This time my "testers headache" was getting my shortlist down to 60 posts, and then further reducing it for this post. Some new faces have been blogging recently and that's always interesting.
This carnival's selection is a grouping of the thought-provoking, the practical, the plain interesting and the plain amusing. Enjoy!
- Lanette Creamer wrote about learning python, with advice on how to stop your head overheating!
- Puzzles. Spoiler alert! I enjoyed "part-reading" Parimala Shankaraiah's learning journey - an account of tackling Pradeep Soundararajan's puzzle challenge, here. I say "part-reading" as I intend to tackle the puzzle myself - so I had to stop myself reading - not easy with Parimala's engaging writing.
- Rosie Sherry shares part of her fascinating learning journey, here.
- The STC mag launch was written about by a questioning (name for a group of testers?) of testers, including Brent Strange (link), Markus Gärtner (link), Rob Lambert (link), Joe Strazzere (link) and Marcin Zręda (link).
- Shrini Kulkarni wrote about his writing block - probably something most bloggers can identify with.
- On the writing theme, Chris McMahon gave an update on the writing about testing list.
- The writing theme continues with Lisa Crispin's accessible book review about writing.
- A cautionary tale on testing terminology was given by Pradeep Soundararajan, here. Never mind monkey & guerilla testing, I'm holding out for chunky monkey testing...
- Justin Hunter wrote two interesting posts, one on DoE and quotes that are applicable to testers and another on an observation of "what is and isn't agile".
- A call to improve communication skills for improved output was made by Daniel Wellman.
- To help in testware tracking, Ewald Roodenrijs wrote about tagging testware.
- Ainars Galvans' insightful post on assumptions reminded me of a phrase from an old manager, "assumption is the mother of all f-ups". Ah memories...
- Joel Sanda gives his interesting take on ET and the desire for more "where it worked" reports.
- Continuing on ET, an angle on ET logging and accountability was presented by James Bach, here, and Michael Bolton, here. Michael also wrote about a type of bug that James named as the Ellis Island bug.
- What is quality and what is art was pondered by Marlena Compton. An interesting discussion in the comments too. If you're head's not hurting after reading it all then you might just be enlightened... Go check it out!
- I had a few deja vu moments (and smiles) reading Elizabeth Fiennes' post on what a tester really does.
- And last, but not least, Markus Gärtner provides a translation of a Chuck Norris and Scrum combo from twitter. The things people twitter about :)
Hi there, thanks for the mention in your carnival of testers (I suppose that is as good as name for a collective of testers as any :)
ReplyDeleteI am flattered to be in such distinguished company as the rest of the bloggers you mention.
Yes, a carnival could be a good group name but it's the connotations that are the problem - I would just think of a bunch of people in harlequin costumes and entertaining - so maybe it's not a bad fit :)
ReplyDeleteI looked through a list of animal groupings when I was writing this - a skulk, a brood or a pack sound slightly menacing... A school (as in dolphins & whales) could work but I thought was slightly boring.
Our closest animal cousins (ape) have troop (a bit circussy again) or a shrewdness - a shrewdness of testers might work :)
Nice idea about a shrewdness of testers but it intimates that all testers are sharp and awake. Occasionally, that may not be the case .... ahem.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a 'Seven of testers' to reflect all the different modes of testers out there: Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Bashful, Pernickety, Boastful, Asleep in the loos, etc.
I like the idea of a Prism of testers to reflect all the different sides (types) of testing and to pay homage to the different angles many testers will take to get to the root of a particular issue.
Yes, shrewdness wouldn't work for all... I explored this a little more - the pudding grouping could cover the not so shrewd cases.
ReplyDeleteLike the idea of "seven types of testers" - Rob Lambert & Rosie Sherry did a "tester types" e-book a while back. Some of those seven are in there.
Prisms? Yes, maybe. I think of it as needing to be part investigative journalist, part experimental scientist, part philosopher and part diplomat - not an easy gig!