The Cord of Three Strands
Submitted by John McConda on Mon, 03/12/2007 - 05:49.
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
-Ecclesiastes 4:12
At the first WREST workshop last month, one of the key ideas that came to light for me was the need to mentor inexperienced testers in regulated environments (see citation below). Many of us who have worked in this world have met testers who have known nothing but mindless script execution and piles of documentation. My fear is that we lose potentially great testers who start their careers this way and decide that testing is not for them.
I think this idea also points to a greater concept of the cord of three strands. In his book, As Iron Sharpens Iron, Howard Hendricks uses the relationship between three ancient saints to describe three roles essential in mentoring: The protégé (Timothy), the mentor (Paul), and the sharpening peer (Barnabas).
For a discipline as young as ours, it is essential that those of us with more experience mentor those just starting out. If we do not, it is quite possible that we will give up that role to mindless process and a mentality that makes it easy to commoditize testers or try to replace brains with scripts, automated or manual.
Peers are those who sharpen us. I am at my most motivated to get better when I’m around other testers, especially those who show me new ideas I haven’t thought of before. When I first moved to Indianapolis, I did not find a closed group of insiders worried about protecting their turf. What I found were people who welcomed me to a thriving tester community and who remain trusted friends and allies.
Finally, mentoring is a two way street. Testers who are looking to take the next step in their careers have to take chances and seek out those with more experience. While this can be intimidating, the good news is that our field has some of the most approachable “gurus” I have had the pleasure to know.
To make this practical, two testing conferences I attended recently illustrate this idea. At STAR West, I saw mentoring happening where anyone was welcome to have lunch with many of the conference organizers and keynote presenters. I was also able to get to know about 10 new testers over the course of the week, some as peers, and some that I feel I could be a mentor to and get them plugged into the community. At CAST, there was specific time set up to get to know the speakers, and plenty of opportunities to interact with other testers. Lightning talks at both conferences were a great opportunity for people like me, just getting our feet wet with speaking.
If attending conferences is not practical, there are plenty of other ways to get plugged in. Wrestworkshop is a new Yahoo group we’ve formed for regulated testers, and there are plenty of other groups out there as well. Reading and commenting on blogs like this is another way. I’m also willing to put actions to what I say, so if anyone who reads this isn’t sure where to start to get plugged in, drop me a line at jmcconda@yahoo.com. I’m willing to suffer the spam bots to hear from real testers.
If we are to succeed in making testing a respected profession carried out by respected professionals, these relationships are going to make the difference. In seeking out mentors, learning from peers, and giving back by mentoring others, we can continue to strengthen each other in ways we cannot carry out on our own.
Citation: Any ideas from WREST 1, including this one, belong to all of the attendees. For a list (and a picture!) of everyone who contributed, please see here.
-Ecclesiastes 4:12
At the first WREST workshop last month, one of the key ideas that came to light for me was the need to mentor inexperienced testers in regulated environments (see citation below). Many of us who have worked in this world have met testers who have known nothing but mindless script execution and piles of documentation. My fear is that we lose potentially great testers who start their careers this way and decide that testing is not for them.
I think this idea also points to a greater concept of the cord of three strands. In his book, As Iron Sharpens Iron, Howard Hendricks uses the relationship between three ancient saints to describe three roles essential in mentoring: The protégé (Timothy), the mentor (Paul), and the sharpening peer (Barnabas).
For a discipline as young as ours, it is essential that those of us with more experience mentor those just starting out. If we do not, it is quite possible that we will give up that role to mindless process and a mentality that makes it easy to commoditize testers or try to replace brains with scripts, automated or manual.
Peers are those who sharpen us. I am at my most motivated to get better when I’m around other testers, especially those who show me new ideas I haven’t thought of before. When I first moved to Indianapolis, I did not find a closed group of insiders worried about protecting their turf. What I found were people who welcomed me to a thriving tester community and who remain trusted friends and allies.
Finally, mentoring is a two way street. Testers who are looking to take the next step in their careers have to take chances and seek out those with more experience. While this can be intimidating, the good news is that our field has some of the most approachable “gurus” I have had the pleasure to know.
To make this practical, two testing conferences I attended recently illustrate this idea. At STAR West, I saw mentoring happening where anyone was welcome to have lunch with many of the conference organizers and keynote presenters. I was also able to get to know about 10 new testers over the course of the week, some as peers, and some that I feel I could be a mentor to and get them plugged into the community. At CAST, there was specific time set up to get to know the speakers, and plenty of opportunities to interact with other testers. Lightning talks at both conferences were a great opportunity for people like me, just getting our feet wet with speaking.
If attending conferences is not practical, there are plenty of other ways to get plugged in. Wrestworkshop is a new Yahoo group we’ve formed for regulated testers, and there are plenty of other groups out there as well. Reading and commenting on blogs like this is another way. I’m also willing to put actions to what I say, so if anyone who reads this isn’t sure where to start to get plugged in, drop me a line at jmcconda@yahoo.com. I’m willing to suffer the spam bots to hear from real testers.
If we are to succeed in making testing a respected profession carried out by respected professionals, these relationships are going to make the difference. In seeking out mentors, learning from peers, and giving back by mentoring others, we can continue to strengthen each other in ways we cannot carry out on our own.
Citation: Any ideas from WREST 1, including this one, belong to all of the attendees. For a list (and a picture!) of everyone who contributed, please see here.