Exploratory Testing and A Prophet Without Honor
This week I gave an Introductory to Exploratory Testing for the Kansas City DotNext technology group. The presentation went better than I thought. I worked really hard on preparing it so I guess I shouldn’t be shocked it went well. How does the old saying go? ”The harder I work, the luckier I get”. Also, I went totally PowerPoint-free; I only used the big easel pads. I was proud of myself for breaking away.
I was very impressed by the people that attended the talk. They were all software developers and highly technical. Plus, they all seemed interested in testing. (Of course, when I pulled out the candy, people got even more interested.) I was glad to have an audience that challenged, asked questions, and made terrific observations and points. People mentioned technologies they used. They talked about patterns and approaches, citing real world implementations. As I speaker, I couldn’t ask for more.
Not one person from my current company came to the presentation, though I informed everyone through email with notice. That seems reasonable. The presentation was downtown KC (our company is 25 mins away in the suburbs); someone would have had to be very interested in coming to want to go. Either that or really owe me a favor (i.e. I went to one of their presentations or baby sat for their kids). I wasn’t shocked that no one came. What I was shocked about was how few people replied to wish me luck or asked me about it. This is after I sent out an email with the phrase, “I’m presenting on Exploratory Testing tomorrow, April 27th at 7:00 pm at the DotNext meeting. Wish me luck.” Three people out of 30 wished me luck. And one guy asked me about it the next day. That tells me that people don’t care. And they don’t even care about faking to care. What does that tell you? Two groups of software developers: one group wanted to listen (total strangers) and one didn’t want to condescend interest (people I know).
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” (Mark 6:4)
Most of the time, QA people don’t get the respect they deserve. Working with my colleague Marisa at Edfinancial, QA was well respected and not seen as the pariahs of the group. Most organizations don’t respect their QA prophets. We, the prophets, tell them that their shortcuts are going to bite them in the butt. We tell them that standards and sound process will help things, and they don’t believe us. We tell them that bugs need to be fixed and defects are dangerous, and they don’t listen. No only will they not listen, but they also want to stone us and run us out of town.
My question is where do you, as a QA prophet, draw your purpose and satisfaction?
Here’s the part that I give the answer, right?
Wrong. I don’t have the answer. All I know is that it’s probably something intrinsic. I think that will and desire have to come from within.
Marisa Roman
Daniel Brown
Josh Carroll
Congrats on your presentation. Sounds like you did a great job. I’m not a QA professional but I support the QA team. The QA and Dev teams should work together questioning each others methods. This will help both sides find new approaches. That’s my opinion in a nutshell.
Shannon Turner
May 2, 2010
Shannon, you’re a database rockstar (and you’re okay at Guitar Hero too). You got there by being cognizant of craftsmanship, teamwork, and quality. Keep on rocking in the free world, brother!
Oh, and thanks for reading. ‘Preciate it!
Daniel Brown
May 25, 2010
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