[All Things Quality] Did You Feel That?

Earthquake (not quite drawn to scale)

Earlier today I was in a meeting, and felt something unusual. It felt like the room was moving a bit side-to-side - nothing really bad, but noticeable. I looked around and didn't see anyone react, so I thought it was just me.  (I had forgotten to take my high blood pressure medication this morning, and I thought it was some sort of side-effect.) I was wondering if I should get up and get a drink or water or something.

Then I thought maybe it was the train track repairs going on just outside our building. They had been rolling trains through for a few hours - I thought maybe a particular big train was on the repaired tracks.

Finally, the head of our division came into the meeting room and asked "Did anyone else feel that? My vertical blinds are swaying."

It was an earthquake.

Apparently, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale occurred in Virginia just before 2:00 PM local time, and it shook the Eastern Seaboard, including the Boston area. We are on the fifth floor of an older building, which made the shaking a bit more pronounced.

At the time, I couldn't tell what was going on. But now I know what a mild earthquake feels like. As far as I can recall, I haven't experienced one before. Then again, I might have felt it before, but just thought I was getting sick.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Kayaking on Field Pond, Andover MA

Field Pond, Andover MA

Sunday afternoon was hot and sticky.  So my wife and I packed a picnic lunch, put the kayaks on the car, and went to Field Pond in Andover.

Field Pond is in the Harold Parker State Forest, so there are plenty of folks in the area hiking, trail biking, fishing, swimming, canoeing, and kayaking.  The pond itself was very quiet (about a dozen people and a few dogs in the water), and there was a bit of a breeze.

Not too much in the way of wildlife - some birds, a few geese, some turtles, and a few small fish that the younger children were catching.

We padded around to check out the pond, ate our lunch, and paddled some more.  It was a nice, relaxing way to spend a hot afternoon.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] I'm Voting For SQAForums!

Once again the Automated Testing Institute is conducting their annual "Automation Honors" voting. From their website:

The ATI Automation Honors celebrate the best in the discipline of software test automation. With these awards, automation practitioners determine who the nominees are and who takes home the prize.
In the category of "Best Automated Testing Forum" my vote goes to SQAForums.com.  

With over 190,000 registered members and numerous tool-specific and tool-agnostic forums, SQAForums is the best place I've found to ask questions and get answers about all facets of test automation, as well as general test and QA issues. And, I'm lucky enough to be one of the Moderators!

If you like SQAForums, as much as I do, you can go here to vote:

And if you haven't visited SQAForums yet, why not come and pay a visit at:

Tell them your friend Joe sent you!


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] QA Is Not A Verb

QA

qual·i·ty as·sur·ance
Noun: The maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production.


QA is not a verb.  QA stands for Quality Assurance.

So when you say "can you please QA this build", you are asking "can you please Quality Assurance this build?"  That's probably not what you meant.

Perhaps you mean:

  • Can you please check this build?
  • Can you please test this build?
  • Can you please use your vast Quality Assurance skills to help ensure this build is of sufficient quality for our important stakeholders?

You wouldn't say:
  • Can you please IT this computer?
  • Can you please Development this code?
  • Can you please Engineering this system?
  • Can you please Product Management this requirement?

So please, don't use QA as a verb?

(Thank you for taking the time to Reader this article.)


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Patriots Training Camp 2011

New England Patriots Training Camp 2011

Last Saturday, my wife and I went down to Foxboro to see the New England Patriots Training Camp.

These sessions are open to the public, and free.  I've been going for years now and really enjoy them.  Not only do you get to see a taste of football from a different, up-close angle, but you get to see lots of behind-the-scenes work.  It's fascinating to see how the Patriots structure their practices, how some of their time is spent in small groups with positional coaches, while some time is spent in team drills.

One really interesting part is the one-on-one sessions, where receivers work one-on-one against defensive backs, or running backs work one-on-one against linebackers.  From repetition to repetition, you can see the players try to adjust their moves to improve.

It's also interesting to see Bill Belichick and watch what he decides to do during each drill.  During some of the full-team and seven-on-seven drills, he would pick up a blocking pad and throw it at the quarterback as he was preparing to throw. Presumably, this prepares the player to be better able to deal with bodies coming at him during real games.  It's also interesting to see Belichick and the other coaches correct players who make mistakes and congratulate players after making a good play.  At one point, Belichick instructed the team to run the next play from the right hash.  When the team started to shift over, he said "No, the other right hash", and everyone laughed.

A few player observations:
  • Tom Brady was very sharp.  He dropped some passes just inches over the fingertips of the defenders.
  • Rob Gronkowski continues to be unstoppable so far. He catches everything.
  • Wes Welker looked really fast, and really sharp making cuts.
  • Chad Ochocinco seems to still have a lot to learn about the Pats offense.  When not actively practicing, he often stands right beside Brady and discusses what they are seeing - smart.
  • Ryan Mallet has a gun for an arm, but holds the ball for a long, long time.

Once again, I'm really looking forward to the football year.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Kindle Cloud Reader

Amazon recently released a new Kindle "feature", the Kindle Cloud Reader.

  • Read your e-books in your browser
  • You can access all of your Amazon-hosted e-books, or you can download them locally for offline reading
  • Currently works only in Chrome and Safari
  • Simple, clean interface
  • Can view your entire e-book library at a glance
  • Allows you to keep your last-page-read indication "in the Cloud" so you can start reading on one device, and pick up right where you left off on another device


I've tried it in Chrome, and it works quite nicely.  Fast, responsive, looks good, and makes it trivially easy to synch across devices.  It doesn't do a lot, but what it does, it seems to do quite well.  I expect enhancements to be implemented quickly.

I hear that this feature is targeted at Apple.  The Kindle Cloud Reader is a replacement for their Kindle App on the iPad.  Apple wanted to control the purchasing experience on all iPad apps, so this browser-based approach bypasses Apple's control.  Amazon can have their convenient Kindle Store button go directly to Amazon without Apple being involved, thank you very much.

Now, if the lawsuit against Apple and Publishers over the agency concept can only make some progress, we might see more competition (and reduced prices) for e-books.

To be honest, I'm not completely sure when I'll use the Cloud Reader, other than when I forget my Kindle and want/need to read something at lunchtime.  Still, it's nice to know it exists.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] People Are Not Fungible



fun·gi·ble

[fuhn-juh-buhl]
adjective Law.(especially of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.
Origin: 

1755–65; Medieval Latin fungibilis,  equivalent to Latin fung ī )to perform the office of + -ibilis 

Money is fungible. One bill can be freely exchanged for another. Gasoline is basically fungible. You can fill your car up at one station or another without worrying that you are putting something different in your gas tank.

But people are not fungible. Bob is not the same as Bill. Patty is not the same as Paula. Keith is not the same as Carla.

And, while I like for everyone on my small QA Team to be well-rounded, knowledgeable, and flexible, they aren't all the same. Some of them have more experience than others. Some of them are better at testing back-end systems than others, some of them are better at front-end systems. Some are terrific at deeply analyzing systems having no written Requirements, while others need more guidance. Some are particularly good at test automation, while others tend to focus on manual testing. They are people, and people are not fungible.

So, I get particularly annoyed when I am asked to "throw some QA" at a project and the implication is that I can just pick whoever happens to have 2 weeks available at that particular time and assign him or her for some testing. And if nobody happens to be available in that slot, I'm annoyed at the suggestion that I can just bring in someone new and have them be productive on day one, hour one.

We don't roll people from one random project to another without any thought and without any preparation. We can do better! We put more thought into it - thought about what is the best for the project, best for the company, best for the individual tester. We match up the skill set and the availability with the project needs, in order to achieve the best work we can do. We owe that to the business.

If all testing were the same, and my test team consisted of a hoard of mindless, faceless robots - then it wouldn't matter. Two weeks of testing needed? No problem, clone number 336 is scheduled to be available then. We don't have any clones available for that project in December? No problem, we'll rent two from uClone.

But all testing is not the same. And in particular all people are not the same. Testers (and people in general) are not fungible!

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Summer Vacation 2011

Nubble Light - York, Maine

My wife and I took our annual vacation in York Beach, Maine last week. We had a great time.

As usual, we spent a lot of time on the beach, did some swimming, did a lot of walking and sightseeing, and had some great food. This year, we also took a ride to Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, saw some of the sights, and took a boat ride. The weather was terrific pretty much all week, and we had lots of fun! Spending time with my wife in a warm climate is one of the things I love the most.

While I enjoy the ocean, the outdoors, and the company of my wife immensely, a few bits of technology helped me enjoy the week even more.

3G Kindle


I love to read. And vacations give me enough down time that I can read a lot.

In past years, I'd scour the bookstores, and particularly the discount racks, pick up three or four books, and bring them along. This year, I didn't bring any books, just my Kindle.

I've enjoyed my Kindle even more that I thought I would when I bought it last year. For me, I can open up one of the 200 or so books I have downloaded, and lose myself in the reading experience without caring about the platform. The interface is easy to use, and the e-ink screen makes it a pleasure to read indoors, or outside in the sun. I knocked off several enjoyable books.

When I researched the Kindle, I debated about which version I should purchase - the Wifi-only version, or the 3G+Wifi version. I think I made the right decision for me by opting for the slightly more expensive 3G+Wifi. This model provides both internet access as well the ability to download books via Wifi when it is available, and via 3G when it isn't. I don't even need to buy a data plan - the 3G access is free forever (and I always like free).

The 3G access was particularly useful on this vacation. The condo we stay at in Maine doesn't provide Wifi. But I was able to get a good enough 3G signal so that I could browse the internet, and stay up on the news. In particular, I was able to follow the New England Patriots training camp news - that makes me happy.

Since the Kindle isn't the fastest platform for browsing the internet, it's good if there's a mobile version of the websites you like to visit. So prior to vacation, I quickly whipped up a reasonably mobile-friendly website of my own (http://mobilestrazz.blogspot.com) and used it to house links to mobile-friendly versions of some of my favorite websites. Quick access, via free 3G, from the condo and the beach - very nice!


Bifocal Sunglasses


I past years, I had to bring along sunglasses and reading glasses wherever I went. I'm still not used to this whole glasses-wearing thing, so invariably I'd forget one or the other, and suffer for it.

This year, one of my wife's patients mentioned that they owned a pair of bifocal sunglasses. So we went to our local L.L. Bean store and found some. What a difference they make! I was able to bring just one pair of good glasses, and still could see in the sun without squinting as well as while driving or reading. Having a way to avoid tiring out my eyes made the days all that much more comfortable and enjoyable.


iPod


I brought along my iPod. And as I've done in the past, I loaded it up with some of my favorite podcasts.
  • PFW in Progress is a two-hour podcast with the writers of Patriots Football Weekly. This is what I listen to in the summer when I want to hear about what's going on with the New England Patriots.
  • APM: Marketplace Tech Report is a series of daily, short, lighthearted podcasts from American Public Media dealing with technology, and hosted by John Moe.
  • Science Friday is a weekly podcast from NPR. Some really good discussions of science and technology, hosted by Ira Flatow.
  • Science Talk is a weekly podcast from Scientific American. Host Steve Mirsky interviews leading scientists and journalists about the latest developments in the world of science.
When I want to close my eyes and relax, or when I take a long walk alone, I turn on the iPod and listen. Sometimes I listen to good music, and other times I listen to great discussions.


All in all, it was a great week of not thinking about work, having a wonderful time with my wife, and relaxing.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Kim and Matt's Wedding

My older son got married recently.

Matt and Kim at Neddick Light, Maine

My older son Matt got married a few weeks ago.  It was one of the happiest weekends of my life.

Matt and his new bride Kim love the beach and the ocean, so they wanted a site with both for their wedding.  They chose York Beach, Maine and were married outdoors.  It was wonderful.

From the rehearsal dinner, to the wedding and reception, and the ending brunch - everything was spectacular.  Matt and Kim wanted a more casual event, spent a lot of time in the preparations, and it all worked out exactly as planned.

With an entire weekend filled with great times for friends and family, outstanding weather, lots of terrific food, lots of dancing, and lots of joy, it was a great way for two wonderful people to start their new life together.

We have two great sons, and now we have a beautiful daughter.  My wife and I are very lucky people.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Kayaking on Nutting Lake, Billerica

Nutting Lake, Billerica

A few weeks ago we were able to kayak in a new location - Nutting Lake in Billerica. It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning.  The lake was calm, and just a few folks were out fishing or paddling their canoes.

Nutting Lake is split in two by a road, and unfortunately the water level was too high to fit under the bridge between the two halves.  Still, the half we did get on was really nice.  Perhaps we'll go back and put in on the other side.

When I was growing up, Nutting Lake was shallow, weed-choked, and somewhat polluted.  Thankfully, the character of the area has changed dramatically.  Town sewage cured the pollution problem, the lake was dredged, and people fish and swim here.  Very nice!


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.