There’s a perception (mine) that one of the biggest questions in testing is “did this test pass or fail?” However, that big question pales in significance to a much more important question, in my view:
Is there a problem here?
And that is what this lovely little conversation between James Bach and Mike Kelly is all about.
You can find an extensive list of presentations and courses that I've taught, including the slides and speaker notes for many of them, here.
Highlights from my schedule appear below. If you notice that I'm in your part of the world, drop me a line if you'd like to get together. If you'd like to engage my services and worry that I'm not available, please note that my clients' schedules are subject to change, so mine is too. Please drop me a line in any case.
May 21-23, 2012
Utrecht, The Netherlands
A public session of the Rapid Software Testing class in the Netherlands, presented through Immune-IT. Register here.
May 24-25, 2012
Utrecht, The Netherlands
A public class of Rapid Software Testing for Managers, also presented through Immune-IT. Register here.
June 12-14, 2012
Cary, NC
Private training and consulting in Rapid Software Testing for a corporate client.
June 25-29, 2012
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Private training and consulting in Rapid Software Testing for a corporate client.
July 10-12, 2012
Cary, NC
Private training and consulting in Rapid Software Testing for a corporate client.
July 16-18, 2012
San José, California, USA
Presenting "Critical Thinking for Testers" at the CAST 2012 conference.
August 21-30, 2012
Beijing, China
Training and consulting in exploratory testing for a corporate client.
September 10-12, 2012
London, UK
A public class of Rapid Software Testing, organized by ElectroMind.
September 24-28, 2012
Copenhagen, Denmark
A public class of Rapid Software Testing, organized by PrettyGoodTesting.
September 24-28, 2012
Copenhagen, Denmark
A public class of Rapid Software Testing, organized by PrettyGoodTesting.
October 1-4, 2012
Anaheim, California
The STAR West Testing conference.
October 9-11, 2012
Toronto, Ontario
A public offering of Rapid Software Testing, organized by the Toronto Association of System and Software Quality.
November 5-8, 2012
Amsterdam, Netherlands
A tutorial and track session at EuroSTAR 2012.
December 3-7, 2012
Oslo, Norway
A public offering of Rapid Software Testing.
Great conversation. James has a talent for making people think beyond their intuition.
The pass/fail criteria that we testers are given will never cover everything that might be a problem. This reminds me that as we test we should not only question the software, but also question those that can answer the question “Is there a problem here?”.
Hey Micheal, I think I found a bug. The zip file of the conversation contains a Windows executable. Linux people (like me) would say there’s a problem there
. Is there any way to get it in a different format?
On a different (and more serious) note, how do we decide who’s problem it is? I guess I could install WINE and try to make it work. But what happens if it doesn’t? So far, I can think of ways to blame it on WINE, me, you, and possibly Microsoft. With so many people to blame, how do we decide who should fix it?