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Tester’s Mindset

When the Developers Are the Users

This is a lightly-edited version of a repost on LinkedIn. The original post contained a photo of a conference talk. The presenter was a dude in a Spiderman costume. (I’ve always wondered how many Spiderman costumes we’d see at meetings of doctors, or journalists, or theoretical physicists. But I digress.) The screen displayed a slide “Everyone cares about User Experience, but no one cares about Developer Experience.” Spiderman outfit notwithstanding, … Read more

A Reply to “Running a crowd-sourced experiment on using LLMs for testing”

This post and the ones that follow represent an expansion on a thread I started on LinkedIn. On September 30, 2023, Vipul Kocher — a fellow with whom I have been on friendly terms since I visited his company and his family for lunch in Delhi about 15 years ago — posted a kind of testing challenge on LinkedIn. I strongly encourage you to read the post. I’ll begin by … Read more

“Should Sound Like” vs. “Should Be”

Yet another post plucked and adapted from the walled garden of LinkedIn “What the large language models are good at is saying what an answer should sound like, which is different from what an answer should be.” —Rodney Brooks, https://spectrum.ieee.org/gpt-4-calm-down Note for testers and their clients: the problem that Rodney Brooks identifies with large language models applies to lots of test procedures and test results as well. People often have … Read more

Testing is Socially Challenging

This post has been brewing for a while, but a LinkedIn conversation today reminded me to put it in the bottle and ship it. Testing is socially challenging. There’s a double meaning there. One meaning is that testing involves challenging the product and our beliefs about it, in a social context. The other meaning is that probing the product and people’s beliefs about it can sometimes be uncomfortable for everyone … Read more

On the Normalization of Deviance

Last night, my wife was out on an errand in our car. She parked it, entered the store, and came out again. She tried to start the car. It wouldn’t start. She called home to consult with me. We tried a couple of things over the phone. We considered a couple of possible problems. From what I could tell, the starter motor wasn’t engaging. Not exactly a surprise, because I … Read more

You’ve “Built Quality In”. Are You Sure About That?

It’s common these days to hear people say that they don’t want to focus on finding bugs; they want to focus on preventing bugs. They want to focus on “building quality in”. Let’s face it: building quality in is a pretty great idea, and preventing bugs from reaching customers is a really good thing. On this, reasonable people agree. To prevent bugs from reaching customers, you’ll have to become a … Read more

Exact Instructions vs. Social Competence

An amusing video from a few years back has been making the rounds lately. Dad challenges the kids to write exact instructions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Dad follows those instructions. The kids find the experience difficult and frustrating, because Dad interprets the “exact” instructions exactly—but differently from the way the kids intended. I’ll be here when you get back. Go ahead and watch it. Welcome … Read more

Suggestions for the (New) Testers

A friend that I’m just getting to know runs a training and skills development program for new testers. Today he said, “My students are now starting a project which includes test design, test techniques, and execution of testing. Do you have any input or advice for them?” Here’s my reply. Test design, test techniques, and execution of testing are all good things. I’d prefer performing tests to “test execution”. In … Read more

Worlds in Collision (keynote at ConTEST 2021)

Michael Bolton – Worlds in Collision (keynote at ConTEST 2021)

Listen to Michael Bolton at ConTEST 2021. What happens when builders and testers work together to develop GUI testing infrastructure?

In this keynote, Michael will give a preliminary experience report on observing, working, and collaborating with an expert tester (James Bach, co-author of Rapid Software Testing) — and an expert automator, Michael Mintz (author of Selenium Base) on a testing and learning mission.

The story is ongoing, and only beginning, but already we’re learning about key differences between world views and mind sets, and how we might go about resolving them. Check out online programs at Test Masters Academy: https://testmasters

Lessons Learned in Grating Cheese

“Lessons Learned in Grating Cheese” by Michael Bolton | TestFlix 2020

0:44 / 8:06 #TestFlix#Testing#SoftwareTesting

About this Talk: “Lessons Learned in Grating Cheese” by Michael Bolton This is a video recording of a conversation between Michael Bolton and Ajay Balamurugadas, after Michael’s first attempt to produce a Testflix video. It’s about how things can miss the mark when you’re too close to them — and how a tester’s critical eye might be able to help.

Top Takeaways: The takeaways are yours to decide!

Speaker Bio: Michael Bolton is a consulting software tester and testing teacher who helps people to solve testing problems that they didn’t realize they could solve. In 2006, he became co-author (with James Bach) of Rapid Software Testing (RST), a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly and credibly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time pressure. Since then, he has flown over a million miles to teach RST in 35 countries on six continents.

Michael has over 30 years of experience testing, developing, managing, and writing about software. For over 20 years, he has led DevelopSense, a Toronto-based testing and development consultancy. Prior to that, he was with Quarterdeck Corporation for eight years, during which he managed the company’s flagship products and directed project and testing teams both in-house and around the world.

Contact Michael at michael@developsense.com, on Twitter @michaelbolton, or through his Web site, http://www.developsense.com.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/michaelbolton
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-b…

This video is of one of the Atomic Talks presented at #TestFlix– Global Software #Testing Binge, 2020. TestFlix 2020 had: -107 Speakers from 44 Countries -5200 Registrations from 91 Countries -Over 2100 attendees on the Event Day

TestFlix 2020 Proud Sponsors:
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Testsigma – https://testsigma.com
Testvox – https://testvox.com
Mozark – https://mozark.ai
Moolya Testing – https://moolya.com

#SoftwareTesting #Automation #SoftwareQuality #SoftwareDevelopment