Since childhood (or the time when we were all artists) , we have been programmed to perceive failure as a non-viable option. Something that needs to be avoided , dreaded and is socially unacceptable "If you fail at <x> exam, you will end up being a failure in life" , constraints like this are … Continue reading Failure is good, it is an actual option, take it

Automation is not the goal . The goal(s) is to - Make humans effective at the craft of discovering,communicating and advocating risks to user experience,commercial reputation and utility of what we ship. Keep feedback loops to humans as short as possible Provide information to humans that is reliable and consistent( to answer the question..."if we … Continue reading Testing != Automation

During my stint as a Test Practice Lead last year, one of the key strategic initiative that I created and led was to assess and uplift skills and capability of the whole test practice. The process that I employed to deliver on that initiative was - Create a framework for Testers in the practice to … Continue reading Self assessment skills matrix for a Testing practice

"It is Testing that is really slowing the Project down" "Why are we finding all these bugs, so late in the Project" "Testers must be testing edge cases to death" I dont know of many experienced Testers who haven't heard  some or all of the above statements before . I heard it again yesterday and … Continue reading “Testing is slowing us down” , moving from blame to involvement and engagement

Which tactics do you usually employ to interview and identify great Testers ? Alignment with Team/Company values ? Evidence of critical thinking ?  How did you approach <x.....testing problem> type of questions ? Examples of application of Tooling knowledge ?  How much value do they give to sapient skills in Testing ? Community references ?  … Continue reading An alt-technique for hiring Testers for Team fit

Why is it so hard to get right and timely decisions in organisations ? Because organisations are lop-sided with either :: A) Folks who have the knowledge, insights,access,decision making authority to make those decisions but dont follow that through with a bias towards action or build credibility through execution Or B) Folks who really want … Continue reading Organisational structure –> The sweet spot of decision making

"Hey, I am starting out as a Tester, how can I start learning Selenium ?" Is the most common question newbie Grad Testers or relatively inexperienced Testers , who aspire to head down the "technical tester" "automator" path , ask. This is a question that I asked as well early on in my career with … Continue reading So, you want to be a Test Tooling expert ?

I facilitated another "Better Leadership" meet up last week , that I started a month or so ago , based on an unconference style , mob learning format ( versus a single speaker and an audience format) . The format is simple, every attendee brings one Leadership experience/achievement to share (How did I achieve<.........>?) and one … Continue reading Continuing the “Better Leadership” meet up

One of the "hats" that I wear internally at my current company is the role of a Test Service Lead . The main responsibility of this role is to serve the practice and ensure that the internal Test Practice ( we are a consultancy and dont have  fixed Teams) gels together and flourishes as a … Continue reading Sharing our Test practice charter , the North Star for our internal community

Recently I initiated a Leadership meet up in the Christchurch (NZ) area  and we had our first meet up couple of meetings ago. This meet up bore from my frustrations around not having a peer network of folks who want to get better at Leadership . Whether we consciously acknowledge or not , Leadership/Management has … Continue reading Insights from a mob learning Leadership meet-up