My sister, Erica, is not a programmer. Normally she's not a tester, either. But recently she paired with me, playing a tester role, and spotted bugs while I wrote in Perl. In the process, it became … [Read more...] about Programmer Pairing with a Tester
Process Dynamics
Exploratory Testing is not “Experienced-Based” Testing
Prabhat Nayak is yet another thinking tester recently hired by the rising Indian testing powerhouse, Moolya. Speaking of the ISTQB syllabus, he writes: One such disagreement of mine is they have put … [Read more...] about Exploratory Testing is not “Experienced-Based” Testing
A Nice Quote Against Confirmatory Testing
Most of the technology of "confirmatory" non-qualitative research in both the social and natural sciences is aimed at preventing discovery. When confirmatory research goes smoothly, everything comes … [Read more...] about A Nice Quote Against Confirmatory Testing
Immaturity of Maturity Models
Maturities models (TMMi, CMM, CMMi, etc.) are a dumb idea. They are evidence of immaturity in our craft. Insecure managers sometimes cling to them as they might a treasured baby blanket. In so doing, … [Read more...] about Immaturity of Maturity Models
This is What We Do
In the Context-Driven Testing community, the testing craft is a living, growing thing. This dialog, led by my partner in Rapid Testing, Michael Bolton, is a prime example of the life among us. Read … [Read more...] about This is What We Do
Reclaim Your Personal Method
(Since this pertains to both self-education AND technical work, I'm posting this on both of my blogs) Randy Ingermanson has an interesting approach to writing fiction. It's called the Snowflake … [Read more...] about Reclaim Your Personal Method
Quality is Dead #2: The Quality Creation Myth
One of the things that makes it hard to talk about quality software is that we first must overcome the dominating myth about quality, which goes like this: The quality of a product is built into it by … [Read more...] about Quality is Dead #2: The Quality Creation Myth
Studying Jeff Atwood’s Paint Can
I just found Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror blog. He's an interesting writer and thinker. One of his postings presents a good example of the subtle role of skill even in highly scripted activities. He … [Read more...] about Studying Jeff Atwood’s Paint Can
Defining Agile Methodology
Brian Marick has offered a definition of agile methodology. I think his definition is strangely bulky and narrow. That's because it's not really a definition, but an example. Those of us who've … [Read more...] about Defining Agile Methodology
“Use Version Control”
Darrell Norton says that "version control" is a best practice. I disagree with him about that, but his blog posting gives me an opportunity to show how context-driven reasoning works. Darrell … [Read more...] about “Use Version Control”