I’ve recently finished James Bach’s book Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar. I liked it, but I don’t agree with all of it. As a tester, I feel that it inspires me and gives me new ideas in my way of thinking and how I perceive learning, especially self-education. I fully agree with James on that […]
Now and then I read that testers don’t know enough about Usability, that there is a need for a Performance Testing expert, that a Security consultant should be called in, or that a master of the used technology would make Installation and Compatibility testing possible. This might be true in the general case, but there […]
Jerry Weinberg has, in his book “Perfect Software and other illusions about testing”, expressed a very important observation, namely who is responsible for pinpointing the bug. The tester finds the bug, tries to reproduce it, then adds as much information that he/she has such as log files, configurations, test data and so on. When you estimate time for testing […]
It was Stockholm again this year. Good to not have to travel far, but since you are travelling I wouldn’t object to something more exotic, and warmer. Next year it is Copenhagen, again. I had a full-packed program with 4 days of tutorials, workshops, tracks, short talks, test-labbing, conversations, so in total it is quite […]
What do we actually base our time estimations on when delivering a plan to a project manager? I know that we initially can have a vague idea on what to include and what must be done. I am sure that we can even make a rough estimation on how many resources we need in some […]
Statements in specifications try to clarify and are inevitably an interpretation of what the author thinks need to be more specific. I.e., they try to be a more specific model than what existed before the spec. And “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful” (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_E._P._Box). Every specification you encounter is persons’ interpretations, and […]
I believe that it is impossible to objectively capture important things about a software tester’s productivity. On the other hand I don’t believe there is a big difference between feeling productive and being productive. I feel productive when I * test a feature that is good, but not perfect * review specifications * do pair […]
I just want to promote a really good blog post written by Michael Bolton where he describes the difference between Testing and Checking: http://www.developsense.com/2009/08/testing-vs-checking.html I wish that many managers, testers and developers read this post… Cheers, Henrik
Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. […]
This was originally meant as an answer to the (ironic) thread http://thetesteye.com/blog/2009/06/long-live-the-waterfall/ where a new thread was forked when Ola Janson launched a couple of questions regarding agile development. My answers and thoughts on those questions are listed here. In one reply to Ola, Rikard says that he has “…never worked in a truly Agile project…” […]