I was at a conference some months ago when Danny Faught showed me a Perl package for manipulating the Windows clipboard. I turned it into a little tool for helping me test text fields. It's called … [Read more...] about Counterstrings: Self-Describing Test Data
Software Quality Lessons From Borders Bookstore
The in-store lookup system at Borders bookstore is pretty clean; relatively free of UI glitches. Still, I try to make it fail every time I go book browsing. It's provided some interesting food for … [Read more...] about Software Quality Lessons From Borders Bookstore
Career Advice
I was recently asked "What are the best career advancement steps for someone who is a junior to intermediate QA professional?" Answer: If you want your career to move into programming, study … [Read more...] about Career Advice
Fighting Bad Test Documentation
A lot of people I teach seem to be under pressure to create more documents to describe their test process. But documenting is not testing. It is one of the chief distractions to testing. "James Bach … [Read more...] about Fighting Bad Test Documentation
Lack of Will
A core problem with quality in our industry is lack of will. Lack of "will work", that is. This is because it's much easier to tell that a product can work than that it will work. And too often it … [Read more...] about Lack of Will
Tools Come at a Cost
One of the experiences I share with a lot of people in this modern world is that I forget phone numbers. I never used to. The problem is that my mobile phone remembers them for me. So, phone numbers … [Read more...] about Tools Come at a Cost
Bug Report: Weird Charges and Customer Service
Two months ago, I had a $732 charge on my Sprint phone bill for "telephone equipment." I had not purchased any telephone equipment, so I called customer service to dispute the bill. The service agent … [Read more...] about Bug Report: Weird Charges and Customer Service
Bug Report: United Airlines Self-Check-In
I recently used the United Airlines "self check-in" kiosk. It's a touchscreen system at the airport that allows passengers to get a boarding pass for a flight without having to see a live ticket … [Read more...] about Bug Report: United Airlines Self-Check-In
Context-Driven Driving
I know how to drive. I have a lot of experience as a driver. I've been a driver for 17 years or so. For me, driving has become easy. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean very much. I have no experiences … [Read more...] about Context-Driven Driving
Technical Explorations Decomposed
I've been thinking about the general nature of technical explorations. Let me take a hack at describing them. A technical exploration is a self-directed, cyclic process of problem identification and … [Read more...] about Technical Explorations Decomposed