About once a week, I get an email like one of these: Hi James, I’m from Hyderabad, India. I’m working as a Testing Engineer and doing Manual Testing from the Last 1 Year. I want to know what are … [Read more...] about To The New Tester
Tyranny of the Innocents, Exhibit A: Gary Cohen
Gary Cohen, Deputy Administrator and Director, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is not a computer guy. He's a lawyer. He knows the … [Read more...] about Tyranny of the Innocents, Exhibit A: Gary Cohen
Healthcare.gov and the Tyranny of the Innocents
The failure of Healthcare.gov is probably not because of sinister people. It's probably because of the innocents who run the project. These well-intentioned people are truly as naive as little … [Read more...] about Healthcare.gov and the Tyranny of the Innocents
A Public Service Announcement About Exploratory Testing
[Updated: I revamped and added some more examples to the list.] I got this message from Oliver Vilson, today: Oliver V.: hi James. Just had a chat with Helena_JM. She reminded me something... don't … [Read more...] about A Public Service Announcement About Exploratory Testing
A Satisfying News Story
Here is the difference between happiness and satisfaction: Consider this quote is from How Zynga went from social gaming powerhouse to has-been. "During my five-month mark, it started turning sour … [Read more...] about A Satisfying News Story
Benjamin Mitchell and the Trap of False Hypocrisy
One of the puzzles of intellectual life is how to criticize something you admire without sounding like you don't admire it. Benjamin Mitchell has given an insightful talk about social dynamics in … [Read more...] about Benjamin Mitchell and the Trap of False Hypocrisy
Seven Kinds of Testers
Most of my work is teaching, coaching, and evaluating testers. But as a humanist, I want to apply the Diversity Heuristic: our differences can make us a stronger team. That means I can't pick one … [Read more...] about Seven Kinds of Testers
Testing and Checking Refined
This post is co-authored with Michael Bolton. We have spent hours arguing about nearly every sentence. We also thank Iain McCowatt for his rapid review and comments. Testing and tool use are two … [Read more...] about Testing and Checking Refined
Programmer Pairing with a Tester
My sister, Erica, is not a programmer. Normally she's not a tester, either. But recently she paired with me, playing a tester role, and spotted bugs while I wrote in Perl. In the process, it became … [Read more...] about Programmer Pairing with a Tester
Rapid Software Testing at Barclays
I'm excited to be working with Barclays on an unprecedented project: creating a professional testing culture based on the Context-Driven principles and my Rapid Software Testing (RST) methodology. The … [Read more...] about Rapid Software Testing at Barclays