All posts by Mindful tester

Reconstruction

January Testing

Somehow I ended up with this test term or test type. Actually is a subset of boundary value analysis. But I got your attention.

That’s my right

It was the second day of the year 2018. I was about to place a new post on my web site. I just knew something was wrong.

I went to the web site lay out. It took me a few clicks to open the footer. Then I changed the text to
“2014 – 2018. Mindful Tester. All rights reserved.”

Now I could add my post.

It is my right
for which I fight

That’s my audit input

The same week.
For the audit I ran a query in the defect registration system. The number of items on the list was startling low: 0. My query was wrong. That bugged me. Last year it gave the right results. Actually a few weeks earlier.

I had a look to the query and noticed:
StartOfYear()
I don’t know all the commands, but I could make a good guess.
This year started at January 1st 2018. I was one year off.
The report was about 2017 and not about 2018.

A few hours later I had to go to my boss. He still used the same old query. It was easily explained.

It is not the query
I marry

A test idea approach

Let me generate some test ideas:

  • Is there a checklist for things to be updated in the new year?
  • If yes, so when is it updated?
  • Are queries based on fixed dates instead of relative dates?
  • Are there changes in laws which I have to pay attention to?

Still wondering about the pic with door?

Janua is the Latin word for door.

What about May 2018 testing? Excuse me GDPR testing.
Do you know what the effects of the General Data Protection Regulation are? An European customer has the right to be forgotten. But what about payments?

A leader ships

Hide or Seek Outside the Comfort Zone

You can only listen
Aaltje Vincent about Twitter

The day after Christmas I saw a question from Kim about test types on Twitter. She could not find the desired information. I remembered a long serie of Jean-Paul about test types.

I did a quick search on the internet and found some useful definitions. On my reply a most grateful reply returned. Twitter can be quite helpful. In deed.

The truth is out there.
Special Agent Fox William Mulder

In order to prepare my tests I use Gherkin to describe my test ideas. Okay. I slow down a bit.
In the defect registration system I can add comments. I use Gherkin, because it is a high level language. It saves me the pain of dealing with all kinds of technical details. Which can change of course. Which is out of my control.

The devops in the team use Gherkin for their unit tests, so they can use my test ideas in case of jumping in. One devops tends to browse my scripts with test ideas. So it actually saves me time and I can do more exploratory testing. The unit tests are quite thorough.

One day I was looking for test ideas for removing items. It was simple and therefore deceiving. I did my run with SFDIPOT.
O stands for Operations, how will it be really used?

I imagined the users looking at the same item. What would happen, if two users would delete the same item?

I stood up and saw the devops who had the best overview of the system. I walked a few meters and started a chat about the simultaneous removal actions. He listened and agreed that this should be taken care of.

My scrum master joined in with a minimum of words: “Race conditions”.
Back on my desk I searched for race conditions.

I felt comfortable when I asked my question. The 2 words of my scrum master increased the safety. For me and the others

Ask yourself, “What would my cheerleader say to me right now?”
Denise Jacobs

One of the best things about the testing community is 30 days of testing. On twitter you can find a lot using the search term #30daysoftesting. The hash tag is a label which can be used to find relevant information or questions. E.g. #testing, #softwaretesting.

One of my best Twitter months was July 2016. There were small and big challenges in 30 days of testing and participants were encouraged to share their progress on the internet. Testers over the whole world participated.

I liked the atmosphere. Trying to create strange tweets which still fulfilled the challenges posed. Some of my tweets got likes and I became more comfortable with Twitter. It was possible to share my thoughts about testing. With people I never met.

I think #30daysoftesting is great. Thanks for making it happen
Bret Pettichord

“Just name two people who are quite influential in the test community about complexity.”
“Let me guess.”
“Hey I was first. To let you guess.”
“Dave Snowden and Nassim Taleb”

“Why those two?”
Snowden made Cynefin. For me it is a model how to handle in certain situations. Nassim Taleb made INCERTO. He focuses on becoming anti fragile.”

What was I struggling with?
Is there any relationship between Cynefin and INCERTO?

So I used Google and another search engine. I could not find something on the web which addressed my question. With a bit of luck this is the first one with a first step.

The same day I answered Kim’s question I looked to the tweets from Dave Snowden. He was busy with the principles of antro-complexity. He welcomed questions. For three days I had been polishing my question.
So I tweeted my question how these principles did fit in the genealogy of INCERTO.

I got a reaction.

Without doubt, you have to leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness.
Stephen Covey

Diverse speakers, Techies conferring, Testers conferring

Skin in the game of diversity

So I had my own piece of constructive feedback for tech conferences a few weeks ago.
Okay you may call it a rant. It was close.
Actually it was. For a good cause. Diversity.

As a blogger I could just lean back.
Now it was time for my action. Skin in the game.

Target One

This year I was on a test conference. The number of female speakers was low. Some male speakers might say:
“Let’s double the number of female speakers. Fine with us.”
“Thanks guys.”

There was one female co speaker. That makes two female co speakers.
Wait. Now let’s look at the incredible number of female keynote speakers of 0.
2 times 0 makes 0. If this would be quadrupled or octodupled, it would remain a disappointing 0.

In my experience there are more great female testers than 2 in the Netherlands. Let’s give them a place on stage. Main stage please. Thanks in advance.

In the past no correspondence was possible about the proposal selection process of this conference. Discussion takes time especially with Dutchmen. So a bit of transparency might help.

“You’ve got a question. What is your question?”
“I think that there are great stories of women out there. We don’t have the time to coach them.”
“Just go to techvoices.org”
[Update: TechVoices was formerly known as Speak Easy.]
“But this is a Dutch conference.”
“Indeed. But English is no problem for the attendees.”
“There are no Dutch coaches.”
“That also worries me a lot. A testing country without Dutch speaking coaches is strange.”

My first tweet to the conference was a wish for 2018: more female speakers than in 2017. No reaction at all. That was my target practicing. Next.

The next tweet was aimed to the chairman. I remembered two announcements of keynote speakers:

  • “When I was in London for BCS, I met [white male speaker]. I was quite impressed with his talk, so [ ….]”
  • “The other keynote speaker is [white male speaker] . I met him at TestBash Netherlands. “

Now let me stress that I am impressed with the test experience and knowledge of these keynote speakers. Now imagine two female keynote speakers and my reaction would be double wow.

Ready, aim, tweet.
My friendly request to the chairman was to have a look at a list of female testers in case of keynotes.
The answer was considerate: some of the ladies had already spoken as keynote speakers, but he would try to get other ladies on stage.

My tweet had an unexpected side effect, which I had not anticipated. A case of collateral praise. One female speaker reacted with “cool and Very proud” to be on this list.

Target zero
A few weeks ago Rosie Sherry pointed to a whole discussion about #PayToSpeak. As a speaker it is the norm to pay your travelling and accommodation costs. Both Rosie and I don’t like this.

I reacted with a Balanced Conference Card.
Just answer enough questions with Yes and you have a balanced conference.

“Why was TestBash target 0?”
“It was not. TestBash is one of the conferences focused on balance.”
“Why did you call this paragraph ‘Target 0’?”
“It is an inside joke.
Programmers always count from 0.”

Anyways my blog post ended up in the newsletter of Ministry of Testing. Thanks.

A week ago there was another discussion about female speakers. I pointed to my blog post. Somehow I ended up as an ally.

Target Two Too

Next tweet target was a huge European test conference.
You know: this size fits only one in Europe.
I actually was hesitant to send a tweet, but a disappointed tweet of a famous tester about another male lineup at a conf pushed me out of my comfort zone into my action zone.

Now comes the scary part.
The program chair had no Twitter account. A few years ago this was already mentionable according to his track chair. So I picked the conf itself.

I thought it was good to praise the conference organisers for actions taken for a diverse lineup this year. The aforementioned famous tester was also pleased with the steps taken in the past. So I retweeted her reaction with the request to keep up the good work.

This left an unaddressed program committee.
I tweeted a female member of the program committee to repeat the success of diverse lineup of this year. She did not react.

The conf did. Gender bias was taken care of by making the proposals anonymous. Reads good to me.

Target Two Too

By now you know the drill:

  • Pick a tech conf.
  • Make a compliment and/or request.
  • If you need a link or blog post 
    https://mindfultester.com/a-balanced-conference-card/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/need-new-speakers-han-toan-lim
https://agiletestingdays.com/blog/125-awesome-testers-you-should-keep-your-eye-on-always
https://abstracta.us/blog/software-testing/influential-latin-american-women-testing-need-know
speaking-easy.com

    [added later, see reason below ]

So if you want to have more diversity, you have my permission to use these actions.
Excuse me for scaring you.

Some tech confs have questions about diversity.  I respect their point of view. I heard really good stories about first time speakers supported by Speak easy. Now know aw Tech Voices.
Oops let me add this to the list above.[v]

Conferences want praise from their attendees. So give New Voices a stage like Agile Testing Days. You know what: those first time speakers have a lot of keynote potential in themselves.

Little thought experiment

Bio 1: I am a white male speaker. My dad sent me to the best schools and universities, because he could afford it. I now work at a Fortune 500 company.

Bio 2: I am an African American woman. I grew up in the Bronx. We were really poor. The only times we saw a computer it was on the television.

One day I was invited by Per Scholas. They thought I was bright. I laughed. They suggested something with computers. Me and computers, I could not stop laughing for 1 minute.

Anyway I got some really good teachers. And I could touch a computer without some comment like:
“Hey, what you’re doing?”
It was not that difficult to pick up things. It was logical.

For me the time with Per Scholas was like a Christmas story. After school it would be back in the shop selling veggies. You know what. I got a good job offer. Ain’t that great?

“Wait you are writing everything down.”
“Sure.”
“But that is not a good bio.”
“I assure it adds so much flavour.”

Of course I am biased, if I see those bios.

  • A very influential tester once told me, he would like to follow the Per Scholas course. And he is already good.
  • These days I have to learn a lot just to keep up. What could this woman teach me about struggling and keeping faith?
  • I want to see the underdog.

Okay recruiters, don’t send me mails now.
I have a disappointing message for you. Both bios are fake.
Because this is a thought experience: you know like imaginary or hypothetical or dreamed up.

Target Me

Now what is all that stuff about skin in the game?
Good question. Which needs a good answer.

If I get accepted by a tech conf and there is big unbalance, then I will bail out.
I won’t speak.
This talk will be dearly missed on my CV and my Conference Speaker Bingo Card,  but that is my skin in the game.

Side notes

  • I am going to submit to 2 #PayToSpeak confs in the next few weeks. Although I don’t like this.
  • One conference is part of yearly package deal membership under 100 Euro. This club offers a lot to the testing community. So I give something back.
  • One conference is so nearby I lose a small amount of money for travelling. I can sleep at home.
  • And I want break my streak of speaking every other year. In the meantime I have this, a blog to practice my speaking skills.