Satisfice, Inc. welcomes my sister Erika Good to our company. She’s our new Director of Marketing and Communication. Erika is two years older than me. When I first got kicked out of my home, in 1981, I was a freshman in high school. Erika and I would meet each morning (on the mornings I didn’t [...]
This poor girl from Ghana inherited many kilograms of gold and can’t get at it because she can’t pay the back due rent on the gold storage unit. She has reached out to me, a total stranger, for help. I use my testing skills to help her understand that she’s being scammed. But you know, [...]
Announcing the Rapid Testing Intensive seminar. This is something new. From July 24 to 28, my brother and I are going to run a short, extreme testing project over five days. We have a nice big space, good Internet, and we’ll be cut off from all distractions. The most interesting element, from my point of [...]
Hey, I’ll be doing a public class in England, once again. This time in Cambridge. See the details, here. This year I also have public classes in Estonia, Romania, Australia, and New Zealand.
Michael Bolton is accused of hand-waving in this thread on LinkedIn. (See the comment by Peter). Michael and I talk a lot about cognition and exploration. We speak in tropes that come from philosophy and various branches of science. Once in a while, some fellow who understands little of what we say assumes that we [...]
Michael Bolton has gone off like a volcano in Iceland, writing a series about what exploratory testing isn’t: http://www.developsense.com/blog/2011/12/what-exploratory-testing-is-not-part-1-touring http://www.developsense.com/blog/2011/12/what-exploratory-testing-is-not-part-2-after-everything-else-testing http://www.developsense.com/blog/2011/12/what-exploratory-testing-is-not-part-3-tool-free-testing http://www.developsense.com/blog/2011/12/what-exploratory-testing-is-not-part-4-quick-tests http://www.developsense.com/blog/2011/12/what-exploratory-testing-isnt-part-5-undocumented-testing Another thing I would add to this: Exploratory testing is not defined by any specific example of exploratory testing. Just as tap dancing does not characterize ballroom dancing, you can’t take any [...]
…Unless you want bad testing. Claire Moss writes: I am surprised that you say that scripted testing is harder for novice testers. I would have expected that having so much structure around the tests would make getting into testing easier for someone with less experience and that the scripted instructions would make up for a [...]
Prabhat Nayak is yet another sapient 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 “Exploratory Testing” on purely experienced based testing. James, correct me if I have got ET wrong (and I am always ready to be [...]
This is the latest version of the commitments I make when I work with a programmer. Dear Programmer, My job is to help you look good. My job is to support you as you create quality; to ease that burden instead of adding to it. In that spirit, I make the following commitments to you. [...]
I didn’t see you at the coffee shop, today. Where were you, tester who told me that you need “certification” because, unlike me, you don’t have a public reputation? Where were you, tester who fears the big machine won’t hire you unless you conform, head bowed, to some lowest common standard? How about you, tester [...]
The difference between Behavior-Driven Development and testing: This is a BDD scenario (from Dan North, a man I respect and admire): +Scenario 1: Account is in credit+ Given the account is in credit And the card is valid And the dispenser contains cash When the customer requests cash Then ensure the account is debited And [...]
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 out precisely as expected. Received theory is supported by one more example of its usefulness, and requires no change. As in everyday social life, confirmation is exactly the [...]
I have reported on Estonia before. Now we’re doing a peer conference, here in Tallinn. Yes, the Context-Driven testers of Estonia (the ones who focus on their skills rather than “best practices” and “certifications”) are beginning to form an active community. <emperor voice>It is as I have foreseen it!</emperor voice> The theme of the conference [...]
Rapid Testing Management in Gothenburg, Sweden. I will be teaching a public Rapid Testing Management class in Sweden on November 10th-11th. I don’t teach this class often, because it requires that you have already taken the Rapid Software Testing course, first. If you have taken Rapid Software Testing (either from me or Michael Bolton), and [...]
Below is the mindmap from my keynote speech at the CAST conference. I’m posting it by popular request. It would take too many words to explain it all. But I’ll answer questions if you have any.