Software Development Team Dynamics Revisited

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how teams interact and particularly where…

New to software testing? Read this

So you’re new to testing.

Let me give you some friendly advice to help you become the power tester you want to be. I’ll get the boot camp drill sergeant stuff out of the way first.

Test is a four letter word

When you hear the word ‘test’, what does that mean to you? (If you just said ‘it depends’, congratulations…

Cynefin and Software Testing — The Obvious

Cynefin is a sensemaking framework comprised of five distinct domains — Obvious…

You probably need fewer testers than you think

I have noticed that companies have a tendency to conflate software quality problems with software testing problems. This sometimes leads to a knee-jerk reaction to conclude ‘we need more testers’ or ‘we need better automation’. The net result is…

The Testing Dead Part 1

The zombie apocalypse has occurred. They walk among us even now — The Testing Dead. These dead-eyed, soulless creatures make sounds that seem human, but they’re an empty shell inside and will bite you if provoked. Left unchecked, Zombie Testers will infect an organization with their…

Cynefin and Software Testing — Chaos

If you are in the domain of Chaos, then action and consequence appear to be completely…

Borders and Constraints — more on team inter-disciplinary tension

On skills and roles in software development — automation

A recent blog post from Alan Page prompted an interesting subsequent twitter conversation.

In Alan’s blog, he writes:

Automation works wonderfully for short confirmatory or…

Cynefin and Software Testing — The Complex Domain