Notes on testing, automation, and software craft.
How did you find that bug? They asked with a sort of puzzled " he dun't thunk like uz " look on their faces. An expression that suggested they were unsure whether to commend the discovery or gather their pitchforks and organise a well overdue witch burning. Likewise, I now knew… more »
A while back, I sat in on a planning meeting. Many planning meetings slide awkwardly into a sort of ad hoc technical analysis discussion, and this was no exception. With a little prompting, the team started to draw up what they wanted to build on a whiteboard. The picture spoke… more »
Take a pack of cards, shuffle them well, and place them on the desk in front of you. Could you accurately tell me what the order of the cards would be, without looking? By Rosapicci Own work, CC BY SA 4.0 Now spend 2 weeks in a software development team, writing code & using… more »
I remember teaching my son to ride his bike. No, Strike that, Helping him to learn to ride his bike. It’s that way round – if we are honest – he was changing his brain so it could adapt to the mechanism and behaviour of the bike. I was just holding the bike, pushing and… more »
When I have a spare moment, I usually try and think about how to test something. In fact thats not true, what I do is actually test something. It might be an app on my phone, an online tool, parking ticket machine or search engine. Usually it is what ever is to hand, at the… more »
Pick a coin from your pocket, and hold it at arms length. Take a good look. Now take another one, of the same denomination and hold it out at arms length as before. Based on your observations alone can you say they are the identical? Lets go a step further. If someone had given… more »
People want to believe. If you are a tester then you've probably seen this in your work. A new build of the software has been delivered. "Just check it works" you're told, It's 'a given ' for most people that the software will work. This isn't unusual, it's normal human… more »
Office meetings are interesting events. Seriously, even the most boring ones. There's usually an important reason for the meeting, even if that meeting has been lost in the sands of Outlook repeat booking, or the present attendees feel strongly otherwise. There's usually some… more »
For those of you that don't know, I'm somewhat of an amateur horologist. I love clocks, watches and all sorts of time and date keeping gadgets. To feed my passion I've decided to invest in my own custom made timepiece. This device will be my first custom made high value item, in… more »