This is your periodic reminder that data has problems, just like code does. A correspondent on LinkedIn pointed me towards a book by George Lakoff, an author I admire. For some reason, I had not been aware of the book. So I looked it up. I wanted to go straight to it, so I put the title in quotes: Hmmm. That’s a little strange. Nothing? Let’s try without the quotes. … Read more
A tester recently asked “If you’re asked to write a ‘test plan’ for a new feature before development starts, what type of thing do you produce?” I answered that I would produce a reply: “I’d be happy to do that. What would you like to see in this test plan?” The manager’s reply was, apparently, “test cases covering all edge cases we’ll need to test”. That’s a pretty naïve request. … Read more
Another tester on an “Agile” team complains of being overwhelmed by the volume of regression testing he says he must do at the end of each sprint. Why are some development organizations fixated on regression testing? Not why do they do it (that can be quite reasonable), but why are they fixated on it? I have a theory. It goes without saying that every change to the product or system … Read more
Software testing can be socially difficult because of people’s natural desire to avoid trouble. This prompts them to avoid thinking about trouble, which means that they don’t look for it. But if you don’t try to find the trouble that’s in your product, that trouble will eventually find you. Some might say we do think about trouble, and we try to avoid it by getting clear on our intentions in … Read more
QA ATL 2020 Day 2.5http://www.qaatl.com From the YouTube description… Too often, conference sessions don’t allow enough time for questions and answers. For QA ATL, Michael Bolton will deliver a conference session that is nothing but questions and answers. Michael invites you to ask him anything about topics near and dear to him, including (but not limited to) developing test strategy, recognizing problems in products, thinking critically, analyzing risk, applying tools, … Read more
Almost 10 years ago, I wrote a series of blog posts on project estimation and black swans. And, almost 10 years after that, Chris NeJame reported an observation about the following passage towards the end of Part 4 of the series: As Jerry (Weinberg) has frequently pointed out, plenty of organizations fall victim to back luck, but much of the time, it’s not the bad luck that does them in; … Read more
Testers consistently ask how to show (or demonstrate, or prove, or calculate) that testing adds value. Programmers, designers, and other builders create and add value by creating and building and improving the product. Testing does not add value to the product. And that’s fine. Managers assure quality by helping programmers, designers, and others to obtain the resources they need, and by removing (or at least reducing) obstacles to their work. … Read more
Klára Jánová is a dedicated tester who studies and practices and advocates Rapid Software Testing. Recently, on LinkedIn, she said: I might EXPECT something to happen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I WANT IT/DESIRE for IT to happen. I even may want it to happen, but it not happening doesn’t have to automatically mean that there’s a problem. The point of this post: no more “expected results” in the … Read more
My good friend Keith Klain recently posted this on LinkedIn: “Why didn’t we catch this in QA” might possibly be the most psychologically terrorizing and dysfunctional software testing culture an organization can have. I’ve seen it literally destroy good people and careers. It flies in the face of systems thinking, complexity of failure, risk management, and just about everything we know about the psychology involved in testing, but the bully … Read more