The Catalyst

Several years ago I found myself pressured by some colleagues to join the executive team of my local software quality association. I had often considered joining as it seemed an excellent venue for networking and getting more involved in the software testing/QA community, but I always had a reason for not joining. I thought, “What do I really have to offer?”, “I am too busy this year”, and simply, “I’m scared!”.

Over the course of a few weeks, suggestions quickly became, “We don’t need to fill the newsletter editor position, because Selena is going to do it.”  My colleagues were not surprised when I finally said I would take the position; they knew me well. The motivation of my colleagues, and learning that other people felt the same way I did, helped me overcome the reservations I had in joining the executive team.

The following year I accepted a nomination to become the president. My reasoning? I was terrified to speak in public. I figured that if I was ever going to present at conferences and provide training courses, I needed to face that fear. I conquered the worst of that fear during the first season by speaking at membership meetings making announcements and introducing monthly speakers. After two years in that role I felt much more confident and stepped down to pursue other opportunities in the testing community.

Association for Software Testing

Following a nomination for an AST Board Member position a couple months ago, I found out at CAST that I was elected to the Board by the membership. I am excited to become more involved in the AST community by helping to grow, support, and provide new opportunities for the organization. While I have a Board Member role, I plan to decide on a particular area of focus after spending a couple months figuring out how I can best add value. I truly believe in the spirit and goals of AST in promoting and supporting the evolution of software testing as an intelligent, creative, and context-driven craft.

This summer I also started co-instructing the BBST Foundations course offered by AST after taking it in the spring (read about my experience). I finished my first co-instruction in July alongside Rebecca Fiedler and Michael Larsen, and am currently co-instructing the August session alongside John McConda, Brett Leonard, Michael Larsen, and Jen McCann. I have learned even more in this role, both from my fellow instructors and the students.

Other Organizations

I support a number of other software testing organizations in a variety of ways, while my time and contributions are volunteer-based. I contribute for a number of reasons, the primary being a desire to contribute to this community on a larger scale to help herald in a new era for software testers around the world (one where intelligence, critical-though, and creativity are expected and recognized).

• Software Test Professionals: They have recently undergone a rebranding to create a community for software test professionals who want to learn, engage, and network. I am speaking and leading a workshop at the upcoming STP Conference in October, have been an interviewee for Matt Heusser’s weekly This Week in Software Testing broadcast, have an article releasing on the STP website this week, and am giving a webinar for STP in September on test management. Again, this is a volunteer-based community, and the majority of my involvement has been non-paid work. I have recently joined a couple of STP Crews, though have yet to see what they are about in practice. A great way to contribute and gain recognition through a variety of avenues.

• Software Testing Club: This is an open-community of software testers. My recent activity has been limited to contributions to their newspaper, The Testing Planet. I have read a lot of really good content, contributed by test practitioners, trainers, and consultants who are truly passionate about software testing. While contributions are not paid for, there is a broad audience of testers who read this publication, and the website content, due to the breadth of the community. Another great way to contribute to the field.

• Waterloo Workshops on Software Testing: A local workshop I started with a colleague this year. It is a peer workshop with an emphasis on mutual learning, sharing hands-on experiences, solving practical problems, and promoting contributions to the field. We aim to build skills in software testing and allow people who are passionate about software testing to network with their peers, and help to move thinking about testing forward. Contact me if you are interested in participating in an upcoming workshop.

• Kitchener-Waterloo Software Quality Association: I continue to offer my support to my local software quality/testing organization, the KWSQA. I promote the organization, present at membership meetings and the yearly conference, and (try) to attend monthly membership meetings. I declined a larger role in the organization this season, due to my other obligations aside from starting up my own business.

What Are You Doing?

How are you supporting the software testing community?

Volunteering takes time and requires following through on committments. BUT it is also extremely rewarding in a number of ways:

• A sense of pride and satisfaction in helping the testing community grow and evolve.
• Networking with like-minded individuals you can call on if you need advice or help.
• Meet and network with people you respect and admire.
• Learn even more about your craft as a result of all of these, which increases your skills, professionalism, and drives your career forward.
• Build recognition for yourself in the industry and propel your career forwards.

There are many opportunities to assist with, and contribute to any of these organizations and many others. Let go of your excuses and fear and take your first step in helping the software testing industry gain the respect it deserves. Whether you can pitch in a few hours, or several days, over the course of a year, any organization will be glad to have you on board as volunteers are in short supply.

Contact me for questions about, or even a desire to volunteer for, any of the organizations I mentioned. You can even contact me if you can’t find a local organization you would like to contribute to – I may be able to locate something suitable, or connect you with someone else who can.

I challenge you to step up your game!

The Software Test Professionals Conference is quickly coming up Oct 19-21.

Have you registered yet?

If so, I look forward to seeing you there!

If not, what are you waiting for?!

Read on for 5 reasons to attend:

1) You are a Software Test Professional – if so, you need to be there! This conference is all about people like you who want to learn, improve themselves, connect with like-minded people, and grow themselves professionally. If any of these apply to you, sign up now!

• You are a tester, a manager of test teams, a project test lead, a programmer who tests, someone who manages beta testers or usability testers, or someone just interested in increasing the value of testing.
• You spend time improving your skill sets (or want to), and believe that continuous learning and challenging yourself is a necessary part of your job.
• You want to increase the value of testing in your organization.
• You are not interested in being a robot who blindly does what you are told, but finds ways to improve the way you do your own work so you can do your best work possible.  You also encourage this in others, by leading by example.

2) Learn by Doing, Not Listening in the Hands-On Testing Techniques Lab. The best way to learn new skills is to practice them hands-on while you are learning them. Come and challenge yourself with new methods in a safe environment with instructors and other students. This is a rare opportunity at any conference, so be sure to take advantage of the opportunity (and bring your laptop!).

3) Attend My Sessions & Talk With Me! There are many other great presenters to check out as well – but I know you’ll want to attend mine. ?

My pre-conference workshop, Test Management Clinic, will help you explore and learn techniques for solving real-life test management challenges. You may even leave with appropriate solutions to challenges you are currently experiencing. Register ASAP to reserve your seat now!

My session Explore Beyond the Obvious in the Hands-On Testing Techniques Lab will allow you to try different testing approaches to dig deeper into seemingly simple applications, and learn new information about products you test.

The panel I am speaking on about Reducing the Cost of Testing will help you gain ideas in reducing test costs, understand tradeoffs in doing so, and learn how to talk about testing costs with management in a reasoned, articulate manner.

4) Improve Your Career via the multitude of opportunities awaiting you. Network with people who are driving changes in the industry and understand their strategies so you can too. Connect with people around the globe who can help you with some of your challenges, and vice-versa. Learn leadership strategies to champion initiatives and changes in your workplace. Improve your skills in working with management, and making testing a valuable part of the organization.

5) STP Conference is in Las Vegas! Seriously, how much fun will that be? If you ever needed an excuse to get yourself to Vegas, this is it. Imagine – spending days learning to your hearts content and talking with fellow test professionals, then enjoying evenings in the fun of Las Vegas while connecting with fabulous testers from around the globe.

Register Now – The Early Bird Deadline ends this Friday August 20, which provides a $500 savings off the conference package.

See you in Vegas!

Finding important, messy, and hard-to-nail-down bugs is easier than by using the old blindly-run-test-cases-anyone-at-all-could-do-because-little-thinking-goes-on variety.  I personally thrive in being able to use my experiences, curiousity, a variety of test techniques, and brain power to test software (see more in my recent post Be An Explorer!).

Moving into using session-based exploratory testing to help manage testing across a team and provide metrics to management was easy for me.  It was straightforward to write charters that were not so specific as to be test cases, but also not so generic that they were not helpful.  I was able to quickly write a charter that identified the mission and goal of a test session with appropriate depth and breadth.

In working with many dozens of testers over the years, I discovered that creating appropriate charters was not easy for many of them.

Many ‘charters’ I saw were a test-case in disguise, and in some cases, a really bad one that you could see right through to the meat-and-bones of it.  I wondered if these testers did not have the right mindset to be able to understand what made a charter different from a test case.  Or maybe they weren’t given the coaching they needed to be able to write a good charter.  Or maybe something else entirely.

Other ‘charters’ I came across were akin to a movie title or headline, like ‘User Phone Home’, ‘Save The File’, or ‘When Files Go Bad’.  Sure, these ‘charters’ could be appropriate in some situation, but they leave something to be desired in communicating the mission of a test session.

What should a Charter look like?

James Bach says that Charters:

Are intended to communicate the mission of a test session clearly and succinctly to testers who have already been trained in the expectations, vocabulary, techniques and tools used by the organization. Remember, in ET we make maximum use of skill, rather than attempting to represent every action in written form.

Elaborating and combining with my own experiences, the basic questions a charter is likely to address are:

• Where do you want to go?
• What do you want to learn about?
• What should you use to get there?

I recently worked with a group of testers in a workshop to practice different testing skills, paired testing, and in writing test charters and session notes.  Day-to-day, many of the testers were writing test cases instead of charters, which was in opposition to their work environment.  So one key objective for the workshop was to help them learn how to write appropriate charters that clearly communicated the mission of a test session.

Participants finished with a brainstorming session to identify what constitutes a good charter – results are included below.  The applicability of some attributes will depend on the skill and experience level of the tester, so consider your context and what fits for you.

Attributes of a Great Test Session Charter:

• Defines objective, a clear purpose
• Identifies the area of focus
• Identifies general scope of the test coverage intended (features, test approaches, depth of testing)
• May provide guidance on what to look for (if someone else will test the session, and is inexperienced)
• Uses language that encourages exploring!
• It is clear, concise, accurate, and to the point
• It is generic and non-precise in the domain of the focus area (NOT a specific test case – it wouldn’t be exploratory testing then!)
• May associate application under test with another similar application (as an oracle – this is helpful if application very new, and there is little information available about how it should work).
• Contains NO mention of expected results
• Does NOT direct the testing that should occur, or identify what the tester should or should not find
• Generalized, leave open to interpretation to who is running it (don’t assume who will test it)
• Provide guidance for things to look out for
• Bullets not numbered lists (if you are going to use them)
• Consider though that lists may be limiting for people (not mind expanding)
• Examples can be helpful if generic enough, helps guide and think of other ideas
• Be careful of being too generic!  Don’t want to necessarily create a charter that can be applied to anything
• All depends on context – whether people are experienced or not, whether you have information or not, etc..

What do you think?

Is it helpful to apply these types of attributes to help people create better test charters?  Are there any that you would add, or some you would take off the list?  Or, do you think that the writing of charters themselves is limiting and unhelpful?

I would love to hear from you about this!

How do you react when you are frustrated?

Calm and balanced?  Mean and spiteful? Do you drive your teammates bonkers? Or perhaps you run away and hide in a quiet place.

Whatever your reaction, you are not alone!

Everyone has some reaction to being frustrated, and you may discover that people with similar personality types have a tendency to react just like you.

So, as someone who gets frustrated, what do you do?  How do you want other people to interact with you?

Communication Workshop #1, Part 2

… Exploring Personality Types and Communication Preferences

In a workshop I recently facilitated, participants explored how they handled themselves and interactions with others when they were frustrated.  After dividing into temperament groups, they discussed and reflected on two different questions:

• How do you react when you are frustrated?
• How do you want other people to interact with you when you are frustrated?

SJ Temperament

Participants with an SJ temperament agreed that they tend to be organizers and stabilizers.  They believe that long hard work will lead to success, and that organizations should run on facts.  SJ’s like accuracy, order, discipline, and data – sometimes to the extreme.

The SJ group in the workshop discovered some interesting correlations when discussing the questions posed, and found that they sought information and analysis when stressed, just as they would under normal circumstances.

If you know someone who is an SJ, or want to pinpoint who might be an SJ, when they are stressed you may see behaviours like:

• “Holy Crap!”
• Sitting down to assess the situation, including what went wrong, and collecting readily available data.
• Checking assumptions, and searching for the root cause:
  • If they find a root cause, they will let you know what’s going on
  • If they don’t find one, they will ask for help

When you have come upon a stressed SJ, be sure to give them some space and time to think.  They will ask for help when they need it.  If you do decide to approach them, make sure you bring them data to work with that will help their current predicament.

SP Temperament

People with an SP temperament are often mediators and trouble-shooters.  They focus on the present moment, are strong in crisis management, and are action-oriented.  They may seem to be careless due to limited planning, but are simply just focused on doing what’s necessary for the current need.

In the workshop, the SP participants discovered that they sought fun and immediate action when stressed, and tended towards fire-fighting in resolving problems.

If you know someone who is an SP, or want to pinpoint who might be an SP, you may find that when they are stressed they:

• React immediately, and will do something (anything) over doing nothing
• Try to find the positive in every situation
• Will not keep things inside
• Shift focus to the most important thing at hand

When you have come upon a stressed SP, don’t waste their time with unimportant things.  They don’t want meetings to address an issue.  To help them become less stressed, only go to them with the right solution… and when a solution is identified, just go for it!

NT Temperament

Those with an NT temperament tend to be visionaries and strategists.  They are creative, and appreciate intellectual skill and critical analysis.  They want organizations to grow and develop, but may seem to take contributions for granted.

There were a lot of NT’s in the workshop, and in true ‘thinker’ style spent a lot more time than other groups discussing the questions posed.  They agreed that when stressed they all tend to have a long fuse, but can become pretty harsh with other people when that fuse is being used up.

If you know someone who is an NT, or want to pinpoint who might be an NT, you may find that when they are stressed they:

• Need alone time to calm down
• Are argumentative, stubborn, and blunt
• Can be sarcastic, cruel, and cold
• Will say things like “That’s not fair!”
• Are irritable, annoyed, and ill-tempered
• Will vent to someone trusted

When you have come upon a stressed NT, you are better off leaving them alone until they have been able to calm down.  Let them finish their task on their own, and if necessary, send them an email so they can respond and follow up with you later.  Otherwise, a beer out with trusted colleagues or friends will help them relieve stress quite effectively.

NF Temperament

The participants with an NF temperament agreed that they can often be the diplomats, team-builders, and catalysts for change.  They are supportive, value the development of people, and believe that the potential of the people are the strength of the organization.  They often take on more than they can handle though, and can seem to be overly emotional and not focused on obtaining concrete results.

In the workshop, the NF people discovered that when stressed they all tended towards thinking and feeling, either about themselves, or others they are interacting with.

If you know someone who is an NF, or want to pinpoint who might be an NF, you may find that when they are stressed they:

• Need time to be quiet & alone
• May lean towards distractions, and take on something new that feels productive
• Will vent to someone trusted
• Can appear short tempered.  They have a long fuse though, but when really pushed beyond their limit, you better watch out!

When you have come upon a stressed NF, your best approach with them will be to establish a personal connection.  Ask them how they are doing, listen to them, do not dismiss their feelings, and provide reassurance.  Don’t force them into a conversation though… if they are not receptive, send them an email so they can follow up with you if, and when, they are ready.

Awareness

The signs of frustration for different personality temperaments aren’t absolutes for every one you meet.  Each individual will have their own unique reactions and preferences for interacting with others when stressed.  I hope that the summaries above help start you on that path to understanding.

Become more aware of the people you work and engage with, particularly in their communication styles and behaviour patterns. Awareness and choosing to interact consciously with others to the benefit of both parties will improve relationships and the effectiveness of individuals, teams, and organizations.

To start to develop self-awareness in your own styles and behaviours, consider:

• How do you internalize stress?
• What behaviours do you exhibit when stressed that others see?
• How can you effectively relieve stress, or simply work effectively with other people when you are stressed?

Next Up

The next entry in my Communication Series will look at congruent and incongruent communication patterns, how to identify them, and what you can do to help make the most of them. Stay tuned!

Are you new to Myers-Briggs?    To learn more, visit the Myers & Briggs Foundation, or check out Myers-Briggs on Wikipedia.

After a workshop a few weeks ago I asked what they would like they next topic to be.  Based on recent 1:1 discussions, I expected something on technical skills, but to my surprise, everyone requested communication!

They wanted to learn how to have more effective conversations, handle frustrating situations, and simply communicate better with their team members.

After a couple weeks of cancelled workshops (the flu, and a week away at AYE kept me from the office) I was finally able to hold the first of a workshop series on communication.

Communication Workshop #1

… Introduction to Personality Types and Communication Preferences

My goal for the first workshop was to introduce the Myers-Briggs personality types, look at some type differences, and have participants discuss and collaborate in particular activities relating to types.

Prior to the workshop, participants completed a free online Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. If you are interested in taking one, try either: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp, http://www.personalitytest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl. They may not be as accurate as one administered by a trained professional, but have been fairly reliable in my experience.

Myers-Briggs Basics

In the workshop I provided an introductory summary of the Myers-Briggs type preferences and temperaments. I have spent a lot of time learning and reading about Myers-Briggs types over the last five years (and thank the AYE hosts for a lot of that); while I’m not an ‘expert’, I am comfortable introducing and discussing Myers-Briggs concepts.

At a high level, MBTI is used to identify basic preferences of each of four dichotomies. These dichotomies are:

• Orientation of Energy: Do you gain energy from external (E – extraversion) sources, or from within yourself / internal (I – introversion)?
• Information: Do you gather information from facts and details (S – sensing), or by understanding the big picture / gut feels (N – intuition)?
• Decisions: Do you first look at logic and principles to make decisions (T – thinking), or based on the needs and values of the people involved (F – feeling)?
• Structure: When dealing with the outer world, do you prefer to have everything settled and organized (J – judging), or have things open ended and flexible (P – perceiving)?

“Personality type is what you prefer when you are using your mind or focusing your attention.” – Myers Briggs Foundation.

Your personality type is your preferred way of interacting and responding. It is not an indicator of your skills, abilities, or destiny. For example, just as you might eat chocolate cake when you prefer cheesecake, you might make decisions based on logic when you prefer to make decisions based on the people involved.

Learning about your type will help you better understand yourself, the strengths & challenges for both yourself and others, how your preferences are different from those of other people, and how to improve communication with others.

Temperaments

The next concept discussed was Temperaments, the four categories that encompass the 16 different Myers-Briggs personality types. The four different temperaments (from What Type Am I, by Renee Baron) are:

• SJ (sensing-judging): Duty Seekers - Motivated by a need to be responsible in whatever social group (work, community, family) they are in, they value tradition. In work, they focus on the hierarchy of the organization.
• SP (sensing-perceiving): Action Seekers - Motivated by a need for freedom and a need to act, they value living in the moment. In work, they focus on the expedient needs of the organization.
• NT (intuition-thinking): Knowledge Seekers – Motivated by a need for knowledge & competency, they value the theoretical and the powers of the mind. In work, they focus on the mission & systems of the organization.
• NF (intuition-feeling): Ideal Seekers – Motivated by a need to understand themselves & others, they value authenticity & integrity and strive for an ideal world. In work, they focus on the growth needs of the organization.

Type Mapping

In the first workshop activity everyone added their name to a chart to map out the personality types of the participants. Everyone found it quite interesting to see who had the same type, who was similiar, and who was quite different.  People were intrigued, even those who were not particularly interested in this ‘hokey-pokey’ stuff.

At a glance, without even understanding the basics provided above, it affirmed some dynamics in relationships and interactions amongst the participants.

Also intriguing was that the chart showed what my own hiring preferences were.   It turned out that more than 90% of the people I hired were of NF and NT temperament.  It seems I don’t hire in people with different preferences as much as I had thought.

This exercise was a good reminder to be more aware in the interview process, so as not to subconsciously reject people with SP and SJ tendencies. I hope I didn’t offend anyone (says my own NF temperament)!

Next Up

In my next entry, I will share highlights of the collaborative exercises completed in the workshop. Participants were divided into temperament groups to learn more about their temperament (based on information I provided), and explore three different questions:

• Which role or job function in the company would your temperament be best suited for?
• As a temperament group, how do you react when you are frustrated?
• As a temperament group, how do you want other people to interact with you when you are frustrated?

I look forward to sharing that with you soon!

See Communication Series Part 2!

Are you new to Myers-Briggs?    To learn more, visit the Myers & Briggs Foundation, or check out Myers-Briggs on Wikipedia.