There are a couple of professional organizations out there. I joined a few of them. How did I pick the ones that to join, you ask? This blog entry serves as an overview, and a decision aid for tester folks also looking forward to become more professional in their work life.
Continue reading Professional testing organizationsTag Archives: it-agile-blog-planet
Why should just the developers have all the fun?
Back in 2009 I attended my first coding dojo. It did not take long for me to realize that it was fun, and all the programmers in that setting learned a lot. Ever since I was convinced about what some call Deliberate Practice. It’s a practical exercise to help you learn a deeper understanding of a skill – most often accompanied with a mentor or coach that provides you feedback. Let’s take a look into various formats that are suited for testers.
Continue reading Why should just the developers have all the fun?ScrumMaster in need, part-time
The other day, I received a mail from one participants of an introductory class on Scrum:
I am working as a development team member. We are looking for a ScrumMaster, and I want to take on this role. I agreed with my boss that I still need to contribute as a team member, and therefore will work 50% as ScrumMaster, and 50% as development team member.
While thinking this through, I got some concerns. I think it’s not a wise idea to become the ScrumMaster for the team that I am also developing in. What are your thoughts?
As an alternative we have a closely related team. I could work as a ScrumMaster there, and their ScrumMaster joins our development team. What do you think about such a solution?
Since I run into this type of question often, I found I should publish my thoughts on it for future reference.
Continue reading ScrumMaster in need, part-timeWhat if…
What if you found out that you were living in a matrix? That the world before your eyes has been blurred. That a lot of the things that are dear to you actually are counter-productive to your goals. How would you recognize this?
Some years ago, with Systems Thinking, I started to realize some problems with my own thought processes. Ever since then my realizations went worse. I am too frank to face you with the full truth. Still here are some stories worth thinking about.
Continue reading What if…Focus on outcomes, not outputs
When it comes to focus, I am deeply convinced that you should focus on the right things. That raises the question what the right things would be. In the Lean community there is a saying that we should not focus on outputs, but rather on outcomes. Let’s try to turn this argument around, and wonder how we can focus on outcomes rather than outputs.
Continue reading Focus on outcomes, not outputsSetting the right focus when getting started with ATDD
When it comes to ATDD, people, teams, and companies usually put the wrong emphasize on the elements. This blog entry is going to explore the relevant areas for successful ATDD, and how to overcome some of the misconceptions about it.
Continue reading Setting the right focus when getting started with ATDDMaintainable automated tests – the architecture view
When it comes to functional test automation, most legacy application have to deal with the problem, that retro-fitting automated tests to an application that was not built with it from scratch, can be painful. In the long-run, teams may face one problem. The automated tests constrain further development on the production software. The tests are highly coupled to the software that they test. Let’s see how we can solve these problems with a clear architecture in the beginning of our automation journey.
Continue reading Maintainable automated tests – the architecture viewHow to write good scenarios
During the last week, there was a Behavior Driven Development (BDD) related question on one of my mailing lists. For me it expressed a large misconception about BDD that is so widespread, and so common. Let’s see what it is, and what to do about it.
Continue reading How to write good scenariosSoftware Tester – from new to good to great
Software testing has come a long way. We have more than thirty years of experience with software testing. The world turned around in that time period. Depending on who you listen to, there are various opinions on what to learn about testing. Thinking about testing and learning, I am aware that there are different learning methodologies, and preferences. Nonetheless, I think the topic of testing can be split up on three general skill-levels that have brought me value: beginners, practitioners, and journeymen. Let’s see what’s in for you on each of these.
Continue reading Software Tester – from new to good to greatTale of a company Temenos workshop
Back in June 2013, I met Olaf Lewitz in Vienna at the XP conference. In a coffee break discussion, he was speaking very passionately about something called Temenos. That’s Greek, and translates roughly to “your room”. I grasped the concept, and immediately had a couple of clients in mind where I thought this would help a big deal for the team members to understand each other on a deeper level – mostly because personal stakes and misunderstandings over a long period of time had piled up. I never thought about applying it to the situation with my colleagues at it-agile. Some of my colleagues influenced enough from us to try this out. We did a company-wide Temenos so to speak as kick-off for 2014 just last week facilitated by Olaf Lewitz and Christine Neidhardt. Beforehand I was suspicious about the two days. Here is what I learned.
Continue reading Tale of a company Temenos workshop