Charity Stoner's blog

Ever since we started teaching Applied Agile Testing we have been asked a lot of questions about distributed agile teams and how they work. Up until now all I could say was, "Sounds like it would be difficult." For the last 6 months I have had the incredible opportunity to work as a tester on a widely distributed agile team and see how teams come together virtually to make it work. There are also a huge number of challenges that we have run into. This is the first in a series of challenges we have seen.

Distributed Agile Teams - Challenge # 1: Daily Stand-ups

Fundamentals of Software Testing (FOST) - July 20 - 22, 2010 (Registration deadline - July 13th)
This 3 day course covers all the key components of software testing within the software development lifecycle, as well as specialized testing techniques, metrics and exercises. You can take the optional exam and get ASTQB certified. For more information on the course, go to http://www.prototest.com/training/training or contact us at training@prototest.com. For more information on ASTQB go to http://www.astqb.org.

We talk a lot about the skill set that all testers must have, such as being detail-oriented, having good written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work in fast-paced environments. But, we know that most companies only take a cursory glance at your skills and then want to see what your personality is like. So, what personality traits make a great tester?

Enthusiastic – If you are not enthusiastic about testing most QA managers will not be interested in you. Enjoying sitting down and breaking software is almost as important as “detail-oriented”.

Lately there seems to be a lot of press coverage about the evils of test certification from uTest’s series of “Testing the Limits” interviews.  uTest seems to be interviewing all of the “cert-slammers” in a row.  While I understand that they are just printing what their interviewees have said, the email notifications going out to subscribers sure seem to stress the cert-slammer rhetoric; that has moved me to write this response to all those cert-slammers out there in the test world.

I have been to several companies where the only test placed on a development deliverable was the unit test. Granted, these are all in-house, custom development departments whose products never see a shelf beyond the walls of their own corporation. However, several of these companies have asked me, “Could you please teach these developers how to write a better test case? We are tired of them missing defects.” The answer is hopefully obvious. Teaching the developer how to test their own work is the wrong approach. Try teaching a writer how to edit their own novel without an editor.

The ProtoTest team has been steadily working on a new class specifically focused on testing in an Agile environment. We started work on Applied Agile Testing back in November and are now getting to the end of the course development. In February we are planning a few practice classes before we start scheduling class dates and opening registration to the public.

I was recently at a conference where someone announced, “I hate metrics!” Being a total metrics fanatic I was shocked that anyone could have the attitude that metrics suck. I have spent some time mulling over why this could be and I have come to a few possible conclusions:

On Oct 10 and 11 ProtoTest sponsored the Front Range Open Space Software Testing Conference (FROSST Con for short).  Ben Simo and Heidi Harmes-Campbell did a fabulous job coordinating and facilitating this conference.  I had never been to an Open Space conference before this weekend and had no idea what to expect.

Any time you attempt to set off on a new path, take a suggestion from your childhood and find a buddy. Even in the corporate world it is a good idea to find someone who can agree with you and back the changes you are hoping to make before you set off down the path. Making the right choice in partners can make all the difference. For a quality assurance professional getting ready to make a change to the overall project or development process usually the best person to get on your side is the project manager.