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Jan 08

2014 – My Year in Review

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2014…

So here we are, a few days into the new year – eight days to be exact.  I haven’t written in a while, it’s been almost six months!  I have been reading though, reading a lot, and that re-energizes my mind and puts me in the zone to write.  After the amazing, unreal, AWESOME year I had in 2013, I went into 2014 pumped and full of energy.  The first ever Montreal Insights Into Software Testing workshop & peer conference – MOIIST2014 was just around the corner, I had started a new job a few weeks earlier, and I had plans to continue my testing accomplishments and learning from where I left off.

In January, we held the first ever Montreal Insights Into Software Testing (MOIIST2014) workshop & peer conference.  I had put in a great deal of effort in the months leading up to the workshop to help organize it and it was well worth it.  The workshop was great – I did my first presentation at a Software Testing event and met some awesome Testers, both from Montreal and Testers who attended from out of town, not to mention the chance to hang out and chat with Rob and Scott.

Plans can and do sometimes change

I had a lot of other plans for 2014 – to continue on that great road of Software Testing awesomeness from 2013, and the MOIIST2014 workshop – but in life things happen and plans sometimes get postponed due to circumstances and priorities.  The first half of the year was exceptionally tough, but I was able to stay optimistic, make decisions I needed to make (which turned out to be great decisions) and I’m happy to say that the second half of the year was great!  But before things could change and get better, they got tough (and negative) and I ended up learning quite a bit from the experience.

What I learned

In one sentence – it’s never too early to leave a job if you’re unhappy.  I was hired by a Test Manager with whom I wanted to work and a great team of fellow Test Lead’s and Testers (in western Canada).  I was hired to work at the office just outside of Montreal. I never thought the distance and not being in the same office would present the types of issues and challenges that it did – none of us did.  When the individuals (especially the leadership group) at the local office where you’re hired to work do not want you there – no matter how great of a professional, tester, and person you are, no matter the things you do to make things work and change their perception – it won’t make a difference, you’re not wanted – period (that held true in my situation).  It’s 2014 and the world is as connected and collaborative as ever, but in some toxic environments (like the office environment and location I was in) you can’t stop negative, backwards thinking.  I don’t regret taking the opportunity, I learned a ton working with my fellow Testers out in western Canada but I do regret staying in such a hostile, discriminative environment for the duration I did stay (I stayed a few months but should have left in a few weeks).

Now even though the aforementioned experience was a negative one – I always look for lessons learned and I took away some really positive and important lessons that have made me more aware and knowledgeable.  I learned more about myself as a person and as a professional and experienced first-hand what I had always known, what I stood for, and what I believed in – that my self respect and dignity was more important than a paycheque (especially one coming from a toxic environment).

I learned that sometimes it’s worth taking that bold risk and leaving a negative situation without that safety net to fall into – which is what I did. I also learned that when interviewing for a job where your manager and/or team will be in another location, its extremely important to meet (in person) the individuals with whom you will work with locally in the same office, including the leadership group. It’s especially important to speak with those in the leadership group to get a feel for how they work, the environment and atmosphere they promote, how they view testing & their goals regarding development & testing and collaborating with the team(s) located in different offices/cities.  I would take the time to ask about their philosophy and if they are actually in-tune with the testing approach being taught and encouraged from the leadership group (the ones hiring you) in another location.  There’s a lot that can be learned by taking the time to do that, and may also help you make a good decision by listening to your gut feeling.

Getting back on track

Once I made the bold decision to leave with no safety net to fall into – everything (professionally and personally) started to change – I was happy, full of energy and things started getting back on track!  While I had a plan, I didn’t have another job lined up (and that can be a scary thing considering bills, house etc.) – but I had/have confidence, optimism, and my testing skill-set that I am always working on expanding. It was a bold risk I took and I’m happy I took it. Things fell quickly back into place and I enjoyed the second half of the year much more at my “new” job and was having fun outside of work, and was also able to focus my energy on learning more about software testing once again and doing the things I enjoyed doing.

Wait – what about those plans?

There were a few plans and goals I had for 2014 that I wasn’t able “execute” in my roller coaster of a year. After CAST2013 (after which I was so pumped up to attend the next CAST), I wasn’t able to attend CAST2014 as I had planned too.  I can’t get that back but I will be at CAST2015!  After successfully completing the BBST Foundations course in 2013 I had planned to take the BBST Bug Advocacy course but with everything going on and the course schedule, it just didn’t pan out.  On the plus side, I am going to take the course this year and I’m looking forward to the learning experience and challenge!

Ending off the year

I ended off the year happy, relaxed and reading a book on the beautiful beaches of Varadero, Cuba.  I feel refreshed, energized, and extremely focused (professionally and personally) starting off this new year.  While I still progressed as a Software Tester in 2014, it wasn’t the type of progress and “jump” I experienced in 2013 – which is okay.  I learned a lot of valuable lessons as a professional and as a human being from the negative situation I found myself in.  I learned to turn things around and that only I had the power to do so.  While I try not to live with regrets, if I could go back and do things a bit differently I would – but knowing that now, is a part of what learning is about.

KMF – 2015 here I come!

Jul 07

We Don’t Break Things – They’re Already Broken

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Fellow Software Tester and President of the Association for Software Testing, Ben Yaroch posted a tweet earlier today (which I later re-tweeted) that highlighted something I’ve encountered a few times in my career – you can view his tweet here.

The content of the tweet and the picture that goes with it say it all.  This misconception, this misbelief, this misunderstanding – illustrated in the photo,  is something I’ve seen many professionals, some of whom are highly respected within the scope of the project requiring testing support, unknowingly fall victim too.

The Software Testing group (or QA group as it’s called in many companies) are not breaking the software we’re asked to test – us skilled testers (and I can’t speak for all of us) are discovering things in the software that we are assigned to test (often using specific skills relevant to testing such as heuristics) to help discover and identify problems in the software.

Now what happens, and what we Software Testers do once we’ve discovered things about the software – information about the quality of the software, can vary depending on the company, and even different projects within the same company.  What I mean by this is that at certain companies or projects, the Software Testers may have to spend a great deal of time and effort advocating for what we’ve discovered.  At other companies & projects the Software Testers may need to identify whom the “correct” stakeholders are, before these important pieces of information can eve be presented to them. Now the last statement can veer into at least two different posts, but for this post I’d like to remain on topic and to remind, or bring to the attention of stakeholders & active members of a given project (and those looking to learn more about me) that the goal, purpose and mission (yes this is a broad mission/statement) of testing is to find & provide information about the software – including things that are already broken that we discover while testing. Despite what people may believe, or have been led to believe … No, we don’t break things – they’re already broken.

 

 

May 31

My Recent Visit to a SQDG event in Calgary

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I was recently in Calgary for a work related kick-off project.  Each day was filled with work related activities and each evening I found myself exploring the city with a great team member (also a Software Tester) of mine.  During my final evening in Calgary, I was able to attend the SQDG’s event on May 14.

I met one or two Software Testers whom I had previously met and was able to catch up and chat with them. I also met a lot of new, interested, and passionate Testers from Calgary. It was great being around these types of testers, great conversations, and awesome energy filled the location we gathered at.  From what I understand, the format for this particular event, titled Speed Geeking was slightly different than the format of most SQDG events.

We spent the first 30 minutes or so chatting amongst ourselves in an open, non-formal manner. I was introduced to many new faces, had some great conversations about testing and met some great individuals from PQA.  We then split into different groups (randomly assembled) and brainstormed our ideas and answers to a series of questions. We were free to move from one group to another for different questions which bought forth different views and perspectives and helped kick-off different types of discussions, different answers and people’s reasoning for them, often based on their own personal experiences.

I found it to be a good, fun, and engaging atmosphere to talk testing with Software Testers and those involved with the craft in some form.  If I am ever in Calgary at the same time as an another SQDG event, I’ll be sure to attend again.

Apr 29

Asking Questions – Almost 9 years later

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I remember when I first started my career (and my life) as a Professional Software Tester almost 9 years ago now, and even back then I was a bit different from some of the other “new” Software Testers. Different in that I would ask questions about what I was being asked to test, to gain some sort of insight into the application I was being asked to test, and not just test aimlessly or without a purpose.

So now, almost 9 years later, I’m still asking questions, that hasn’t changed. What has changed are the types of questions I ask. The people I ask them to.  The confidence with which I ask them.  How I am able to ask better questions to learn more about the situation I am in.  Asking questions based on some of the answers I receive from my initial questions.  Not settling for answers that don’t give me the information I was looking for by asking the question.  I’ve also changed as a person, a professional, and as a software tester – I am more skilled, more confident, have tested a lot more complex systems, have questioned (and continue to) so much about testing, learned from some highly skilled testing professionals & leaders, taught myself by reading & listening, received training for software testing.  Many of these things I continue to do on a daily basis, because I am eager to become even better and because I am truly passionate about the craft & science of Software Testing.

Now I remember a few instances 9 years ago when I was in a room full of people and I would ask questions and other people in the room, smart people (developers, project managers, architects who were well known for their skill & knowledge in their respective areas) would make jokes about me asking all these questions, mock me for asking questions, tell me to stop asking questions, and just outright downplay testing.  At the time I had just started my career in Software Testing, I was a kid. I was intimidated, it distracted me when this happened, it bothered me and prevented me from having the courage to ask further questions about Testing.  I hadn’t yet built up my testing skill set and confidence.

I had completely forgotten about those specific situations until not too long ago I was in a room full of smart people discussing the development and testing for a project and it happened again. But this time it was a whole different situation.  Sure the comments and actions from some of the other people in the room were quite similar, but I wasn’t. It didn’t intimidate me one bit, nor distract me. It didn’t bother me and it didn’t prevent me from continuing to ask the questions I needed to ask in order to get the information that I believed to be relevant to testing.  I was able to effectively filter out and ignore the comments downplaying testing, and carry on to get the information I was looking for and listening for more information.

I’ve had a lot of fun putting in the work and effort into becoming a better, more skilled tester, and the manner in which I’ve evolved myself as a Software Tester sure did help – in a lot of different ways!

Mar 27

Good News From Afar

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A few weeks ago I received an email from a Business Analyst with whom I worked with on a project at a former workplace (which I left to pursue another opportunity).  He informed me that he and a few other BA’s at the company had been recounting some of the best Testers that had worked at the company and that my name had come up (it’s always nice to be mentioned in good company).

He went on to inform me that a portion of a particular project on which I worked (I was the Software Tester for that portion), along with him and a few other individuals was one that turned out to be very successful – the application (as well as the portion of it that I tested) was running smoothly in the production environment and the application users were very happy with it.

I kindly thanked him for sharing the good news, and told him that everybody’s contribution to the project is what made it successful and that it was important to keep that in mind, as quality is everybody’s responsibility.  My job, and responsibility as the Software Tester, was to test application as I did, and find good, valuable information about the quality of the application just as I did, so that the business stakeholders were able to use the information that I discovered and use it to make good business decisions about the application.

Happy to hear things have gone well so far.

Jan 27

MOIIST2014

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Two weekends ago the first ever MOIIST (MOntreal Insights Into Software Testing) peer conference & workshop took place in my hometown of Montreal, Canada.  Based on the energy in the room, my observations, and the passionate & positive feedback I received from the participants – I’m happy to say that it was a success!

Rob Sabourin, Stephanie Ripeau, and myself worked together to help organize the workshop, getting together throughout the year to help put the bits and pieces together.  I put in a good amount of time and effort (as did Rob and Stephanie) and we really had an interest in not only seeing the workshop take place, but having the workshop generate interest and attract intelligent, passionate Software Testers – which I’m happy to say it did!

A few of us got together on the eve of the workshop (Friday evening) to chat and have a bite. It was nice to meet some new Tester’s whom I’ve never met before, as well as catch up and chat with the Testers I had met before.

The official workshop took place Saturday and Sunday.  MOIIST2014 was facilitated (as will future iterations ) in the style of LAWST workshops.  We had Scott Barber join us from Florida to help facilitate the workshop. Now if you’ve never seen Scott facilitate, or been in a room with Scott facilitating, I’ll say this – he’s an awesome facilitator!  There were 12 of us in the room who took part in the workshop.  We had participants join us from out of town (Calgary and Portland, plus Scott from Florida) as well as participants from in and around the Montreal area. It was also great to have my team members (from Calgary) Nancy Kelln and Lona Vanberg attend and participate, as well as for their support!

I was the second to present on Saturday.  My story was that of my collaboration with the R&D team (a team that I worked with a few years ago).  Now I have presented before, at lunch & learn sessions, at tutorials, even in school but it was my first presentation at a Software Testing workshop.  It went well, I was confident up there. I knew the theme of the conference, was well aware of the focusing questions and geared my story towards the confines of those focusing questions.  I was happy to have some of the participants approach me after my presentation and tell me that they enjoyed hearing my story and could appreciate all the effort put forth, and how I went about collaborating with my team members on the R&D team. It was great to have that type of feedback from peers, and I really did (and still do) appreciate it. After my presentation, I knew ways I wanted to improve it, and also how I wanted to improve my presentation skills overall. In addition to my self realizations, Rob was kind enough to give me a few additional suggestions over breakfast the following day.

The energy in the room was great both days, with everybody participating, asking questions, creating discussions. We went out to lunch together, a few of us went to dinner together where we continued offline testing discussions. Every collaboration story was different (some had a few similarities but in different contexts), and we each focused on collaboration skills that we got out of each person’s story.  There were a few group exercises where we split up into groups which was fun and at the same time turned out to be a great learning experience. I find that great learning often happens when working with intelligent, thinking Software Testers in the type of group exercises that Rob had us work on.  I’m also happy having had the chance to talk to and hang out with Scott over the course of the 3 days.  I have been following Scott’s work and learning from it for many years now. I met Scott before at CAST2013 where we spoke briefly, but it was awesome to spend more time chatting, joking around, and talking about serious testing topics with Scott this time around.  He was also kind enough to offer me some great insights before we finished up for the day on Sunday evening, which I greatly appreciate.

So what’s next? We had some great feedback at the end of the workshop from all of the participants with a lot of interest in the next one. I’ve had some of the participants offer their help in setting up the next one. I’ve received some other emails on how we can publicize our group more, to a wider audience.  The interest is evident, as is the passion of the Testers who are interested in helping building a community of smart, thinking, skilled, passionate Software Testers.  I’d like to thank everybody that helped out with and participated in the first ever MOIIST workshop!

Stay tuned for more information for MOIIST2015!

 

 

Dec 29

2013 – My Year in Review

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So here we are a few days away from 2014.  Like most busy days and busy weeks, the year has gone by quick! It’s been a great year for me in terms of my life as a Software Tester (but then again I’m an optimist who truly believes that for it to be a great year, you have to make it a great year).  Everyday I pride myself on being a better Tester than I was the day before. At the end of the year now, I can see (and feel) the accumulation of all of those individual efforts I put forth each day throughout the year.

I started blogging late last year in December and have continued to do so throughout this year, posting at least once or twice a month.  Most if not all of my posts are based on my first person experiences.  I enjoy writing and believe I do my best writing when I’m in “the zone”.

Throughout the year (especially during the first half of the year) Michael Bolton was actually kind enough to take some of his time to help me tackle a few challenges I was having regarding testing and more specifically the challenges and battles I was going through as a context-driven tester in a traditional factory testing environment.  Somewhere throughout those conversations, Michael “introduced” me to a great Software Engineering and Testing mind in my hometown – Rob Sabourin.

I always enjoy speaking with Rob, I feel like I get something valuable out of our conversations each time. Early in the year we spoke about and then began organizing a Software Testing Peer Conference right here in our hometown of Montreal. We’ve been working together throughout the year (along with Stephanie R.) organizing the workshop which will be held in January 2014.  We have some good Testers speaking about some interesting topics on collaboration in Software Testing and I’ll also be presenting at the conference!

I worked with Matt Heuseur early in the year as a volunteer and test judge to help out with the first (to my knowledge) Online Test Competition.  It was fun collaborating with Matt and the rest of the team, seeing how they would organize what we wanted to get done and how, and then go about getting it done. I had a blast judging the teams.  The competition was held on Friday April 19th and the performance testing portion was held over that weekend where each team had a time slot reserved to do their testing. There were some awesome teams who did some really great work. I spend hours upon hours reviewing test reports, grading, and re-reviewing them and got some great ideas to improve my own work from a few of the teams.

In August I went to my first CAST! I registered to attend early in the year and it was something I looked forward to for months!  CAST2013 was awesome! I met so many interesting testers – some whom I knew and had many talks with over Twitter. With some of the testers I met it was like “hey we finally get to meet in person!”  One of the highlights for me was Paul Holland’s End to End agile Testing tutorial.  It was a fun, highly participatory tutorial that I learned a lot from. As soon as I came home from CAST I reviewed what I learned from the tutorial and started using the things I learned in my daily work. I had spoken to Paul on twitter and by email before meeting him at CAST2013, but being able to meet him, learn from him, and talk to him in his tutorial and also speak with him during the 3 days (including joking around with him) Paul is a great teacher and also one of the funniest people I’ve met!  Another highlight for me from CAST2013 is Rob introducing me to Jon Bach. The three of us had a nice chat over a meal and when Rob had to go prepare for his tutorial Jon and I continued to chat.  I enjoyed chatting with Jon, and he helped me answer a question I had regarding something I was trying to do better – but like many highly intelligent people he didn’t directly answer my question, instead he helped me think about it in a different way and helped me work my way to the answer myself.  I enjoyed every single talk I attended. I could write an entire blog post about the talks I attended, there were some great talks that I enjoyed.  I made sure so sit in the front for all of them!

Two weeks after I got back from CAST2013 I began my BBST Foundations course. Wow what a course and what an experience! I knew that I had better be prepared to spend time on the course and be 100% focused for the entire 4 weeks.  I went into the course very well mentally prepared – I was ready to sacrifice my life for those 4 weeks and made sure I learned a ton from the course (which I did) and successfully complete it (which I also did).  It was a tough, fast paced and intensive course – but it was also a challenging (which is what I wanted), fun, and rewarding course.  I met a coupe of good testers in the course who I keep in contact with via Twitter, Skype, and LinkedIn.  Erik Davis and I had been talking about taking the course together and I believe after some juggling on his side we were able too. I also appreciate the instructors and what I was able to learn from them, and also kept in touch with a few. Two weeks after the course I went on a long awaited and well deserved vacation 🙂

Towards the end of this year and most recently I started a new job – but not just any job, I am working with some great, fun, and smart context-driven Software Testers.  I look forward to working with all my new team members on our upcoming projects!

So what’s in store for 2014? Well first and foremost my new job. I will be presenting at MOIIST2014 in about 2 weeks.  I plan to register for the BBST Bug Advocacy course in 2014.  I also plan to attend CAST again this year and may even submit a proposal!  I will continue to write, read, discuss Software Testing and continue on working towards being an even better Software Tester every single day.

Before I end this post, I’d like to take an idea I got from a post Erik Davis wrote last year, to mention and thank the testers who have in some way inspired me this past year either through a talk, discussion, reading or listening to their work, working with them, training, re-tweeting my tweets & posts and even a combination of these to be a better tester.  Michael Bolton – thanks for everything, Rob Sabourin – awesome working with organizing MOIIST, Paul Holland – thanks and looking forward to talking to you again, Nancy Kelln – who has taught me a great deal during the past few weeks, and happy to say is also my new manager! Jon Bach – thanks for the chat at CAST, James Bach – who’s work I continue to learn a lot from to become a better Tester, Scott Barber – who I finally got to meet at CAST after following his work for so long, Cem Kaner, Gerald Weinberg,  Lona Vanberg – my new teammate, Julie Hurst  – who I met at CAST and also my new teammate, Erik Davis – who I finally met at CAST, Eric Brickarp – who’s inspiring talk I attended at CAST, Keith Klain – the Skilled Testing Revolution is under way, Matt Heusser – who it was a pleasure working with, Michael D Kelly, Martin Hynie – who I met at CAST and had some nice conversations with, Mike Lyles, Claire Moss, Tim Voet – who continues to help me get better every year, Troy Benohanian – who I was finally able to meet up with after many years and talk testing, Benjamin Yaroch, Dawn Hayes – gave a great inspiring talk at CAST, Pete Walen, Simon Schrijver, Richard Robinson, Ben Kelly – big fan of his The Testing Dead series, Andy Glover – big fan of his cartoons, Pradeep Soundararajan, Phil Kirkham – who has the wittiest comments on twitter, Alan Page – always enjoy reading his posts, Joep Schuurkes – who inspired me to write Fighting the Good Fight), Teri Charles – thanks for the encouragement and rooting me on, JeanAnn Harrison, Anne-Marie Charrett – with whom I had a great conversation with at the airport on the way home from CAST, Markus Gartner, Geir Gulbrandsen, Richard Bradshaw, Stephen Blower, Michael Corum, and Griffin Jones – who introduced me to a lot of great testers at CAST.  Despite my precaution not to forget anybody, I may have forgotten a few individuals in which case I apologize but my thanks to you as well!

Nov 28

Montreal Insights Into Software Testing

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I’ve been working with Rob Sabourin (whom I consider a friend, mentor, and a great mind in Software Engineering) and Stephanie R. to organize a Software Testing peer conference and workshop called MOIIST (which stands for MOntreal Insights Into Software Testing) in Montreal, Canada.  We’ve been working together and collaborating since early this year – in person over lunches, via phone, and Skype. This will be the first MOIIST peer conference & workshop and this year’s them is Collaboration.  More information can be found on the MOIIST website.

There will be presenters from Montreal as well as presenters from out of town.  I’ve seen the accepted submissions and the collaboration topics look interesting. I’m looking forward to all of the presentations especially those that caught my attention because I am interested in learning more about those specific topics and the presenter’s experience report about it.

I am looking forward to the presentations, the questions, the learning, all the testing discussions & conversations, meeting passionate like-minded software testing professionals and everything else that comes with a conference with passionate, intelligent software testers!  MOIIST will be held in January – it will likely be cold, there will likely be snow, there will likely be a windchill factor making it even more cold. Good thing we’ll have the option of plenty of great food choices to keep us warm!  Oh yes – I will be presenting as well.

Stay tuned for more.

Oct 22

Fighting the Good Fight

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Not too long ago I was describing the role of the test group at a company I have worked for to a group of Software Testers outside of the company. Now before I go any further I will say this – I’m not “bashing” any individual or group of individuals at the company.  The majority of people I’ve met in the test group are actually great individuals.  I am referring to the behaviours and attitudes towards testing.  I had mentioned the role of testing in the company and how it contradicted with what I did (including what I did at this company) and what I believed in as a proud and passionate software tester.  I described how there was a lot of checking going on that was labelled as testing – checking that applications and features would work as per requirements – and calling that testing.  I have a chart posted at my desk showing the difference between testing and checking as I learned from Michael Bolton’s work.

I also went on to describe some of the key responsibilities of the test group – which I explicitly stated were not things that I necessarily did. Responsibilities such as signing off (my post on testers signing off here), extensive standardized documentation in the form of mindless test plan and strategy templates, and mindless heavily scripted test cases pre-written before any testing was even done. (I have included more details to the responsibilities here than I did when I described them to the group of software testers).

I made sure I stated that I did not take part in all of these activities, because I spent (and still do) a lot of time and effort arguing my case, my reasoning, explaining what software testing really is, its value and that it involves skill, and thought, and isn’t just some mindless task just anybody could do.  I won’t lie, because I dealt with it every single day, at times it’s difficult and can even be draining to have to fight and disagree and have to prove and mention my reasoning over and over to different people in different positions within the company.  Sure, after some gruelling days I have even asked myself “is it even worth fighting for testing at this place?”.  Those next days, I still did stand my ground and fought for myself as a skilled tester who was there to provide testing with some type of value and not engage in mindless activities.  I had presented this to management a few times but unfortunately the situation and reorganization at the company prevented anybody with the power to actually do anything about it.

I received some nice and encouraging feedback from some of the software testers in the group I was describing this too, and one that got me thinking came from Joep Schuurkes who told me to “keep up the good fight”.  Now up until that point I considered myself fighting against incompetence in testing, against template junkies (I got that term from Rob Sabourin), and against testing zombies (I got that term from Ben Kelly), and stated it as such.

I was fighting against all of these things and I still do, every single day – but another good way to put it as I now do – I am fighting the good fight, and will do so as long as I am a Software Tester!