Let's Stop "Faking It"

Let's Stop "Faking It"

Who am I?

• Software Tester, Socialtext
• Black Belt, Miagi-do School of Software Testing
• Chair, Education Special Interest Group, Association for Software Testing
• Faciliator, Weekend Testing Americas

Faking it as a Tester

plus...

• Wannabe rock start some 20+ years ago.

• Fell into my role
• Saw what others were doing.
• Copied a number of their tools and methods, and was surprised how well they worked most of the time.
• Net result, people thought I was better than I really was.

First time "faking it"

• Wanted to be good
• Didn't have the drive/stamina to keep with it.
• Learned a cool "flamenco" piece by moving a repeatable hand position.
• Net result: people believed I was a lot better than I was.

Find People to "Jam" With

Find People To "Jam With"

Shu Ha Ri

Shu - we copy what others do, learn the techniques required to mimic what we are seeing, and to effectively duplicate them.

Ha - Once we "know the rules", we can experiment with them and do things that don't necessarily follow exactly the types and models we have been given.

Ri- We get to the point where the rules are automatic, they just become part of us, and we rarely even consider the "rules"; they are just part of what we do, and they inform, but do not direct.

Everything's An Analog

Is there a problem here?

Who Can Teach You?

• Draw on what we have already done.
• There really isn't anything "new" under the sun.
• Tools, techniques, and mediums change, but the “general” skills are still the same.

• A drum is very different from a flute, but a note is a note.
• What we have to do is abstract what we are doing, so that we can use the skills in multiple places.

• Friends
• Co-workers
• Peers
• Mentors from afar
• Meetups
• Weekend Testing
• Project Collaboration

• We rarely get beyond being an "Advanced Beginner"
• We believe that we know more than we do.
• We find ourselves "stuck" when things cease to work, and we can't explain why.

I don't want to be an advanced beginner forever.

Declare a "No More Faking" Policy

OK, great, but what can we do?

Come Clean

Articulate your purpose

What if I Like my Team?!

Seek to Be the "Worst Player" on the Team

• What do you know for sure?
• What do you think you know?
• Why do you think you know it?

Improve on your own with the idea that you will have to be self determined.

Stay where you are and enjoy your role as it is.

Seek to help those on your team rise to where you are at.

Aim to be the one who learns.

Surround yourself with people who will help you bring your A game.

Caveat: If always seek to be the worst player in the band or the team, taken to extreme, there will never be a band or team good enough.

Work to remove that ignorance

Conclusion

• Remove the stigma
• We are all ignorant on a great many things.
• Do not equate ignorant with “stupid”.
• Ignorant means lack of knowledge.
• Lack of knowledge can be fixed.

Articulate Your Understanding

The "embarrassment quotient"

• Declare your competence.
• Declare your ignorance.

Go beyond what you think you know.

Don't be embarrased by what you don't know.

Make a game plan to become awesome at whatever you want to do.

Seek those who will help you become awesome!

• If I'm wiling to be embarrassed, I am much more likely to learn and grow.
• If I am not willing to be embarrassed, or I don't open myself up to embarrassment, I really slow down the opportunities I have to learn and develop.

Michael Larsen - Blog: http://mkltesthead.com - Twitter: @mkltesthead