Carnival of Testers #6

Three weeks since the last carnival, and there has been lots of activity - maybe people are refreshed after the holiday break or the retrospectives are out of the way and it's full steam ahead with 2010!

A two-sided approach this time. First, a selection of some of the more serious posts

• Pradeep Soundararajan highlighted the feedback loop required in test estimation.
• At the same time Ainars Galvans was also writing about test estimation, here.
• Matt Heusser looked into ideas around reducing costs for attending conferences, here.
• Parimala Shankaraiah wrote about team types that she had experienced.
• Ben Kelly was a bit irritated by some of the testing questions from people "who should know better." He makes some good observations, here. 
• Weekend Testing landed in Europe with a flock of posts from Anna Baik (link), Phil Kirkham (link), Markus Gärtner (link), Anne-Marie Charrett (link), Zeger Van Hese (link) and a first post from Markus Deibel (here) who was also joining in with the weekend testers too.
• Thomas Ponnet made a first post on issues around tester integrity and result orientation.
• Yours truly wrote a piece on silent evidence in testing, here.
• If you're having trouble running your automated test suites Catherine Powell suggests trying them in reverse order, here.
• Michele Smith wrote several posts in January, one of them about the revelation in her new read, "the inmates are running the asylum" (can't we all tune in with that now and then?)

That allusion to insanity almost gives a nice segway into the second half....

On a lighter note
There was a distinct thread of humour bubbling up to the surface in the last 3 weeks.

• Interview questions doing the rounds this month... Ladybug popped up onto the radar with a post on interview questions, here.
• Then Eric Jacobson's lightswitch testing questions had me smiling. Enthusiatic interviewee or a bit barking? Tough call...
• Lanette Creamer's idea of certifications gets my backing any day. No pants jokes please...
• Andy Glover serialised himself onto the blogging circuit with a refreshing cartoon approach to testing topics. For a "tester in supermarket check" have a look here.
• Matt Heusser floated (pun intended) the idea of conferences on a boat in a Friday fun post here. 

Until the end of February for the next carnival...