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Too close to see the canvas – Part 6

Too close to see the canvas – Part 6 The Pattern beyond the pixels – Change is a process In the first post we set the foundations of the story. In part two we covered reactive work and being stuck. In part three we talked about seeing past the "impossible." In parts four and five we got into metrics, layers and the sunk cost trap. This final post is about the thing that ties all…
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Too close to see the canvas – Part 5

The Pattern beyond the pixels – Fit for purpose So far, in what is quickly becoming a full blown small book, we have looked at the project and the problem, the danger of focusing too much on reactive work, changing the seemingly unchangeable and metrics and the dangers of measuring the wrong thing. This post is about a closely related problem that took me a long time to fully understand: what happens when you try…
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Too close to see the canvas – Part 4

The Pattern beyond the pixels – You get what you measure In the previous parts we covered the project and the problem, reactive work and the stress cone, and the possibility to change what looks unchangeable. Now we are getting into something that I believe is a killer of a lot of change initiatives, and many first steps into automation: measuring the wrong things, and not noticing you're doing it. The number everyone was watching…
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Too close to see the canvas – Part 3

The Pattern beyond the pixels – Change it up In the first post we introduced the project and the problem, and in the last post we got into how reactive work never runs out and how stress affects our ability to see beyond the (seemingly) urgent. My second big learning relates to change, seeing possibilities and understanding why the people right in the middle of the problem often can't. "It's impossible" is more often "I…
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Too close to see the canvas – Part 2

The Pattern beyond the pixels - Reactive vs Proactive work In the last post we introduced the project and the problem. We talked about how I dug into data and started asking specific questions to figure out why I was sensing a problem when both testers and management seemed happy with the progress. In this post we'll dig into the first of several learnings: the difference between reactive and proactive work and switching from what…
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Too close to see the canvas – Part 1

The pattern beyond the pixels Once upon a time I started a new job. I didn't do it lightly, in fact I fought against it for a long time, but I did take it in the end. The reasons I was reluctant were based on 50% ego and 50% being burnt by promises before. Ego-wise: I wanted the tasks and responsibilities, but the title felt like a step down and a potential trap. I had…
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How to use bug bashes to build better products and stronger teams

The term bug bash has been around for decades yet does not seem to have a formal definition. It is widely used and understood by many people, yet in two distinct ways. Over the years, I’ve participated in and organized two different types of bug bashes with different goals and results. A bug bash could refer to one of two activities: A time-boxed event where you bring in people from inside and outside of the…
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What is software testing, really?

I recently had another interesting conversation about testing. I’ve had this discussion many times throughout my career: What is software testing? Or perhaps more specifically, what isn’t testing? Typically, these conversations start with someone stating something that limits the bounds of testing in a way that I either don’t understand or don’t agree with. After twenty-plus years, my view has not shifted much. This article is not meant to be the universal truth. However, everything is based on what…
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The QA and Dev relationship: a complicated love story

Anyone who has been in the software industry for a while has probably come across jokes, memes, or comments about the strained relationships between testers and developers. Testers get frustrated and complain about developers saying things like, “It works on my machine.” Meanwhile, developers dismissively joke that testers are people who couldn’t make it as developers because they’re too rigid and prone to thinking up new problems and unlikely edge cases.  Some people may read that…
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Getting intentional with heuristics in software testing

Before I started working in software testing, I had never heard of heuristics. Over the years, I kept hearing the word “heuristics,” but I never really understood what they were or how to use them. The first time I deliberately researched the topic was for a workshop in 2019. Before this, I thought they were a fancy term used by a specific school of testing, but I learned that heuristics are a well-known and well-used concept in…