New Perspective on Promoting Bug Advocacy

So I was a little saddened (and annoyed!) this week to find some of my team had defects / bugs / tickets / issues lingering and lingering and lingering.  So I thought I'd liven up the Bug Advocacy chat :)

I wondered if by calling it a bug we are creating the image of something that is creepy and unwanted and promoting the notion that these thing needs to be gotten rid of one way or another as quickly as possible. Allowing us to rely on the defect tracking system where we anonymously assign it to someone or leave a comment on the ticket and hope someone deals with it....

Queue today's team presentation:

Slide 1 - BIG cockroach

• When we talk about the bug we found in the software this is the type of image that springs to mind right? (team nods) And what do we want to do to bugs? "Squash it" (must have been riveting - already a response, but they think at this point they know where i'm going)

Slide 2 - Foot stomping on cockroach

• Exactly! We want to squash bug! But what i want you to think of when you find an issue is...

Slide 3 - 4 pictures of the cutest kittens on the first page of a Google image search of cute kittens

• A kitten!!!! And what do you do when you find a cute kitten?

Slide 4 - picture of kitten eating and picture of kitten dressed up

• You feed it, you take care of it, 

Slide 5 - picture of a girl hugging kitten

• You find the right owner for the kitten, who will look after the kitten and love it

Slide 6 - Lost kitten poster

• When i find a ticket with no owner, no comment no resolution it's like this - a lost kitten!

Slide 7 - Found kitten poster

•  Find those lost kittens! love them and care for them and find them an owner

So I've told my team I'm going to start asking them if they are caring for their kittens and making sure they don't get lost and giving them all the care and attention they deserve.

Hopefully I made a point - not sure where the idea for the cat chat came from, but I had fun and my team thinks I'm just a little bit crazier :).

Purposefully Vague

There is a question I get often, and I am purposefully vague in my response to see where the conversation leads... And today i wondered how often do others do the same to me...

"Where are you from?" Now this question may sound innocent enough and no doubt it is, but I kind of like to find out how people will go down this path.  They don't really want to know where I'm from, they are looking for a politically correct way to ask about my ethnicity.

I often answer "I've pretty much lived here my entire life" which doesn't really answer the question, but does lead to...

"Where were you born?" "England!" While truthful is purposefully vague as I do know what they want to ask and i am really not helping them out at all...

Earlier this week it went one further... I got asked about my unique look - grey eyes, perma tan and crazy curls and we had a cool conversation from there about genetics and hybrid vigour.

But it makes me wonder... When i am applying my questioning techniques am I asking the right questions and how do I know when to stop? How do I know if someone is doing the same thing to me? Answering my questions in a vague manner to see if i will dance around the topic or come straight to the point?

I wouldn't say that i suffer from political correctness concerns, but how do you know if the person you are talking to is being purposefully vague to see where the conversation goes or purposefully vague to avoid the conversation?

A little perspective...

The other day I had a rock in my shoe... It felt HUGE!  I couldn't cope a minute longer to have this boulder in my shoe... So during morning stand-up off came the shoe to shake it out (it was teeny)...

To my co-worker's amazement, the sock I was wearing had a hole - What can I say - it was early when I put them on...

For a couple of minutes "C" went on:

• "Your sock has a HOLE"
• "I can't believe you are wearing those!"
• "Your mother would be mortified"
• And on and on...

So I calmly asked "Your socks don't have holes?"

C answered: "Of course not! I was raised better than that! I would NEVER wear socks with holes." 

And walked right into my trap...

"So how did you get them on?" and C was speechless :)  

It's all about how you think about the world around you and asking the right questions.

Why gardening is like testing software...

It's fun for me to show the relatedness between seemingly unrelated topics...

And so - why to me gardening is like testing...

I have choices to make when starting out about which is the most valuable...

The cheaper approach - planting seeds (in-house development) is often longer and riskier to start, but can have more selection and control. While the more expensive - buying plants or seedlings (3rd party  development) can bring rapid change. And  as always, the hybrid approach - selecting the balance between maturity and cost and control.

Gardeners also have requirements and research to do, just as any tester. They need to learn the limits of their environment (zone), expected boundaries (shade versus sun and how many hours of each can be tolerated), and how the pieces (plants) interact with each other.

Gardeners, like testers, must also consider Fit for Purpose - what purpose are the plants fulfilling - decorative, food, ground cover, or something else.

Similar to testers, gardeners have to consider Fit for User - plants I select for someone else differ greatly from what I select for myself depending on what type of gardener (user) they are.  What works for 1 won't work for another.

Like testing a garden is never "done". There is always new plants to try, and even established plants can suddenly die from an unexpected series of events - just as software can fail under a new scenario!

I guess the main difference is, when it's miserably and rainy out (like today!), it's easier to test software than to garden!

Software testing versus Ecology

Common question when I meet other testers is "How did you start as a Software Tester?"

Many of often surprised when I say that in a previous career I was an Ecologist and they wonder how a training in Ecology could support a career in Software Testing.

When I was studying in Ecology, I was often asked what Ecology was - my standard answer (as that was Eons ago and predated google and wikipedia!) was "Ecology is the study of the interaction between  organisms and their environment." Which today as I think about it, is pretty much what I do when I test software.

If I actually look at the current definition of Ecology on Wikipedia I see:
"Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of"^[A]) is the scientific study of the relationships that living organisms have with each other and with their natural environment. Topics of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are composed of dynamically interacting parts including organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, pedogenesis,nutrient cycling, and various niche construction activities, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. These processes are sustained by the biodiversity within them. Biodiversity refers to the varieties of species in ecosystems, the genetic variations they contain, and the processes that are functionally enriched by the diversity of ecological interactions."

Whereas  the current definition of Software testing on Wikipedia I see:
"Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test.^[1]Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test techniques include, but are not limited to, the process of executing a program or application with the intent of findingsoftware bugs (errors or other defects)."

Personally i think what i actually do could be better reflected by a few updates on the Ecology definition!
What do you think of this as a definition?
Software testing is the study of the relationships that software programs have with each other and with their environment. Topics of interest to testers include the composition, distribution, amount, number, and changing states of programs within and among systems. These systems are composed of dynamically interacting parts including end users, the communities they make up, and the non-living components of their environment. System processes, such as requirements, system integration, data integrity, and various niche construction activities, regulate the flux of data and matter through an environment. These processes are sustained by the diversity within them. Diversity refers to the varieties of users in the systems, the variations they perform, and the processes that are functionally enriched by the diversity of their interactions."

Finally starting?

I'm not sure why, but after I started up the blog, seems like life got in the way and I really didn't go anywhere with it.  I seem to have a lot to say, and here's hoping writing it will help me think clearer and communicate better!