beer and folks talking about testing. Good way to spend an evening. There's another meeting coming up Monday, 3 January. It makes it the first time in quite a while that there were back to back monthly meetings. Normally, they are officially held every other month. It seems that as more people are showing an interest, the meeting frequency will pick up.
I wonder how many other local testing groups are out there that have a meeting schedule based on "whenever" instead of "We meet at this time, and here are the next couple of topics we're focusing on at these meetings..." I believe that the more people know about local groups, the more they are invited to participate and the more information that is available about them, the more active and the stonger the community there is.
I think that pretty well sums up what I'm looking to do with the local group. I believe that getting more people involved and talking about testing is vital to improving not only our individual tradecraft, but the abilities of the local community. Sharing well reasoned ideas can do nothing but good, presuming all are allowed to learn and ask questions
Personal Development
Now, I realize that any of the above activities can lead to improving any individual participating. What I mean here is something a bit more. I had been signed up for the BBST Foundations course offered by the Association for Software Testing for a session in in the fall of 2010. Things happened and that session was cancelled. I could not take the session offered as an alternative.
The GOOD news, for me, is I am signed up to take the Foundations course this spring. YEAH! I am really looking forward to this. Everyone I know who took the course raves about it. Big-time excited.
I've continued reading blogs and articles and books and talking with people and... everything else. My goal is to continue learning and to continue to share what I learn.
For conferences, I'll be attending and presenting at STPCon in March in Nashville. I bought myself a birthday present and renewed my AST membership in October. If I can work it out, I'll be attending CAST in August in Seatle.
At the day-job, I've continued to be a pest, and will do so for some time. The cool thing is the boss is good with it. Something about "pushing everyone to improve..."
So, that is a combination of goals, intentions and plans for 2011. What the future will really bring, I'm not sure.
On the other hand, the lady-wife did give me a list of places where she'd like to live should a relocation option present itself...
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010, A Retrospective
This year is drawing to an end. I know it is a tad lame to have a "look at the year that was" or any of the other cliche laden phrases that tend to be used to introduce these things.
The thing is, it has been an interesting year for me personally and professionally.
Let's see. General stuff. I retired the blog attached to my defunct drumming with bagpipe bands website. I replaced it with, this one. It had been in the "thinking about" phase for a long-time, and finally I decided to do it. Ya know what's interesting? As I think about other stuff - often Non-Testing stuff - something pops into my head about software development or testing or SOMETHING. Sometimes, that results in a blog post. Other times it leads to sitting in my big green comfy chair sipping a brandy and thinking.
Interesting work stuff at the day-job with interesting challenges early in the year. With a flurry of emails I found myself and the boss registered to attend QUEST in Dallas, Texas. This was a huge surprise to me as I was not expecting it at all, given limited budgets and going to TesTrek in Toronto the previous October. QUEST was interesting in that I met a number of people whose writings I had read, and had not met in real-life. I also got to connect with people I had met before and get back in touch in real-life.
May I received confirmation that I COULD attend CAST, which was being held around 15 minutes from my house - then in June it became clear that the scheduled release would conflict with attending CAST, so the company would neither pay the conference fee (something I was not too worried about) nor would they grant time-off. That one was a problem. July rolled around, schedules shifted again. I could be granted the time to go to CAST IF I was available during the conference. COMPROMISE! COOL!
Sunday evening of CAST had a great dinner and conversation with Fiona Charles and Griffin Jones and the lady-wife at a neighborhood Italian place. Recipes from Sicily and friendly folks and good wine and great conversation, little of it around testing, but all of it applicable to testing. What a great night.
Another night had a fantastic dinner out with a bunch of folks - Yeah, I know I blogged about that shortly after the event - it is still a great memory.
Dragged the boss in one evening to meet some of the great ones of the craft who would be there. Had a fantastic evening out with Nancy Kelln and Lynn McKee and the boss - more good wine (notice a trend?) and a great conversation.
Then, a bombshell was dropped that left me gob-smacked. It seems one of our dinner companions had a conflict and could not fulfill a speaking commitment in Toronto, would I be interested in being suggested as a an alternative speaker? Holy Cow. I thought about it briefly... and said Yes. One thing led to another and I did indeed speak at TesTrek in Toronto that October. Yeah, I blogged about that, too.
Stuff at the day-job continued to be interesting - meaning, really, really, busy.
So, things progressed. Talked with the boss about some interesting emails. The result of those chats was submitting proposals to a couple of conferences. I submitted proposals for a session similar to the session at TesTrek, but with a more advanced perspective than the general view there. The exciting thing was that the boss and I submitted a proposal for a joint presentation based on our experiences starting a QA/Testing team from scratch.
One conference said "no thanks" (although the boss was asked to consider a presentation in a different area) the other accepted both proposals! Yeah, that rocks. I get to hang with the cool kids at STPCon in Nashville this coming March.
More projects were successfully rolled out at the day job. There are some interesting things that seem to be happening there, they may lead to more ideas on blog posts.
The local testing group and its attempts spread its wings and fly has been great fun to watch and be a part of. Through it, I've met some terrific people, like Matt Heusser and Melissa Bugai , and have had fun sharing the adventure with them.
At home it was a good year in the garden. We had a good crop of strawberries and peppers and tomatoes, although some of the others were a little surprising in what were less prolific than expected. Several big projects got done - and inspired thoughts about, then blog posts about, software and testing.
We had some sadness in our lives this year. Stuff that led to serious rounds of soul-searching for "what is this all about." We also have had some great joys in our lives this year. For that, I am grateful. I don't know what 2011 will bring, but I am looking forward to the next year.
The thing is, it has been an interesting year for me personally and professionally.
Let's see. General stuff. I retired the blog attached to my defunct drumming with bagpipe bands website. I replaced it with, this one. It had been in the "thinking about" phase for a long-time, and finally I decided to do it. Ya know what's interesting? As I think about other stuff - often Non-Testing stuff - something pops into my head about software development or testing or SOMETHING. Sometimes, that results in a blog post. Other times it leads to sitting in my big green comfy chair sipping a brandy and thinking.
Interesting work stuff at the day-job with interesting challenges early in the year. With a flurry of emails I found myself and the boss registered to attend QUEST in Dallas, Texas. This was a huge surprise to me as I was not expecting it at all, given limited budgets and going to TesTrek in Toronto the previous October. QUEST was interesting in that I met a number of people whose writings I had read, and had not met in real-life. I also got to connect with people I had met before and get back in touch in real-life.
May I received confirmation that I COULD attend CAST, which was being held around 15 minutes from my house - then in June it became clear that the scheduled release would conflict with attending CAST, so the company would neither pay the conference fee (something I was not too worried about) nor would they grant time-off. That one was a problem. July rolled around, schedules shifted again. I could be granted the time to go to CAST IF I was available during the conference. COMPROMISE! COOL!
Sunday evening of CAST had a great dinner and conversation with Fiona Charles and Griffin Jones and the lady-wife at a neighborhood Italian place. Recipes from Sicily and friendly folks and good wine and great conversation, little of it around testing, but all of it applicable to testing. What a great night.
Another night had a fantastic dinner out with a bunch of folks - Yeah, I know I blogged about that shortly after the event - it is still a great memory.
Dragged the boss in one evening to meet some of the great ones of the craft who would be there. Had a fantastic evening out with Nancy Kelln and Lynn McKee and the boss - more good wine (notice a trend?) and a great conversation.
Then, a bombshell was dropped that left me gob-smacked. It seems one of our dinner companions had a conflict and could not fulfill a speaking commitment in Toronto, would I be interested in being suggested as a an alternative speaker? Holy Cow. I thought about it briefly... and said Yes. One thing led to another and I did indeed speak at TesTrek in Toronto that October. Yeah, I blogged about that, too.
Stuff at the day-job continued to be interesting - meaning, really, really, busy.
So, things progressed. Talked with the boss about some interesting emails. The result of those chats was submitting proposals to a couple of conferences. I submitted proposals for a session similar to the session at TesTrek, but with a more advanced perspective than the general view there. The exciting thing was that the boss and I submitted a proposal for a joint presentation based on our experiences starting a QA/Testing team from scratch.
One conference said "no thanks" (although the boss was asked to consider a presentation in a different area) the other accepted both proposals! Yeah, that rocks. I get to hang with the cool kids at STPCon in Nashville this coming March.
More projects were successfully rolled out at the day job. There are some interesting things that seem to be happening there, they may lead to more ideas on blog posts.
The local testing group and its attempts spread its wings and fly has been great fun to watch and be a part of. Through it, I've met some terrific people, like Matt Heusser and Melissa Bugai , and have had fun sharing the adventure with them.
At home it was a good year in the garden. We had a good crop of strawberries and peppers and tomatoes, although some of the others were a little surprising in what were less prolific than expected. Several big projects got done - and inspired thoughts about, then blog posts about, software and testing.
We had some sadness in our lives this year. Stuff that led to serious rounds of soul-searching for "what is this all about." We also have had some great joys in our lives this year. For that, I am grateful. I don't know what 2011 will bring, but I am looking forward to the next year.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A Hero's Fall From Grace or Why a Big Pay Raise Is Better Than a Statue
A couple of things happened recently that made me think of things I probably would not normally think of.
I know a fellow who works for a company that has one or two (depending on needs) "major" releases each year. They also generate and distribute monthly maintenance releases to address defects, bundle hot-fixes neatly into a package and all the other good things that come from such things.
A recent release had some "issues." Lots of issues. After working for 12 "work" days and a Saturday and Sunday thrown in as well, this fellow's boss made a comment that he had "saved them again" and was a "hero."
When thinking about this, I got to thinking about Selena Delesie's blog posts on "hero culture."
When teams pull together and work to overcome obstacles, amazing things can be achieved. Sometimes, the issues encountered require extra effort and creative thinking and good, if not great, communication between testers and developers to find solutions. This is a fantastic thing and is, I believe, the point of being a "hero" in our profession.
The part that makes me think, if not wonder, about this is when this becomes the rule, rather than the exception. When the same team that pulled together and found solutions and worked toward delivering the best product that can be delivered is expected to work long hours regularly, to repeat the same "pull out all stops" effort for every project, big or small, there is a danger.
That danger is that the edge, the creative thinking, the "Hey, what if..." factor gets worn down.
Now, I know there are a lot of potential reasons for this to happen. Some may be within the team itself. There may be factors at work where individuals like the drama, the "rush" of the massive push at the end.
There may also be issues around the development methodology or practices. If the only testing done in unit testing is validating the "happy path" then likelihood that builds will come fast and furious, depending on how quickly the detected defects are addressed.
Another possibility is that someone, possibly in the test group or outside the test group but involved in the projects, likes the chaos - the frantic push is something they thrive on.
Whatever the cause, when every project turns into a heroic stand worthy of an action movie, something is seriously wrong. When testers, or anyone else, are expected to perform super-human, or heroic, feats every project, the edge will be blunted. The probability of significant defects being missed increases with each cycle. Eventually, people will be working less effectively no matter how many hours, or how "hard" they are working.
In some shops, the option to simply say "No, I won't do this" may be a legitimate one. In shops where contractual requirements don't allow such a response, I don't have a solution. Now, I am aware of the need to keep regular releases going, I'm just not sure of a solution that works everywhere.
What I do know is that the bosses, the leaders at your shop need to make sure they don't need their people to be heroes each and every release. Horatius held the bridge, but he had help. The lone cowboy was a myth, just like superman.
I know a fellow who works for a company that has one or two (depending on needs) "major" releases each year. They also generate and distribute monthly maintenance releases to address defects, bundle hot-fixes neatly into a package and all the other good things that come from such things.
A recent release had some "issues." Lots of issues. After working for 12 "work" days and a Saturday and Sunday thrown in as well, this fellow's boss made a comment that he had "saved them again" and was a "hero."
When thinking about this, I got to thinking about Selena Delesie's blog posts on "hero culture."
When teams pull together and work to overcome obstacles, amazing things can be achieved. Sometimes, the issues encountered require extra effort and creative thinking and good, if not great, communication between testers and developers to find solutions. This is a fantastic thing and is, I believe, the point of being a "hero" in our profession.
The part that makes me think, if not wonder, about this is when this becomes the rule, rather than the exception. When the same team that pulled together and found solutions and worked toward delivering the best product that can be delivered is expected to work long hours regularly, to repeat the same "pull out all stops" effort for every project, big or small, there is a danger.
That danger is that the edge, the creative thinking, the "Hey, what if..." factor gets worn down.
Now, I know there are a lot of potential reasons for this to happen. Some may be within the team itself. There may be factors at work where individuals like the drama, the "rush" of the massive push at the end.
There may also be issues around the development methodology or practices. If the only testing done in unit testing is validating the "happy path" then likelihood that builds will come fast and furious, depending on how quickly the detected defects are addressed.
Another possibility is that someone, possibly in the test group or outside the test group but involved in the projects, likes the chaos - the frantic push is something they thrive on.
Whatever the cause, when every project turns into a heroic stand worthy of an action movie, something is seriously wrong. When testers, or anyone else, are expected to perform super-human, or heroic, feats every project, the edge will be blunted. The probability of significant defects being missed increases with each cycle. Eventually, people will be working less effectively no matter how many hours, or how "hard" they are working.
In some shops, the option to simply say "No, I won't do this" may be a legitimate one. In shops where contractual requirements don't allow such a response, I don't have a solution. Now, I am aware of the need to keep regular releases going, I'm just not sure of a solution that works everywhere.
What I do know is that the bosses, the leaders at your shop need to make sure they don't need their people to be heroes each and every release. Horatius held the bridge, but he had help. The lone cowboy was a myth, just like superman.
Friday, December 17, 2010
On Exploration or How You Might Be Testing and Not Know It
I had an interesting conversation earlier this week. A colleague dropped into the cube, grabbed a handful of M&M's and muttered something about how she kept finding defects and wasn't able to get any test scripts written because of it.
OK - That got my attention.
So, I asked her what she meant. It seems that the project she was working on was not terribly well documented, the design was unclear and the requirements were mere suggestions and she had gotten several builds. So, she was working her way through things as she understood them.
So she explained what was going on... She intended to make sure she was understanding them correctly so she could document them and write her test scripts. Then, she could start testing.
The problem was, she'd try different features and they didn't work like she expected. So, she'd call the developer and ask what she was doing wrong. Problem: She wasn't.
The issue, as she saw it, was that the code was so unstable that she could not work her way through it enough to understand how she was to exercise the application as fully as possible. To do that, the standard process required test cases written so that they could be repeated and "fully document" the testing process for the auditors. Because she kept finding bugs just "checking it out" she was concerned that she was falling farther and farther behind and would never really get to testing.
More M&Ms.
So we talked a bit. First response: "Wow! Welcome to Exploratory Testing! Your going through the product, learning about it, designing tests and executing them, all within writing formal test cases or steps or anything. Cool!"
Now, we had done some "introduction to ET" sessions in the past, and have gradually ramped up more time in each major release dedicated to ET. The idea was to follow leads, hunches and, well, explore. The only caveat was to keep track of what steps you followed so they could recreate "unusual responses" when they were encountered.
Explaining that the process she was working through actually WAS testing lead to, well, more M&Ms.
The result of the conversation was that the problems she was encountering were part of testing - not delaying it. By working through reasonable suppositions on what you would expect software to do, you are performing a far more worthwhile effort, in my mind, than "faithfully" following a script, whether you wrote it or not.
Mind you, she still encountered many problems just surfing through various functions. That indicated other issues - but not that she was unable to test.
That thought prompted another handful of M&Ms, and a renewed effort in testing - without a script.
OK - That got my attention.
So, I asked her what she meant. It seems that the project she was working on was not terribly well documented, the design was unclear and the requirements were mere suggestions and she had gotten several builds. So, she was working her way through things as she understood them.
So she explained what was going on... She intended to make sure she was understanding them correctly so she could document them and write her test scripts. Then, she could start testing.
The problem was, she'd try different features and they didn't work like she expected. So, she'd call the developer and ask what she was doing wrong. Problem: She wasn't.
The issue, as she saw it, was that the code was so unstable that she could not work her way through it enough to understand how she was to exercise the application as fully as possible. To do that, the standard process required test cases written so that they could be repeated and "fully document" the testing process for the auditors. Because she kept finding bugs just "checking it out" she was concerned that she was falling farther and farther behind and would never really get to testing.
More M&Ms.
So we talked a bit. First response: "Wow! Welcome to Exploratory Testing! Your going through the product, learning about it, designing tests and executing them, all within writing formal test cases or steps or anything. Cool!"
Now, we had done some "introduction to ET" sessions in the past, and have gradually ramped up more time in each major release dedicated to ET. The idea was to follow leads, hunches and, well, explore. The only caveat was to keep track of what steps you followed so they could recreate "unusual responses" when they were encountered.
Explaining that the process she was working through actually WAS testing lead to, well, more M&Ms.
The result of the conversation was that the problems she was encountering were part of testing - not delaying it. By working through reasonable suppositions on what you would expect software to do, you are performing a far more worthwhile effort, in my mind, than "faithfully" following a script, whether you wrote it or not.
Mind you, she still encountered many problems just surfing through various functions. That indicated other issues - but not that she was unable to test.
That thought prompted another handful of M&Ms, and a renewed effort in testing - without a script.
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