Thanks for taking the time to write, and for the kind words. I'm glad it was inspiring.

As someone who feels the label "skilled tester" fits, I have to say this was an inspiring read. Thank you! And I hope you are right. I want to believe you are right. Hmm, there has to be some way to test whether you are right... ;-) Anyway, I want to believe we will someday prevail over the attitude that testers really do not have to think to do their jobs -- that any idiot can test. Context is meaningful -- it explains why not just methodologies, but any testing related idea makes sense in one context and rings hollow in another. "Best practices" if valid at all, are context dependent.

When I started in testing 10 years ago, I met a skilled tester. He was my metor actually. I've met a few more over the years, here and there, but have really met several in the last few years. That may be though because I met and have gotten to know Mike Kelly... ;-)