Tyrion Lannister - the agilist.

He is intelligent, witty and has skill for political manoeuvring. 


Because he is an outcast, he also has great sympathy for outcasts and the mistreated and helps them improve.

He is disliked by some and treated with respect by others.

He has lived and experienced all that life can offer him.

He has been on trial, adapted, worked out a solution and used only the appropiate tools to survive.

He meets hostiles and wins their support.

He adapts and adapts those around him.

He is adapt at bureaucracy.

He keeps his friends close and his enemies closer.

He learns strategy.

He learns from books, experience and people.

He is effective.

He is a surviver.

He is a leader.

He is agile.

CAST 2012 videos available

A number of videos from CAST 2012 are available here.

It's the AST channel so there are a number of different items there. 

Check it out.

And just so you can see what you missed out on here is the program.

Short book review: Poke The Box - Seth Godin

Poke the Box - Seth Godin


Seth Godin ranting about taking the initiative and starting something. 


Do rather than plan. 


Start rather than wait. 


Don't focus on being right, focus on starting, try and see. 


Don't focus on doing what you're told, focus on doing what you think is worth doing. 


Some lines I liked: 

• The challenge is to focus on the work, not on the fear that comes from doing the work. 
• Those who fear risk also begin to fear movement of any kind. 
• We have little choice but to move beyond quality and seek remarkable, connected and new. 
• Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them. 

Enjoyable read if a little repetitive.

CAST 2012 - Emerging Topics will be streamed.

At CAST 2012 the Emerging Topics will be streamed which is awesome.

There are some interesting ones lined up and I'll be doing one on the Tester Gatherings.

Streaming video by Ustream

Short book review: Implementing Automated Software Testing: How to Save Time and Lower Costs While Raising Quality: How to Lower Costs While Raising Quality

Implementing Automated Software Testing: How to Save Time and Lower Costs While Raising Quality

Not really my kind of book. 

If you work in a 200 page business case that nobody will read required for everything kind of environment than this is the book for you.

Lots  of 'ROI' and writing about metrics.

Which do you have? A job or a career?

Last year there was a post in the (members only) Bug Free : Discussions in Software Testing Linkedin Grp called 'What are the different types of things that can be tested?' it was by Todd who had been considering a new job.

He had been looking at job descriptions and wondering about the terminology, the descriptions and the general wish list which is job descriptions these days.

Todd was also wondering if he had the right skills "Well that's the problem - a huge majority of job postings I see have skills I do not have. So I'm trying to figure out what skills I need to learn to help increase my job pool."
I found it interesting that a few people just started banging on about learning Unix, SQL, etc without actually taking the time to find out what Todd's interests were.
I kinda of figure that if somebody is interested in something they would start reading/learning about it regardless of work.

While it's always good to keep learning new things, is it better to learn things that you're actually interested in?
Turns out Todd is interested in UX and his partner is a Front End Developer, seems to me that he has a fountain of info right in his home.

I'm going to move on from Todd now and write about 'what should I learn to get a new job/progress my career' posts in general.
I think, you should just learn what interests you, if you have a genuine interest you'll learn rapidly and continue learning and if you can manage yourself this will increase your job/career progress by default.

Am I crazy? Don't answer. Who? Shhh not now.

I guess it comes down to whether you have a job or a career.  Maybe it is time to decide.  If you have a job maybe you need to look for a career.  Maybe you're not worried and are perfectly happy with a job.
To me the difference is your general day.

Job = Clock watch, time seems to move backwards, can't wait to get out of work.  I know plenty of people who have a job, they seem miserable, although it could just be the ones I know.

Career = Not enough time in the day, too many things that interest you, there is no clocking off. I know plenty of people who have careers, they seem happy. I think they are happy because they spend their days doing things they are genuinely interested in.

Which do you have?