Software Testing Blog

In part II of our Testing the Limits interview with Lanette Creamer – aka “Testy Redhead” – we cover the need for Exploratory Testing; Matt Heusser and the “rebel alliance” of testing; how to create a popular testing blog; her stance on tester certifications and more from the wide world of QA. Catch up by reading part I, and when you’re done with this one, go check out part III.

uTest: In one of your recent blog posts, you mention Elisabeth Hendrickson’s STAREAST declaration that “Exploratory Testing Is Not Optional.” Why did this statement resonate so strongly for you? Do you think all testing managers should follow Hendrickson’s lead?

LC: As a frequent conference attendee and enthusiastic reader of testing blogs, I’ve seen many ideas about how to improve testing. I’ve been through countless industry trends, such as borrowing manufacturing ideas, extensive measuring schemes, and repeated attempts to automate all testing. The bottom line is exploratory testing works in practice. Not for a few months or years, but it works to find important bugs year after year no matter what other quality trends are happening. It works well side by side with automated checks, manufacturing ideas, and it can be used with session based test management to provide measures and metrics if needed. It is the one constant a tester can go back to and find bugs that impact the user experience. It is the meat in my testing sandwich. (My pun filled humor is the cheese.) To hear Elisabeth acknowledge the importance of exploratory testing in public shows me that agile testing is about more than just automation. Agile testing can be about a balanced approach to overall quality. It resonated with me strongly because it makes me hopeful for the future of testing on agile teams.

I think test managers should evangelize and defend what works well in practice on their teams. My experience has been that exploratory testing is generally undervalued considering how effective and practical it is.

uTest: What’s the deal with this “rebel alliance” thing we’ve been hearing so much about? It sounds subversive – we want in! Seriously though, what’s the mission of this group? Please explain it to our un-initiated readers.

LC: Our Han Solo, and Rebel Alliance leader is Matt Heusser. You may have heard of him? (Editor’s note: Oh yeah, that guy!) I’m a rebellious redhead, and was lucky enough to be invited to join, so why not? A few of us paid for our own travel and lodging so that we could swing StarEast in this economy despite diminished budgets. We pooled our resources to get some discounts, and Matt put together a dinner. He did a tremendous amount of work! Dinner plans grew. Then the force was with us, and a few Jedi mind tricks later, it turned into something incredible.

We ended up with some new lightening talks presented to a small group and having a party in a 68 person conference room that the hotel happened to assign a conference attendee as they were out of normal hotel rooms. Sitting at a table pairing on the dice game led by Michael Bolton was enlightening. Hearing Matt Heusser and Jon Bach share brand new ideas and seeing Shmuel Gerson’s session based test management test tool in action, followed by an in depth description of where combinatorics have the most impact with Justin Hunter from Hexawise was a great experience! Adam Goucher even talked about pirates! Selena recorded many of these 5 minute talks. They are now up on YouTube and you can check them out, including my talk about Cat Collaboration.

The Rebel Alliance isn’t just something you join, it is something you create at your conference. The founding principle is “no one wants to eat a bagel alone”. In practice it is how we joined together and saved hundreds of dollars so that testers without corporate backing were able to see some of the best speakers in the industry. Don’t wait for your company to send you. Send yourself! That’s what I consider the real founding principle of the rebel alliance, but hey, it’s Matt’s invention, so he gets to say it is about having company while eating bagels.

uTest: In our interview with James Bach a few months back, he called you a “great unknown” and “someone to watch.” Blogging seems to have really opened up a few doors for you, but can it do the same for other testers? What’s the secret to getting “discovered” as a testing blogger?
LC: The idea that you can “get discovered” or that I know some secret made me giggle. I’ve been blogging on software testing regularly since 2007. I go to every conference I can possibly go to. My secret to getting discovered as a blogger is to sincerely care about software testing and do good work in public. Interact. Follow up. Be on twitter. Read the books that testers you admire suggest. Write a technical paper and submit entries at some conferences. Are you willing to test in public? Are you proud to talk about your ideas to anyone? I used to send links to my own team at Adobe if I posted a blog, and exactly that many people would look at the post. Blog even if you get 30 visitors a year for a few years. Blog like no one is watching, because at first no one will be, and later because that is what the blogging format is for. You have to care more about software testing than you care about what happens to you personally. That is the one thing the testers I admire have in common.

In up and coming testers, my focus has been mostly on encouraging other female testers who I admire to begin writing and presenting. Some of the women to watch in testing are Marlena Compton, who gave her first conference presentation on visualizing test data last year, and Liz Marley, who presented on Testing Touch Devices at Adobe a few months back. There are some really intelligent Agile testers you should check out if you get the chance. Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory, Dawn Cannan, and Selena Delesie are teaching me new things about agile testing.

A few guys to watch for are Eric Jacobson I met at StarEast a few weeks back. He’s really articulate, generous, and has a clear point of view on testing. A programmer in testing who interests me is Shmuel Gershon from Intel. His enthusiasm and good nature are infectious!

uTest: What’s your stance on tester certifications? Pro-cert, anti-cert or meh?
LC: Meh. I’d like it if as a community we could agree to a loose guideline that unless you have something groundbreaking and new to say on the topic no one else blog about this. It’s been done (to death, or at least to me wishing for death).

I don’t enjoy conversations about certification, which is why my only blog post about it is a joke. I’d prefer to work for a company that is focused on finding testing talent, not relying on someone else to determine what that is.

Editor’s note: Read part III of the interview now.