Karen N. Johnson's blog

Three words on time management: focus, clarity and transparency

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:49:28 +0000

There are three words I say to myself on a constant basis: focus, clarity and transparency.

These are the three words that straighten out most of the rough days I encounter when my schedule gets overloaded and when the demands on my time get too high. And yes, I still have to work at saying "no" but that's a topic for another day.

See my website for the rest of this post.

My blog has moved.

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:41:14 +0000

I've started blogging on my site. See my website

Search Testing with Different Languages

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:35:05 +0100

I started work on a new project and need to address search testing with a wide assortment of languages. And geez, this is a puzzle I've worked with before so I thought I would share some thoughts around the topic of search testing with multiple languages.

At the start, I look into how many languages and what languages I'll be working with. Based on past (and current) experiences, I have certain reactions - from a testing perspective - to some languages.

Can-Do List: One way to get unstuck. Really.

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:35:56 +0100

I met a person working as a test contractor on a project recently who said to me: "There are no requirement documents so therefore I cannot write test scripts. And this means, I cannot test."

I've heard this before from other test contractors. I don't understand the logic being applied.

I tilted my head and was speechless. I thought I should keep listening to see if I could better understand. But I didn't. In this case, it seemed the tester believed the only way to approach testing was to read and review requirements, write test scripts, and then execute test scripts. Since this one approach was not an option in the environment at that time, the tester felt dead-ended with his work.

recent articles on software testing

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:04:51 +0100

This afternoon I was talking with a friend and colleague who asked me about my writing, more specifically about software testing articles I've written. He was surprised to learn that I had published six articles in the past couple of months - he hadn't realized that I wrote so much or so often. I thought most certainly I had listed the articles on my blog as each article had been released but it doesn't look like it. Here’s a list:

Balance

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:56:12 +0000

Someone asked me recently why I don't participate more in software testing forums. Why I don't blog more often. Why they don't find me "around" virtually as often as they used to. Balance was my answer.

My online life was becoming consuming. And it’s easy to get out of balance especially when you live in a climate like Chicago where its winter for eight months (or at least feels like it.)

Building Alliances: a presentation recording

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:27:18 +0000

I gave a presentation called Building Alliances. It was a non-technical talk focused on working with people. The talk focused on positive alliances we can build at work as well as some of the realities – the good, the bad and the ugly of office politics. The talk was recorded at the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) 2009.

Explaining the other work we do

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:54:38 +0000

I had a technical issue I needed to research for a client. Nothing surprising, I research different bits of information frequently. At the end of my research I realized I wanted to explain what I'd done, I wanted to clarify and present what avenues I had pursued, what information I'd learned, what issues remained and what possible other solutions we might look into. I realized I wanted to share these bits of information with the project team so I set out to write an email.

Here be dragons

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:34:25 +0000

I like maps. I wasn’t sure why maps appealed to me until it dawned on me one day that maps are a form of data visualization. The phrase “here be dragons” was used by mapmakers many years ago in reference to uncharted or unexplored areas. I like the phrase. Maps were marked with dragons and in some cases, other animals were drawn to signify danger or unknown, uncharted territories. I find the concept and the phrase kind of cool in a geeky sort of way. You can read more about this old mapmaker’s phrase here.

I also like SQL. I like being able to access a database and spend time with data. I teach a couple of different SQL classes and one thing I’ve found repeatedly has been people’s intimidation by having to write a join in SQL. It’s amazing how far people will go to avoid the dreaded join – it’s a bit like “here be dragons” - a territory marked with fear and uncertainty.

experiencing a bug as an end user

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:02:31 +0000

It’s been a long time since a software bug agitated me - one that I was hit with as a user not a tester. But I've had one I've been dealing with this past week.

In some ways it’s been interesting to feel like a user. To get whacked unexpectedly with a software bug that impacted my day and took time to resolve. Mostly it’s left me agitated and thinking less of the company.

Blackberry released an upgrade to their software and I took the release. I didn't notice straightaway that the update stomped out my Google sync settings. Wiped out Google sync entirely, I had to reinstall. And impacted my Gmail, calendar and maps.

debriefing alone

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:45:37 +0000

I often test alone. But then testing is a rather solitary activity much of the time. So is writing. Not surprising, introverts have a way of finding activities that leave them alone.

When I teach, I talk about using debriefs. I’m frequently surprised at how few people use debriefs.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term debrief , then I’d suggest begin by looking at the basic definition. I like returning to definitions, I find wrapping my head around a core term and definition is a more comfortable way to start learning something. Then expand on from there. James Bach has a great checklist for debriefs, here.

A heuristic for regression testing

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:23:50 +0000

I’ve been doing a fair amount of regression testing. I gained clarity into how I think through regression testing as I explained my thought process to a client. And I've devised a mnemonic: RCRCRC.

Recent: new features, new areas of code are more vulnerable
Core: essential functions must continue to work
Risk: some areas of an application pose more risk
Configuration sensitive: code that’s dependent on environment settings can be vulnerable
Repaired: bug fixes can introduce new issues
Chronic: some areas in an application may be perpetually sensitive to breaking

NLP techniques: anchor & swish. What can be applied to software testing?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:06:38 +0100

I’ve missed blogging. I’ve missed writing. Well, writing what I feel like when the mood strikes which I cannot predict – either the topic or the timing which doesn’t work so well for editors. I’ve been on another one of my productivity kicks where I cut out lots of activities, burrow in and produce stuff. Stuff like articles, classes and assorted matters. But today I woke up super early today (super early is before 5am) before 7am is just early. It happens often enough. Sometimes I’m just very awake. I’ll get up thinking I’ll add an hour or two to my day and that will be great because I can get more done (my productivity-obsession runs deep) but as is often the case, that isn’t how I spent the “bonus” time. Instead I found my mind wandering about. Reading and then looking up related concepts and somehow found myself reading about neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) at 5:30am. Things like that happen.

PNSQC 2009

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:54:41 +0100

At PNSQC 2009, I’ll be talking about “Building Alliances.” For a long while, I have avoided discussing assorted topics especially at conferences that might be viewed as “soft” topics. As a software tester without a developer’s background and being raised in small development companies, I didn’t feel I could take the risk of being viewed as “fluffy.” But now some years later, I want to talk about some of the topics that aren’t technical but are just as essential in getting the job done. I want to share ideas about how to build solid working relationships.