It seems that many test managers are in the squeeze of tight testing budgets or no budgets at all. That means there is a lot of interest in doing more with less. The economy is bad, but we still have the need to do software testing well.
While I understand the need for efficiency in today's economy, this is not a new message. When I first started training in software testing back in 1990, there was a recession underway. There was also a quality crisis as U.S. manufacturers were battling against higher quality foreign imported items which included everything from VCRs to cars.
We learned how to recoup for the cost or quality with high-quality methods. This is what Phillip Crosby wrote about in his book "Quality is Free". In IT, however, the message of the economy of high quality has been lost over the years. In fact, in recent years I have found that senior IT and business management in many of the companies I have worked with will spend lots of money and take lots of risks with little to show for it.
So, for this window of time (hopefully a small stretch of time), the kinds of things I'll be discussing here have a home in the minds of people. However, the principles are profitable in any economy and we need to remember them.
#1 - Know What You are Doing
The number one value of training and skill building in my opinion is to learn the best and most efficient ways of doing things. After all, someone with no training could attempt just about any job but the results wouldn't be very good in most cases.
In software testing, there is a popular misconception that anyone can test. I have learned that many people have the ability to test, but there are skills that must be developed before someone can do a decent job of testing. And, some people just don't have the mindset or patience to be a good tester.
Training is how you learn what to do at the right times. Repetition is an important part of the training process. So, a three-day class once a year isn't enough to build skills.
Training can be expensive, but doesn't have to be. There are effective options:
* Self-study on the web and by reading books
* Team study such as reading and discussing the same book for a month or more
* Design and conduct your own in-house mini-course
* Have someone share a great new technique or tool at each test team meeting
* Webinars and teleconferences
* E-learning - its better than it used to be!
#2 - Reuse What You Use
This is really basic, but can be a big timesaver. If you have a good test plan or test strategy for one project, make a template and use it as the basis for other projects.
This idea can extend to detailed test design and test automation.
Perhaps the hardest part of reuse is managing the items as they are shared. This is the situation when people share and reuse test cases and test automation. There must be control over the items.
#3 - Define Tests Efficiently
There is an economy of testing. More tests are not necessarily better. In fact, each test case you have is one more you must maintain and perform. If a test case isn't adding specific value to your understanding of the software under test, you should consider why it is in the test.
Many people are surprised that once they start to analyze combinations of tests, how few tests they actually need.
While not every project is a good application of pairwise testing, it is a good technique to explore and try.
#4 - Automate Well
There is a great potential in good test automation. Some have realized this value is actual practice while others still struggle. In my experience, test automation is one of those areas where you can spend a lot of money in a hurry with little to show for it.
There are some free test tools such as FitNesse (www.fitnesse.org) that can be helpful, as well as scripting languages. Other free tools are at www.opensourcetesting.org.
It's good to learn the lessons of automation on the free and less expensive tools before moving on to the more robust and expensive tools.
#5 - Learn From Your Defects
Each defect tells a story. If you take the top 10 defects (as measured by the frequency and impact) in the previous month and perform root cause analysis to learn why the defect occurred, you will make significant strides toward improving your processes. The main investment in this effort is time. It will also take management support to fix the processes. However, these are things you can often do with very little direct cash outlay and they yield big value.
#5.5 - Bonus - Write and Use Checklists
Checklists are easy and inexpensive to create. They help improve processes and prevent mistakes. They also add consistency as to how things are done. If you don't believe me about the value of checklists, ask a pilot.
Summary
Going back in time again, one of the first books I read when starting out as a consultant in the early 90's was Jerry Weinberg's, The Secrets of Consulting. One of the laws is the "Law of Raspberry Jam", which basically says the wider you spread something, the thinner it gets.
Like jam, you can only spread people and tests so far before they lose their effectiveness and value.
We should be lean and mean in our testing because we just don't have the luxury of time (and right now, of money). So it's a good thing to learn efficient ways of testing. Just remember there are limits.
To hear my podcast on this topic, visit http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-27009/TS-182201.mp3
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Software Testing e-learning
One of the best ways to stretch your training dollars - whether you are paying for training personally or from corporate accounts - is to consider e-learning.
Not only does e-learning cost less than live public or in-house training, it is a great solution for people who don't have the time to devote 7 or 8 hours (or 2 - 5 days) for training.
Studies have shown that e-learning is just as effective in getting the information across as live training. I think it may be even more effective because you can repeat material as needed. You can't do that in a live class.
It's also a great way to make sure everyone gets the same training no matter where they live.
And...for those training managers concerned about any trainer behavior (jokes, comments, etc.), e-learning is safe. No profanity, no inappropriate remarks, etc.
I have found that the key for effective e-learning is to interact with the instructor. That's why I offer teleconference sessions for my e-learning participants. You get the chance to ask questions and interact with me. Of course, I am always reachable by e-mail and try my best to answer questions by phone.
These are just a few of the benefits of e-learning. If you want to learn more about my e-learning courses (I have 13 of them now, including an ISTQB foundation level course), just visit http://www.riceconsulting.com/training/e-learning.htm.
To experience free demos of any of my courses, just visit http://www.softwaretestingtrainingonline.com/moodle and select the demo section. You can login as a guest.
To buy a course, just visit www.mysoftwaretesting.com. We have a sale on right now!
Not only does e-learning cost less than live public or in-house training, it is a great solution for people who don't have the time to devote 7 or 8 hours (or 2 - 5 days) for training.
Studies have shown that e-learning is just as effective in getting the information across as live training. I think it may be even more effective because you can repeat material as needed. You can't do that in a live class.
It's also a great way to make sure everyone gets the same training no matter where they live.
And...for those training managers concerned about any trainer behavior (jokes, comments, etc.), e-learning is safe. No profanity, no inappropriate remarks, etc.
I have found that the key for effective e-learning is to interact with the instructor. That's why I offer teleconference sessions for my e-learning participants. You get the chance to ask questions and interact with me. Of course, I am always reachable by e-mail and try my best to answer questions by phone.
These are just a few of the benefits of e-learning. If you want to learn more about my e-learning courses (I have 13 of them now, including an ISTQB foundation level course), just visit http://www.riceconsulting.com/training/e-learning.htm.
To experience free demos of any of my courses, just visit http://www.softwaretestingtrainingonline.com/moodle and select the demo section. You can login as a guest.
To buy a course, just visit www.mysoftwaretesting.com. We have a sale on right now!
Riceconsulting.com banned from Google
Well, the saga continues. Because of the redirects on my site, then my subsequent removal of the malicious links, I have been banned from Google. I'm not upset at Google - I understand their need for maintaining integrity in the search results.
It is frustrating to go from the #1 listed site for "software testing consulting" and the #4 site for "software testing training" to not even being in the search results at all.
So, if you are looking for me on the web, I hope this post helps you to find me.
I have gone through the steps to request re-inclusion and hope to be back in there soon.
It is frustrating to go from the #1 listed site for "software testing consulting" and the #4 site for "software testing training" to not even being in the search results at all.
So, if you are looking for me on the web, I hope this post helps you to find me.
I have gone through the steps to request re-inclusion and hope to be back in there soon.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Battling the Russian Hackers
I've been having an interesting time the past few days dealing with a bot attack on my web site. Don't worry - if you are a customer for my e-learning or anything else that required credit card payment. Your information is not kept on my server. Several months ago I got out of the shopping cart business and went with Volusion.com. Volusion is PCI certified and is as secure as it gets.
Also, my Moodle e-learning environment is on a new secure server as well for several months now.
So, here's what happened. I hope this helps someone else defeat these guys.
In early December I noticed that my home page at riceconsulting.com was no longer an html page, but rather a php page. Also, my htaccess file had been changed to point to this new php file. I called my web host and they didn't know how it had been changed. So, I changed my ftp password and changed things back.
Last week, this happened again and I changed it back again to index.html. The next day the home page was index.php again.
After doing some research I discovered that my old version of Moodle still on the site had vulnerabilities which allowed the attackers to place the first Mad Shell script. So, I deleted every php application on my site. I also got rid of some old cgi scripts.
Then, they messed up. That's why I think it was just script kiddies.
They added a new file, named after one of my other pages, but appended with .php. By listing the main directory in my ftp client, I found the recent change.
I looked at the page source and found an encoded script on the page, which I was able to identify as Mad Shell. Now, this is a powerful script. It allows an attacker to do anything an ftp program can do. If you want to know more about Mad Shell, visit this blog.
I deleted that page, changed my htaccess file back to normal and started watching the server logs.
Sure enough, about 10 hours later, another change!
So I started studying the server logs again. This attack was using a redirect to bounce traffic from Yahoo Slurp through my site and on to a site selling drugs that enlarge things.
I was able to identify exactly when the redirects started happening again in the log and found two deeply embedded files - both newly created as php files. So, I deleted them. They had tried to hide them deep in my folder structure, but sorting by modification date helped find the folders.
Finally, that stopped the attack.
Here are my lessons learned (you may see others - if, please comment):
1) Whenever you introduce an application to a web site you are very likely to also introduce vulnerabilities. This is especially true for php apps and even more true for open source php apps.
2) Don't leave unused apps laying around on the site. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to throw things away. In this case, I should have!
3) Take those security updates seriously. However, in the case of open source, you may not be notified of a vulnerability. It helps to keep an eye out on the support boards for the apps you use.
4) Keep an eye on your server logs and visitor stats. I have known for some time that bots kept hitting my site, but that's just the deal with bots. Every web site owner deals with bots. However, the server logs can be very revealing.
5) Don't expect much help from the web host. While a couple of people at my web host were informative and helpful, one guy told me to "do a Google search" to learn how to secure my files. I was looking for some specific ideas and his response was one of the most unhelpful. Back in December when I was asking support for reasons why my htaccess file had changed, they didn't have a clue. I would expect a tech support person with about one week of experience to suggest that an attack might be occurring. I think I'm ready to change hosting service providers.
6) Stay vigilant and fight back. These attacks can be defended and defeated.
Now, hopefully, it's on to more productive work!
Also, my Moodle e-learning environment is on a new secure server as well for several months now.
So, here's what happened. I hope this helps someone else defeat these guys.
In early December I noticed that my home page at riceconsulting.com was no longer an html page, but rather a php page. Also, my htaccess file had been changed to point to this new php file. I called my web host and they didn't know how it had been changed. So, I changed my ftp password and changed things back.
Last week, this happened again and I changed it back again to index.html. The next day the home page was index.php again.
After doing some research I discovered that my old version of Moodle still on the site had vulnerabilities which allowed the attackers to place the first Mad Shell script. So, I deleted every php application on my site. I also got rid of some old cgi scripts.
Then, they messed up. That's why I think it was just script kiddies.
They added a new file, named after one of my other pages, but appended with .php. By listing the main directory in my ftp client, I found the recent change.
I looked at the page source and found an encoded script on the page, which I was able to identify as Mad Shell. Now, this is a powerful script. It allows an attacker to do anything an ftp program can do. If you want to know more about Mad Shell, visit this blog.
I deleted that page, changed my htaccess file back to normal and started watching the server logs.
Sure enough, about 10 hours later, another change!
So I started studying the server logs again. This attack was using a redirect to bounce traffic from Yahoo Slurp through my site and on to a site selling drugs that enlarge things.
I was able to identify exactly when the redirects started happening again in the log and found two deeply embedded files - both newly created as php files. So, I deleted them. They had tried to hide them deep in my folder structure, but sorting by modification date helped find the folders.
Finally, that stopped the attack.
Here are my lessons learned (you may see others - if, please comment):
1) Whenever you introduce an application to a web site you are very likely to also introduce vulnerabilities. This is especially true for php apps and even more true for open source php apps.
2) Don't leave unused apps laying around on the site. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to throw things away. In this case, I should have!
3) Take those security updates seriously. However, in the case of open source, you may not be notified of a vulnerability. It helps to keep an eye out on the support boards for the apps you use.
4) Keep an eye on your server logs and visitor stats. I have known for some time that bots kept hitting my site, but that's just the deal with bots. Every web site owner deals with bots. However, the server logs can be very revealing.
5) Don't expect much help from the web host. While a couple of people at my web host were informative and helpful, one guy told me to "do a Google search" to learn how to secure my files. I was looking for some specific ideas and his response was one of the most unhelpful. Back in December when I was asking support for reasons why my htaccess file had changed, they didn't have a clue. I would expect a tech support person with about one week of experience to suggest that an attack might be occurring. I think I'm ready to change hosting service providers.
6) Stay vigilant and fight back. These attacks can be defended and defeated.
Now, hopefully, it's on to more productive work!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Calling All Dashboards
In my December newsletter I asked for any of you that have created and/or maintained software testing or software project dashboards to let me know some of the most helpful metrics you track on those dashboards. I have received a few responses, but could use a few more to get a good sense of trends.
The reason I'm asking is because I am working on a keynote presentation for StarEast 2009 on that topic. It would be good to share the most popular dashboard items as described by you, my loyal blog readers, clients, students and friends (hey, some of you may be in all three of those categories!).
In case you are wondering what a testing dashboard is, you can view and listen to my original presentation here: Keeping it Between the Ditches - A Dashboard to Guide Your Testing. It's about 35 minutes long.
By the way, for all those who submit their ideas, I will send a copy of my StarEast presentation.
Also, I hope you can join me and my special guest Fiona Charles on Friday, January 16th at Noon Eastern time as we discuss the new book "The Gift of Time". This book is a tribute to the life of Jerry Weinberg and is a collection of essays by people like James Bach, Michael Bolton, Ester Derby, Johanna Rothman and many others.
I think you will leave this teleconference with wisdom and insights that Jerry Weinberg has imparted to us that can add a new perspective on "why" you do "what" you do in IT.
This Friday (January 16th) at noon Eastern time, you can get in on this call. You can also call in to ask your questions live!
There is no cost for this call, except for the long distance charges if you choose to call in. (You can listen free on the web.) If you can't be there live, it will be recorded for later listening.
Just go to http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/27009. The call in number is (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 26874 The start time is 12:00 EST (Friday) and the call will last no longer than an hour.
Once again, you can listen over the web and ask your questions by text message if you are in another country or just don't want to call in.
Thanks!
Randy
The reason I'm asking is because I am working on a keynote presentation for StarEast 2009 on that topic. It would be good to share the most popular dashboard items as described by you, my loyal blog readers, clients, students and friends (hey, some of you may be in all three of those categories!).
In case you are wondering what a testing dashboard is, you can view and listen to my original presentation here: Keeping it Between the Ditches - A Dashboard to Guide Your Testing. It's about 35 minutes long.
By the way, for all those who submit their ideas, I will send a copy of my StarEast presentation.
Also, I hope you can join me and my special guest Fiona Charles on Friday, January 16th at Noon Eastern time as we discuss the new book "The Gift of Time". This book is a tribute to the life of Jerry Weinberg and is a collection of essays by people like James Bach, Michael Bolton, Ester Derby, Johanna Rothman and many others.
I think you will leave this teleconference with wisdom and insights that Jerry Weinberg has imparted to us that can add a new perspective on "why" you do "what" you do in IT.
This Friday (January 16th) at noon Eastern time, you can get in on this call. You can also call in to ask your questions live!
There is no cost for this call, except for the long distance charges if you choose to call in. (You can listen free on the web.) If you can't be there live, it will be recorded for later listening.
Just go to http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/27009. The call in number is (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 26874 The start time is 12:00 EST (Friday) and the call will last no longer than an hour.
Once again, you can listen over the web and ask your questions by text message if you are in another country or just don't want to call in.
Thanks!
Randy
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
New Year, New Goals
Happy New Year everyone!
It seems that everyone I've been speaking with over the past week or so is really glad we have 2008 behind us. I am, too, but I'm not very sure 2009 will be better (at least in terms of the economy). I hope it is better, but I like to keep my expectations in line. We have pretty big challenges as a country and world.
I try to avoid making New Year resolutions because they are so easily forgotten. Instead, I try to focus on goals. One year, I made a list "10 things I want to remember" for the coming year. That was interesting to bring to mind throughout the year the important things.
I have some pretty major goals this year:
Then, there are my personal goals: books I want to read, people I want to develop deeper relationships with, a better use of my time, and then the big one: to organize my office!
I also have this car restoration project (a 1949 Plymouth) I would like to finish while my dad is still alive to see it and ride in it.
One more thing - My goal is to journal each day. I have been hit and miss, but at least have been doing it for a few years. Back in November while in London I was able to stop by Harrods and get their 2009 Diary, which I find perfect for journaling. Plus, it's expensive enough to give me the incentive to actually use it.
I learned a great tip on this from my mentor, Jim Rohn. Mr. Rohn says that it's good to have a notebook with loose leaf pages for all my projects. Each project gets a tab. Throughout the year I will make notes about how each project is going. On the journals, the one time I spoke face to face with Mr. Rohn he told me that if I stay consistent, one day I'll have an entire shelf of journals to document for my kids and grandkids my ideas, experiences, pictures and thoughts. Today, I look at my shelf and I have about ten of those books. My goal is one book per year.
I hope this prompts you to make a short list of things you would like to do, be, or experience this year. It's easy to dismiss goals, like resolutions. But they really do propel us forward and give a chance to review at the end of the year the progress we have made. For me, if it's not a goal I probably will get distracted and not do it.
Your goals might be:
I hope you comment on this post and share some of your goals and thoughts about the New Year!
It seems that everyone I've been speaking with over the past week or so is really glad we have 2008 behind us. I am, too, but I'm not very sure 2009 will be better (at least in terms of the economy). I hope it is better, but I like to keep my expectations in line. We have pretty big challenges as a country and world.
I try to avoid making New Year resolutions because they are so easily forgotten. Instead, I try to focus on goals. One year, I made a list "10 things I want to remember" for the coming year. That was interesting to bring to mind throughout the year the important things.
I have some pretty major goals this year:
- Finish three books I have in progress
- Get about six more e-learning courses produced and out on the website.
- Develop some test strategies and content for cloud computing (Thanks, Mike for that suggestion).
- Contact at least two people in my network each day, just to stay in touch (so don't be surprised if you get a call from me).
- Complete my advanced level test certification (one part down - two to go!)
- Actually publish my newsletter every month this year!
- I'm also working on this major project to document all of the processes used in my office - all the way from accounting to website maintenance.
Then, there are my personal goals: books I want to read, people I want to develop deeper relationships with, a better use of my time, and then the big one: to organize my office!
I also have this car restoration project (a 1949 Plymouth) I would like to finish while my dad is still alive to see it and ride in it.
One more thing - My goal is to journal each day. I have been hit and miss, but at least have been doing it for a few years. Back in November while in London I was able to stop by Harrods and get their 2009 Diary, which I find perfect for journaling. Plus, it's expensive enough to give me the incentive to actually use it.
I learned a great tip on this from my mentor, Jim Rohn. Mr. Rohn says that it's good to have a notebook with loose leaf pages for all my projects. Each project gets a tab. Throughout the year I will make notes about how each project is going. On the journals, the one time I spoke face to face with Mr. Rohn he told me that if I stay consistent, one day I'll have an entire shelf of journals to document for my kids and grandkids my ideas, experiences, pictures and thoughts. Today, I look at my shelf and I have about ten of those books. My goal is one book per year.
I hope this prompts you to make a short list of things you would like to do, be, or experience this year. It's easy to dismiss goals, like resolutions. But they really do propel us forward and give a chance to review at the end of the year the progress we have made. For me, if it's not a goal I probably will get distracted and not do it.
Your goals might be:
- To learn a new skill
- To visit a new place
- To make a new friend
- To be better at what you do
I hope you comment on this post and share some of your goals and thoughts about the New Year!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Blended e-Learning Gets Higher Grades
As many of you know, I've been working on making e-Learning an effective and attractive method for skill building in software testing. The number one thing I have learned is that there must be interaction with the instructor to make the learning effective. This interaction can take many forms - e-mail, phone, chat sessions, teleconferences, etc. That's why in my e-Learning courses I include live call-in teleconferences at talkshoe.com. My goal is to do 90% of my training this way!
One of the tools I use for creating e-Learning content is Articulate. It creates Flash presentations from PowerPoint and has a nice interface with many good features such as bookmarking, notes, attachments, etc. I ran across an interesting post on the Articulate blog recently about how one college professor compared the grades of two similar classes - one using traditional classroom teaching only and the other using blended learning (e-Learning with live reinforcement).
From the report: "A technical report from a University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance researcher finds that students in a hybrid class that incorporated instructional technology with in-class lectures scored a letter grade higher on average than their counterparts who took the same class in a more traditional format."
You can read more here:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/use-articulate-get-better-grades/
So, why is this important to testers and managers? I think the way we build skills is as important as the skills we build. Training and skill building can be transforming and exciting, or it can be torture.
Some people look forward to a day of training (for more reasons than just getting away from work) while others dread it. When people get excited about learning, amazing things can happen. The link to the Articulate blog is interesting because it goes "behind the scenes" in the theory and practice of e-Learning.
As testers and managers, we must learn about learning. We need to understand the different learning styles, attention spans and what works in training adult learners. My observation is that it's the people that don't care about how to make training effective that are the worst trainers.
By the way, as my way of saying "thanks" for reading this post, here is a link to one of my conference presentations (The Risks of Risk-Based Testing) created using Articulate:
http://www.riceconsulting.com/articulate/risks_of_risk_based_testing/player.html
Best regards,
Randy
One of the tools I use for creating e-Learning content is Articulate. It creates Flash presentations from PowerPoint and has a nice interface with many good features such as bookmarking, notes, attachments, etc. I ran across an interesting post on the Articulate blog recently about how one college professor compared the grades of two similar classes - one using traditional classroom teaching only and the other using blended learning (e-Learning with live reinforcement).
From the report: "A technical report from a University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance researcher finds that students in a hybrid class that incorporated instructional technology with in-class lectures scored a letter grade higher on average than their counterparts who took the same class in a more traditional format."
You can read more here:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/use-articulate-get-better-grades/
So, why is this important to testers and managers? I think the way we build skills is as important as the skills we build. Training and skill building can be transforming and exciting, or it can be torture.
Some people look forward to a day of training (for more reasons than just getting away from work) while others dread it. When people get excited about learning, amazing things can happen. The link to the Articulate blog is interesting because it goes "behind the scenes" in the theory and practice of e-Learning.
As testers and managers, we must learn about learning. We need to understand the different learning styles, attention spans and what works in training adult learners. My observation is that it's the people that don't care about how to make training effective that are the worst trainers.
By the way, as my way of saying "thanks" for reading this post, here is a link to one of my conference presentations (The Risks of Risk-Based Testing) created using Articulate:
http://www.riceconsulting.com/articulate/risks_of_risk_based_testing/player.html
Best regards,
Randy
Monday, December 29, 2008
COTS Testing Course is Now Online
I'm excited to announce the launch of my 14th e-learning course, Testing Commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) Applications. This online course gives you the approaches you need to test commercial software. Many organizations, especially government, have been building systems comprised of commercial software. However, problems arise when people try to integrate the products to work together. Many people work under the misconception that all you have to do is buy the software, install it, maybe configure a few things and then start using it. Unfortunately, the truth is that there are a lot of things the vendors can't test. This course will lead you through a process of testing COTS products all the way from selection through maintenance.
To see a free demo of this course, just visit http://softwaretestingtrainingonline.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=45. To buy a registration, go to https://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=COTS101.
To see all the details about my e-learning courses and how they can help you build your skills on your own schedule, visit http://www.riceconsulting.com/training/e-learning.htm.
Thanks!
To see a free demo of this course, just visit http://softwaretestingtrainingonline.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=45. To buy a registration, go to https://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=COTS101.
To see all the details about my e-learning courses and how they can help you build your skills on your own schedule, visit http://www.riceconsulting.com/training/e-learning.htm.
Thanks!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Hi friends - Just a note to wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. To all my Jewish friends I wish a Happy Chanukah.
At this special time of year I will be thinking of all my friends around the world and will be enjoying time with family here in Oklahoma.
Regardless of your beliefs, my wish is that the Prince of Peace will be real to all of us this year.
Warm regards,
Randy
At this special time of year I will be thinking of all my friends around the world and will be enjoying time with family here in Oklahoma.
Regardless of your beliefs, my wish is that the Prince of Peace will be real to all of us this year.
Warm regards,
Randy
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Good Resource for Government Computing Projects
I am working on a new book project about software failures and I came across this resource from the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany especially aimed at government computing projects. The name of the report is Making Smart IT Choices - Understanding Value and Risk in Government IT Investments. You can get this at http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/guides/smartit2. In fact, you can download the entire book as a pdf file.
I like this book because it hits at the heart of IT projects - making the right choices based on risk and value. It's all common sense stuff tailored for the government sector. It proves that the answers are in plain sight. Now, the tough part is to actually act on them.
My experience is that the hard part is dealing with the stakeholders who want something different every day and the vendors who are more than happy to promise it to get more money by stringing the project out almost forever. We as taxpayers end up paying the enormous bill for this nonsense.
Doing the research for this even makes me sick, but I am glad there are those out there at least shining a light in the darkness of many IT projects.
I like this book because it hits at the heart of IT projects - making the right choices based on risk and value. It's all common sense stuff tailored for the government sector. It proves that the answers are in plain sight. Now, the tough part is to actually act on them.
My experience is that the hard part is dealing with the stakeholders who want something different every day and the vendors who are more than happy to promise it to get more money by stringing the project out almost forever. We as taxpayers end up paying the enormous bill for this nonsense.
Doing the research for this even makes me sick, but I am glad there are those out there at least shining a light in the darkness of many IT projects.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Book Review - Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
"Clean Code" by Robert C. Martin
Published by Prentice Hall
Buy at Amazon.com -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0132350882?ie=UTF8&tag=randyricessof-20
(5 stars out of 5)
I knew I was going to like this book after I read the Foreword and
Introduction. I know not many people read those and as an author
myself this bothers me, but it gives insight to why the author has
written the book, which is a very important thing to understand. I
was hooked by the affirmation that details are important and that
the only meaningful metric is the number of "wtfs" per minute in a
code review. For a long time I have kept my "profanities per test
session" metric as a way to measure software usability.
Long before I was a software testing guy, I was a coder. Back in
those days it was common for rookie coders to sit next to guys with
gray hair and bad breath (or if lucky next to ladies with better
appearance and who smelled better) to learn the craft of writing
code. Yes, coding was a craft before the attempt to make it an
engineering discipline. Although there was a lot of bad code, there
were plenty of people who took pride in how they coded. This book
reminds me of what it was like to sit next to these intelligent
people as mentors.
I have often lamented that today's young coders don't have this
mentor/apprentice relationship. A reasonable facsimile would be to
read this book and practice these very sensible and helpful lessons
in coding. As a testing guy who has been through those 30 wtf/hour
code reviews, my bulletin to developers is that: Your code can be
better! This book can show you how!
Here's one example: Have meaningful names. Instead of a function
named "int d", how about "int ElapsedTimeInDays;"? There's a whole
chapter about naming things. It reminds me of the coder I knew that
liked to label COBOL paragraphs after towns and cities in Kansas.
Why? So he could write GOTOs that read "GOTO Topeka." He thought
that was cute but the rest of us found it confusing and not-so-cute.
I also appreciated the chapter on Unit Testing. As a tester, I love
it when testing is mentioned, but Martin actually has specific
guidance on what makes for good Test Driven Development and Unit
Testing.
This book is very readable, makes a lot of sense and would make
most coders better. For testers that sit in on code reviews, this
would be a great read for understanding how good code should be. I
wish every coder in college or tech school would read this book
before unleashing their creations upon the world.
Published by Prentice Hall
Buy at Amazon.com -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0132350882?ie=UTF8&tag=randyricessof-20
(5 stars out of 5)
I knew I was going to like this book after I read the Foreword and
Introduction. I know not many people read those and as an author
myself this bothers me, but it gives insight to why the author has
written the book, which is a very important thing to understand. I
was hooked by the affirmation that details are important and that
the only meaningful metric is the number of "wtfs" per minute in a
code review. For a long time I have kept my "profanities per test
session" metric as a way to measure software usability.
Long before I was a software testing guy, I was a coder. Back in
those days it was common for rookie coders to sit next to guys with
gray hair and bad breath (or if lucky next to ladies with better
appearance and who smelled better) to learn the craft of writing
code. Yes, coding was a craft before the attempt to make it an
engineering discipline. Although there was a lot of bad code, there
were plenty of people who took pride in how they coded. This book
reminds me of what it was like to sit next to these intelligent
people as mentors.
I have often lamented that today's young coders don't have this
mentor/apprentice relationship. A reasonable facsimile would be to
read this book and practice these very sensible and helpful lessons
in coding. As a testing guy who has been through those 30 wtf/hour
code reviews, my bulletin to developers is that: Your code can be
better! This book can show you how!
Here's one example: Have meaningful names. Instead of a function
named "int d", how about "int ElapsedTimeInDays;"? There's a whole
chapter about naming things. It reminds me of the coder I knew that
liked to label COBOL paragraphs after towns and cities in Kansas.
Why? So he could write GOTOs that read "GOTO Topeka." He thought
that was cute but the rest of us found it confusing and not-so-cute.
I also appreciated the chapter on Unit Testing. As a tester, I love
it when testing is mentioned, but Martin actually has specific
guidance on what makes for good Test Driven Development and Unit
Testing.
This book is very readable, makes a lot of sense and would make
most coders better. For testers that sit in on code reviews, this
would be a great read for understanding how good code should be. I
wish every coder in college or tech school would read this book
before unleashing their creations upon the world.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Skills for Software Testers in the Future
Last month I delivered a keynote address at EuroStar on "Trends that May Impact the Future of Software Testing." There were some interesting questions following my talk, one of which I would like to discuss in this post. "What do you see as essential skills for testers in the future?" Great question.
First, let me say that the list could be long and your list probably will differ from mine and that's fine. In fact, please comment with your answers to this important question.
Skill #1 -Thinking Skills
Too many testers fail to think through what they are doing and why they are doing it. They also fail to use imagination and instead rely on a repository of knowledge somewhere that is probably outdated and incorrect. Sure, we can curse the darkness of bad documentation, but we've been doing that for over 30 years already so let's get over it. Let's light a few candles to illuminate the subject of hidden understanding.
So, for example, when doing a boundary test, ask, "Is this test meaningful?", "What will it prove or disprove?", "Are there more important tests that I haven't done yet?".
As testers we have to be very careful about falling into ruts and thinking the same way all the time. Learn to look at problems from different angles.
I like to play thinking games just to stay in practice. One game that is helpful for test teams is "20 questions for software". I improvised this game in a class on exploratory testing when only I had my computer at the front of the room. Here's how it works. The leader (perhaps you) are at the front of the room with an application projected on a screen. Then, go around the room in order (a u-shaped room or circle is best), with one person starting the questioning of the application. They should ask a question such as "What happends when you...(fill in the blank)?". Then, the person next to them asks a question based on their question. This continues around the room, maybe even multiple times. There are only two rules: 1) you must wait your turn, and 2) your question must be based on someone else's question or answer before you.
You may be surprised about how much you can learn about the application by doing this. You may also be surprised (perhaps dismayed) about the quality of questions. This gives the team leader insight into where to develop the thinking skills of the test team or individuals on the team.
I also like to work Sudoku puzzles because they require deducing, eliminating possible solutions to find the right number(s), and using other thought processes that are the same as used in exploratory testing. I've never tried to work one puzzle together as a group, but that would be an interesting experiment.
Skill #2 - Communication Skills
I believe that communication is the basis for everything else we do in IT. Without good communication, we can't even define the problem to be solved, much less define the solutions to the problem or the testing of the solutions. Ironically, communication is the last thing we take training for, or practice, or apply in the workplace.
Testers especially need to be good communicators in the following ways:
Accuracy - People must be able to trust the accuracy of test results and other information from testing. Once the accuracy slips, so does the credibility.
Timeliness - Timely communication helps people to form good responses to problems, take advantage of opportunities, and generally work together better. Sitting on bad news, hoping for it to become better news, is not a good approach.
Thoroughness - Telling only part of a story is as bad as giving inaccurate information.
Courtesy - How people say things is just as important as what they say.
Helpfulness - Overall, the information a tester provides should help the rest of the project team to fix issues, make improvements and deliver a great project on or ahead of schdeule.
Meaningfulness - The information must have value to the audience, otherwise people will disregard it as "just another report" that may or may not be read.
Skill #3 - Measurement Skills
When you think about it, testing is measurement. However, we as testers often struggle with what to measure, how detailed the measures should be, what to do with the measurements, etc.
It takes skill to know what to measure without going overboard. It also takes skill to make the correct interpretation from the measurements and metrics. But how does one build these skills? I'm going to suggest a radical approach. Don't start by reading books on measurement, unless they are basic.
Like many things, including testing, we are up against Parkinson's Law that says "work expands to fill available time." My variation on this is that simple things can become complex just by writing books, having conferences, etc. As an example, function points started as a fairly simple idea but then evolved into more complex ways to count and apply them. So when you read a book on measurement your first thought may be that you need a large set of measurements to "do it right."
Instead, simply look at what needs to be improved and find two or three things to measure that could show progress in meeting those goals. You can also consider a typical project and what you need to know to stay on track. This is the dashboard concept. Have five or six indicators at the high end.
Then, find ways to measure without being intrusive. This in itself can be a big challenge. That's why simple is good.
Skill #4 - Configuration Management Skills
CM has always been an essential skill for testers. After all, what good is it if you test the wrong version or configuration of the software?
With virtual environments, it is even more important to know how to manage them. At this point, you may be thinking, "Yes, but the tool has features for that." Consider though, that a tool is not a process.
So testers need to know how to control all the items in the environment - software, hardware, data, and any other system components.
Skill #5 - Technical Skills
This is an interesting debate. How technical does a tester need to be anyway? On one hand, it is the lack of technical perspective that gives testers the same view as users. Too much technical knowledge and they may apply workarounds that users would not think of, therefore not seeing problems from a true user perspective.
The term "Technical Skills" is a fuzzy one, so I'll clarify my meaning a bit. The technical skills I refer to here are those that allow testers to use new tools and approaches effectively. I don't believe that testers need to be coders, although sometimes that skill comes in handy. But, if a tester likes to code and they can maintain objectivity, it does open some options.
I believe it is a mistake to eliminate a tester from hiring consideration just because they can't code or work with a particular tool. There are simply too many other needed skills and attributes to limit the decision to technical skills alone.
It's like being in a swimming pool and being able to go in the deep end as opposed to just staying in the shallow end. While we can all be in the pool and have fun. Some will be able to do more advanced things, like diving and snorkeling. It's not about worth or value, but about the ability to experience different things. So, if an inexperienced swimmer gets thrown into the deep end, it's "sink or swim", and that can sometimes be a dangerous thing. You may have experienced that "over my head" feeling.
Another example is owning and driving a car. Some people are happy just driving the car and keeping it filled with gas and having the fluids changed on schedule. Others want to get more involved in their vehicle's maintenance and repair by doing things such as changing the oil, replacing air filters and spark plugs, replacing fan belts, hoses and brake pads, etc. A few braver souls with older cars get into major engine repair or replacement. All of these types of car owners can drive the car well. Some can perform maintenance but due to time issues prefer to have the work done for them. All are valid owners and I would rather be on the road with good drivers who know little about auto maintenance than bad drivers who can replace engines in a day.
At the end of the day, the answer to this question of should a tester have technical skills may be a firm "it depends!" It depends on the person and their abilities, the projects they work on and the types of testing their job requires them to perform.
Skill #6 - Business Skills
Testers need to be able to speak the language of business. How can we as testers expect to be invited into business-level meetings if we don't understand the culture and language of business? This is more than just understanding business processes. We must know what's important to the business - profits, market share, strategic goals, markets, growth, legal, return on investment, and trade issues.
So, these are some of the important skills as I see them. Agree or disagree? I would like to hear your comments and ideas!
First, let me say that the list could be long and your list probably will differ from mine and that's fine. In fact, please comment with your answers to this important question.
Skill #1 -Thinking Skills
Too many testers fail to think through what they are doing and why they are doing it. They also fail to use imagination and instead rely on a repository of knowledge somewhere that is probably outdated and incorrect. Sure, we can curse the darkness of bad documentation, but we've been doing that for over 30 years already so let's get over it. Let's light a few candles to illuminate the subject of hidden understanding.
So, for example, when doing a boundary test, ask, "Is this test meaningful?", "What will it prove or disprove?", "Are there more important tests that I haven't done yet?".
As testers we have to be very careful about falling into ruts and thinking the same way all the time. Learn to look at problems from different angles.
I like to play thinking games just to stay in practice. One game that is helpful for test teams is "20 questions for software". I improvised this game in a class on exploratory testing when only I had my computer at the front of the room. Here's how it works. The leader (perhaps you) are at the front of the room with an application projected on a screen. Then, go around the room in order (a u-shaped room or circle is best), with one person starting the questioning of the application. They should ask a question such as "What happends when you...(fill in the blank)?". Then, the person next to them asks a question based on their question. This continues around the room, maybe even multiple times. There are only two rules: 1) you must wait your turn, and 2) your question must be based on someone else's question or answer before you.
You may be surprised about how much you can learn about the application by doing this. You may also be surprised (perhaps dismayed) about the quality of questions. This gives the team leader insight into where to develop the thinking skills of the test team or individuals on the team.
I also like to work Sudoku puzzles because they require deducing, eliminating possible solutions to find the right number(s), and using other thought processes that are the same as used in exploratory testing. I've never tried to work one puzzle together as a group, but that would be an interesting experiment.
Skill #2 - Communication Skills
I believe that communication is the basis for everything else we do in IT. Without good communication, we can't even define the problem to be solved, much less define the solutions to the problem or the testing of the solutions. Ironically, communication is the last thing we take training for, or practice, or apply in the workplace.
Testers especially need to be good communicators in the following ways:
Accuracy - People must be able to trust the accuracy of test results and other information from testing. Once the accuracy slips, so does the credibility.
Timeliness - Timely communication helps people to form good responses to problems, take advantage of opportunities, and generally work together better. Sitting on bad news, hoping for it to become better news, is not a good approach.
Thoroughness - Telling only part of a story is as bad as giving inaccurate information.
Courtesy - How people say things is just as important as what they say.
Helpfulness - Overall, the information a tester provides should help the rest of the project team to fix issues, make improvements and deliver a great project on or ahead of schdeule.
Meaningfulness - The information must have value to the audience, otherwise people will disregard it as "just another report" that may or may not be read.
Skill #3 - Measurement Skills
When you think about it, testing is measurement. However, we as testers often struggle with what to measure, how detailed the measures should be, what to do with the measurements, etc.
It takes skill to know what to measure without going overboard. It also takes skill to make the correct interpretation from the measurements and metrics. But how does one build these skills? I'm going to suggest a radical approach. Don't start by reading books on measurement, unless they are basic.
Like many things, including testing, we are up against Parkinson's Law that says "work expands to fill available time." My variation on this is that simple things can become complex just by writing books, having conferences, etc. As an example, function points started as a fairly simple idea but then evolved into more complex ways to count and apply them. So when you read a book on measurement your first thought may be that you need a large set of measurements to "do it right."
Instead, simply look at what needs to be improved and find two or three things to measure that could show progress in meeting those goals. You can also consider a typical project and what you need to know to stay on track. This is the dashboard concept. Have five or six indicators at the high end.
Then, find ways to measure without being intrusive. This in itself can be a big challenge. That's why simple is good.
Skill #4 - Configuration Management Skills
CM has always been an essential skill for testers. After all, what good is it if you test the wrong version or configuration of the software?
With virtual environments, it is even more important to know how to manage them. At this point, you may be thinking, "Yes, but the tool has features for that." Consider though, that a tool is not a process.
So testers need to know how to control all the items in the environment - software, hardware, data, and any other system components.
Skill #5 - Technical Skills
This is an interesting debate. How technical does a tester need to be anyway? On one hand, it is the lack of technical perspective that gives testers the same view as users. Too much technical knowledge and they may apply workarounds that users would not think of, therefore not seeing problems from a true user perspective.
The term "Technical Skills" is a fuzzy one, so I'll clarify my meaning a bit. The technical skills I refer to here are those that allow testers to use new tools and approaches effectively. I don't believe that testers need to be coders, although sometimes that skill comes in handy. But, if a tester likes to code and they can maintain objectivity, it does open some options.
I believe it is a mistake to eliminate a tester from hiring consideration just because they can't code or work with a particular tool. There are simply too many other needed skills and attributes to limit the decision to technical skills alone.
It's like being in a swimming pool and being able to go in the deep end as opposed to just staying in the shallow end. While we can all be in the pool and have fun. Some will be able to do more advanced things, like diving and snorkeling. It's not about worth or value, but about the ability to experience different things. So, if an inexperienced swimmer gets thrown into the deep end, it's "sink or swim", and that can sometimes be a dangerous thing. You may have experienced that "over my head" feeling.
Another example is owning and driving a car. Some people are happy just driving the car and keeping it filled with gas and having the fluids changed on schedule. Others want to get more involved in their vehicle's maintenance and repair by doing things such as changing the oil, replacing air filters and spark plugs, replacing fan belts, hoses and brake pads, etc. A few braver souls with older cars get into major engine repair or replacement. All of these types of car owners can drive the car well. Some can perform maintenance but due to time issues prefer to have the work done for them. All are valid owners and I would rather be on the road with good drivers who know little about auto maintenance than bad drivers who can replace engines in a day.
At the end of the day, the answer to this question of should a tester have technical skills may be a firm "it depends!" It depends on the person and their abilities, the projects they work on and the types of testing their job requires them to perform.
Skill #6 - Business Skills
Testers need to be able to speak the language of business. How can we as testers expect to be invited into business-level meetings if we don't understand the culture and language of business? This is more than just understanding business processes. We must know what's important to the business - profits, market share, strategic goals, markets, growth, legal, return on investment, and trade issues.
So, these are some of the important skills as I see them. Agree or disagree? I would like to hear your comments and ideas!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Leadership by the Book
I ran across this online article in Federal Computing Week. It's an interview with Dave Wennergren, deputy chief information officer of the Defense Department. It struck a chord with me because I'm such a believer in reading as a form of personal development and skill building.
It's not how much you read, but what you read and how you apply it. You could read a book in one day and get nothing from it, or you could read a page a day and get a nugget of wisdom each day.
Unfortunately, too few IT professionals read books or articles about our profession. Testers are no exception. When I meet people in IT or not, I can normally tell within 10 minutes if they read very much.
For the price and payback, books are a great value. A $50 book can well contain thousands of dollars worth of valuable ideas and advice.
When faced with a problem, I usually ask myself, "Who can I ask?", or "What can I read?" to get a solution.
Here's a great quote from this article:
"When I was the Department of the Navy CIO, I started a leadership forum called Expanding Boundaries, which I have now continued in my DOD job as Expanding Horizons. The idea is to get the leadership team together once every couple of months, read a good book and then discuss how we could apply the book, to our work and our lives. It’s been a great way to understand the art of the possible and best practices, but even more importantly, it has helped to align the leadership team, improve trust and serve an idea creation engine as we strategize about next steps in our information transformation work."
One challenge that teams have is to communicate together well. This would be a good venue to help break that ice.
So, here's the assignment. Read this article, then let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Randy
It's not how much you read, but what you read and how you apply it. You could read a book in one day and get nothing from it, or you could read a page a day and get a nugget of wisdom each day.
Unfortunately, too few IT professionals read books or articles about our profession. Testers are no exception. When I meet people in IT or not, I can normally tell within 10 minutes if they read very much.
For the price and payback, books are a great value. A $50 book can well contain thousands of dollars worth of valuable ideas and advice.
When faced with a problem, I usually ask myself, "Who can I ask?", or "What can I read?" to get a solution.
Here's a great quote from this article:
"When I was the Department of the Navy CIO, I started a leadership forum called Expanding Boundaries, which I have now continued in my DOD job as Expanding Horizons. The idea is to get the leadership team together once every couple of months, read a good book and then discuss how we could apply the book, to our work and our lives. It’s been a great way to understand the art of the possible and best practices, but even more importantly, it has helped to align the leadership team, improve trust and serve an idea creation engine as we strategize about next steps in our information transformation work."
One challenge that teams have is to communicate together well. This would be a good venue to help break that ice.
So, here's the assignment. Read this article, then let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Randy
Monday, December 01, 2008
The Sports Secret to Building Software Testing Skills
Every once in a while, I'll run across an airline magazine article that really catches my attention. Yesterday on my way to Harrisburg on Continental, I read this article about how collegiate and professional sports stars improve their skills. I couldn't help but think of all the parallels to many of the concepts I teach in my Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader tutorial. Namely:
1) To improve a skill, you must focus on it like a laser beam. Improvement often occurs a little bit at a time (painfully slow at times), but then sometimes you have a breakthrough moment.
2) You must be willing to move out of your comfort zone to improve. Don't just work on your strengths, but also your weaknesses. Actually, I teach becoming exceptional in your strong areas and not to worry too much about the weak points. While I still believe in this philosophy, I also believe that we can all work on our weaknesses to become more well-rounded.
3) A good coach is willing to place a player in a position to fail so they will learn and improve. The player must also have the mindset that failing is an essential part of improvement.
Here's a quote I liked in the article from Steve Bzomowski, a former NBA scout and founder of Never Too Late Basketball Camps: “Pros take themselves seriously. And even though recreational players aren’t going to become pros, there’s no reason for them not to take themselves seriously. We’re always preaching, ‘Respect the game.’ So when you don’t run the court, you’re not respecting the game. Play the game right.”
So, testers, take heart. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Practice on both, remembering it's OK to try things and fail - if you learn and improve.
1) To improve a skill, you must focus on it like a laser beam. Improvement often occurs a little bit at a time (painfully slow at times), but then sometimes you have a breakthrough moment.
2) You must be willing to move out of your comfort zone to improve. Don't just work on your strengths, but also your weaknesses. Actually, I teach becoming exceptional in your strong areas and not to worry too much about the weak points. While I still believe in this philosophy, I also believe that we can all work on our weaknesses to become more well-rounded.
3) A good coach is willing to place a player in a position to fail so they will learn and improve. The player must also have the mindset that failing is an essential part of improvement.
Here's a quote I liked in the article from Steve Bzomowski, a former NBA scout and founder of Never Too Late Basketball Camps: “Pros take themselves seriously. And even though recreational players aren’t going to become pros, there’s no reason for them not to take themselves seriously. We’re always preaching, ‘Respect the game.’ So when you don’t run the court, you’re not respecting the game. Play the game right.”
So, testers, take heart. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Practice on both, remembering it's OK to try things and fail - if you learn and improve.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wrapping Up in Rome
It's been a busy week for me here in Rome as I taught two public classes - Software Testing and Advanced Software Testing. Thanks to all the participants that made it a great experience. I look forward to a return trip in June.
In the Advanced class, we got into test efficiency techniques and how to design tests that are creative and challenging. We also discussed test metrics and how to use them to improve development and testing.
It's hard for me to remember to slow down my rate of speech when speaking through an interpreter. Italian requires many more words than the English equivalent. And forget humor. It just gets lost in translation. I really do appreciate my two interpreters and the other support during the class. You guys are the best!
Sunday was my only sightseeing day. I've been here twice before, last November and last June, so I'm getting to know my way around pretty well. My next goal is to learn more than six words in Italian!
I had not been in the Castle St. Angelo yet, so I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. The views are spectacular. If you explore around you can go all the way to the top, which allows a full view of central Rome. It's a great value for just 5 Euros. Muphy's law was at work, though. I was taking pictures throughout the castle but when I got this wonderful view - dead battery in the camera.
Fortunately, my hotel is close by so I went back and recharged for an hour, then returned to the castle. They let me back in and I took the pictures.
Here's a travel tip: Always take a spare ATM card. In Europe, the ATMs require fully inserting your card. I like the swipe option because I don't temporarily give up my card. Sunday I was trying to get some cash from an ATM and for some reason, it kept my card. Had I not been teaching on Monday, I could have gone to the bank and retrieved it, but since the banks close at noon and at 4 P.M., I had no options except to report it lost and use my spare at a different bank closer to my hotel.
Tomorrow I head home but have an overnight layover in London. It has been a great trip, but I am ready to be home and celebrate Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Travel Tips Around the Hague (World Forum and Museum Area)
As a traveler, I always like to pick up and share helpful tips when possible. I like to be a traveler instead of a tourist. As a business-oriented traveler, this can be challenging. For example, instead of paying $30 for breakfast at the hotel, I like to experience local color and less expense.
So while I was staying at the Golden Tulip by the World Forum in The Hague (which I thought was a great place to stay), here are some little finds:
Right around the corner and down the block there's a little coffee shop. It's right on the #17 tram line after the museum stop. That's where locals gather in the morning and have coffee and breakfast. The owner fixed me a great breakfast of fried eggs, bacon and real coffee (brewed - not the Americano-style) for 3.20 Eur. It was great! I ate there three or four times in all. If you explore around, you will find a shortcut trail that takes you from the coffee shop to the World Forum.
Find #2
I am on a two-week tr
ip, so I must do laundry, or have it done for me. Hotels charge an arm and a leg for this, so I scouted out this self-serve laundry just a few blocks from my hotel in the shopping district, which is only 3 - 4 blocks from the hotel. I was able to do two small loads of laundry for 12.50 Eur. While I was doing laundry, I browsed in the many stores in the shopping area. If you have trouble finding it, just ask the people in the coffee shop!
By the way, there is also another laundry just down the street.
Find #3
The shopping area just blocks from the hotel has almost anything you might need on a trip: clothing, groceries (there is a large store there by European standards), banks (ATMs), drug store, carryout pizza, restaurants, hardware, a copy shop, bookstores, amazing bakeries, chocolate and cheese stores, and more. Just watch out for the chicken wings - they didn't agree with me.
I hope these make your trip to the World Forum in The Hague a little easier and more interesting!
So while I was staying at the Golden Tulip by the World Forum in The Hague (which I thought was a great place to stay), here are some little finds:
Right around the corner and down the block there's a little coffee shop. It's right on the #17 tram line after the museum stop. That's where locals gather in the morning and have coffee and breakfast. The owner fixed me a great breakfast of fried eggs, bacon and real coffee (brewed - not the Americano-style) for 3.20 Eur. It was great! I ate there three or four times in all. If you explore around, you will find a shortcut trail that takes you from the coffee shop to the World Forum.
Find #2
I am on a two-week tr
ip, so I must do laundry, or have it done for me. Hotels charge an arm and a leg for this, so I scouted out this self-serve laundry just a few blocks from my hotel in the shopping district, which is only 3 - 4 blocks from the hotel. I was able to do two small loads of laundry for 12.50 Eur. While I was doing laundry, I browsed in the many stores in the shopping area. If you have trouble finding it, just ask the people in the coffee shop!By the way, there is also another laundry just down the street.
Find #3
The shopping area just blocks from the hotel has almost anything you might need on a trip: clothing, groceries (there is a large store there by European standards), banks (ATMs), drug store, carryout pizza, restaurants, hardware, a copy shop, bookstores, amazing bakeries, chocolate and cheese stores, and more. Just watch out for the chicken wings - they didn't agree with me.
I hope these make your trip to the World Forum in The Hague a little easier and more interesting!
Thoughts About EuroStar 2008
I thought EuroStar 2008 was a great conference. The tutorials, keynotes and tracks were strong in my opinion (I must also say I want to give my perspective as an attendee as well as a speaker. It's hard sometimes to step back and be objective, but I'll try.).
One of my tests of a good conference is whether I'm torn between attending track sessions - and I was. I also spent a fair amount of my time in the interactive sessions, such as the ones on the testing manifesto and testing standards. It was nice to be working on things to advance our testing profession. I'm not sure where the whole testing manifesto thing will wind up. I hope it is someplace similar to the agile manifesto - something simple, meaningful and easy to read and remember.
James Whittaker was his insightful and entertaining self (that video he shows about the future of medical software is amazing and shows we're going to need better testing). His talk was "The End of Testing as we Know it", and I felt all the keynote speakers made me think. James Lyndsay spoke on "Becoming Agile - Reshaping Testing for an Agile Team." He had great points and I'm always impressed by the simplicity and impact of his slides!
The expo was amazing. In the U.S., the exhibits tend to be rather bland. In this show there were two coffee bars, a cocktail bar (I had a smoothie), a chess match, a bicycling competition, etc.
They had a contest where if you got all the exhibitors to stamp your card, you could enter the drawing. So, I computed my odds (about 1 in 30, I figured) and went for it. The grand prizes were two free passes for next year's conference and eight Nintendo Wiis. All I wanted was a Wii. Guess what? I won a conference pass. I didn't factor that in my odds! Oh well, I don't have the luggage space or weight anyway.
The gala was also fant
atstic. It was held in the Grote Kerk, which is a former cathedral. It was big night for me, winning the best tutorial award. Thanks so much to the 60 or so people in my "Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader" tutorial that made that happen. It was totally unexpected! Much more important than the award was that we experienced and learned things together that will help us be better in our leadership roles.My prize was a beautiful 9 pound Waterford crystal vase which I will find a great place for at home. Thankfully, security in the U.K. has relaxed security rules to allow two carry-on pieces of luggage!
One other thought concerns model-based testing and how it differs in Europe than in the U.S. - At U.S. conferences, model-based testing is often presented as a manual process. In Europe, they talk about the tools that can make model-based test design happen faster and more completely than using manual methods. I just thought that was interesting.
Dot Graham will be the chair for next year's conference in Stockholm, Sweden. I wish her all the best!
I would like to thank all the kind people who helped me feel right at home. Many thanks to the Qualtech Conference team - Tracy, Siobhan, Lorraine and others. Also, thanks for the conference committee for selecting my talks and to John Fodeh for my keynote introduction and to Bob van de Burgt as conference chair. You all did a great job!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Greetings from The Hague and EuroStar 2008
I've been pretty busy since StarWest, so I haven't blogged any since then. Hopefully, I'll make up for that on this trip to The Hague and Rome. I plan to blog on three topics the next couple of weeks: 1) Highlights from EuroStar, 2) My thoughts on the economy and software testing, and 3) Travel tips for The Hague and Rome - complete with pictures.
The flight over went well - as good as it gets in coach on American Airlines. In the airport in Oklahoma City I discovered I forgot my power supply for my MacBook (Darn - I didn't use my checklist!). The Apple factor introduced a complexity factor because the airport shops assume nobody owns a Mac! So, using my iPhone in Dallas, I saw there was a PC World store in Heathrow which carried Apple accessories.
I had a five-hour layover at Heathrow in the new Terminal 5. It is an amazing place. And yes, I found a power supply for my MacBook at a great price. Even with the exchange rate, I was happy to pay it!
The British Airways club there is awesome. Man, the American Airlines' Admiral Club could take some lessons from them. They have all sorts of food and drink at no charge (of course there is the elite status required), plus wi-fi included, and one of the best things after a long flight are the individual wash rooms. This all made the long layover not so bad.
I was surprised that BA had food service on my 45 minute flight to Amsterdam. We don't even get pretzels anymore on US airlines!
Luggage is often a challenge when travelling solo overseas. I took the train down to The Hague. I had a large suitcase plus a duffle bag for my computer and other carry-on essentials. I had two people (other travellers) that helped me with my bags on and off the train. I was impressed by their hospitality!
The room here at the Golden Tulip hotel by the World Forum is great. A nice bed with a U.S. sized room and weekly rate wi-fi is awesome. I only can use 3 TV channels - CNN and 2 BBC channels, but at least I keep up with news back home.
Yesterday I presented a full-day tutorial on "Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader", which seemed to go well. I haven't seen the evaluation results yet, but we had about 50 people and it was a great time together. By the end of the day, we were all good friends!
The biggest challenges are getting adjusted to the time change (I started my session at 2 a.m. CST and ended at 10 a.m. CST!) and adjusting to the cultural differences in my remarks.
This afternoon the conference starts. James Whittaker from Microsoft speaks. Later, the guys from Google (Bharat Mediratta and Antoine Picard) give their "Testing on the Toilet" talk. That has been a big hit in the U.S.
Tommorow morning I deliver my keynote address on "Trends that May Shape the Future of Software Testing". I'm making some last-minute tweaks to reflect some recent events.
Better go now, but I'll post again soon with some impressions from the conference and some pictures.
The flight over went well - as good as it gets in coach on American Airlines. In the airport in Oklahoma City I discovered I forgot my power supply for my MacBook (Darn - I didn't use my checklist!). The Apple factor introduced a complexity factor because the airport shops assume nobody owns a Mac! So, using my iPhone in Dallas, I saw there was a PC World store in Heathrow which carried Apple accessories.
I had a five-hour layover at Heathrow in the new Terminal 5. It is an amazing place. And yes, I found a power supply for my MacBook at a great price. Even with the exchange rate, I was happy to pay it!
The British Airways club there is awesome. Man, the American Airlines' Admiral Club could take some lessons from them. They have all sorts of food and drink at no charge (of course there is the elite status required), plus wi-fi included, and one of the best things after a long flight are the individual wash rooms. This all made the long layover not so bad.
I was surprised that BA had food service on my 45 minute flight to Amsterdam. We don't even get pretzels anymore on US airlines!
Luggage is often a challenge when travelling solo overseas. I took the train down to The Hague. I had a large suitcase plus a duffle bag for my computer and other carry-on essentials. I had two people (other travellers) that helped me with my bags on and off the train. I was impressed by their hospitality!
The room here at the Golden Tulip hotel by the World Forum is great. A nice bed with a U.S. sized room and weekly rate wi-fi is awesome. I only can use 3 TV channels - CNN and 2 BBC channels, but at least I keep up with news back home.
Yesterday I presented a full-day tutorial on "Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader", which seemed to go well. I haven't seen the evaluation results yet, but we had about 50 people and it was a great time together. By the end of the day, we were all good friends!
The biggest challenges are getting adjusted to the time change (I started my session at 2 a.m. CST and ended at 10 a.m. CST!) and adjusting to the cultural differences in my remarks.
This afternoon the conference starts. James Whittaker from Microsoft speaks. Later, the guys from Google (Bharat Mediratta and Antoine Picard) give their "Testing on the Toilet" talk. That has been a big hit in the U.S.
Tommorow morning I deliver my keynote address on "Trends that May Shape the Future of Software Testing". I'm making some last-minute tweaks to reflect some recent events.
Better go now, but I'll post again soon with some impressions from the conference and some pictures.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
StarWest 2008 - Part 2
OK, so I had good intentions about blogging during StarWest. I was too busy!
I thought the conference was good. The keynotes seemed to hit the right level of interest with people. Rob Sabourin spoke about "Testing Lessons from Springfield—Home of the Simpsons". That was a light note to start on and had some interesting application for testers. You've got to love it when someone in the audience shouts, "Eat my shorts, man!" in the middle of a keynote presentation.
Jon Bach spoke next on "Telling Your Exploratory Testing Story". Jon used the connection between journalism and testing to show how to explain to people the performance and outcome of a test.
I sat in on two of Julie Gardiner's sessions: "Five Things Every Tester Must Do" (track session) and "Branch Out Using Classification Trees" (keynote). Julie did great in both sessions. It was great to see people really get excited about the classification tree technique and tool to help optimize testing.
I wasn't able to make it to Julian Harty's session on "Six Thinking Hats for Testers" but I have heard it before and it's a great presentation.
The best I could tell, most people were having a good time and picking up good ideas. I enjoyed meeting a lot of new people, catching up with friends, and learning new things.
On one of our excursions during the week, Janet and I got to see a taping of the Tonight Show. Then, after the show we saw Jay Leno leaving driving his Ariel Atom. He smiled and waved at us. You can't beat that!
I thought the conference was good. The keynotes seemed to hit the right level of interest with people. Rob Sabourin spoke about "Testing Lessons from Springfield—Home of the Simpsons". That was a light note to start on and had some interesting application for testers. You've got to love it when someone in the audience shouts, "Eat my shorts, man!" in the middle of a keynote presentation.
Jon Bach spoke next on "Telling Your Exploratory Testing Story". Jon used the connection between journalism and testing to show how to explain to people the performance and outcome of a test.
I sat in on two of Julie Gardiner's sessions: "Five Things Every Tester Must Do" (track session) and "Branch Out Using Classification Trees" (keynote). Julie did great in both sessions. It was great to see people really get excited about the classification tree technique and tool to help optimize testing.
I wasn't able to make it to Julian Harty's session on "Six Thinking Hats for Testers" but I have heard it before and it's a great presentation.
The best I could tell, most people were having a good time and picking up good ideas. I enjoyed meeting a lot of new people, catching up with friends, and learning new things.
On one of our excursions during the week, Janet and I got to see a taping of the Tonight Show. Then, after the show we saw Jay Leno leaving driving his Ariel Atom. He smiled and waved at us. You can't beat that!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
StarWest 2008 - Part 1
I'm here at StarWest 2008 with several hundred of my closest friends this week.
Yesterday I presented my tutorial on Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader. We had a really great time together as a class - all 70+ of us. It's always exciting to me to have this opportunity to present this session.
Today I present my half-day tutorial - Pairwise Testing with a Twist, which describes how to apply pairwise testing to scenario-based tests. This is a very interesting technique that can be applied to UAT and SOA testing or any time you need to test an end-to-end process.
I don't have any observations to report at this point, but once the main sessions start, I'll post some of the key points.
Yesterday I presented my tutorial on Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader. We had a really great time together as a class - all 70+ of us. It's always exciting to me to have this opportunity to present this session.
Today I present my half-day tutorial - Pairwise Testing with a Twist, which describes how to apply pairwise testing to scenario-based tests. This is a very interesting technique that can be applied to UAT and SOA testing or any time you need to test an end-to-end process.
I don't have any observations to report at this point, but once the main sessions start, I'll post some of the key points.
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