I just heard that Ed Yourdon died. In '93 or early '94, I got a strange email from him. He had heard about me in Mexico and he wanted to meet. I had never been to Mexico and I had never met or spoken … [Read more...] about The Man Who Opened the Door
Testing Culture
Competent People and Conference Keynotes
My colleague and friend Anne-Marie Charrett has a thing about women. A) She is one. B) She feels that not enough of them are speaking at testing conferences. (See also Fiona Charles' post on this … [Read more...] about Competent People and Conference Keynotes
Exploratory Testing 3.0
[Authors' note: Others have already made the point we make here: that exploratory testing ought to be called testing. In fact, Michael said that about tests in 2009, and James wrote a blog post in … [Read more...] about Exploratory Testing 3.0
Let’s test at Let’s Test
I've been telling people that the best conference I know for thinking testers is Let's Test (followed closely by CAST, which I will also be at, this year, in New York). Let's Test was created by … [Read more...] about Let’s test at Let’s Test
Test Jumpers: One Vision of Agile Testing
Many software companies, these days, are organized around a number of small Agile teams. These teams may be working on different projects or parts of the same project. I have often toured such … [Read more...] about Test Jumpers: One Vision of Agile Testing
Finding Your Own Integrity
I have a belief that I'm not going to justify-- I'm simply going to say it and challenge you to look into your own experience and your own heart and see the truth of it for yourself: Your sense of … [Read more...] about Finding Your Own Integrity
Justifying Real Acceptance Testing
This post is not about the sort of testing people talk about when nearing a release and deciding whether it's done. I have another word for that. I call it "testing," or sometimes final testing or … [Read more...] about Justifying Real Acceptance Testing
To The New Tester
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