A Show of Hands - a #PNSQC2019 Live Blog

Today is the workshop day at PNSQC. I'm the moderator for Melissa Tondi's workshop on "Efficient Testing". As the workshops are an add on and paid for by the attendees, out of respect for that I do not live blog workshop goings-on; If you want to take part, come out and sign up to be a part of it ;).

Instead, I' like to talk a little bit about what I think really makes PNSQC unique, and that is its emphasis on working with volunteers.

• If you submitted a paper and you received feedback, that person providing feedback is a volunteer.
• If you interact with the web site, those updates are done by volunteers.
• The registration, room monitoring, moderating of tracks, etc. are done by volunteers.

In short, this conference has so many opportunities to volunteer and participate. Many of the opportunities available will get a person a free ticket to the conference. Volunteering for workshops also gives a person the opportunity to participate in that workshop for free. While there is no guarantee that a person will be able to moderate or facilitate the specific workshop they want to participate in, odds are still pretty good that if you show interest early, you can moderate your first choice.

The bottom line here is that the conference is an excellent one, IMO, and the volunteers go a long way in helping foster that experience. 

Testing Should be Fun: 99 Ways Workshop #68

The Software Testing Club recently put out an eBook called "99 Things You Can Do to Become a Better Tester". Some of them are really general and vague. Some of them are remarkably specific.

My goal for the next few weeks is to take the "99 Things" book and see if I can put my own personal spin on each of them, and make a personal workshop out of each of the suggestions. 

Suggestion #68: Testing should be fun so remain positive and get everyone within the team enthused about the merits of testing - Steven Cross

Many people don't realize that they test all the time. They think that testing is something that other people do, or that a person needs to have a job description that involves testing. While it's true that most people are not trained in testing, that shouldn't preclude people from all parts of the organization to take part in testing. I've recommended setting up pairing sessions with a variety of people to get their insights, and to test with people from all areas of the organization. There's one more thing that we can do to drive home the importance of testing and, more important, that anyone can participate in it and provide unique insights.

Workshop #68:  Think about how to get people involved in testing with you, especially someone who has never considered themselves to be testers in the past. Lead a bug-fest with a bunch of co-workers, preferably those who are not career testers. Make a party, bring food, and set "bounties" for interesting bugs.

These events are called a number of different things. Test-a-Palooza, Bug Bash, Espionage Night, Hammer-Fest, etc.. Regardless of the name, the effect is the same:

- set a date and time, preferable several hours

- gather a bunch of people from different parts of the organization and sit them together

- get food, beverages, candy, etc. and have it available

- make it an event that is meant to be fun, but with a purpose

The idea for one of these events is that we want to focus on a broad range of features. This is often the "last chance" for a feature or release that has been internal to an organization before it receives a wider distribution. Giving everyone free reign to dive in and see what they can find tends to energize a group, especially if it's done with a sense of fun.

Make sure to have a facilitator that keeps track of a board as issues are found (file the issues in the tracking system or method that you use, but make sure that any issue found is put on the board for people to see. This has two effects. First, it focuses people on areas to look more closely, and it also shows that people who don't necessarily consider themselves to be testers can find important issues and be recognized for them, too.

Take the issues that are posted and let the participants consider them, think about the severity or the priority, and let them rank them based on their collective perception. This is often done to set a "bug bounty" and collectively determine which issues deserve the "prizes" (which can range anywhere from gift cards to actual cash prizes).

The benefit of doing this prioritization and ranking is that it gets everyone that participates to think about what issues matter most to them, and potentially, would matter most to their customers. This ranking need not be set in stone (the product management and development teams will very likely have a different priority list) but for this purpose, let the process flow naturally. Who knows... the participant's collective wisdom may actually coincide with the development teams perception of the severity and priority of the issues found.

I've presided over several of these bug parties, and I've usually been the Boardmaster. We typically have had the testers be exempt from these events, but we often offer our efforts as team advisors, or to sit with others in the organization to help them test (we act as navigators in a pair session, and encourage the other participants drive). As such, often we get some terrific bugs from logical contributors (the customer support reps, the sales people, etc.). Several times, the top bug bounty has gone to the office manger, because they were the one that knew the system inside and out from daily use. 

Bottom Line:

Running a bug party with your organization is a great way to expose actual testing to those who would not typically participate in the process. They realize that they have something to contribute and that, often, they discover what it takes to chase down a problem, bound it and explain it in a way that a programmer could work to fix it. The net effect of these interactions is that a lot of fun is had, the software gets a thorough workout from a large group of people, and every once in awhile, a little more respect is given to the testers who do this kind of thing every day.

AST Re-Election: Do I Deserve Your Vote?

This is going to be very much a niche post. For many, this won't make a lot of sense. For others, it will make a great deal of sense, and it's all of you that it will make sense to that I am hoping will read and consider this post.

Members of the Association for Software Testing, CAST 2013 will be starting just under two weeks from today. I will be there. I will be speaking, helping out where I can, and, I hope, acting as a positive representative of this organization.

This year also marks the end of my inaugural term as a member of the Board of Directors. I am up for re-election. I have considered why I should run for the Board again, and why I should ask each and every one of you to give me your support and your vote.

Short version:

I am running once again, and I am asking for your vote of support for a second term.

Longer Version:

I have enjoyed interacting with all of you over the past two years. I've served in the role of being the "BBST Headmaster",  keeping track of the books for the organization as the Association's Treasurer, and working as the Chair of the Education Special Interest Group, most notably with the group of dedicated individuals who have helped compile and curate the materials that are developing to be the basis of educational modules for SummerQAmp.

I'll be blunt. I'm not an academic. I'm not a consultant. I'm a software tester. A practitioner. I'm an everyday, regular person who works for a regular company. I'm also one who wants to see our profession, craft, discipline, "call it what you will" grow, develop and flourish.

I enjoy being actively involved in those efforts, and being part of the Board of Directors allows me the opportunity to try and see these initiatives, and others, be pushed forward. There are long time projects that need updating, and delivery options that we may want to consider, as an organization, to enhance or replace what we currently use. Frankly, I think I'm just crazy enough to take a number of these on and make them happen.

As a practitioner, I'm also a bit of a cynic (it comes with the territory of being a software tester). I know some of you are thinking... "OK, so what's in it for you?" That's a totally fair question. The fact is, I get opportunities to learn about software testing education in avenues I would not were I not part of this Board. I get the chance to help see grant opportunities develop for international testing conferences, and help see them get funded. I get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that we as an organization are making a difference around the world, spreading a message of "sapient testing" that breaks free of old methods and default "factory paradigms" that, frankly, don't make sense in an ever adapting digital world.

Yes, I want to see those opportunities continue. I want to champion excellent software testing. I want to get involved with more initiatives that will help make software testing education more available, better performing, more engaging, and yes, dare I say it... FUN! There are many avenues where that could happen,  but I like the mission and purpose of the Association for Software Testing, and everyone involved in it as members. I could approach these opportunities in a number of places, but I'd rather approach it here, with all of you.

Really, that's all I have to say. The final vote is yours. I have enjoyed very much these past two years working with you, and on your behalf. I'd like to ask you for two more years... membership willing :).

Attend or Speak at Software Testing and Programming Conferences : 99 Ways Workshop #21

The Software Testing Club recently put out an eBook called "99 Things You Can Do to Become a Better Tester". Some of them are really general and vague. Some of them are remarkably specific.

My goal for the next few weeks is to take the "99 Things" book and see if I can put my own personal spin on each of them, and make a personal workshop out of each of the suggestions.

Suggestion #21: Attend or even better speak at Software Testing and Programming conferences (there are free/low cost one that provide great value) - Stephan Kämper

This may well be the best kept secret out there, but yes, if you want to get into various software testing conferences (and developer conferences, too), there are numerous ways to get involved and participate so that you can attend either for free, or as close to free as possible. Most conferences rely on a cadre of volunteers to run. They need to have a quantity of paying individuals to attend so that the conference breaks even of sees a prefect, but that typically does not prevent conference organizers from looking to volunteers to help them make the conference a success. The key, though, is to be able to offer a talent or a skill that will make you a good candidate for accepted as a volunteer. From my own experiences, I'm offering some ideas below.

Workshop #21: What Can I Do to Be a "Volunteer"?

Put simply, there are lots of avenues and opportunities where even basic skills can help tremendously. From my own experience I have:

- arrived early to stuff bags and have badges ready to go

- manned the front desk and given out badges and bags to attendees

- offered to be a "track coordinator" and introduce speakers, manage questions & answers, and collect surveys/questionnaires

- help out with the A/V needs of a conference, whether it be to do live sound, recording of audio or video taping of sessions

- offer to live blog or otherwise promote the conference (this has worked for me because I have an established blog and a reputation of posting live blog updates, but it's definitely worth asking if such a thing would be worthwhile to a particular venue)

- offer to do interviews and convert them into podcasts or available audio content for the conference organizers

- arrange several months in advance to assist with web content creation and management for the conference web site

- offer to do systems administration or other chores that the conference needs (registration, front end development & testing, content uploads, etc.)

- offer to review papers and presentations from speakers. This is a huge service, and one that is very often needed

and the final recommendation… offer to speak.

I saved that one for last for a specific reason; it's often the most difficult of the volunteering opportunities to fulfill. 

At a variety of conferences, getting picked to speak is a big deal, and there are more rejections than acceptances. Does that mean don't try? Of course not, but it does mean give some consideration as to where you are looking to speak. If you have never spoken at an International testing or programming conference, it might be hard to get an acceptance as a first time speaker. Often, regional or local conferences are a better bet for first time speakers. 

My first opportunity to speak at a conference came from the fact that I had established a reputation doing something first. My first two "conference talks" were both related to Weekend Testing, and both came about because I was asked to speak about my experiences facilitating sessions. The first opportunity came at CAST 2011, and would have been followed up by speaking at PNSQC 2011, but a broken leg prevented that from happening. My original paper, though, was published by PNSQC, and that paper being published helped lay the ground work for my presenting it at STAR EAST 2012 (along with a friend who read the paper and said "dang it, this needs to be presented" and championed me to the conference organizer). 

Those experiences helped make it possible for me to present additional papers at additional conferences and get consideration to be reviewed by other conference committees and make additional presentations. In short, volunteer efforts get you known, those efforts help you develop experience reports you can share, that sharing (and positive reviews) opens up other avenues to speak and present. 

Bottom Line:

Conferences are great opportunities to learn and interact, but they are also great opportunities to share your own experiences and develop a broader community. If you have the time and the energy to volunteer at the local or regional level, do so. Express your interest early, and offer in areas that are not glamorous. Show that you are reliable and want to be engaged. That enthusiasm is remembered, and you will find that you'll be on a short list of contacts the next time around. 

Speaking opportunities are often available to those willing to share what they have learned and initiatives they are involved in. Topics do not need to be "The Next Great Revolution in Software Testing" and you do not need to be "The Greatest Rock Star Tester in the World" to be asked to speak. Every day people have compelling stories and Lessons Learned that can help the industry. Be one of those voices, and be willing to work up to being one of those speakers… oh, and don't be shocked when you are offered more and more opportunities to participate. The testing world is small, and it's always surprising how many people know each other. Show that you are ready, willing and able to work to make a difference, and you'll be contacted for lots of opportunities, I can almost guarantee it :).

Some Realizations of Being a "Host Family"

First, I want to start this by saying that the past week that I have had has been one of the most rewarding experiences ever, and I mean that sincerely. I greatly enjoyed opening our home to two of the eight middle school children that came to visit us here in our town from Japan as part of our Sister City Exchange program.

This was precipitated by my older daughter's desire to be a part of the group to go to Japan this year, and one of the expectations is to have the family of a U.S. participant act as a host family for the Japanese participants. We were happy to do so, and in the process, invited two of the sweetest girls on Earth to stay with us for a week. All of that is fantastic. Now, on to some things I discovered.

1. Do not assume that something that is done where you are matches what is done elsewhere.

I learned this by having our participants have dinner with us at a somewhat high end sushi bar (well, high end for where we live). In the process of having that dinner with them, I discovered that most Japanese do not combine foods like tempura, sukiyaki and sushi in the same meal. I also discovered that the salad's that we often get to start a meal are also not particularly "Japanese", it's an American thing. Another interesting discovery, "American Sushi" uses a lot more wasabi in its making. Not as a garnish on the side, but actually inside of the sushi itself. The girls bit into several nigiri pieces, winced and say "wow, this is too strong!" I then watched them dissect the nigiri pieces and scrape away the wasabi. I found this fascinating; what I had often taken for granted as just the way things were done wasn't. In fact, it was an adaptation for our local environment that I had become accustomed to. Now I know better :).

2. Factor in at least an hour plus for any activity that is done with a group.

We took a trip to the city (San Francisco) and jumped on a MUNI line to go out to the Marin Headlands, the primary goal being to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then go explore some other areas of San Francisco. In the process, we gathered up all of the participants and all of the host families to come along. That worked out to about 30 participants. When  you are bringing thirty people along to anything, odds are that you will need to pad significant time to make sure everyone can be accommodated. Bathroom breaks easily take 20 minutes with a group that size. Snack stops? Thirty minutes. Meal breaks? Well over an hour, plus an hour or more at any given venue. Needless to say, there were a lot of things that we did that ended up taking a lot of time because of so many people. The easiest way to get some leverage? Split up the group. We were able to see a lot more once we split off into smaller sections and only had to manage twelve people instead of thirty.

3. There are some things that are, on the surface, universal.

Early teenage girls of just about every culture will squeal with delight at a cute bunny rabbit. Cats are adorable. So are dogs. Spiders and snakes tend to weird them out.  Cupcakes are a hit. A trip to the Apple Store and letting them test out headphones will last all night if you let them. Late night giggle fests are a norm. With this, my girls and these two girls from Japan got along famously. The Japanese girls considerably better English than my daughters spoke Japanese, but they were able to make themselves understood for hours, and it seems that Americas Funniest Home Videos translate well in to any language.

4. Being a Host Family is rewarding and exhausting
The participants had a full itinerary each day, and both my wife and I participated in it. It left little time for relaxation and just sitting still. Net result, we are both very tired, but it's that super accomplished kind of tired, the kind that makes you feel like you want to pass out, but if you do, you will do it with a grin from ear to ear. One other thing to remember, if you decide to be a host family, any other project you might have going on, just park it. I promise, you will not have the time or the emotional energy to do much of anything else.

5. It's possible to have one's heart stolen in a short amount of time.

Six days ago, I didn't know anything about these eight Japanese students. Today, I sent them home with a heavy heart. It was such a short time, but I already miss them. I know my girls miss them terribly; they cried and hugged for the longest time this morning, until they had to be almost forcibly separated (well, OK, that's a little over dramatic, but it was a hard goodbye). Just six days, and I grew to care about both of them tremendously, as though they were my own daughters. That will fade with time, I know, but the good thing is that the seed for a lifelong friendship has been planted. I will encourage my girls to  help keep it growing, if for no other reason than that Christina and I want to know how they are doing.

For those who have similar opportunities, if there is any way you can be a host family to such a program, do it! It's such an awesome experience, and I would gladly do it again. I have a sneaking suspicion that once more may be in our future, when our youngest is in eight grade. If that happens, I'll gladly sign up to do it again.

Join Us For A "Twitter Testing Town Hall"

Catherine Powell posted about this earlier today and I'd like to follow suit :).

Later this evening (6:00 p.m. PDT, 9:00 p.m. EDT) I and three other candidates will be participating in a Twitter Testing Town Hall meeting to answer questions about AST, who we are, what we do, and why you should vote for us. the details about the debate are as follows:

Who: Matt Heusser, Michael Larsen, Catherine Powell and Pete Walen

What: A chance to ask any and all of us about why we are running for the AST board of directors and what we hope we can bring to the organization.

Where: It'll be on Twitter (http://twitter.com)

When: August 1, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific, 9:00 p.m. Eastern

Why: Because we want to not only tell you why we are running, but to also hear what *YOU* would like to see the board of directors make for priorities in 2011-2012 and beyond. 

How: Simply jump on Twitter and post with the #ASTElect hash tag. You can aim any questions to any of the individual candidates, or ask us all. If you want to ask me a question, direct the tweet to @mkltesthead.

Looking forward to a fun and spirited event. Come join us :)!!!

So, Why Should You Vote For Me?!

Well, actually, if you are not a member of the Association for Software Testing, I'm going to say the answer is "you don't have to". Actually, even if you are a member of the Association for Software Testing, you don't HAVE to vote for me… but I'd certainly be happy if you did.

Part of me feels like starting this with the lines of Admiral James Stockdale when he participated in the 1992 Vice Presidential debate… "Who am I? Why am I here?" Unlike Admiral Stockdale, though, I hope to be able to get to that much quicker and provide a reasonable answer (for those of you who are outside of the US and have no idea who James Stockdale is, no worries. For those of you stateside who don't know, you're obviously lots younger than me ;) ).

I am a tester. I am a teacher. I am a believer in the idea that "it's the people, stupid" that make any organization worth being around in the first place.In short, members of AST, I'm one of you, and really no more than that. I don't have any grand qualifications outside of having been a tester for 17 years. I've never managed a company's test team, I've never held an exalted title like "test director". Heck, most of my efforts have been as a lone tester over these 17 years. I have, however, experienced a lot of ups and downs in this industry, and it's helped me see that I'm not alone in facing those challenges.

I'm a strong proponent and a believer in the value of the Black Box Software Testing classes. To date, I'm a veteran of five Foundations classes (one as participant, four as instructor) and two Bug Advocacy classes (one as participant, one as instructor). I look forward to the opportunities to teach these classes because I learn something new every time.It's also as an instructor that I see the value and power of these classes. We are not seeking a "fill in the blank" one size fits all certification. We realize that testing is dynamic, context driven and varies with every test and tester. It's this view I would like to see more testers embrace and understand, as well as the rest of the software development world.

I believe strongly in the value of continuous education and active practice. It is with the eye towards continuous practice that I have led the charge for Weekend Testing in the Americas, and why I have facilitated each session since its inception. Each time we hold a session, I learn something different and help to teach something different to the participants. It's also in this continued growth and practice that Albert Gareev and I are developing "Project Sherwood", with the goal of developing the next level of "active practice" for testing skills.

Having produced nearly 60 podcasts, including some with me as the interviewer and interviewee, I have had the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the challenges and issues that span the testing discipline, and it's my desire to help see that discipline grow and develop.

Overall, my approach to politics can be best summed up as "neo-prudentist", which roughly translated means "I don't much care for politics, but I'm very motivated to find what works and help to promote and encourage it". I believe AST and its model to work and to be effective. I believe that the development and growth of the BBST course series, bot now and in the future, would be a tremendous help to the overall testing industry. There is a Test Design course in the works and almost finished and ready to be presented. There are many more possible courses that can be offered. As a board member, I'd like very much to see AST focus on further development of these courses and being able to present them to the public.

Finally, the reason I am here is "I was nominated", and for that alone, I am touched and honored. To quote Matt Heusser (a good friend and also a candidate), "If I am nominated,I will run. If I am elected, I will serve." Really and truly, it is that simple. I have no great promises to make, and I have no promises that I can use to sway your vote, other than this… AST is an organization I believe in, and am honored to be a member of and to serve. If I'm elected,I will serve to the best of my ability. If I am not elected… I will still serve to the best of my ability in whatever ways it may need me".

The rest, my testing compatriots, I leave up to you :).

"Rock Star Euphoria" and "Roadie Reality"

On Thursday night, I had a great experience. I had a chance to sit down to dinner with Jon Bach, Michael Bolton, Jeff Fry, Doug Hoffman, and David Liebreich. This was a fantastic collection of  "rock star" level test nerds, and we had a great dinner and a great conversation. I was on cloud nine, but through the night as I was talking about some of the things I was excited about, Michael looked at me with a wry smile and said something that was an epiphany to me. I'm paraphrasing this, so I don't want to go into all of the details, but he basically commented on the fact that there was a time when he had no idea who I was and then suddenly, I was everywhere. He said that it was fun to get a chance to be known and have a little notoriety, but that sometimes that notoriety is a double edged sword. It's great to have goals and a platform and even a desire to be in the mix, but we run the risk of losing our focus or being too focused on the wrong things.

This week, I came to a conclusion... I'm a hypocrite. I talk a mean game about being prepared, doing important work, and focusing on the things that really matter, yet I'm guilty of veering off course and not focusing on what really matters. Instead, I've been chasing the things that are fun and that I am passionate about. Here's the thing, it's pretty easy to do the stuff that's, well, easy, or the stuff that makes us feel like we've got it all covered. We take on more and more of those so called challenges while they are fun, and we get that heady sense of "rock star euphoria". When I was a musician, I often looked forward to performing. It was the whole point of slogging in the studio, practicing my scales and plinking out chords and melodies on a guitar or bass to write songs. Most of us did this because we looked forward to that hour on stage when we were on top of the world. That's what I mean by rock star euphoria. Problem is, we can't always be on stage. I can't sing my lungs out every night, it's just not possible. If I did, I would lose my voice regularly and I'd need to rest the voice. We can perform a lot, but ultimately, we'll stop giving really good performances if we do it too much.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy podcasting. I enjoy facilitating Weekend Testing. I enjoy being a teacher with AST. I enjoy getting ready to be a conference presenter (my newest goal and endeavor). These are great "performance" aspects, but they take time, and they take practice and slugging away well behind the scenes. The rock star euphoria I get when I push something new gives me a rush, but there's only so much voice in me (to extend the analogy). Even really enjoyable stuff, when we over commit, tends to leach and sap energy from the things we care about, and let's face it, it takes away from the things that are less enjoyable, but just as necessary. I'm starting to lose my voice. It's sapping me, and it's sapping my focus on home, on work, on scouting and on my own ability to focus and learn.

If I can focus on a problem and give it a name, I can actually do something about it. What's my problem? Like the days of old, I'm spending too much time on the "Live Show" and not enough time in the studio. I'm focusing on the things that are easy and enjoyable for me, things that have a big bang and bring a huge smile to my face, but aren't letting me stretch and grow in the ways that my team needs me to. My passion about testing is not in question; everybody knows I'm passionate about testing. How do I feel about technical development, about really embracing and understanding the underpinings of the operation, and being able to fit myself into what is needed? In short, talking a mean game about testing is one thing, growing into the core player that I need to be, especially when I need to focus on stuff that's not so "rock star", that's another thing entirely.

What can I do when I need to focus on the stuff that's not so "rock star" and is a lot more "roadie"? Here's what I'm doing. I'm making an effort to be more vocal about challenging goals, not just the ones that make me look good. I'm setting public goals around things that are actionable and show real progress over time. For me right now, this is spending time focusing on programming, which is a genuine slog for me. I'm doing what I can to broaden my tool-set, not just in the testing approach, but in understanding business development, the technical underpinnings of our products, and more than anything else, I'm making myself more project oriented and really getting a handle on the time it takes to do certain things, and how much of my attention is really needed to make them work.

Ultimately, we can't be rock stars everyday. We don't have the energy or the time, and to remain a rock star, we have to do the work necessary that will help us maintain that level. So I'm swallowing some of my own hypocrisy and stepping back, looking at the balance of "rock star" dreams, and the "roadie" tasks that are needed to help me get where I need to be. It's my hope that, if I can be more mindful of the time and energy it takes to do the stuff that really matters, I'll actually be able to sustain the energy needed to enjoy and savor those rock star moments.

BBST Foundations (BBST_101E): Starts This Saturday

This Saturday, in addition to a session of Weekend Testing Americas, another session of the Association for Software Testing's Black Box Software Testing Foundations class will begin. It will be another four weeks of all volunteer effort, with a number of dedicated instructors helping to teach the class. It will be challenging, it will be fun, it will be a chance to learn even more than I already have from this great class, and this time I will probably learn more than all other times combined. Why you might ask? Because I'm going to be the Lead Instructor for this course!

I am excited and anxious about this turn of events. Excited because I want to see how well I can do in this environment, but anxious because I'm going to be the guy in the driver's seat this time. there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes for these classes to run smoothly, and a lot of the details associated with the class running smoothly are because the lead instructor makes sure to take care of many of those pieces. In previous classes, those responsibilities belonged to someone else. This time, they belong to ME!

However, I am not alone in this endeavor. I have two great assistants this time around (Mimi Mendenhall and Doug Hoffman). Mimi will be doing it for the first time, and Doug has been around since the courses were first offered, and could probably teach this class in his sleep (LOL!).

Registration is still open until Wednesday, 3/30/2011, so if you are interested in seeing if you can still get into the class, please follow the link to register and take part. If the class is over-booked, you can of course sign up for the next one. I may not be teaching that go-around, but it will still be a great class with whoever is teaching it. If, however, you can get in, I'll look forward to having you be a part of my class :).

Bold Boasts and Expectational Debt

There's been a discussion going on over at the Software Testing Club, specific to reading technical books, but in general, the idea of making a"Bold Boast" to accomplish some goal and put yourself on the hot seat. On the positive end, I think that there is a value to making a "bold boast" if it will actually get you to be motivated to accomplish something, but there's a down side and a dark side to it, and it's one I've started to realize. I didn't have a way of putting it into words, but when in doubt, Merlin Mann will likely come up with something awesome to describe it, and hey, Merlin didn't disappoint. During the 5by5 podcast "Back To Work" last week, he coined, on the spot, what I think is a great term… Expectational Debt.

What is that? It's what happens to us when we announce we are going to do something or we agree to do something that will take a substantial amount of time and energy, but we may not know when or if we are going to finish it. In a way, Expectational Debt is a behavioral cousin of Technical Debt, where we make decisions (usually by shooting off our mouths) to do something that we then need to fulfill, and we are, effectively, putting our "future self" in the hot seat. Consumer debt and technical debt do the same thing. We agree to something now with the proviso that the future self is going to be the one to pay for it. Sometimes this works well, but if we are not careful, this can also backfire spectacularly.


I've noticed in this blog that I have committed to quite a bit of Expectational Debt, some of it well meaning, and some of it is becoming problematic. Case in point… when I started the Wednesday Book Review, I was looking at books that I had either read a bit of or had some familiarity with. Those books were titles I could quickly breeze through, and as such, I felt good about doing a book a week. that doesn't work so well when I got into stuff that was a little less familiar or easy to absorb. It's because if this that I've made the decision to re-emphasize my book review schedule and remove the Wednesday from the titles. The Wednesday created an expectational debt (I don't entirely know who with, but my counters have historically shown that the book reviews are an often read element of this blog). The point is, I created an expectation, and that expectation causes people to be let down if I don't meet it, even if the expectation isn't a really high one.


The Practicum series was a good and well meaning idea when I started it. I figured, hey, I'll just work through all of the examples, how hard can it be? Well, it can be really hard when your environment doesn't match the examples given, or if your new job and its demands don't allow you the time to push through all of the examples and write about them. So I'm asking a little indulgence of those who have been following my Practicum posts and wondering "hey, Michael hasn't posted an update in awhile. What's up with that?" This is an example of a "Bold Boast" being undermined by too large a percentage of "Expectational Debt". Great commitment, but difficult to follow through on at the moment. It is, however, important to me to complete it, so I will take it on in smaller increments and post when it I get through each section. It may take longer, but it will at least get done, if not at the pace I originally intended. This is better than feeling overwhelmed by a project I cannot give 100% to, and making no progress because it's "too much to swallow right now".


We all know the old chestnut "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is always "One bite at a time". Expectational Debt can likewise quickly turn into an elephant if we are too quick to say yes, too excited to not entirely think through our commitments, or to not have a firm grasp of what we need to do when everything comes together. I started a new job, took on the AST Bug Advocacy class, and have a long standing commitment to editing a podcast that I really enjoy working on. Add all that to the fact that I am a husband and a dad, and yeah, the available hours in a day get cut down rapidly. Time is a finite resource, we can't save it or slow it down, or bank it for later. We can only use it, and when I agree to do one thing, I have to accept the fact that I am agreeing to say no to any number of other things. If I don't I will start to build an unrealistic level of Expectational Debt. If I'm really not paying attention, I can also create a large amount of Technical Debt in the process, too.


So where am I going with this? Well, short of saying "thanks" to Merlin for putting a word to a phenomenon I do way too often, I'm examining exactly how much I willingly commit to, and how vocal I'm willing to be about it. There's lots of things I want to do, and I'm genuinely enthusiastic about all of it, but the simple fact is, I can't do it all. I'll never be able to do it all, and I need to figure out how to be OK with that. Maybe I'll disappoint some people, and I guess I'll have to learn to live with that, too. Ultimately, though, it's critical to focus on the most important Expectational Debts first, and make sure to focus on the most important areas, even if it means having to say no to other important and, yes, even fun things. I'm not saying don't make promises. I'm also not saying don't make "Bold Boasts" from time to time. I firmly believe the Bold Boast is an awesome tool, but we have to also make sure we don't Bold Boast ourselves into Expectational Bankruptcy. If a Bold Boast is needed to motivate you, then by all means boast, but weigh it in with your other commitments, and realize you may have to "Moderately Boast" for awhile.


Or better yet, take stock of your outstanding Expectational Debts and get "Gazelle Intense" (copyright Dave Ramsey) on wiping out those expectational debts that are already hanging around. If you know that you are not going to accomplish goal you set, or you're beyond that, go ahead and publicly say "I'm sorry, but this isn't going to happen". Acknowledge it, declare that momentary act of Expectational Bankruptcy, and then focus on the stuff that matters. How to do that, I'll leave up to you :).

10 Things that Fired Me Up in 2010

As I mentioned in another post that has become the highest read article on this site in the shortest amount of time (it went to #1 in ONE DAY, and thank you to everyone who read it and linked to it :) ), there was a lot of supporting stuff and things that helped motivate me through the year to keep me focused and develop my game. Key people, key presentations, key podcasts and key organizations helped make that happen, so as an end of the year “I’m thankful for…” post, here are some key items I found that I am thankful for helping to make 2010 beyond amazing for me.:

1. Book: Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach

It’s cliché to say that a book is a “game changer” but this book deserves that designation, as does the #2 item in this post, because both together were the “electric spark" that provided for my “conversion” to “testing evangelism” (conversion in this sense being the scientific manner; “motivated towards action”). James gets the #1 spot because he helped me see my brain for the lazy, wayward, obstinate, uncooperative, short attention span thing that it is, and give me the tools to actually appreciate it and WORK with it and understand how to best maximize its potential. The link above is to James book, and the following link is to James' Buccaneer Scholar site, so that you can get more of that Buccaneer Scholarly goodness (or if you’re feeling particularly jaunty, you can say “more of that B.S.” and keep a straight face, because your referring to something good ;) ).

2. Book: Linchpin by Seth Godin

The factory is dead. Long live the Linchpins. If you ever wanted a kick in the butt to help encourage you to blast forward and get you fired up to make yourself into one of those people who is indispensable, then this is your book. Understanding of “the Lizard Brain” and “the Resistance” alone makes this book worthwhile, but there is so much to mine here, so many great ideas and inspiration that, yes, this deserved the moniker of “game changer” as well.

3. Podcast: Dan Carlin, Common Sense and Hardcore History

Dan Carlin is, without a shadow of a doubt, my all time favorite “new media” personality, and he is in many ways the model of what I would like my podcasts to aspire to (production values, relevance, energy, and “collectability”). Common Sense is "Politics from a Martian's slant", and Hardcore History is in-depth and dramatic discussion about History’s odd and interesting bits, and I’m not kidding when I say dramatic… Dan has been compared to “William Shatner on Crack” but many. Still, the production values of his show and the level of passion in which he approaches it ranks up there with “best inspiration” for the year.

4. Podcast: Hanselminutes

This is my favorite “technical podcast” that I’m not directly involved with (yes, TWiST is in the list, but considering how many hours a week I devote to it, how could I not list it ;)?). Hanselminutes is a well produced, quickly paced show that goes into various topics each week, most related to .NET technologies (and since my current gig is in a .NET shop, that should not be surprising) but he also varies the topics to many other technical and sometimes not so technological topics. His podcast is also one of the longest continually running ones (245 episodes and counting!).

5. Community: Twitter

OK, so this is almost a cop-out, but the way that I apply it, it has been one of my key motivators for this year. I only have one account on Twitter (@mkltesthead), and 99% of my Twitter feed is filled with Software Testers or those who are peripherally associated with Software Testing. Because of this, to quote Jon Bach, my twitter feed is effectively speaking a 24/7 Testing conference, with announcements, blog posts, presentations and discussions with the people I consider to be the most influential and most interesting in the industry (and I should note, often the two have a lot to do with each other, and often they do not). Generally speaking, I use a simple metric when it comes to a testing idea or concept. Is it discussed on Twitter? If It isn’t, chances are I can safely ignore it. If it is actively and regularly discussed on Twitter, I know that ignoring it could well be at my career’s peril :).

6. Recorded Talk: Merlin Mann and Jon Gruber: HOWTO: 149 Surprising Ways to Turbocharge Your Blog With Credibility!*


This was actually recorded in 2009, but I didn’t run across it until early 2010. For anyone who blogs, writes, or wants to make a difference with personal publishing, this talk is fantastic! I’m an unabashed fan of Merlin Mann (of 43Folders.com) and Jon Gruber (of DaringFireball.net), but this talk goes so far beyond what my expectations were, and seriously, I think I fire this up on my MP3 player about once a month to motivate me. Yes, it’s that good! In short, if you have any goal of developing a blog, a voice, of making a name for yourself with a blog, or becoming a better writer, artist, maker, fill in the blank, seriously, you really have to listen to this. Repeatedly!


* BTW, the title of the talk is a gag, which they mention in the first minute of the talk, but if you are a fan of either Merlin or Jon, you probably don't need me to tell you that ;).

7. Podcast: This Week in Software Testing

I joked with Matt that for every minute of Audio there’s about 15 minutes of scrubbing and sequencing that I do. This is probably way too O.C.D. for me, but again, my hope is that I aspire to make this podcast that I am producer of every bit as good as the #3 and #4 items on my list. I don’t know if I’ve ever quite gotten there, but that’s what I aspire to, and therefore I enjoy scouring these episodes and making them flow as well as I possibly can and doing as good an audio cleanup as humanly possible. In the process, I learn a tremendous amount each week. For every 15 – 30 minute episode the listeners hear, it s good bet I’ve spent anywhere from three to five hours with each of them and going over every single word and waveform. You learn a lot in that process, and sometimes I find myself mentioning things in meetings and people going “whoa, where did you learn that?!" and then smiling a little and saying “from TWiST!” Seriously, every episode motivates me to do better, and every episode motivates the time I spend testing, because I get so intimate with each episode, I want to see the fruits of that knowledge in my day to day testing.

8. Community: The Miagi-Do School of Software Testing

It’s named after Pat Morita's character in “The Karate Kid”. It’s so filled with references to it, and it’s so goofy on the surface, that it's impossible to be co-opted or commercialized. IT's not only non profit, it's zero profit. There's no money involved at all! With all that, you know it has to be a special place. I dug out whatever information I could about it (there ain’t much, and that’s by design), and was excited to be picked to be a part of it. So many great opportunities came my way this year because I became part of this group. Thus my goal for 2011 is to do whatever it takes to move from Student ranks to Instructor ranks (what Japanese martial arts typically refer to as moving from Kyu to Dan, or from colored belts to Black Belt). I still have a challenge to complete successfully before I can make that transition, but it is my goal to do that before the end of 2010 (and that does not give me a lot of time :) ).

9. Site/Service/Community: Association for Software Testing

What do you get for $85 a year? A lot, if you are willing to invest your time and energy. I was able to take the Black Box Software Testing Foundations class this year, and I was also able to help instruct the course three more times after that. It’s intense, focused on practical application, working with others, collaborating, understanding that the pat multiple-choice answer is not what makes you an expert, repeated and practical application of skills is, and I managed to learn something profound each and every time, including when I was instructing (especially when I was instructing). CAST 2011 is taking place in Seattle, and I have determined it to be a must attend event.

10. Site/Service/Community: Weekend Testing

So many of the testers that I have come to know, follow and respect have been participants in this program and in various chapters all over the world. It was the energy and the enthusiasm of the participants who finally convinced me along with Lynn McKee and Joe Harter to found Weekend Testing Americas. The challenge of being a virtual test manager, facilitator, moderator and instructor is a new experience, but even before that, I enjoyed participating in sessions with European and Australia/New Zealand Weekend Testers. It’s exciting to see how many people put their time and energies into WT events when they happen. While I wouldn’t say it’s the only way to gain experience and get better at testing, I’d dare say it’s a really good way, in a safe environment with people you will quickly refer to as friends.


2010 is closing down, 2011 is just around the corner. I hope to make another list like this next year, and I wonder who and what will be there then :)?

Well, How Did I Get Here?!

It may be a little annoying to some for me to talk about the year that is 2010, and I know that lots of people do this with lots of different things, but really and truly, 2010 has been a banner year for me as a software tester. So much has happened, so many good things, so many great people I've had the chance to meet and interact with, that I just had that Talking Heads moment where David Byrne sings "and you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?!"


Have a walk with me back to the end of 2009, because it's important for context. For many years, I had been working as a software tester, mostly in the capacity of an "Army of One", the Lone Tester, the Omega Tester, fill in the blank. I joked that I could be the junior tester, the senior tester, the QA manager, the director of QA, etc. and it wouldn't really matter. I reported to the VP of Engineering and, well, I was my own department, beholden to nobody but the VP and myself. In some ways, this is good, but in others, it's bad, because there's no one there to really challenge you to do more, to be more, to go farther and learn more. At the end of 2009, I decided that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to fall in love with testing again.


I remember a comment from a seminar with Steven Covey where he was describing that one of his friends felt he was in a dead-end relationship with his wife, that the spark was just gone. Covey's response? "Then love her". The guy protested and said that it's not that easy, it just felt so dull and tired, and again, Covey replied "Love her"! He then went on to explain that love is an action, it's something you do, not something you feel. If you want to rekindle that spark, then do things that will cause the spark to reappear. Standing around waiting for it does nothing!


This reminded me that, once upon a time, I loved doing software testing. What happened? Why did I stop loving it, or barring that, why did I feel like I was just going through the motions? With that, I decided to try and see what I could do to re-start that "spark"... let's see...

• What was the last testing book I read? I only had one, Testing Computer Software, and it had been years since I read it in a meaningful way. Hmmm.
• When was the last time I attended a training related to testing? 2007, when I went to a Training  seminar provided by AutomatedQA. Before that, I had to go clear back to 2001, when I had the chance to do a  test training for Windows XP up at Microsoft!
• When was the last time I interacted with other testers? Hah, what other testers? I'm an Army of One! Well, outside of work. Oh, yeah, that... ummm... never?!

Wow, I was in a lot worse shape than I thought! No wonder I felt my resolve flagging; I was doing absolutely nothing to nourish the relationship. I was just showing up and doing what I felt I had to do. With this, I decided it was time to do something about it, and what better way than to do some searching for some of that old spark.

From here I don't remember how exactly I came across it, but a book landed in my hands, and it was "Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar". For those in the testing community, James Bach is a well known figure and little needs to be said, but other than from posts on his blog, I didn't know his full story. Needless to say, this book hit me like a lightning bolt. I recognized myself in these pages in so many ways, and it gave me a desire to go back and learn about testing again, but this time, learn about it on my own terms and do so with others.

In February of 2010, while I was going through and looking at testing books, testing blogs, listening to testing podcasts and other things that were helping to fire my imagination, I heard Dave Ramsey talking to a caller on his podcast and he recommended a book by Seth Godin that was just being published called "Linchpin". This book intrigued me, so I decided for fun to download it as an audio book from Audible. Folks, Godin's book are fun to read, but for some reason,  I like listening to Godin better. He hit me squarely between the eyes with a section about not having a resume. What? how can you get a job without a resume? By having others come to you, that's how!

Here's are some of his suggestions:

• Have a letter of recommendation from three to five of the best thought leaders in your field.
• Have a product that people can touch, interact with and offer their comments about from anywhere.
• Have a blog so compelling that they can't help but take notice. 

The comment from the audio section (and really, you have to hear him say this in his inimitable way to get the full impact):

"Yeah, but I don't have any of those things."


"Yeah, that's my point! If you don't have any of those things, what makes you think you are special, talented or noteworthy?"

Total skyrocket explosion moment for me there. It was those words that made me decide on March 10, 2010, that I was going to, at the very least, try one of those ideas, and with that, TESTHEAD was born.

Nine months have passed since then, and in those nine months the following things have happened:

1. I started writing regularly about my testing ups and downs, and what I had and hadn't learned over the years. Twitter and Facebook would receive somewhat regular updates on what I was posting and when I published updates. Twitter took this in stride. Many of my Facebook friends wondered what the heck I was doing (to later prompt my adding a "Geek Content Alert (GCA)" so as to not confuse and scare non-technical locals ;) ).

2. I received encouragement and ideas from Matt Heusser due to replying to one of his blog entries on writing.

3. Through searches, I came across the phrase "Miagi-Do" (really, I had no idea how fateful that phrase would be (LOL!) ).

4. Through conversations with Miagi-Do affiliated testers, I met Markus Gaertner, who ran me through my first testing challenge, helped me see some areas where I needed some improvement (and some areas where I needed serious improvement (LOL!) ) and accepted me as a student in Miagi-Do.

5. I took the opportunity to get involved in a number of challenges presented, including putting myself out on Twitter and letting people know about my blog, my involvement in Miagi-Do, and other areas where I was interested in learning more about testing.

6. Through this, I learned about the Association for Software Testing and their Black Box Software Testing classes. I figured, well, why not, they come highly recommended by the testers that I know and trust, let's give it a shot.

7. I completed the Foundations class (Whew! Not a particularly easy class, and there were a few places where I actively questioned "wait, is that right?!" and had the chance to actively debate the answers). Wow, was that fun!

8. Shortly after completing the class, I was asked by AST if I'd be willing to help teach future classes. I said "absolutely" and with no break, I jumped into the next class as an assistant instructor (and dare I say it, I learned more the second time than I did the first).

9. About this time Matt Heusser sent out a call for people to help review an upcoming book on "How to Decrease the Cost of Software Testing" and included me in the list of reviewers as part of my involvement with Miagi-Do. It was at this time, and because of a number of testing challenges and discussions I'd actively participated in, I was promoted to the rank of brown belt in the Miagi-Do School of Software Testing.

10. Additional requests to help facilitate the AST BBST Foundations class came, and I went for my 3rd session (2nd as a Staffer) and I learned more about the class and material this third time through than I did the previous two times!

11. In late July, Matt Heusser sent out a call to arms asking if there was anyone willing to help him with the podcast he was producing. As a long time podcast fan, former musician and music producer, and general nerd when it comes to audio production, I asked if I could help out. With that, I started producing the TWiST podcasts, and have been doing so along with Thomas Ponnet and Farid Vaswani ever since.

12. On August 7th I participated in my first ever European Weekend Testers event, and enjoyed it immensely. Pondered to myself "now why isn't there anything like this in the States?" Some are going to laugh at this because these words would sort of come back to haunt me later.

13. In August, an author dropped out of the Cost of Testing book project, and Matt announced that there was an opening for a chapter contributor. With that, I jumped in and submitted a chapter idea based on the idea of Trading Money for Time. It was accepted, and then a couple months back and forth to revise and review the content allowed it to pass final submission and make it into the book.

14. In October, based on many hours of updating and creating changes for the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference web site, I was given complementary admission so that  I could attend and participate in the conference. I brought along a DAT recorder and microphone just in case some interesting conversations happened. In truth, there were several, and thus the TWiST-Plus format was created to allow us to create smaller and more compact podcasts from the regular TWiST version.

15. In November I made a comment in one of my blog posts that I lamented the fact that Weekend Testing was happening in India, Australia & New Zealand, and in Europe, but that there was no chapter in the Americas. Joe Strazzere commented back that maybe it was because no one felt it was worth the time to do it.. including me, since I also hadn't done anything to make it happen. I realized he was right, and if it were to happen, then I'd need to sit down and really see if I was one who could/would help bring it to the States. After sitting in with the European Weekend Testers group and facilitating the discussion, many of them decided "yeah, Michael, you can do this!" and with that Joe Harter, Lynn McKee and I set out on a grand adventure to found Weekend Testing in the Americas. We ran our first session on November 14, 2010.

16. An old friend and former colleague reached out to me and said "Hey Michael, you seem to know a lot about testing, would you be willing to talk a bit with me so that I can understand better what to look for in software testers were we to interview them?" After sending a few of my ideas to him, he asked if I'd be willing to meet with the founder of his company to continue the conversation. Following on from there I was asked to talk with some core people at their company, and following that, I was asked if I'd like to come and help their company build their test team, to which I replied "yes!" :).


That's a long list of stuff to have happen in a single year! All I can say is that it was a tremendously busy year where I learned a great deal more than I anticipated I would, had the opportunity to do way more than I thought I could, and I had the chance to see a little blog I started as an experiment become something people all over the world turn to regularly. That is both gratifying and at the same time, very humbling. The biggest take away from all this, though, is that I found my lost love... my love of testing! There was no secret formula, there was no special gimmick, just a lot of hard work and challenges that I threw myself into and met. To that end, I have a lot of people this year to thank, including David Ziegler,  Matt Heusser, Markus Gaertner, Ajay Balamurugadas, Cem Kaner, Becky Fiedler, Selena Delesie, Anne-Marie Charrett, James Bach, Jon Bach, Joe Strazzere, Lynn McKee,  Joe Harter, Thomas Ponnet, Farid Vaswani, Bill Gilmore, and Rhea Stadick. Each of you helped in a big way in my rekindling my love affair with testing, and encouraging me to reach for the passion I already had for it and "work it" so that it was a bright and burning flame. Testing is fun again, testing is great again, testing is really important to me again, and I'm passionate again about being part of the broader community of testers and helping to spread the word about it to those who would have ears to hear (LOL!).

To all those that had a small or large part in making that happen, I'm grateful. Thanks for what has honestly been, at least as far as software testing is concerned, my greatest year! Here's to an every bit as exciting and fun-filled 2011.

Does Volunteerism == Passion?

I had a smile when I saw a post made by Markus Gaertner on Twitter in which he quoted something I said… “the good news is that I’ve not been this excited about the craft of testing at any other time since maybe my initial arrival in 1992”. Some people may not understand why I said that, or in what perspective I said it, so I’ll help fill in the blanks for those interested.



The simple fact is that I had a sideways entry into software testing. For those who heard my interview with Matt a few weeks ago, I described how my desire to be a musician consumed my life for many years, and that my enty into testing came at a time when I was looking to provide a little stability in my life. It so happened that I also discovered Cisco Systems at an early point in its rise to prominence and had a deep need for testers, so much so that they would literally let a guy who had never tested before learn the ropes and get into the game on the ground floor. Over the years, I’ve learned a great deal and participated in a number of projects. I’ve had many different titles and I’ve been called many different things (Development Test Engineer, Application Engineer, QA Specialist, Quality Assurance Engineer, etc.) but they all come down to the same thing… I’m a tester.


For many years, being a tester was my job. It was what I did. My passions, however, were in the other avenues of my life. I was a musician with dreams of stardom. I enjoyed snowboarding, and I competed in events and wrote about them. I developed a snowboard team and mentored riders and racers. I became a Scout leader and worked with all aspects of the program. These were my passions, and these were where I put a lot of attention and focus. If someone asked me if I was as passionate about testing, I likely would have said "testing is what I do so that I can do those other things".


Last year, I asked myself some hard questions… why am I a tester? What do I do as a tester? What is it about the job that I do that I like? What is it about the job that I love? Most importantly, why did I feel that I did not not approach testing with the same passion I did other things in my life? It was then that I decided to do some digging, to really see what it was that I was passionate about, and why. I enjoyed music, no doubt about it, but being holed up in the studio and writing music wasn’t the draw. It was the ability to perform for others that was my obsession. When I was a competitive snowboarder, it was the community of racers and riders that I became friends with that made that time so special. As a scout leader, it’s not the activities themselves that are the draw, but the way that I can see both young people and older people literally come alive at the realization that they can do something they never believed they could, or do it better and with greater ease the next time. It’s in seeing the sense of accomplishment on people’s faces when they reach that top rank, whether it be Arrow of Light as a Cub Scout, Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, the Silver or Ranger award in Venturing, or an adult receiving their Wood Badge beads. What do all of these have in common? It’s not really the activities themselves that I’m passionate about… it’s the fact that all of these things, and my involvement in them, effect people that I interact with!


Over this past year, many people have commented that I have become really involved in many different areas within the testing community. Between my involvement as a student and mentor in the Miagi-Do School of Software Testing, my participating in and teaching classes with the Association for Software Testing, my volunteering and coordinating with the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, my contributing a chapter to the “How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing” book, producing the “This Week in Software Testing” podcast and now my early involvement in bringing Weekend Testing to the Western Hemisphere, it looks like I have little to no time to do anything else! To many this may be seen as something that would guarantee burn out, but this excites me! It energizes me. It shows me that I can teach and help others, and at the same time, reminds me that I have so much more I still need to learn.


In short, the activities themselves are not the drive, it’s the people that I interact with and the relationships that I develop that make it all worth it and makes me want to do more. I’ve become passionate about testing because I’ve become passionate about working with and interacting with the people that make testing a passionate endeavor.


So yes, “the good news is that I’ve not been this excited about the craft of testing at any other time since maybe my initial arrival in 1992”… and now you know why :).

Weekend Testing... Americas? Western Hemisphere? Coming soon?!

I knew I would be making this announcement at some point. I just wasn’t sure if I would be the one making it…


Weekend Testers is coming to the Western Hemisphere!

Hmmm, it may be a little premature to say this, but considering the people involved, I’d say it’s a good bet this will happen.


For those who have followed a few of my posts, you know that I have participated in the Weekend Testers movement in Europe a few times. It’s been a great experience, and very often, I’ve said to myself “you know, it’s a shame that we don’t have something like that here!” I mentioned it in my blog post of yesterday when I was talking about Testers accepting unique challenges, and leave it to Joe Strazerre to call me on it:

ME: There's no Weekend Testers USA yet? I wonder what that says about us testers stateside?

JOE: Perhaps it says that nobody (including you) thinks it’s worthwhile enough to spend the time and effort to create a publicly-announced Weekend Testers group themselves.


To thoroughly date myself with a old pop culture idiom… “Whoomp! There it is!”

What made this even funnier is that Lynn McKee, a colleague and friend through the Association for Software Testing, got a similar “rib push” from Michael Bolton about the idea of setting up a version of Weekend Testers for Canada. With that, I knew if this was going to happen, I’d have to throw down now or forever hold my peace. Add to that Joe Harter’s instigation, the encouragement from Weekend Testers and a push to get the ball rolling via the Weekend Testers Home Office (I’m guessing that would be Bangalore), and, well, a Western Hemisphere version of Weekend Testers looks like it's coming to the Americas (that would be North, South, Central, and hey, if Greenland wants to play, too, we’ll certainly let them :) ).


So what does this mean? What we hope it means is that we will soon have a regularly meeting chapter of Weekend Testers that will be convenient for those in the Americas to participate in. The goal of the Weekend Testers movement is to schedule their sessions so that they do not conflict with each other (some people attend all of them in a given day), and to create a safe environment for testers to practice, to learn and to try out new things. To borrow from the Weekend Testers Main site:

The Mission of Weekend Testers

A platform for software testers to collaborate, test various kinds of software, foster hope, gain peer recognition, and be of value to the community.

 What happens in a typical Weekend Testing session

Testers register for the coming weekend testing session at least a day in advance, by sending an email. A facilitator for the session provides a link to the product to be tested (typically open source), creates a group chat and a mission to achieve by the end of one hour testing session. The mission could vary from finding functional issues to exploring testability to writing automated tests to investigating bug reports and so on …

At the end of one hour ( or the decided session end time ) testers start sharing their experiences, bugs, learning, challenges, questions, and so on for about an hour. The facilitator then takes a day or two to prepare an experience report and publishes on this portal for the public to view it and also sends it to the open source developers or project owners for their perusal.

2 hours in total – that’s it. Every minute – worth it.


I’m excited to be involved in the forming of this group, and look forward to when we can announce our first testing sessions. Hopefully, it will be happening soon!

TWIST #18: From Vegas With "LOVE"

Sorry for being so quiet this week. I think this is the first time I've gone a week between posts. Just a lot going on at work and I'm just feeling really, well, exhausted. On the TWiST front, though, we decided to start playing with the idea of doing some extra stuff, especially since we have so many audio clips to play with. It's not realistic to put together multiple podcasts with all content, nor is it good to have them be stretched out for months to the point where they lose their relevancy,so we've decided to star something we're calling TWiST-Plus. This is a platform to put those little pieces together and have them be coherent elements as worthy of downloading and listening to as the TWiST podcasts are, and I produced my first working version this week. Note: it hasn't been posted yet, but when it is, I'll give the link to the STP site URL. 'Til then, please check it out here. It's a talk from Adam Goucher comparing the Golden Age of Pirate and today's Agile Development Methods and teams.

For today's episode, Matt went to STPCON at the Mirage in Las Vegas. While he was there, he interviewed Rich Hand, who is the lead guy in the rebranding of Software Test Profgessionals. They talked about the conference and the many presentations and opportunities to help promote STP's vision of "community driven" testing knowledge development.

For those who want to check it out, here is Episode #18.

Standard disclaimer:

Each podcast is free for 30 days, but you have to be a basic member to access it. After 30 days, you have to have a Pro Membership to access it, so either head on over quickly (depending on when you see this) or consider upgrading to a Pro membership so that you can get to the podcasts and the entire library whenever you want to :). In addition, Pro membership allows you to access and download to the entire archive of Software Test and Quality Assurance Magazine, and its issues under its former name, Software Test and Performance.

Again, my thanks to STP for hosting the podcasts and storing the archive. We hope you enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoy making them :).

TWiST # 15: Falling into Testing and Volunteering with, Well, ME :)!!!

OK, yes, this is nerdy, but I’m excited. I figured something out looking at the NyQuist chains used for certain key functions and effects. For the past several TWiST’s we’ve created, I’ve had to battle with the volume of Matt’s part, and each time I’d level and Normalize it, and then export it out to MP3, there would be this strange “doubling” of Matt’s voice. We’ve been jokingly referring to it as his “John Lennon” impersonation (listen to “I am the Walrus” and then listen to one of the past few TWiST podcasts, and you’ll see what I mean). I could not figure out what was going on. Finally, I decided to look up the process of MP3 conversion that Audacity uses, and the MP3 conversion runs through a series of Normalization routines (it goes through and amplifies quieter passages and limits louder ones).

Having already run this for the CleanSpeech routine (several times, in fact). it just keeps adding small amounts of amplification to the lower amplitude waveforms. Net result, phase shifted audio (i.e. doubling of lower amplitude frequencies). What tipped me off was that, when I created a Mix down to an uncompressed WAV file, there was no hint of doubling. So this week’s episode will be special because it’s the first where we’ve achieved close to the sonic clarity that I’ve been after since starting with Episode 6.


So yeah, today’s TWiST is with (drum roll, please)…. ME!!! After having produced several shows and edited and formatted ten of these podcasts, you’d figure that I’d be able to roll with this easily, and the interview would be a piece of cake… and you’d be wrong (LOL!). Seriously, having been the one to massage the interviews and format them for time and flow, you’d think I’d have this down to one take. Well, it’s easier to critique other’s interviews than it is to flawlessly conduct my own, and no, mine didn’t go flawlessly, either. I answered the questions asked, and enjoyed the topics covered, but wow, remind me never to be critical of other people’s mannerisms when they speak, because I have PLENTY of my own! Matt and I talked about how I “fell into testing” and the improbable path I walked to get started in this business, as well as some of the challenges I’ve faced as a “tester of one” in my career. What’s different, and probably not likely to show up in any other TWiST interview was my involvement with Scouting and how it’s helped to foster a spirit of volunteerism with me in the testing community (I thought I’d be able to go into my joke about “helium hand syndrome” but alas, I never managed to bring it up… possibly not inspired this time around).


Anyway, since I’ll be up at Wood Badge when it officially goes live, I’ll have to give you a general link for the time being and link to the specific link for the Podcast when I get back. For those who want to check it out, here is Episode #15. (Updated: now with the official link :) ).



Standard disclaimer:

Each podcast is free for 30 days, but you have to be a basic member to access it. After 30 days, you have to have a Pro Membership to access it, so either head on over quickly (depending on when you see this) or consider upgrading to a Pro membership so that you can get to the podcasts and the entire library whenever you want to :). In addition, Pro membership allows you to access and download to the entire archive of Software Test and Quality Assurance Magazine, and its issues under its former name, Software Test and Performance.

Again, my thanks to STP for hosting the podcasts and storing the archive. We hope you enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoy making them :).

12 Days and Counting (PNSQC, Here I Come!)

So, it’s now less than two weeks away from the start of the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, and like anyone doing anything for their first time, yes, I’m excited to participate. I’ve attended conferences in the past, but this the first time I’ve attended one specifically for my industry.


My thanks to the great crew of participants helping to put this conference together. A special shout out goes to Rhea Stadick over at Intel. She’s been my mentor and “supervisor” as I’ve gone through and created web pages and session reports, abstracts, and updates for the PNSQC site (I do the raw page construction and design, she makes sure they go in the right place :). Thanks to her and all of the other volunteers, they have made it possible for me to participate in this conference for Free! OF course, that free ticket comes with the proviso that I work my way there and while I’m there (what’s that song I frequently quote? “I’m going to work my ticket if I can”? Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing here!


My goal and hope is to be able to send some dispatches from the field and share my experience with this (I can just see the eye rolls from the veterans out there, but hey, let this newbie enjoy himself). I’ll be driving up early Sunday morning, October 17th.


Yep, that’s a choice on my part, I’m driving! Why? A few reasons. One, by the time I priced out the cost of an airline ticket and a rental car, it would cost me more than it would to drive there, and the distance isn’t that far. If I can make it to Salt Lake City in a day, I can certainly make it to Portland (and according to most forecasts, I should be able to do the drive in about 9 hours. Plus, I’ve never done that drive before, and there are friends in Oregon that I’d like to see while I’m there; this will give me a little more latitude to do that.


“Back to Portland, Happy Land… I’m going to work my ticket if I can”… hmmm, doesn’t quite have the same ring as the original, but oh well. To those who read this blog and will be attending, please feel free to come up to the tall bald guy and say hello!

Helping the Testing World TWiST

Remember a few posts back I said I had a few things in the works that I didn't want to talk about until I was sure that they would come to fruition? Well, I think enough time and experience has passed that I can now talk about at least one of them (one time is an experiment, two times is a repeat offense, three or more times is a habit and maybe worth talking about (LOL!) ).

There's a weekly podcast now being developed for Software Test Professionals, the organization that was once Software Test and Performance magazine. Recently, ST&P rebranded, renamed their magazine Software Test and Quality Assurance, and set out to have a different mission, one that was more social media like and more engaged with its everyday readers and the population of software testers and developers. It was three years ago that I first discovered Software Test and Performance magazine, and it was also when I first read articles from people with names like James Bach, Jonathan Bach, Scott Barber, Elfriede Dustin, Michael Bolton, and the writer/contributor I have had the most direct contact with, Matt Heusser.

About a month ago, Matt made a request on Twitter to help him produce and support a new Podcast initiative he had started called "This Week in Software Testing" also known as "TWiST". Being a fan of podcasting and always curious as to how they are produced and distributed, I replied that I'd be interested in being involved. I helped craft a structure for Episode 6 (an interview at CAST 2010 between Matt and Selena Delesie). That led to my doing Episode 7 with Johnathan Kohl (albeit in a little more harried state, as I was up at scout camp while producing this one... *that* was an interesting experience (LOL!) ). In between my start on working with this, two other testers, Thomas Ponnet in the UK and Fareed Vaswani in New Zealand have also stepped in to assist, so we have created this interesting loose federation of audio editing geeks who enjoy testing and enjoy bringing this weekly interview show to interested listeners.

A Little about TWiST and the SoftwareTestPro.com model. STP has three tiers of membership. there's the basic level, which is free, the Pro level, which costs $100 a year and comes with certain perks, and a Forum membership, which costs $4800 per year, and includes a free conference pass and other benefits that, frankly are out of my price range for the time being :). Be that as it may, the Podcast has been developed to be available for free the first 30 days after being aired. Archives older than 30 days are only available to those with Pro memberships. To that end, I will post when each episode goes up, a little synopsis about the show, and any other bits anyone may want to know.

Typically the shows are posted on Thursday's, but there can be variations in the schedule. The Podcast for this week is TWiST #8, and features Anne-Marie Charrett, a test consultant in Dublin, Ireland (and featured in my blog roll as Maverick Tester; she was also one of the Assistant Instructors in the AST BBST Foundations class I took in May, which is something I am now doing as well :) ). Matt hosts the show and conducts the interviews. I, Thomas and Fareed work with the audio and help to produce the final product. As of now, I am the one that constructs the flow of the show, creates audio beds, and currently serve as the show anouncer, too.

So for those who are interested in testing topics with a diverse population of testers, we hope you will give a listen to TWiST. We hope you enjoy them, as we are enjoying making them :).

Helium Hand Syndrome

I'm not sure if anyone else has this problem, but I figured it was time to say something about it. Part of the reason I haven't been posting as much is that there are a number of things underway that I don't necessarily want to say what I'm doing with them until I've actually done something substantial enough to warrant mentioning them (yeah, say *that* ten times fast (LOL!) ).


What this comes down to is that, I'm a volunteer junkie. A good friend of mine says I suffer from "Helium Hand Syndrome", meaning that, if I'm in a room with a bunch of people, and a project is suggested, somehow my hand will get raised and I will volunteer for it. Seriously, it's part of my DNA, and I do it a lot! Why is that? Does it make any sense to be more interested in volunteering than it does to want to be paid for ones work?


I've struggled with this and I think I've come up with an answer. Granted, this answer is wholly unscientific, and it's also only relevant to me (your mileage will most certainly vary). I think the reason that I volunteer for so many things is that I want to ultimately be involved in something that interests and motivates me, but have the option to walk away from it if I decide I'm done with it. That's my reasoning when I start, at any rate. What actually happens, though, is almost always very different. I think of the projects I've volunteered for that I have actually walked away from, and honestly, I can count them on one hand. Most end on their own (the project or situation is time bound, and when it's finished, that's it, time to move on to something else) but many of them are open-ended. I know that they will take time. I know that there are other things I want to be doing. I know that I'm biting off more than I can chew. Deep down, these are all realities I'm aware of… yet I volunteer, again and again and again. Is there something wrong with me?



Part of me says yes, there is. I'm a glutton for punishment, I take on these projects that interest me and I know full well that they will consume just about every piece of free time that I have. I realize that other things I should be doing are being pushed aside so I can take on these new opportunities and projects. I get less sleep. I interact with some people less frequently. I make myself into a walking zombie at times. It would seem that these would be enough impediments and negatives to get me to swear off volunteering forever.



But there's another side to this, and that's the joy that I get when I know that I'm helping make something happen. The feeling that I've made something that just might last, that I can point to it and say "hey, you see that? That's my handiwork!" I also feel that there is a certain sense of community and communion with others that comes from these opportunities. Truth is, in most cases, the projects themselves, while often interesting and fun, are not the lasting element that sustains me over time. It's the interaction with people, those I'm intimately familiar with and those I only know through email conversations, but a community nonetheless. The projects themselves are stepping stones, interesting things to do at a time, but it's the relationships I develop with the people involved in those projects that mean so much more, a sense of connection with others that goes beyond that particular experience, that brings me back time and time again.



I was reminded of this again last Saturday. I and a number of people were invited to celebrate a special birthday party. Cub Scout Pack 290 in San Bruno celebrated its 50^th year as a chartered organization. I and a few other adults were on hand to be honored for our volunteer service to the organization over the years (for me that was five years as an official and de-facto Den Leader, and three years as Cubmaster). It was great to see the faces of so many adults I'd know over the years, and rubbed shoulders with and gotten my hands dirty with, to see so many boys who had grown up and gone on to other things, but had those memories of those days as Cub Scouts and cherished them. I smiled as I was handed a framed commemorative patch and letter thanking me for my service, and while I appreciated the framed patch, I appreciated the people and relationships that that patch and letter represented even more.



There are some cool things in the works right now that I a m involved in, but forgive me for playing them a little close to the chest until they are closer to being completed. I'd feel like a bit of a cad to talk up something and then not be able to follow through on it, so I'll keep mum for the moment on a few of these (but hopefully not too long ;) ). Just know that I'm excited to be engaged, to be doing so many things with so many great people, both in the testing world and in other areas of my life, and know that the spirit of volunteering will likely always be strong with me, and that those "Helium Hands" will likely rise again.