Work with me for a minute here.
One of the things I dislike about a recent trend in the software testing profession is the lack of analogies and examples that relate to me as an adult. Yes, it's interesting that children are innocent, curious and are natural explorers, but they are also naive, inexperienced and cannot reason or abstract like adults can. I don't find it helpful to me or when training new testers to say you need to be more like children. I'm an adult, so how can you help me now? Do you have an analogy that relates to me as an adult?
Here's an analogy that I think might help.
Testing software is like making love.
What does that mean? For a start, what's the difference between 'making love' and 'having sex'? I think the big difference is caring about the person you are with and wanting to satisfy their needs.
Is there just one way to do it? No. Every person's needs are different, just like every project we help test is unique.
Happy Limerick Day! (May 12th)
The CEO where I currently work sent around the following note by email at the start of today:
Of course, that challenge went answered and we have had a steady stream of limericks all day! :)
Here were some of the ones I thought up between meetings and test sessions...
Today is Limerick day. A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict form (AABBA rhyming), which intends to be witty or humorous, and is sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
Here is one from me (if you respond in kind let's stay away from the "obscene" part of the definition)!!
[..snip..]
Of course, that challenge went answered and we have had a steady stream of limericks all day! :)
Here were some of the ones I thought up between meetings and test sessions...
SBTM ET.XLS spreadsheet with DMY format
Ha ha! I finally got some time to figure out how to get the ET.XLS spreadsheet to support DMY format instead of the default MDY (US) format. It turned out to be a small change to the macros, but unfortunately required hard-coding the number of columns in the input files to make it work. As long as you aren't changing the number of columns in the TXT files, this should work for you. I also had to remove the forced "m/d" format on one of the worksheet tabs.
You can download a copy of the zipped spreadsheet here: et2_DMY_dates.zip. I also updated my www.staqs/sbtm page to include this file.
Last July I posted the latest tools-ruby scripts and received some feedback that I wasn't the only one with this problem. I fixed the date formatting problem using Excel 2003, so if anyone is using an older version of Excel too bad. ;)
As for Excel 2007, I just started using it this week. I noticed that I had to play with the Macro security settings (once you make the 'Developer' toolbar visible), and then I got it to work. I'll be playing with this a bit more in the coming days so if an update is required I'll post it here to let you know.
If you find this updated file helpful, please drop me a line to let me know. Thanks.
Cheers!
You can download a copy of the zipped spreadsheet here: et2_DMY_dates.zip. I also updated my www.staqs/sbtm page to include this file.
Last July I posted the latest tools-ruby scripts and received some feedback that I wasn't the only one with this problem. I fixed the date formatting problem using Excel 2003, so if anyone is using an older version of Excel too bad. ;)
As for Excel 2007, I just started using it this week. I noticed that I had to play with the Macro security settings (once you make the 'Developer' toolbar visible), and then I got it to work. I'll be playing with this a bit more in the coming days so if an update is required I'll post it here to let you know.
If you find this updated file helpful, please drop me a line to let me know. Thanks.
Cheers!
TEDxWaterloo
I attended the first independent TED event in Waterloo (TEDxWaterloo) yesterday, 25 February 2010. The theme was "Tomorrow StarTED Yesterday." The web site and twitter account page have lots of great info if you're interested to know more about the event and speakers. There's even a nice photo blog of the event at http://www.longexposure.ca/2010/02/tedx-waterloo/
So what can I add that hasn't already been said? Well, I can tell you what the event meant to me.
So what can I add that hasn't already been said? Well, I can tell you what the event meant to me.
Now with minty-fresh visitor counter
Someone suggested to me this past weekend that I add a visitor counter to this blog. It's one of the most common suggestions made to me over the years and I don't know why.
Back in the mid-90's I had a web site with a counter. It was novel then. I played around with different fonts and features and watched it go up over time. I don't have that site anymore. I set up a new web site about 7 years ago, but adding a counter wasn't one of the important things on my to-do list. Foolish? Dunno. Maybe. Maybe not.
Is Quality measured in numbers?
Anyhoo, I won't go there today. ;-) I'm not going to think philosophically about it right now. I'll reserve thinking and judgment about the visitor counter for a later date.
This is just a placeholder note to indicate that the counter started today.
Cheers! Paul.
Back in the mid-90's I had a web site with a counter. It was novel then. I played around with different fonts and features and watched it go up over time. I don't have that site anymore. I set up a new web site about 7 years ago, but adding a counter wasn't one of the important things on my to-do list. Foolish? Dunno. Maybe. Maybe not.
Is Quality measured in numbers?
Anyhoo, I won't go there today. ;-) I'm not going to think philosophically about it right now. I'll reserve thinking and judgment about the visitor counter for a later date.
This is just a placeholder note to indicate that the counter started today.
Cheers! Paul.
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