New Challanges yet again

So after almost three years at Blocket I decided it was time to move on and try my wings as a consultant at Claremont. A bit scary since I am totally out of my comfort zone, which is a hard place to be and not somewhere I want to stay for too long. But it has been almost two weeks now, and I'm starting to get to know people at the office, how the coffee machine works and such. So my my worse headache is to get my CV in order and to get an assignment. I wish me and my CV were more friends than we are, but I got really inspired when a read a post on LinkedIn from Human Workplace where they talked about the Human-Voiced-Resume, where one important part is that it is ok to write your CV using "I". When I tried this it was so more easy and inspiring to write! Writing that "Ann worked as a Test Manager and did a lot of stuff.." is no fun. But writing and telling my story was awesome! I highly recommend it!

The Insperation

As I mentioned in the last post I was having some students over for a visit. They just started their first semester learning about testing. Their assignment was (I think, it was quite fussy for all of us) to visit a company and study and learn how testing worked at the company.

Just a small disclaimer; I think it is great that we have vocational education in Sweden. But I was a bit scared of what they learned.. I met eight young men whom in less than two months have been taught that to be a tester you have to be curious, driven and alert. So far, so good. But they were also taught that you as a tester have to; go over requirements, write test cases and test plans, and from what I understood from them, that would take about 95% of the time. The students seemed a bit concerned that 95% of their working life would be really boring. I get that. It sounded to me that they were told that you should be great! And then do boring ISTQB stuff and test 5% of their time. Needless to say, I had something else to tell them. I told them of how I run my apartment at Blocket, three testers supporting more than 40 developers in eight teams. I told them how I got fed up writing test cases that made no sense at my previous job and introduced Session Based Test Management.

But I also told them that my way of working will perhaps not work in every industry, and not at every company. And that doesn't mean that those companies are  doing it wrong. There are all sorts of reason why a company work the way it works. Sometimes you are forced e.g by government to deliver certain things. Or the company just don't wont to be agile. That is not wrong. It is up to them. But you as a tester has to decide; Do I want to work that way?

I think, and hope that the students saw that there are so many different ways of working with test. No one can judge and say "this is better", YOU have to choose what rocks your boat. In the same way you as tester can focus on exploratory testing or performance testing, you can go to a company that is crazy agile or steady waterfall. None of them are wrong, they are just different. People are different, and need different things. I think it's good that you can choose. The responsibility to choose the right place for you to be the greatest you can be, it's up to you.

After almost three hours the group went home. I hope I inspired them to see that when it comes to testing, you have options. Not everybody has to get on my crazy super agile boat, there are others. But I think I might get a few applications of intern-ships in a near future.  I hope ;)

Over and our, Happy testing!

Spreading the love

I had a great time last week!

In March I attended a great conference, Testzonen 2012 and meet very interesting people there. One of them wanted to come and visit my work place. So last week I had a visit from four agile coaches (all though they thought the term a bit missleading) from Adaptiv. They were interested in how I/we work at Blocket with XP and testing. So we had a tour of our lovely office and an hour of Q&A. I think I had some good answers.

Next week 8 guys that just started an education in testing this semester are coming for at case study. I get to inspire the future! Good times :) More on that when it has happened.

Happy testing

Testing with your programmer

It has been way to long since I shared my thoughts here, which is a shame because the last half year I have had been thoughts about testing and software development. I just had a really nice experience so I thought I just share it.

So, one of the teams has rewritten some functionality, which affects more or less everything. They came to me 2 days ago saying happily as always "We're done!" I started testing and after 30 minutes I had like 15 bugs so I decided they needed some more time. Same thing happend yesterday. And today. Starting to feel that this is not very productive I asked if one of the developers could join me when I was testing, some good old pair testing. After half an hour the developer had written done at least 20 new bugs. But this time he had seen it for him self, what I did to make it happen. And it was really good having him by my side because of course he saw things I hadn't noticed. I really have to start doing this more, especially when it is an iteration that keeps dragging out because new bugs pops up everywhere. Also when you have IE-browsers always acting strange, it is far more effective having your programmer next to you.

In the zone

It has been almost 2 months since I started at Blocket. Two really interesting months. As always when starting a new job it takes a while to understand how things works. One of my tasks as Test Manager was to get some sort of test process in order. As I support five teams it was challenging to get a clear picture of the bottlenecks, how much testing effort was needed and the work flow. The first weeks I went to every team asking them if they had anything for me to test. Some times they did, some times they didn't. I was always sitting with the feeling that there might be something to do, but it is very hard to keep track of 5 team boards at once.

So I did what I love most, I did my own whiteboard. It is called The test zone. Whenever the developers has something they want to have tested they bring their note and add it to the board. If the note fulfills the entry criteria that are listed of course. Then it's really easy for me to see how much that needs testing for the day and when the board is empty I can focus on for example broadening my domain knowledge.

Beside from being very visually clear how much there is to test, the board also keeps me from acting as a mum or a police to the developers. I function as a service provider, if they don't want the service and my help to test something, that's fine. Then that's their choice. This means I'm not positioning myself as in charge of Quality. Which is a big relief on many levels. At my previous job I would get really nervous and try to keep track on everything that should be tested. Now I let the teams be responsible for that decision. AND, if this "fails", and a lot of bugs are being released etc, it is up to the development process to change how they want to work so it includes more testing.

I also added a timeline to the board so that the teams can mark when they are planing to release. That way we migrate the risk of two teams wanting to release at the same time..

I must also add that this is a great place to work. When I started the fist day I went and said hi to all the teams. Every team said things like "Finally, more testers!" and "Can you start now? We really need you". It not often the whole development department are so unanimous in wanting more testers.. It was a really cool experience :)

Acting on your feelings

Hellooo everybody!

So my last contribution was about taking the big leap of changing jobs. And is was a big leap. But then I figured out that even though there are plenty of perks to being a consultant, it's not my piece of cake. I realised that I love being at the same place for a long time and being able to suggest and implement change. And not just being a resource. Soooo I switched jobs. No fault of Know It, it's still a great company with really fun, skilled people! But for me, my new job is perfect. Starting in October I am the Test Manager of blocket.se. At the moment I manage one person, beside myself. And it's not so much me managing him, as him teaching me..

I think this is a nice challenge, they "do" XP, something I haven't come across before, and I'm intrigued to see how testing from my point of view will merge with that.

So, as I get in to it I'll hopefully have some insight in how to fit XP with QA-testing. From where I'm standing right now they contradict a lot. But as James Whittaker said at Star West a month ago, we tester will be obsolete. I don't fully agree, but being at a place that actually practice the one methodology that I think "should" be able to do with out dedicated testers is exciting! I'll keep you posted...


That's all for now, happy testing

New challanges

And I'm back.. But in a new setting. At the moment I am sitting at my new office at Know IT where I started yesterday. It's true, after 3,5 years I have left bwin. I never thought I would be able to do that! I have had such a great time at bwin it felt so distanced changing job. But I felt that it was time to move on and try something else and I choose Know IT which is a consultant company within IT. The plan is to try as many different areas as possible and broaden myself. It will be very interesting seeing how test is viewed upon depending on company and business.

But it was a hard decision to leave bwin. I have grown up there; my testing family who has taught me so much is there. I have developed as a tester, scrum master, colleague and person at bwin. It has been the best school one could imagine. But sooner or later one has to graduate and go out to the world and stand on your own two legs, and that is what I am doing. It is scary, but exciting.

So hopefully I will have a lot of news from different workplaces that I can reflect upon. So hang in there, it is my intention that I will be writing a lot more from now on!

xo
Ann

Thank you for sharing

Some say information is power, I am inclined to agree, if you have information you are in the loop and act strategically, more so then if you are at the bottom of the information chain. Being at the bottom is a place you end up being at some point whether you like it or not, it can be because your company lacks transparency, or that you are just novice and haven't learned to pick up on information. But I always struggle to get to the top and get the information. This is important to me for various reasons, but it makes me appreciate when information is easy accessible. And I have different channels for picking up my information, breakfast seminars, conferences, book clubs or going online. There are testers blogging, commenting in communities, writing test tools, giving online coaching. If you google enough you can find just about anything! But Internet is a tool to make information accessible, but it is the persons behind all the communities and blogs that are the produces of the information. And it is to them I want to send out my thanks; for giving me power to improve and better my work and develop as a tester. If it wasn't for my peers, I would still be stuck thinking counting test cases makes sense...

Putting Sweden on the map

Last week was really intense! On Thursday I held a presentation with Michael Albrecht from AddQ Consulting and James Bach at SAST's 15 years anniversary in Stockholm. It was one of the most scary and fun experiences I ever had in my carrier! If you are interested in hearing how it went you can go to this page First you can see James Bach's keynote, or you just skip about 1h 33 minutes forward and you'll see our presentation. I am really nervous in the beginning, but it gets better. I figure if I have held my first presentation ever in front of 250 persons, with James Bach and in English, I can do about anything. And not much can be scarier than this, so next time can only get better.

Anyhow, that was not the only conference I participated in that week. I was also invited to a peer conference. At this conference I met some very skilled and interested ET-testers, the creme de la creme of ET-Sweden. During the conference the participants presented real life experienced which we later could discuss. It could be a good experience or a bad, it didn't matter. The point is that it should be something you had experienced, otherwise you end up discussing ideas and vision, and that had a history of ending badly. Of course that is what I ended up. I sometimes want things too much, too fast. I saw an opportunity to get help from some experts with a problem i have. And I ended up getting flashed by rat-hole cards and red cards and it was more or less a disaster. I think I should have realized that mentioning the word KPI can never go well in a group like this.. So I ended up being strongly questioned by James. For all of you who had had that experience you know it is not very pleasant.. But, as he writes in his blog I'll bounce back. I think I already have, I was very upset for a while, mostly because I blew a really good chance to show what I have done SBT-wise. But now my head is full of new cool stuff I want to do with our process. Some of them are already being implemented, Per Almström is always a step ahead, and has already blog about it. I think this will be great!

Anyhow, my head is full of new testing stuff, hopefully I can sort out some of them and share with you soon!

The Devil is in the Details

I love solving problems. Give my brain a bit of a stretch and keep it fit. My iphone has proven itself to be an invaluable source of games with problems to solve. Take Angry Birds for instance: The stupid pigs have taken our eggs, and so I launch my birds on them and try to kill them. And if I fail they laugh at me. The smirk at me. And it gets me even more angry and then I cannot quit playing for another hour.

But it is not only about killing the pigs. It's figuring out how to do it. If I adjust the height of the bird he will fly differently. It's like testing, trying many different ways to solve the problem, or nail a scenario. And the funny thing is that you can see how changing something just a pixel can do all the difference. So even if the big picture is very valuable it is when you get to know the details you see how tweeking something just a bit might change a whole outcome.

And since it is raining cats and dogs right now in Stockholm I'll continue my quest to save the eggs! Next week I'll have something really funny to tell you that will make you apply for a job here right away since we have so much fun at the office!

Learning acronyms

This week my boss informed me that management wishes to see some KPI´s (Key Performance Indicator) regarding SBT. Of course they don't know which KPI's they want, but I have to deliver them anyway. I had a workshop with my test team trying to identify relevant data that can be easily measured. I got some really good input and hopefully I can present some examples by next week. But it is always silly to work on something when you don't know what they want and if it is right. But it is needed anyhow, I can see that we have to move forward with the SBT process, and identifying KPI's might be a good way to do this.

This week I visited a company that will be audited by James Bach in a couple of weeks, the same way we were in March. They are just getting started using SBT and I was there to give them some tips of how they can arrange their meeting with James. It is really good to see other companies trying to change their way of testing and trying new things! And it will be great to have a company that we can cooperate with and compare our process with. We can learn from each other and hopefully build a great network. I am really looking forward to it!

Less happy news is that one of my favorite consultants, Olof Svedström, is leaving us today. He has been part of implementing the SBT process at bwin Games. He has given us invaluable input and experience during two years and he will be truly missed!!!

Red and black numbers

There are things you as a tester can't control. There are many actually, sneaky commits, crappy environments to mention a few. And poorly communicated decisions from upper management. A couple of weeks ago a great tradition of bwin's was erased; Friday candy and free soda. We're saving money. This means letting our skilled consultants go too, even though there is no one to pick up after them. This has been painfully obvious this week since we haven't had a stability test environment all week. But we are still expected to deliver so we can make more money? I don't get it, I suppose if I was more into red and black numbers that would make sense to me. All I see is untested software and frustrated team mates that can't work properly. bwin are making one crappy job of motivating me right now…

Hopefully things will feel more cheerful next week, see you then

Back on track

Hi evereybody!

Once again there has been a bit of radio silence here.. But now my head is full of new stuff after the SAST-conference and the peer conference last weekend.

If you feel that you miss my writing I am blogging every week for bwin: http://www.bwingames.se/Insights/Blogs/AnnsBlog.aspx

I'll move over some of the relevant entries to this one..

Prank week at bwin Games

It has been a long summer and people are starting to come back from their vacations. It has become a tradition to prank our colleague's work place while they're away. Last summer I came back to this. We had to top that, so I and Carl decided to prank our friend Hasse. After going through different suggestions we decided on a treasure hunt. So we photographed all of Hasse's office equipment, pc, screens, keyboard and such. Then we recorded a video. After that we started hiding all the stuff. It went like this:

Hasse found a note on his desk with the link to the video. In the video Carl informs him of the rules and where to find the first clue, a map. The map led Hasse to the 9^th floor where he found one of his screens and a picture of a desert, a rose and a grid. The clue led him to a conference room called Desert Rose. In the ceiling we had hidden his mouse and a new clue, the combination to one of the safes. In the safe he found his slippers and a clue to call his office phone. By ringing his own phone he found that and a telephone number. When calling the number he was ordered to go to the rehearsal studio. There he found his earphones and a Spotify list. From every song he had to take a word and then make it into Internal IT. There he found his second screen and a clue that said he should look under every waste bin. After doing so he ended up with three pieces of paper with a code that he had to break. That lead him to a colleague who gave him a new clue which was "Christmas gift". He then found the Christmas tree (yes, we have one during the summer as well) and a package with his second pair of slippers and a new lead to go down to Seven Eleven and sing a song. At Seven Eleven he was rewarded with his joystick and a clue to a test environment. By logging in on one of the nodes he found a file and was lead to the library. In the library he found his keyboard and a lead to the reception. In the reception he got his dock back and a locator device. By starting the locator he then found his computer

It took him about one work day. We did of course film everything and can present you with the director's cut in a couple of weeks.

Until then you can enjoy another prank that was pulled off in the office last week.

The Devil is in the details

I love solving problems. Give my brain a bit of a stretch and keep it fit. My iPhone has proven itself to be an invaluable source of games with problems to solve. Take Angry Birds for instance: The stupid pigs have taken our eggs, and so I launch my birds on them and try to kill them. And if I fail they laugh at me. The smirk at me. And it gets me even more angry and then I cannot quit playing for another hour.

But it is not only about killing the pigs. It's figuring out how to do it. If I adjust the height of the bird he will fly differently. It's like testing, trying many different ways to solve the problem, or nail a scenario. And the funny thing is that you can see how changing something just a pixel can do all the difference. So even if the big picture is very valuable it is when you get to know the details you see how tweeking something just a bit might change a whole outcome.

And since it is raining cats and dogs right now in Stockholm I'll continue my quest to save the eggs! Next week I'll have something really funny to tell you that will make you apply for a job here right away since we have so much fun at the office!

Who am I?

During summer many colleagues goes on vacation which means that somebody has to fill in for them. So we end up with a few persons with multiple personalities. Right now I am stand in for our test lead, who is stand in for the original team lead. So I am Ann, who is Ola who is Andreas. Messy? Perhaps a bit. ;)

But it is not so much to lead right now, but I did hold a workshop for my test team this week. We discussed how working with SBT (Session Based Testing) has changed our work in regards with communication within the team, our domain knowledge and how we have developed as testers. It was really interesting to get everybody's view on how their work has changed. And it was especially rewarding to get feedback from two new testers in the team, and their experiences.

The rest of the week I have been working with my presentations. I don't remember if I have praised the site I'm using yet, if I have it is well worth mentioning again. If you are bored with the same old PowerPoint slides that never changes and where people insist on using clip art from the 90's go to www.prezi.com and discover a whole new world of presentations! It is so easy, so much fun to do and your audience will love it! Take a quick look at this for example: http://prezi.com/learn/looping-and-zooming/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the one called "Sweet recipe to solving problems". And never use PowerPoint again!!!

Now I'm off for a well deserved aw. See you next week!

It is sooooo slow at the office right now. Almost all the developers in my team are on a well deserved vacation, but that leaves us testers a bit bored. So when we finally got a fix to verify we went bananas with it. We did the usual routine; creating a playbook on a whiteboard and sorting out how things worked before and how it should work now. We went through the risk areas and settled on a couple of charters to run sessions on.









Then the fun started. Two big TV screens have been installed in one of the meeting rooms so we high jacked that room. We thought it would be a good idea to test run the TV also. So we got two Macs hooked up to a screen each and then we had some sessions the three of us. It was quite neat, everybody had their own computer but we had a good overview of what was happening in the logs and the environment since we could see the same things and discuss them. So my plan is to make the room into our new test lab. :)

Our new test lab:

More sunshine!

Ah, I can't believe we are having such lovely weather Stockholm! It just keeps being warm day after day and I'm loving it! It is even okay to be at work! Well, kind of. We compensate by eating a lot of ice cream. And since I don't have any vacation until September I just have to be positive about it. And still, I rather work and have the sun shining outside than rain... Any day of the week...

But, there is not so much to say about testing at the moment. I'm working on a presentation for SAST 2010 (Swedish Association for Software Testing) in October. Hopefully we will get started in looking at our processes and improve them during the summer, but as more and more people are going on vacations even that will be hard. So I guess I'll have to live with a slow pace the coming couple of weeks. That is quite alright with me :)

Enjoy the sun!

Summer time!

Finally, we are getting a bit of sun in the great capitol! It's about time I say. My objective during sunny days is to convince my colleagues that every meeting should be held outside down by the water and with ice cream. So far I managed to hijack one meeting this week. I'll hopefully get to more next week. Otherwise things are going into a nice slow summer rhythm. With so many going on vacation it's not so much to do at the office which is a nice change after a quite stressful spring with the opening of the France market. We went live with real money yesterday so now we have three sites. Or as my boss pointed out today, we go into a new market every summer. Two years ago it was Italy, last summer we went live with the new poker engine P5 and this summer France. I suppose next year will be Spain. And Denmark...

I think most of Europe will open up their markets in five years since they can not resist all the money they will make in taxes. And that is good, I am not a believer in monopolies. And the US market will follow as well. Even if it is a hassle with different governments having different requirements, based on the best promoting lobbyist it is better that we have regulated markets. Hopefully the swedes will get it some day as well, and knowing how much we looove our taxes I can't believe it will take them long to realize how much money they are loosing on keeping their monopoly.

So, go outside, dream about a world without monopolies and enjoy the sun and have an ice-cream!

India baby!

This sprint has finally come to an end. That's good, I'm ready for some swedish midsummer and nubbe. Most things have worked out quite well in the sprint, but my concern that we were too many sharing the testlog came true. It has been a bit messy, and nobody remembers what happened 2 weeks ago. AP (action point) for next sprint is that everybody has their own test log that can be merged into one test report at the end of the sprint.

Otherwise there is a new buzz in the office; bwin is discussing outsourcing to India! That is so cool! I attended a lunch meeting today where we discussed some of the changes that might take place and how we plan to handle them. I think this outsourcing will be great. It will be very interesting to work with these new circumstances, even if I won't be allowed to move to India. It will be challenging, but I'm game!

Have a great midsummer everybody!