My thoughts now brood elsewhere....

I have shifted my blog to http://bugmaniac.wordpress.com/

Quality is NOT dead

Here is my comment to James Bach's Quality is dead hypothesis (http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/224)

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I cannot help but draw a parallel about what you mention about falling levels of quality (or rather its death in your view) with the life we live today and its many ‘unsavoury’ accompaniments versus say 2-3 decades back when our forefathers were the flag bearers of a relatively less complex life veering towards simplicity and order.

Do we not sense and realise that our lives are today more complicated, stinkier by the day, falling in value and substance, cursed and step-by-step rotting away from the (uncontaminated) life that we knew existed say back in the 60s/before. Are we not now witness to scenes of crime/violence/hatred which becomes bloodier and more horrific than the previous one? Vietnam, 9/11, Mumbai terror attack, Winnenden school shooting, & so on…

How do we counter this in our own individual microcosmic way? Do we give up on teaching good values to our children? Do we not stop the sibling fights and not abhor violence of any kind? In a bus, when I see an elderly woman struggling to keep her balance, do I not offer her a seat? When I hear a child speaking profanities do I not admonish even if she is not a blood relation?

Of course I do.

Quality of life is in our hands to a great extent and we must continue to encourage, inspire, instil and ensure that we influence its goodness to the extent possible.

Likewise when a product we are not happy about is readied for release would we not raise a RED flag?

Of course we will.

We will be vehement in giving this information to the powers-that-be supported with defects information, tests undergone/not undergone, plan ahead for testing and so on… When we do this do we not try to protect the user who should better not use the product in its present shape. Do we do this because it is our job? Yes but is that all. I think the voice comes from within & it is equivalent to the scenario of a small boy uttering profanities.

We do our best and we should.

So I do not agree with your “Quality is Dead” completely. As much as the Project/Release Managers will push the buggy products out there would be test professionals (like us) standing in the door wearing and shouting ‘red’. The test professionals may be outnumbered and shooed away but the bugle would have been sounded. Sanity would prevail at times and it would not at others but death - No. We would not let it happen!!!

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Humility

I have been reading quite a bit these days considering the situation I am in. Though this somewhat unpleasant phase in my life asks me questions, I feel largely rejuvenated, humbled and sense a surge of adrenalin pumping at times reading the thoughts of greats in the testing world like Gerald Weinberg, James Bach, James Whittaker, Michael Bolton & others whom I respect so much even though I do not agree with them all the time (for example - I do not agree with Bach's recent post "Quality is Dead" which I need to respond asap).

Humility as a virtue is not negative at all but a notion that our learning will ever be incomplete however much we learn from experience of self and others. Which is what makes collaboration, discussions, brainstorming at times so invigorating and exciting and a journey of discovery...

I have just as often felt humble (and felt pride in the company I keep vindicating & conviction stamping my choices of the team I created) when discussing how we test this or that, or a defect simulation etc. with people I work with being relatively younger (in age possibly but not grey cells) who have a mind with a inquisitiveness and fertility bordering on a height close to brilliance...

Just as well I enjoy the presence of my young son - Aman who amazes me with the skills he shows when he plays computer games like a pro while he is yet not past 7...

Aah, to be young again!

Testing and PASSION

Come to think of it I never thought I would write a blog of my own. Even now the word "blog" sounds foreign, alien, like a bloated body full of unwanted growth I would not like to associate with or of being in the open with my thoughts on testing & what have you! This also seems like falling in cold water and conquering the twin fears of coping with cold water & staying afloat. But while swimming in cold icy water is far away from my mind - I am somehow ready to blog. And I promise myself that I will blog and publish words of substance. My first thoughts on testing really starts with Passion!!

I think Passion goes hand in hand with good testing or what good testers need to have in them (besides a host of other must-haves - more of that later) to find that extra defect at the end of a very hard day or ask that question to the subject matter experts which others think silly or to dig extra deep within oneself probably and even while alone in the office with darkness around & the coffee on your desk cold and dead and all this just for one's name against a defect with whatever severity.


Yes Passion or dare I say PASSION. Passion for the colour which is not quite correct on that screen, that missed alignment which hurts readability, that error message straight out of the developers mind totally oblivious of the plight of the user or the dandruff which will litter the keyboard when the user scratches his head.

Passion matters big-time in testing.

Passion is often seen when the smitten person talks - in the eyes, words chosen, hands flailing or cutting the air from time to time, the intonations, writings and so on... In short you can feel some heat in his/her presence and if you are passionate yourself you enjoy the company. I do.

I think Passion in a testing professional will gets her ahead in terms of the fire within to:

• know the domain deeper and faster probably before any one else;
• ask questions and probably lots of them to get beyond what is implicit in the spec.;
• challenge the developer in terms of how that feature ought to be and how the end-user would like it seen;
• grit your teeth and test and find defects when others gave a verdict about the relative 'stability' of the component/application tested many times before
• say 'Not good enough' with conviction (and with justification) to the domineering come-what-may manager who wants the animal out now
• create a atmosphere within the team and charge it such that everyone contributes.

Yes - Passion - go find it!

image credit: matthew fang