Comments on: Michelle Smith: True Test Leadership

By: Jerry Gao

Jerry Gao — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:28:45 +0000

So greate for the good Rapid Testing experience.
Hope I can get the same result.

By: Joseph Ours

Joseph Ours — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:21:10 +0000

I do like Michelle’s technique, simple question, think, and answer approach to discovery learning. I point that out because while I understand the cynicism that Vitaly communicates, I have yet to find a place where I could not communicate any new ideas or thoughts. It is difficult to implement sweeping changes, such as some of the ideas we propose, but in reality everyone can start small in their own place in the world. It may be a hallway conversation between colleagues to formal presentations on new ideas. Everyone can have an impact, even if it is not immediately evident. So, Vitaly, I would say keep talking and discussing. You never know when your ideas might take hold.

By: Vitaly Vigasin

Vitaly Vigasin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:40:46 +0000

Excellent ideas, great reading.
I am worried, though, for those “passionate testers”: they indeed might develop taste for clever testing. Not all testers are that lucky working for people like James Bach and Michelle Smith (no flattery, just sad reality). Rest of us better should remember George Bernard Shaw’s words: “Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.” In my experience, “so often in our industry” is an understatement.
Forgive my sarcasm - it is aimed against reality, not you. I do admire your blogs.

[James' Reply: Thanks for the comment. Part of how we change things is by developing the ability to demonstrate a different way of being and performing.]

By: Michele Smith

Michele Smith — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:26:33 +0000

I consider this one of the highest compliments of my testing career. Getting feedback on what I am trying to do with the temps hired to test on our team is one thing…. I really do believe that the ideas/philosophies/lessons that I learned in that course have helped me considerably in testing and outside of it.

Thank you for the kind words and mostly for the RST course. As you said in your blog, I have made it my own thing, though I do share it often when the opportunity arises. Tools, processes, oracles, heuristics, missions, etc., can change project to project, but thinking can cross the boundaries of all of these. This is the main “lesson” that I hope to show them in the “experiment”.

Side Note: Not too many of the people that I work with knew that I had a testing blog until someone on one of the teams read yours yesterday and shared out an email. That was an interesting experience