Hello, South Korea!
A couple of weeks ago, I taught Rapid Software Testing in Seoul, South Korea. I was there at the invitation of Wonil Kwon, executive director of STA Consulting. It was a professional operation in all respects. Mr. Kwon even brought in a team of translators to help. It was like the United Nations, with the translators in a small wooden booth and everyone wearing an earpiece. (I couldn’t resist saying “Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex” and “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” a few times, just to give them a challenge. But the startling thing was to discover that there is no Korean word for “coverage” or “oracle.”)
Turns out there is a substantial South Korean testing community, and Mr. Kwon is a major player in it. Apart from outsourcing and consulting, he has written a few testing books, and teaches testing. Wonil also showed me some flashy online training. It was all in Korean, but done very professionally. The most interesting part, to me, is that he runs testing clinics. Clinics are cool. We need more of them in our industry. As I understand it, in each clinic, someone brings test documentation from a real project. The class then analyzes and comments on it.
I also discovered that he has organized an Asian testing alliance involving China, Japan, and Malaysia. Why haven’t we heard about any of this in the United States? Answer: little of it is happening in English. So, we in the U.S. and Europe must to work a little harder to discover the innovations and insights about testing that may arise in the Far East.
While talking to Wonil, I began to think that there may be distinctive schools of testing in the East (or styles within schools) that differ from the prevailing testing cultures in the West. I teach testing as a sort of mental martial art. Perhaps there is a “Tae Kwon Do” of testing practiced particularly in Korea? I want to look deeper into it.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Thank you for your conducting Rapid Software Testing course in Korea.
We had a great time and you made us to think testing from difference perspectives which is absolutely valuable.
I am trying to make use of the things I have learned from you in my work.
I will let you know when we got progress in any way.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Hi James~
This is Hyungil. I think testers in Korea are inspired with creativity.
I am trying to write a article on my blog to spread what I learn.
Thank you for your conducting Rapid Software Testing course in Korea.
And I am sorry I could not say good-bye before leaving Korea.
I look forward to seeing you again in Korea.
[James' Reply: Thank you, Hyungil.]
November 13th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
…But the startling thing was to discover that there is no Korean word for “coverageâ€? or “oracle.â€?…
Was there some other word that meant something close to coverage? I can’t imagine what folks who ascribe to coverage metrics would do if there weren’t even a word to describe it. I’m not sure how much you were able to glean in just that class, but do you think the idea of that sort of metric is less pervasive there because of that difference? I found that one particularly interesting - with oracle, even here there are a lot of folks who use oracles in their testing and just don’t call them by that name or know to - but with coverage, I just struggle to think of a different way of looking at or describing the idea.
[James' Reply: There must be some kind of word for it. I bet the translators just weren't sure what I meant.]
November 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hiya James,
There’s not much coming through to the UK either but obviously there’s going to be a body of test professionals in these countries. So why aren’t we more connected with them?
It puzzled me for a long time why I wasn’t seeing more about software testing coming out of Asia (for me in particular China) and for example, why India isn’t being ‘overtaken’ in areas such as development and testing outsourcing by China.
There are a number of reasons but one you hit right on the head, most of what’s being written about isn’t in English. Conversely, most of what we’re writing about is in English. Easy for the expected crew of India/UK/US where English is prevalent but not so in the more easterly countries of Asia.
How to get connected with them more? Well, you’re making great steps and it’ll be very interesting to hear more of how you progress building this relationship.
Mark Crowther
November 27th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Hi James,
We have Korean word for ‘coverage’. But many words in testing came from ‘west side’, so in many case, for more precise delivery of meaning, we just use original word in Korean pronunciation (like you use ‘Ta Kwon Do�^^)
And I want to ask something to you. If I translate or summarize your article or presentations in Korean and share it to our community just for study(no commercial purpose), do you mind it? I think your article is so good for out tester who worry about the nature of testing, so I hope introduce it other tester who have not skilled yet English.
[James' Reply: That's okay, thanks.]
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
I hope you can visit ME soon…
I think we need great software tester like you to inspire software testers in our region.
Thanks
[James' Reply: You are based in Jordan? I have been to Israel to train, but nowhere else, yet. That's kind of a frightening area for an American to travel in, these days!]