A Very Edgy Sequel: Testing on the Edge II

Fourteen months and two posts ago, I described several ways that I am a tester on the edge; that is, I had noticed several “tensions within myself while I test software: I tend to teeter on the edge between sets of […]

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Anthropomorphic Intelligence

Recently, I opened Timehop for my daily dose of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey memories, and the app told me that I need to sign into Facebook because hey, the Facebook connection isn’t working anymore. Below the message, there was a huge, brightly […]

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Testing on the Edge

I am a tester on the edge. For several years, I’ve noticed tensions within myself while I test software: I tend to teeter on the edge between sets of two things – tactics, concepts, mindsets, emotions. When I’m aware that […]

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Jim Halpert on Satisficing and Assumptions

Lately I’ve been saying something so much that it’s become a bit of a mantra: “Just killing Germans any way I can.” I’m being the furthest thing from literal, of course. Please don’t report me to the authorities. I have […]

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Insights from The Black Swan, Part 3 – The Ludic Fallacy

Long ago, while reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I began a series of blog posts (here and here) in which I promised to continue “reflecting here as I encounter insights that excite me as a tester.” Did you think that […]

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Bugs Find A Way: A Tester’s Appreciation of Jurassic Park

Like most human adults, I have many selves in me. Two of these selves love Jurassic Park. One, the ten-year-old self who loves dinosaurs, you can read about in my essay, “Hold On To Your Bookmarks: A Nerd’s Love For […]

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Testing and Editing: An Analogy Analysis

There’s a well-known saying: “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” (George Bernard Shaw) I tend to live by another saying, one that I just made up now: “Those who can, create. Those who can’t, analyze.” I’ve always been drawn […]

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State of Testing Survey

You know something that has stood out to me at the two testing conferences I’ve attended, in BBST online classes, and in conversations in the Twitter testing community? (Oh, hello, blog reader. It’s been awhile, right? Good to see you, […]

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Insights from The Black Swan, Part 2

I am in the process of reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan and reflecting here as I encounter insights that excite me as a tester. If this news comes as a shock to you, please read this immediately. Now, this: “…that […]

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Insights from The Black Swan, Part 1

I am reading a book. (I’ll wait for your applause.) (Thank you.) I am reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan right now. I’m less than a hundred pages in, but I’m already convinced all human beings should read it. […]

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