Testing schools sparked intense debate in the past. Some swore by rigorous processes, others by flexibility. But nearly 20 years later, why revisit them? For me, they weren’t just abstract concepts—they were a way to contrast and compare the different testing approaches I encountered throughout my career. This blog explores how these schools shaped … [Read more...]
Balanced Testers and Beyond
For sometime whether it be social media, interviewing testers or attending conferences the debate of "Manual" vs "Automation" testers keeps arising. Not a great fan of the terms "manual" and "Automation" tester but will use these terms as they are widely used. Two Camps There seem to be two camps, each with a classic stereotype, here is an … [Read more...]
Guiding Principles
Throughout our careers we develop guiding principles, often based on the principles of others that resonate with us, perhaps coupled with our workplace experiences. Often it is good to reflect on these principles, to review what principles have influenced our thoughts to-date and perhaps give us some direction for the future. The purpose of this … [Read more...]
Postmortem Top Ten Tips
A postmortem (or post-mortem) is a process intended to help you learn from past incidents. Some examples may include a service went down in production causing some form of customer impact, or perhaps a production deployment failed. Postmortems typically involve an analysis or discussion soon after an event has taken place. Similar to … [Read more...]
Ten Takeaways from a Darknet Diaries Binge
Often we binge on our favourite shows on Netflix and or podcasts such as Serial. A recent binge was the podcast Darknet Diaries which focuses on true stories from the dark side of the internet. It is an investigative podcast created by Jack Rhysider, chronicling true stories about hackers, malware, botnets, cryptography, cryptocurrency, … [Read more...]
Running a Tech Meetup
In May 2017 Rob Meaney and I started the Ministry of Testing Cork Meetup. In this blog, I will share my experiences and hope they are of value to others who wish to start a Meetup. The Meetup Mix 1. Brand and Ethos It's important to have a brand from the beginning, we were lucky that the Ministry of Testing was willing to trust us with their Brand … [Read more...]
Interview on the 343 Modern Testing Podcast
Alan Page recently interviewed me for the #ModernTesting 343 podcast. Been a fan of the podcast with some time, so was wonderful to be a guest. We covered topics such as Modern Testing, Whole Teaming Testing and how these principles apply to my role in Poppulo. Listen to the interview here … [Read more...]
Interview with InfoQ: Quality and Culture
After speaking at RebelCon 2019, InfoQ interviewed me on the topic of Quality and Culture and in particular what we can learn from the Aviation Industry. Read the Full InfoQ Interview … [Read more...]
Certifications are they worth it? A Testers Perspective
Certifications: Are they a must-have, or just a checkbox? Over the years, I’ve been on both sides of the debate. I’ve collected certifications like badges in Scouts, but later, I found myself moving away from them. So, are they worth it? Certification, Certification, and more Certification The motivation for certification for many is … [Read more...]
A Retrospective of the Retrospective
Retrospectives can be incredibly valuable and when well run can play a part in improving the performance of a team. Although often they can descend in to sessions where everyone complains and no positive actions are taken. Also" less vocal" members of the team who have value contributions can be drowned out by others. Having been in many of … [Read more...]