Learning Japanese? Web testing in Japanese? These might help
in Everything, Miscellaneous, Software Testing
as Japanese, learning japanese, Testing, testing in japanese
For those of you (us) whose Japanese reading skills aren’t comprehensive, you might find some valuable assistance with a firefox plugin called pera-pera kun. It is an extension of the also excellent rikai-chan.
It allows you to hover over Japanese words and phrase fragments and get a popup with dictionary / grammatical meanings. I couldn’t do without it.
You can find the plug-in here
and the required Japanese dictionary here
I believe there is also a Chinese dictionary out there, don’t think they do hangul (sorry Jared 
)
For those that are studying Japanese (or anything where flashcards are useful, really), check out Anki.
I am creating my own study deck, but if you want to dive right in, there are a bunch of pre-made decks available and plugins if you like that sort of thing.
I wish I’d found both of these years ago. Seriously. Hopefully they’re handy for some of you.
Machine lockdown purgatory
in Everything, Software Testing
as security lockdown, Testing
Clearly I’ve had it far too easy for the past 10 years. Working for internet-based companies with unfettered access to install whatever I like on my machine, all the internets I could eat, complete control over my testing environment(s).
I have a question for all of you who have in the past experienced complete machine lockdown in your role as a tester (or developer or similar). Imagine the following completely hypothetical situation:
You need to install stuff on your local box, but can’t because you don’t have privileges. Getting stuff installed on your box requires going through a cubic buttload of bureaucracy and can literally take 3 weeks. No (instant or semi-instant) comms with the outside world, disabled USB ports, the works. Does this hypothetical situation sound familiar to anyone?
Does one
a) Politely request that ones machine (and the machines of one’s team mates) be unshackled and cite decreased productivity as a reason (and possibly offer to instead abide by a set of guidelines that are reasonable)?
b) Rant against the concept of treating intelligent adults like naughty children or criminals?
c) Say nothing, but add a couple of weeks per app one may need to install to project test estimation?
d) None of the above, but something awesome that I have neglected to mention here?
Teh Google shows a lot of hits for people who are in favour of lockdown. Guess it’s okay when you’re on the other side of the fence. I found a few articles that were in favour of trusting users – I enjoyed reading through the comments here. I think it comes down to finding (begging for?) balance. I know not every user out there is savvy enough to stay safe on the internets, but there are plenty that are. Why should they suffer?
I’m interested to hear how people have handled this situation and what the results were.
What’s in a word?
in Everything, Software Testing
as educating management about testing, misconceptions about testing, Testing
It’s funny how one word can have multiple meanings. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately in relation to learning Japanese, and especially Japanese grammar where identical grammatical structures can have quite different meanings depending on context.
There’s also an English word that’s been bugging me a bit lately. The word ‘just’ can be an awesome word. It can mean ‘fair and honourable’, or ‘precise or exact’, but I’m not so much of a fan when it is used in the following sentence fragment – ‘You’re just a tester…’
It often is accompanied by phrases or questions like ‘you wouldn’t understand’, ‘you don’t need to worry about that’, ‘what are you asking about that for?’, ‘you don’t need access to that’ or ‘what do you mean you should be paid as much as a developer?’
As grating as the assumption that you’re not techie enough, or that anyone can do your job (or similar ignorance) may be, my advice is to not take it personally.
I could choose to feel insulted, but I don’t. It generally means to me that I have to help educate someone. I’ve heard it from developers, project managers, salespeople, executives, all sorts of people who think they have a handle on what it takes to be a tester. It may be that their previous experience has been a negative one with low-skilled testers. Maybe they have no experience with testers at all and are going on assumptions and second or even third-hand information. Whatever the reason, it is clear that their understanding of software testing is framed differently to mine.
Sometimes, a short conversation on what our differences in understanding are is all it takes, but if someone has the idea firmly in their head that testers are (just) monkeys that click on stuff toward the end of a project, you’re probably going to have to be a little more hands-on in demonstrating your value.
Find out what they think your limitations are, then find a way to add value that goes above and beyond what they’re expecting. At the start of a project, analyse the design and put together a risk analysis (along with what can be done – not just testing – to mitigate them). Are there unit tests or other automated tests you can review (and possibly improve)? Have developers put their money where their mouth is with Mike Kelly’s 5 bugs in 5 minutes challenge (PDF link – see page 5).
You might demonstrate the value of exploratory testing by conducting a paired testing session with them. What you do will of course depend on your own situation. Be proactive about it though. You can point them at blog posts and pdf links all you like, but until you actually demonstrate to them the value of a tester in a way that they’re going to notice or care about, you’re just going to have to deal with being thought of as ‘just a tester’. You might not have created the situation, but if there are people (who matter) whose point of view needs adjustment then the onus is on you.
So I’m in Japan now
in Everything, Miscellaneous
as Japan, Kendo, Testing
and shall be for the forseeable future. I’m working with an insurance group, putting together a new software testing team. Can’t really say too much more than that. There’s a lot to do, but I have good people with me and I’m up for the challenge. I’m also a lot closer to the bottom of [...]
What’s so great about getting hit with a stick?
in Everything, Kendo
as Kendo, learning kendo
Besides also getting to hit people with a stick? Plenty – eventually. As a beginner in kendo you generally start by learning the body mechanics, repeating the same movements over and over while your teacher continually corrects you on what seems like an endless stream of minutiae. It’s tough at this point – you’re not [...]