A Time and a Season to all Things

Today I sent the following message to the members of the Education Special Interest Group of the Association for Software Testing:


Hello everyone!

Three years ago at this time, I took on a challenge that no one else wanted to take on. I realized that there was a lot at stake if someone didn't [added: the AST BBST classes might cease], and thus a practitioner, with little academic experience, took over a role that Cem Kaner had managed for several years. I stepped into the role of being the Education SIG Chair, and through that process, I learned a lot, we as a SIG have done a lot, and some interesting projects have come our way to be part of (expansion of AST BBST classes and offerings, SummerQAmp materials, PerScholas mentoring program, etc.). It's been a pleasure to be part of these opportunities and represent the members of AST in this capacity.

However, there is a time and a season for all things, and I feel that my time as an effective Chair has reached its end. As of July 15, 2014, I have officially resigned as the Chair of the Education Special Interest Group. This does not mean that I will stop being involved, or stop teaching BBST courses, or stop working on the SummerQAmp materials. In fact, it's [my] desire to work on those things that has prompted me to take this step. Even I and my hyper-involved self has to know his limitations.

I have asked Justin Rohrman to be the new Chair of the Education Special Interest Group, and he has graciously accepted. Justin is more than capable to do the job. In many ways, I suspect he will do a better job than I have. I intend to work with him over the next few weeks to provide an orderly transition of roles and authority so that he can do what I do, and ultimately, so I can stop doing some of it :).

Justin, congratulations, and thank you. EdSIG, I believe wholeheartedly you shall be in good hands.

Regards,
Michael Larsen
Outgoing EdSIG Chair


To everyone I've had the chance to work with in this capacity over the past three years, thank you. thank you for your patience as I learned how to make everything work, for some definition of "work". Thank you for helping me learn and dare to try things I wasn't aware I could even do. Most of all, thanks for teaching me more than I am sure I have ever taught any of you over these past three years.

As I said above, I am not going away. I am not going to stop teaching the BBST courses, but this will give me more of an opportunity to be able to teach them, or assist others in doing so, which is a more likely outcome, I think. It also frees me up so I can give more attention to participating in programs that matter a great deal to me, such as SummerQAmp and PerScholas. As I said above, I believe Justin will be fantastic, and I'll be just a phone call or email message away from help if he should need it ;).

My Talk at CAST 2013 and "Things I Wished I'd Said"

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who participated, both in person, online, or after the fact, in listening to and commenting on my talk at CAST 2013.  With the beauty of the internet, and the fact that it was filmed, that talk can be embedded... like this :) :




After you watch the video, there's sure to be some questions, blips, and other things I missed, so I wanted to clarify some of those here:

- the topic is indeed "Teaching the Next Generation", but as I was putting the slides together, I titled it "Training the Next Generation" because I was actively talking with someone about the SummerQAmp program and how we were offering Training materials, and I genuinely didn't realize that I did that until I was doing the presentation... so if you see me say "Training the Next Generation" and see my eyebrows rise... that's not humor, that's a genuine "whoops". However, since I said it, and since it's recorded, there it will stay, as a reminder that even the tester can totally miss something obvious in the heat of battle.

- when asked could I see this being a model to be used in other areas and countries/ regions, I went on about how I would like to see exactly that happen. What I should have said, and it would have provided a lot more clarity, is as follows:

"Yes, this model could be duplicated anywhere. The material is open source, and the content can be used as is anywhere in the world. The biggest problem might be translation into local languages, but we'd have no issues with people doing that.

- I won't say I was happy to hear that completion rates are low, but I was comforted somewhat by the fact that it is a very common phenomenon and that other organizations have found it a very difficult nut to crack as well. I still stand by my original statement in that I want to have this be experiential and not "quiz based", but I may have to consider making the modules have an exit criteria, and to do that, I may have to put some quiz questions in... but I may not have to. A wonderful suggestions that was made would be to have a project embedded, and that there would be a "testability" action that would be the trigger. Not an actual "answer this multiple choice question" but instead find this issue and describe it in such a way that enough key words are present that you are let through. I will admit, I have no idea at the moment how I would make that happen, but I love the idea!

- I really do want to continue this discussion, so please, if after watching the video you have any thoughts, concerns, burning questions, or ideas that might help revolutionize this whole process, I am so dying to hear what you have to say :).

My SmartBear Blog Post and the Future of "Lesson Zero"

First, I want to say thanks to SmertBear Software Quality Matters Blog for publishing a question I've long wanted to see addressed. Yesterday, my blog post about what I think needs to be taught to every software tester went live yesterday. In it, I make the case that, before we talk any testing techniques, before we talk any foundational knowledge whatsoever, there needs to be a "Lesson Zero" for all aspiring testers. So what is Lesson Zero? In my mind, Lesson Zero needs to be "What is the Scientific Method?".

I won't rewrite the article here, but suffice it to say that may people come to software testing with little or no knowledge of the scientific method, and I feel it is to their detriment. Thus, I think it would be great to help make a module (I'm thinking SummerQAmp, but by no means limited there), that would help teach what the scientific method is, how to apply it, and how to experiment with it. I've started an initiative over at the AST EdSIG forum to start putting this together. To that end, I would love suggestions as to how to make this engaging, interesting, and easy to understand, without being patronizing or trivial. It's a simple concept on the surface, but as I have seen many times, simple does not mean easy.

In short, if you would like to help shape this, I'd love to talk to you :).

SummerQAMP 2013 Training Materials... Home Stretch!!!

Today, SummerQAmp put out a press release talking about what they are doing for 2013, and the fact that they are working with a number of organizations to "pre-train" the interns that will be participating this year. For the full press release, take a look here: 

SummerQAmp Embarks on Its Second Year to Create Internships at Leading Technology Companies in Eight U.S. Cities.

Of note is this:

"In addition, this year we are offering a more in depth online curriculum developed in collaboration with the Association for Software Testing, who is graciously providing the educational materials for students to sharpen their QA skills during the program..."
I want to say thank you to everyone that has taken the time and put forth the effort to help us develop materials and consider topics and provide details. A special thanks goes out to Smita Mishra, who single handedly (at least to date ;) ) took on the module about "What is the Software Development Process?"

Again, we are in the home stretch, but we are not out of the woods yet :). If you would like to help us get over this last hill and make our goal line on time (i.e. March 1, 2013) please head over to the EdSig Forum and weigh in with your ideas, on Bias, on Testing, on Context, on Software Development Process, or any other areas you think would be beneficial. Remember, our goal is "what did you wish you had known on your first day?" If we are not representing it, tell us, and tell us quickly :).

SummerQAmp: What is Bias? Intro

This is the next module that I am working on for the SummerQAmp program, and as such, I'm looking for both feedback and a way to see if my ideas make sense. Read into this what you will :). 

Bias is a tricky topic. There are several examples of it, and ways that we manifest it. Each of them is somewhat challenging to describe. One of the ways that I want to direct this is to use a thought experiment using a game many of us are familiar with already. 

I did this as a session for Weekend Testing some time year ago. In it, we used the game SET. Specifically, we used two versions of the game. The first version, which can be seen here, has a basic format and set of rules to play the game. In it, a single player tries to find six matching sets that follow the rules of the game (the matching criteria is that everything has to match or nothing can much for it to be a set; same/different color, same/different number, same/different shape, same/different shade). 

We used this approach to help get the players familiar with the game dynamics and the basic rules of how SET works. From there, we let the players loose on a different version of the game, a multi-player version that followed the rules for matching, but the way to get scores and find sets was different, in that people were competing to see who would find matches first.

What was interesting to see was that a number of the participants were reporting issues they were having with the second game. The issues were legitimate discussion points, and had a lot of validity, but what was more interesting to me was that many of the issues being reported were because they were comparing the second game's dynamics to the first game. Why? They were two separate games, and they had two different sets of rules. One game didn't necessarily reflect on the other… except that it did, at least in the mind of the participants in this Weekend Testing event.

The reason? Playing the first game trained them to consider interactions one way, and then playing the second game didn't match their expectations. For some, that was a frustration point. They wanted the two games to play the same, or similar enough that the dynamics of the first game would be reflected in the second.  In short, I unintentionally "biased" some of the participants by having them play the first game and get used to the "rules" before I had them play the second. 

What if I had said up front "these two games are very different, and you should not compare the two to determine acceptability of play"? Would the outcome have been different? It's hard to say, but the point is, I didn't. By not doing so, I introduced bias into the process.

There are many areas of bias in software testing, and may ways to approach it. This is one I'm planning on using. What do you think? A reasonable way to introduce the topic? Could you think of a simpler way? I'm serious, I am totally open to suggestions. There will be more to come :).

Michael Larsen, TESTHEAD

SummerQAmp: Calling for "Champions"

The new year is underway, and with that, the plan to make SummerQAmp into a bigger and better opportunity, is likewise underway. I'm exploring a number of new topics, and with that, we have a strategy and a body of knowledge that we want to develop. With this, I want to encourage everyone out there who is interested to come join us and help shape the discussion and the content that will be presented.

We have a number of topics and topic areas that could be built up and developed. The discussion is happening over at the AST Forums. You do not have to be an AST member to participate in the forums, but you do have to be registered with the forums to post there. This serves a couple of purposes, the most important one being "if you contribute, you will get credit". Your being part of the discussion and contributing to the overall text, exercises or activities that we hope to make into the core curriculum can and will have your name on it, if you so choose to participate.

So what does it take? It's simple. Make an account if you don't already have one, then pick a topic in the EdSig section (EdSig is Education Special Interest Group). Most of the topics in that group right now are related to the SummerQAmp initiative. To get started, check out the post Kevin Haggard made a few days ago which spells out the road map that we are intending to follow. Do you think the topic list is good? Are we putting our energies in the right places? Do you think we're missing something important? Is there something that you, as a fledgling tester years back (or hey, maybe even here and now) wish you knew and had someone tell you, encourage you, or warn you about? Well, here's your chance to contribute to exactly that!

One thing to be aware of, this is a compressed schedule this year. We have a hard deadline for materials we will be presenting, and that deadline is March 1st. We need to be ready to go with what we have at that point, so if you want to take part, you need to get in and stake a claim to topics or propose new ones.

To all who have already put their time, talents and energies towards this initiative, thank you. To those who still want to do so, hey, come join us and help us make the best and most relevant software testing training possible!

Same As It Ever Was?

According to the Internet, and Mayan prophecy, December 21, 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world. I figure, if this proves to not be true, this will be something to allow me to celebrate a wonderful year of testing. If it does prove to be true, well, no one will be here to read this, so I suggest reading this quickly ;).

2012 was a pivotal year for me, in that I had a chance to do many things I'd never done, I had a chance to participate in a number of unique opportunities, and I made some decisions that have really made me question if it made sense to do things the same way I've done them for so long. Also, for those astute musical nerds out there, I'm referencing Talking Heads "Once in A Lifetime" once again with the title. It's proven to be quite a versatile song for these posts over the past few years.

When I wrote the first of these recaps in 2010, I was preparing to leave a job I had worked at for almost six years, and very much looking forward to a new adventure in a new capacity. In 2011, I shared many of the lessons I'd learned from making that step, and how being involved in the broader community had become very important to me. Thus I find it interesting that, here at the end of 2012, I am writing this message at yet another company, at the start of yet another "excellent adventure". "Same as it ever was?" seemed rather fitting, as this was not a year of business as usual. Not by a long shot!

2012 was a year of travel and outreach, and the opportunity to learn about and work with a number of interesting initiatives. I concluded my dive into Ruby and learning as much of the language as "Learn Ruby the Hard Way" would inspire me to do. This was a project started in 2011, and it ran for three months. I learned a lot along the way, and grew to appreciate many of the nuances of Ruby and how it works. My personal library of Ruby titles is huge now, which is a little ironic since, in my new role at Socialtext, I am looking at code that written mostly in... Perl :). Some might comment that I've wasted my time with all this Ruby focus, but I don't think so at all. What I've been able to do is approach a language at a deeper level than I ever have in the past, and do so with the eye of sharing my experience with others. That helped me internalize a lot more of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not what I would consider a great programmer, nor even a moderately good one. Still, there's a level of appreciation and achievement I'm quite proud of, and I feel it will help me look at other languages and be a little less intimidated.

My friends Lynn McKee and Nancy Kelln invited me to participate in the POST 2012 workshop up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, back in March. I was the facilitator for this event, and help the participants present their topics, discuss their ideas and critiques, and I also had a chance to present the idea of Weekend Testing as a service that any company could incorporate and associate with its test teams. An aded bonus, Lynn took me to Sunshine Village, one of the ski resorts in Banff National Park. Yep, I got to tick off a bucket list event... I snowboarded in Canada!

I had the pleasure of going to New Orleans to help plan out many of the events that would be part of the CAST conference for 2012, and visit some of the areas of the city (Bourbon Street, Royal Street, etc.) that I'd only heard stories about. It also gave me a chance to participate in the first Workshop day of STP-CON Spring 2012, likewise in New Orleans. I had the experience of being able to go and participate in and live blog five different workshops, and participate alongside many other intelligent and engaged testers.

I presented my first full paper and presentation at a conference this year. It was originally to be at PNSQC 2011, but a broken leg sidelined me and I was unable to present it. A friend who felt bad that I couldn't give my talk contacted Lee Copleland and suggested my talk would be a good fit for their conference. Lee read the paper and decided "yes, we'd like to see this presented" and offered me a spot on the program at STAR EAST 2012 in Orlando, Florida. I acepted and presented my talk. Additionally, I won Best Paper for "Delivering Quality, One Weekend at a Time". For the record, that was a seriously cool experience!

Weekend Testing in the Americas had a more regular schedule at one session per month. As we held our sessions throughout the year, we noticed an interesting pattern. There is a group of regular attendees that often participate. We have a number of brand new testers that come on and try it out a few times, then disappear. We have a number of one-offs, those who try it and never come back. Because of this, I determined it would be a good idea to get some additional brains into the mix to help develop sessions, content ideas, and other areas of focus. Albert Gareev has continued to be a great help to me in this regard, and we welcomed JeanAnn Harrison and Dan Gold into the mix of regularly contributing facilitators. Seriously, thank you to all of you, it made this year's sessions more enjoyable, and it gave me peace of mind to know that, if I couldn't be there for a session, that it would happen and all would be well. Additionally, I appreciate the influx of fresh ideas and different approaches.

Early in 2012, I had a chance to answer an article written about the SummerQAmp program, and what it hoped to accomplish. That proved to be a fateful message, in that I started a collaboration with the organizers of SummerQAmp and, along with members of the Association for Software Testing and other interested test professionals, we started writing what we hope will become a complete and practical introduction to the world of software testing. We delivered several modules and ran a beta test of the materials with a number of interns, and the response was "This is great! Can we have more of this?!" The answer, I hope, will be "Yes", and make no mistake, that will be a primary focus for me and for the AST EdSig in the new year. If you'd like to participate, please drop me a line!

I was invited to participate in Test Coach Camp, which happened the weekend prior to CAST 2012. This was an open-space conference event, where a number of testers participated and presented a variety of topics. I had the chance to present three different sessions (mentoring interns, teaching leadership skills, and a systematic deconstruction of Weekend Testing and the question "if we rebuilt it, what would you like to see us do?"). CAST 2012 also was the first chance to present the idea that has been my focus for much of the year, looking for that elusive balance between Test Driven Development, GUI Automation and Exploratory Testing. This topic showed up in a number of formats this year, and each time I approached it, I learned something new. First, it was a paper submission for PNSQC, then an emerging topics talk at CAST, then a full presentation at Agilistry Studios, and finally as a poster paper presentation that I gave (dozens of times) at PNSQC.

2012 saw me branch out and start contributing articles to a number of different outlets. Thanks to  ST&QA, Testing Planet, Atlassian and Zephyr for allowing me the opportunity to write for a broader audience, and for their giving me a chance to open this blog up to more testers and people interested in my writing. This year I also set a record for traffic with a post that is now number 1 with a bullet on TESTHEAD. Which post? Learning to Tell Different Stories, where I compared the storytelling tradition in Japan to what us "westerners" are used to, and how the differences and nuances open us up to asking different questions once we see and understand that there are different ways of seing things beyond our own world view. I also enjoyed participating in ST&QA's "Ask  the Tester", where I had the chance to answer a number of questions from the broader testing community. Also, I was a presenter in the Agile Transitions Online Conference for Software Test Professionals, where I presented my talk on "Being a Lone Tester on an Agile Team".

TWiST had another year of great conversations, great participation, and crossing the 100 episode mark (as of this week, we're up to episode #127). I always think of the old television maxim that, for a show to live on forever, it needs to pass 100 episodes to be eligible for life in syndication. I'm not sure if that's applicable for a podcast, but it's great to see that there is an appreciative audience, and that we can bring these discussions and ideas to you each week. I also enjoyed the various panels I participated in, and the shows I could contribute my ideas and thoughts to various discussions. Finally, I would be remiss were I not to say thank you to Justin Rohrman and Mark Tomlinson, who stepped in this year to help me edit episodes and do some of the "grunt work" that goes into getting these shows ready to be packaged and released. Seriously, your help is greatly appreciated!

During 2012, I continued my active involvement with the Miagi-do School of Software Testing, where Matt and Markus decided that I had earned the right to be advanced to a Black Belt Level Instructor. It's both gratifying and humbling to be associated with so many great testers, and while I now have the title of Instructor, sometimes I wonder who the real teacher is. I feel like I learn more from those I interact with than they likely learn from me.

As I have taken on the role as Chair of the Education Special Interest Group within the Association for Software Testing, I made the decision to step out of an active teaching role for the time being. While I will still be teaching some classes, I wanted to focus this year on giving others the opportunity to step up and learn how to lead the BBST classes and encourage those who haven't had the chance to assist and get a chance to teach as well. My goal for 2012 was to broaden our instructor pool, and that will continue to be a primary goal for 2013.

Hanging up my Lone Tester status was definitely not something I could have foreseen earlier this year, but looking at the interactions with others in so many other mediums, perhaps I should have seen it as inevitable. I decided that through all of the interactions I have had with my fellow testers, and with some feelings of frustration with my role as a lone tester, that I would put out some feelers and see if there were some test teams that would be interested in having a "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" join them. I have to admit I was surprised that so many responded, and so quickly. Thus, with the chance to "practice what I preach" regarding interaction, engagement and peer involvement, I made the decision to make the move from Sidereel, where I was a Lone Gun, to Socialtext, where I now work with a small but focused team of four testers... and by the way, we're looking for another tester to join us after the new year, so if you're interested (and local ;) ), let me know.

So many people have made this an amazing year for me, and to mention everyone by name will likely mean I'll leave someone out, so if I do, please don't feel slighted (and hey, if you do, email me and I'll put you in... blogs are cool like that :) ). Cheers and much appreciation to Aaron Scott, Albert Gareev, Anne-Marie Charrett, Becky Fiedler, Ben Simo, Benjamin Yaroch, Bill Baker, Catherine Karena, Cem Kaner, Dan Gold, Dee Ann Pizzica, Doug Hoffman, Elisabeth Hendrickson, Francis Adanza, James Bach, Janette Rovansek, JeanAnn Harrison, Jeff "Toxic" Burchell, Jon Bach, Justin Rohrman, Keith Klain, Ken Pier, Kevin Haggard, Lee Copeland, Lynn McKee, Mark Tomlinson, Markus Gaertner, Marlena Compton, Matt Barcomb, Matt Heusser, Mimi Mendenhall, Nancy Kelln, Patti Swift, Pete Walen, Peter "Pantera" Arzhintar, Rich Szeto, Rick Baucom, Scott Barber, Shampa Bannerjee, Thomas Ponnet, Timothy Coulter, and Zach Larson. Thank you for challenging me, for making me question my ideas, my motives, and my goals. Thank you for helping me make it possible to make changes, take burdens off of my shoulders and help me so that initiatives I started are being shepherded and able to keep going. Thank you for what has honestly been, at least as far as software testing is concerned, my greatest year (and remember, I said the same thing last year, and the year before that).

Oh, and should the world not end on December 21, 2012, then let me suggest that we follow the wise advice of Abraham Lincoln, who said:

"Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!"

TESTHEAD Talks: CAST 2011 and 2012

With much thanks to Ben Yaroch and TheASTVideos channel on YouTube, you can now hear some of my talks that were given at CAST 2011 and a presentation on CAST LIVE for 2012.

In 2011, I wa the lead off presenter for the first Emerging Topics track, and I did a talk called "Beyond Being Prepared: What Can The Boy Scouts Teach Testers?" In it, i discusssed some fators that relate to the stages of team development, and how both our leadership style and interaction style can have an effect on those stages. If you were on the Live stream in 2011, you had a chance to hear this. If not, I'd like to help remedy that right now :).

Also, I had the opportunity to present some of what the EdSIG is up to, as well as AST's involvement in SummerQAmp on CAST LIVE 2012. If you are interested in hearing my take on that, then this is for you as well.

Again, my thanks to Ben Yaroch for posting these and giving me a chance to share them with more people. It's is greatly appreciated.

Test First, Then Lesson

We are getting close to the make or break point for the educational initiatives we have been planning for SummerQAmp. As I've been working through a lot of material, ideas, and suggestions, I've been trying to think about the proper order of what we can use and how to apply it. Yet no matter how we massage the data, no matter how we put the modules together, no matter what rosy scenarios we paint, there is one undeniable fact… we have no idea how this is going to go over until we sit some 16-24 year olds down and try this out.

My prevailing theory, and the prevailing theory of most of the people I have talked to on this front, is that we are putting the cart before the horse in much of the training that we have developed to date. It works good for those people who have experience with doing testing, but not so well for those who don't have experience or don't really see how to connect the dots. 

It's with this in mind that I am trying to create modules that will, effectively, allow people interested in software testing to look at a number of activities, consider them, poke at them, see what happens. At the end of those activities, we discuss what they did, what they learned, and then fill in the details of what they have been doing. Rather than go through and discuss exploratory testing, let's give them an application to explore, fumble around with, "poke the box" (to borrow a Seth Godin metaphor) and otherwise have a play at the application. Then let's discuss all of the things they did, didn't do, and how what they did all maps to in that "theoretical" space.

We're coming down to the wire and it's time to see if we have something that will keep their attention. We'll know soon enough, I guess :).

Summer QAmp Brain Dump: Need BRAAIINS!!!

It probably has not gone unnoticed that I am posting less frequently than usual. There's a few reasons for that, and one of them is that I am trying to get all of my ideas down for the education modules that we will be preparing for Summer QAmp. I had initially planned on writing everything out, and posting it, and then massaging it down to a useable format. The past several days have taught me that that is going to take a long time, and it will give a very limited amount of time for feedback and review from others.

Because of this, I've decided to take a different approach, and I hope that you all will join me. We are discussing the elements that we want to present in the education materials over on the Association for Software Testing's EdSIG forum. At the moment, you have to be a member of AST to post in the forums, but we may well change that for this initiative, so as to get as many of the interested contributors as possible to be able to post.

In the meantime, though, the forum is open for reading to anyone who wants to participate, and if you would like to have your ideas included, please reply and let me know your interest and areas you would like to contribute.

Additionally, if you would prefer to communicate with me via email, you are welcome to send a message to me directly at mkltesthead (at) gmail (dot) com.

You Just Might Be... A Letter to My Inner Teenage Tester

Wow, the response to the SummerQAmp announcement has been awesome! Be warned, if you have said "count me in", I saw that, and I'm going to do so starting... right now :).

We have to start at the very beginning for some of these interns. Many of them may have no idea why they would want to be testers, or what the benefits would or could be. Thus, I'm starting with a letter to a teenaged tester who could be a lot like me, or not, but yeah, most likely, he's me:


Hey, Dude!!!

I know that most of your time right now is spent realizing that you are semi-photogenic, have a decent singing voice, and you really like taking that Fender Jazzmaster down to bare metal and building it back up. I also know that Like twinking around on that beige putty Macintosh that your parents set up in your brother's room because they can actually get into it (unlike your room), but seriously, I want to talk to you about something. At some point, you re going to put all your energies into being a musician. It's going to be a fun ride, it's going to impoverish you, and at some point, you are going to have to get down to brass tacks and dig your way out of a financial hole. When that day comes, you are going to find yourself surrounded by a strange breed of people, a wonderful breed. They are inquisitive, adventurous, creative and do some pretty cool things with other people's software. These people are called "testers" and believe it or not, you have a lot of the attributes they'd be looking for.


First of all, let's take a look at that guitar that you have taken down to its bits countless times. Why do you do it? I'm guessing because you want to se what makes it tick, and what changes and improvements you can make. Maybe it's just a cleaning or removing scratchiness from potentiometers, but the fact that you thought to break it down to look already points to you having the temperament of a tester.


Check out your reading material. You like to nerd out on unusual topics. You get a kick out of history. You enjoy philosophy. You actually own a book called "words from the Myths" because you had to dig in and understand why words like "Hubris", "Nemesis", "Chaos", "Cosmos" and "Sisyphean" meant what they did. You aren't really content with people telling you something is true, you needed to find out why stuff was true, or how they at least became accepted as true. There's an actual branch of study called "Epistemology" which means the study of knowledge and what we know, and why we know what we know. For some odd reason, you are into that. This makes a good potential pointer that you might be a tester in the making.


People are often defined by who they hang out with. You are hanging out with a bunch of musicians right now, and while you may think that that's all that you are, you're wrong. Many of you are drawn together because you share similar outlooks and ways of looking at the world. Among you are a CAD designer, an inveterate tinkerer and a rock solid network administrator, and that's just counting the guys in your first band. You don't realize that these are your future bandmates careers, but if you were to look at them for any length of time, it's self explanatory. But there's something that sets you a little bit apart. You like to argue why things work or don't work. You have a passion for doing things right. Not that they don't but you come at ir from a different angle. While they are focused on the actual building of things, you tend to look for the structural weaknesses and what could go wrong. You're not a pessimist... you're a tester :).


Can you count the hours that you and your bandmates looked for the optimal way to load and unload your gear, wire up your racks, maximize your wireless gear, and all of the other "refinements" you made while you were playing shows? Testing, my good friend.


I know that a lot of this might seem a little weird, and of couse, if I were to say that the reason you ultimately decided to go into testing was entirely temperament, I'd be lying to you. Those all pointed the way, but the real reason you decided to make it your life's work was the people that were part of it. People with names like Chuck, Marcia, Lawrence, Jim, Walter, Shannah, Monica, Beverly, Brian, Fredo, Art, Christina, Anthony, Greg, Don and many others. The temperament got you through the door. Your compatriots in arms are the ones that convinced you to stay. You owe a lot to them, too.


I'm going to close this for now, but I just wanted to give you some things to consider as you are plying your trade as a musician and trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. I'm not so sure I'm a good authority on the growing up part (by the way, I'm sorry for the broken ankle, lacerated wrist, splintered shoulder tuberosity and broken tibia and fibula you'll have to go through) but seriously, consider the testing avenue. You might be amazed at how much like "home" it feels when you get there.

Sincerely,
The Adult version of you (grown up? Not so much :) ).

The Temperament of a Tester and "The Announcement"

I think that Aaron Scott over at Two Leaf Clover must have been feeling the need to help me make an announcement today (LOL!). It's the only way I can explain how he comes up with certain comics right when I need them.


So, I know some of you have noticed these posts where I say I'm trying to identify "buddies" and that I'm writing letters to myself at 17, and that these can't be a coincidence. More to the point, you might want to ask me "why does this seem to coincide with an initiative that was recently written about, one that you initially commented dis-favorably towards? Surely there has to be a connection!"


Now I can tell you all that, yes, these are all interrelated. To put it plainly, I had some mixed emotions about the initiative called "SummerQAmp", and I commented on it. I suggested that we were doing a disservice by telling kids that they can do QA apprenticeships as a gateway into programming. Don't get me wrong, many people rise up through the testing ranks to become production level programmers,and I have nothing whatsoever bad to say about that. What I was lamenting was the fact that there is an industry and a craft that is noble unto itself, that of the software tester. Why are we trying to sell kids on it being a stepping stone? Why not encourage those with the aptitude to be testers to actually be testers, and enjoy the process? Like our intrepid friend standing and staring at the cube, he's got the temperament of a tester. The guy on the couch? Not so much. How can we get the guys (and girls) with the instincts to "punch the box" to see that those very skills are so very needed?


I'm happy to report that the people who are leading the SummerQAmp initiative listened, and they reached out to me, and to AST. We have reached an agreement to create content (lesson modules, but possibly other materials) geared towards helping intern aged students (those 16-24 year old) who might consider a career in the world of software development, and would like to try an apprenticeship in software testing, that we are looking to give them incentives to consider software testing a career in its own right.


Sounds like a monster initiative, doesn't it? It is! Sounds like an awful lot for one person to handle. You'd be right again, and there's no way in the world that I could do it on my own... but as I said, in a previous blog post, "I know a buddy who..." and I know there's a lot of you out there with experiences in many different industries. So what do you say? Are you interested in helping be someone who encourages the next generation of software testers? If there are areas you would have wished people told you about, would you share them? If there are situations and practices you would avoid like the plague, don't you wish someone had warned you when it could have been helpful? Well, here's your chance. Note: all ideas belong to their respective contributors. You create them, you own them, your words will be your own. Your copyright will be yours. Come help me find the people willing to "Punch the box". They need us, and frankly, we need them!