Explaining testing: 101 Tactics For Revolutionaries

Here are the first 10 to get you started.

Onward to glory!

1. if you’re in charge, do it yourself
2. if you’re not in charge, do it yourself
3. become known as “the guy who…” so when the time is right, everyone knows there’s a guy who…
4. learn to be nice, so people like you
5. realise there are no rules, you can do what you like
6. know that you are as right as you can be for now given what you’ve learnt so far
7. know that this is the same for everybody else
8. stay on the inside of the wrong thing so you can speak with authority on why and how it is wrong
9. know it’s not a race. That you can divide the world into those ahead of you and those behind, and to all those ahead of you, you’re the one behind.
10. be an entrepreneur not a crusader

The rest are here: 101 Tactics For Revolutionaries

Why would I need excuses?

Recently uTest posted "8 Common Excuses in Software Testing" and within the comments there was a link to "Excuses for testers when bugs are caught in later testing cycles/UAT/Production".

My immediate thought was 'WTF? Why would I need excuses?'.

Reasons, yes, explanations, yes, but excuses? Hell no.

Am I wrong? Do I need excuses?

Or am I getting reasons and excuses mixed up?  Are some people taking them to mean the same thing?

At the end of "Excuses for testers when bugs are caught in later testing cycles/UAT/Production".  There is this sentence 'Well these are not actually excuses. These can be the actual reasons why an application is shipped to client with major bugs.'

The way I understand the two in this context are:

Reasons

1.a basis or cause, as for some belief, action, fact, event, etc.: the reason for declaring war. 

2.a statement presented in justification or explanation of a belief or action.

Excuses

1.to regard or judge with forgiveness or indulgence; pardon or forgive; overlook (a fault, error, etc.): Excuse his bad manners. 

2.to offer an apology for; seek to remove the blame of: He excused his absence by saying that he was ill. 

3.to serve as an apology or justification for; justify: Ignorance of the law excuses no one.

I am not a gate keeper, I am an information provider, I have limited time to provide what information I can.

I will do my best, the people around me will do their best and sometimes we will not be able to investigate everything.

I'm happy to explain things but make up excuses?  I think that will do more harm than good.

There are plenty of reasons why issues end up in production, learn from them, explain, improve how you test and what you test.

Don't make excuses.


28/01/13 Update.
Forgot to add, what and how you are testing and what you are not testing should be communicated and continuously communicated as you delve deeper into the software.

Ted talk: Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds

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.