Cartoon Tester

Infographic

2012-01-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Sorry I've gone missing all these weeks, hope you didn't miss me too much ;)

Here's an info-graphic I created and was printed in the latest The Testing Planet, it took me forever to create this!
They are now asking for articles for the next issue if you're interested. Also, STC are launching Ministry of Testing, with the James Bach leading a Rapid S/W Testing course. I was lucky enough to attend this same course early last year. By far the best training course I've attended, and I've attended a few now!

Due to other commitments, I've had to put this blog on hold. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things in February (of this year!!).

EuroSTAR newsletter

2011-10-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Here's todays EuroSTAR newsletter. Let me know if you're attending the conference this year, would be good to meet up.

Mafia

2011-10-14T12:30:00.001-07:00

Roller-coaster of emotions and my theory of evolution

2011-10-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all, thanks for everyone who voted. Unfortunetely (for James Bond & Co.), the License to Test video didn't win.

"One doesn't realise how competative one is until one loses at something one wants to win."

Andy Glover, Today

After crying myself to sleep a number of nights, I can safely say I'm over it :)

Congratulations to the SIGMA QT behind the 'Quality Never Sleeps' film. It was a fantastic video with some funny one-liners! Here it is if you haven't seen it before:

Here's a cartoon first printed in STC's The Testing Planet

Vote Now! TeamSTAR comp for EuroSTAR

2011-09-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

The voting for the TeamSTAR competition is now open for today only (Thursday 29th) till 4pm BST.

If you like my cartoons, I'm assuming most of you do since you're reading this, I would appreciate if you could vote for the License to Test video! It should only take 1 or 2 minutes of your time. Just click on the image below:

Do check out the other videos, they're cool!

Many, many, many thanks!

Today's cartoon was first published in STC's The Testing Planet. I must thank Terry Bonds for spotting a typo (thanks Terry!)

A James Bond Film

2011-09-26T04:08:00.000-07:00

A team of testers and me submitted a video for this year's EuroSTAR TeamStar competition.

Hope you like it!

The team members are: Adam Brown (@brownie490), Jenny Lane (@mfboots), Tim Munn (@Nottsmunster) and me (@cartoontester).

The voting for the TeamSTAR competition starts this Thursday, 29th September. I'll post again on the blog on the day with a link to the voting.
It would be great if you could vote for us (if you think the video is any good of course!)

Pinocchio

2011-09-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

Train Them Young

2011-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Bored?

2011-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

There are a number of ways of getting rid of boredom in testing. One is developing an un-quenching desire to learn more and more and of the application you’re testing. So keep your eyes open and explore.

The Plan

2011-09-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

What is more important:

Knowing and understanding the application you’re testing

Being able to visualise how you are going to approach the testing

I suspect the answer is it depends.

From my experience, both are required for good testing. Knowing the application, its ins and outs and having the domain knowledge should help test design. Or, from the opposite point of view, not knowing how the application works will mean you won’t know anything about (any) coverage so you’re likely to miss out on bugs.

Being able to visualise your plan of attack means you know what you’re going to test, what areas of the application will be tested and which areas you can ignore (at least for the time being). This provides a structure that you can work in. Not having this can either make the testing daunting or allow the testing to go off on tangents.

This is why I like Session Based Test Management. SBTM provides enough structure and a plan to guide the testing but still allows flexibility for the tester learns more about the application and/or finds bugs, especially if the tester is new to the application and needs to get to grips with it.

I’ve found Rob Lambert and Darren MacMillan often write about visualising their testing or ideas (using mind maps, drawings, call flows). Here are their blogs to find out more:

Rob's http://thesocialtester.posterous.com/

Darren's http://www.bettertesting.co.uk/content/

Bug Bash

2011-08-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Bug bash by Wikipedia (incase you're not aware of the term)

The Cost of Automation

2011-08-25T02:19:00.000-07:00

This cartoon was designed by Raimond Sinivee. Thanks Raimond!

Raimond had a few comments to say about the cartoon [added to post on 30-Aug-2011]

The idea behind is that, it is hard to justify automation as a testing method to managers. When it is said that we are going to automate stuff, then first answer is: “Yes!”. The answer may change when tester gives tool cost or additional working hours estimate. Manager might go: “Extra cost? I thought that we are going to save!”

They want to see direct money benefit or labor cost savings. I think this comes from assembly line type of manufacturing. There has been lot of automation and cost savings through that. Testing is not assembly line type of work – it is engineering! So if we want to compare, then we should compare tools cost in engineering, not at assembly.

Automation could be taken as a helping method to cover new aspects of software that are hard or impossible to test manually. Usually these parts are not tested at all. Since nobody is testing newly covered aspects, then it is mostly extra expense to test them.

Tester job is to provide information about risks among other things. Tester tries to find ways to gather information about risks and how to level them. Sometimes a tester needs a tool to find out if the risk is covered. The result of executing a test could be that there is no problem. That is also valuable information if it cleared out a risk, but it is hard to actually calculate the amount of money that was saved. We could calculate the risk impact, but that also might be disputable and manipulated.

Robo-Cat

2011-08-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

In testing we can be bombarded with the notion that test automation is best. I recently read an article saying all manual testing can be replaced with a new test automation tool – what craziness! I can’t wait for someone to say all developing and coding can be automated too!

Test automation does have its place though. When a tester is repeating a step or task while testing, it’s worth investigating if that can be automated. Sometimes, writing quick and dirty automated scripts can save a lot of time. For example, when testing a web app, I often use a record and play back tool to log into the app, once logged in, I can carry on with manual testing. I can re-do these steps as many times as needed. Once the testing is finished, I throw away the automated script. At other times, for a large testing project, it’s good to invest in a test automation framework if you expect to run the same checks over and over again as regression tests.

Yet test automation always has flaws. One major flaw is the fact the automation can only check for what it is programmed to check. For example, if it is checking the login screen is displayed, it will check for this but won’t check whereabouts on the screen it is displayed, what colours, what font it is using or whether anything else is displayed on the screen.

Another flaw is that test automation can be brittle. A developer changing the layout of a screen may generate a false positive in the test automation. The tester will need to spend some time investigating why it failed and then update the script. All this adds to the maintenance costs.

From my experience, the biggest flaw is that test automation doesn’t find many bugs, and the bugs it finds don’t tend to be critical bugs compared to those found through manual testing. The main reason for this is that test automation is typically used for regression. The application has been manually tested in the past and most of the bugs have been identified, a test automation script has been developed to give confidence that the application has not regressed. One positive use for using automation is that regression testing is still required but can be and is boring to most testers – as it’s repeating the same tests executed previously without much hope of finding new bugs.

I recently read this article from Adam Goucher about test automation heuristics. It’s a good read :)

Watch out for next cartoon from Raimond Sinivee which has a similar theme.

Certification

2011-08-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

This cartoon was first printed on the STC's The Testing Planet

Critical

2011-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

As testers, one of our main jobs is to find and report issues with the software. We are paid to find bugs. If there are bugs in the software, and inevitably there are, testers need to do what they can to uncover them.

A major problem with this is that we can come across as very negative types of people, always bearing bad news. And we don’t stop there, we also raise issues with the process, documentation, people: “Why didn’t you do any unit testing?”, “That developer doesn’t know what working in a team means!”, “This feature needs to be documented!”, “You’re not supposed to make any changes to the code now!”

One way to avoid coming across so negatively is not raising as many bugs. But that approach is short-sighted! Another way, which is far better, is to bear good news as well as bad. I know I’m not the best coder, so when a Dev delivers a build for me to test, I know that they’ve done a better job than I would have done. Having this attitude tends to make it easy to give positive feedback on the software I’m testing. Also, as a tester, I try to do my best to test, to find and report bugs, but even then I make mistakes on a regular basis, I'm only human after all. But so are developers (believe it or not!), project managers and the pointy-haired boss.

Coverage

2011-08-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Coverage is tricky. You think you got everything covered, and then, WHAM!! A bug suddenly appears. You’re forced to defend your testing and you end up saying something like: “well, when I said I had everything covered, I clearly didn’t mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!” Because testing everything is impossible. Everyone knows that, including your clients/manager/PM/developer... right?

Similarly to automation, thinking about coverage can give a false sense of security. There are so many ways software could have test coverage. Requirements coverage for example, do your tests provide 100% coverage of the requirements? What about the requirements that aren’t written down in a document? What about requirements that are documented but are ambiguous?

But I’m no expert, while Cem Kaner is, he wrote a great article on this topic, worth a look if you’ve not read it before (if you care about testing you should definitely read it). I came up with one type of coverage “requirements coverage”. Cem Kaner comes up with 101 types in the article's appendix. The next time you or your manager thinks you need 100% test coverage, think again!

Discipline

2011-07-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Discipline is hard. Discipline is being responsible for your own development. Discipline is not letting your manager or employer organise all your training needs. Discipline makes you stronger.

But discipline can be fun too.

Have you attended a weekend or weeknight testing event? I’ve attended a few weeknight events recently and they’re great training opportunity to develop as a tester. The events provide an environment where you need to think on your feet as a tester, practise testing techniques and where you need to articulate your thoughts from test planning to reporting issues you’ve found. All of this without the fear of failure as it really doesn’t matter if you miss a bug or say something stupid, no one is going to bring it up in your next performance appraisal. It’s a win-win-win situation (the third win is because it’s a fun event – #WIN!)

Here’s a little badge I drew for the weekend testers to celebrate their 50th event anniversary.

Risk Based, STC and Recruitment

2011-07-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today's cartoon was first publish in The Testing Planet, issue 3.
You can see two brand new cartoons in the latest issue, which you can order from Amazon.

Just to let you know, I'm looking for a tester to work in my team, here's the job advert. Please let me know if you're interested and forward the link to other testers - many thanks!

Just looking

2011-07-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

When I try to explain what I do as a job, I have a nagging temptation to make it sound like I'm really clever and I do complex stuff at work, something like "I test the web application’s functionality running on handheld mobile electronic devices is displayed within the device parameters and each feature is correctly implemented according to detailed requirements and strict industry regulations". Of course, by the time I've said the 2nd word "test", I can tell I've lost their interest!

Ignoring the fact that we sometimes try to exaggerate our skills and knowledge, I'm a firm believer that software testing, when done well, is hard. But having said that, sometimes you can find bugs in software without clicking any buttons. There are times that testing looks very simple, especially if you’re watching an experienced tester do some testing. The tester might come across as just looking or playing with the software - anyone could do that they’re doing!

I think this can similar to sports men and women who are at the top of their sport. Whenever they swing a golf club, kick a 40 yard ball, or spin a ball with great precision, they make it look so easy as if anyone could pick up the sport and be a pro without blinking. A professional goal of my mine is to be like these sports men and women but in the software testing world. Whenever I attend a meeting where they are asking for my advice, or where I'm performing a few quick tests on an application or I'm the main tester for a large project, I want my every interaction to look good yet easy. I want to test software and find bugs by just looking, or so it would seem to the onlooker.

That's funny

2011-07-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

From other cartoons and following on the twitter-sphere, you may have noticed I like exploratory testing. This testing is not a technique but an approach, a mind-set to testing, it's often contrasted to scripted testing but it's not as simple as saying they are opposites.

At my last two work places, I've introduced a more exploratory style of testing, but the fact is they were already doing it without realising. What I introduced is making the exploratory testing more visible and manageable so clients could see the testing that was performed.

The major reason I like exploratory testing approach is that I believe it is a more natural style of testing. With scripted testing, especially the scripts which are highly detailed, the tester has to follow the script when executing them. By doing this, they may miss out on other bugs in the software since the script does not require the tester to check for this. This is specially the case for lay out and usability issues. Issues which in the past may not have been business critical but are now increasing becoming so. If you have an awkward, unintuitive software application, users will be turned off by it and look for alternatives. With good exploratory testing, the tester is well equipped and use heuristics or guides to remind them of areas to look at.

Cem Kaner originally came up with the exploratory testing term and James Bach has developed the approach and provides training to develop exploratory testing skills. One heuristic that has triggered many bug finds is the "that's funny" heuristic. If you are ever using or testing an application and you notice something strange or you have a gut feeling something isn't quite right, then keep searching, you might find a bug!

Peeping Toms

2011-07-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, the fountain of all knowledge, a scientist engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. When it comes to software testing, I feel this description of a scientist applies well to the day to day activities of a tester. For example, a tester, with varying degrees of structure, will systematically test the software, through these actions, the tester will learn how the software behaves, so acquiring knowledge. From this new knowledge, the tester can assess if there are any issues which he raise to the project team.

At school, during my science lessons, the teacher will ask the class to come up with an hypothesis, we would then have to test this hypothesis to confirm or reject it. Again, this isn't very different at all to testing. For example, when testing a login screen, I might come up with an hypothesis that the login screen will accept my username without a password. I would then test this out to check if my hypothesis is right (hopefully I'll be wrong!). If time permits, I could create new hypothesis and continue to learn about the software I'm testing. It might do these actions in parallel, I come up with hypothesis and test them out at the same time (a more exploratory style of testing) or I might write the hypothesis down, as in test scripts, and execute these tests at a later date. Either way, it's testing using a hypothesis to drive the testing.

Another aspect of using scientists as an analogy to testing, is the fact the they need to keep many variables constant. In testing we often do this, sometimes without being aware of it. When first testing the login page, let's say it's a web app, we would keep the browser and version constant to test the main features. If it works on one browser, we may choose to test on other browsers, or possibly try out some performance testing by adding the number of users already logged or trying to log into the web application.

James Bach came up with a short definition for testing: "testing is questioning software". By questioning and gathering the answers from using the software, we learn more about the software and where the bugs may be hiding. Here’s a definition of my own (taken from Mr Koestler), “Testers are the peeping toms at the keyhole of software”, ok, it’s not as good, but hopefully the point comes across J

Busy

2011-07-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a person who loves the technical side of testing. When allowed, I like to get under the cover and look at the code I'm testing. Not that I can always understand it, but the code may trigger new testing ideas to investigate.

On a similar vein, I enjoy using test automation, I particularly like to write code for automation. In my current post, I've been given the opportunity to learn Selenium, an open source web based test automation tool, I'm using C sharp and nUnit to drive the testing. It's been fantastic! I love it! It gives me great pleasure to see lots of checks flying through the web app under test. I say 'checks' because that's what they are, lots of checks. If I code a check for the title of the web browser, it will check the title of the web browser, not anything less nor anything more.

You may already know that test automation would never replace the testing capabilities of a human being, especially a human being who knows how to test. This is something I need to be reminded of on a regular basis. Since I love test automation, I could spend days writing code for a sharp looking automated regression test and forget to spend a reasonable amount of time testing new functionality, highly used features, critical areas of the software.

As a tester, it's important I continually assess the benefit of the work I'm doing. Is what I'm doing the best thing or should I be doing something else right now? A problem with automation is it can provide a false sense of achievement. Like I said, it's just checking, and often doesn't find as many defects compared to manual testing (the last sentence was an understatement). Michael Bolton was the first person to highlight and describe the differences between checks and tests. You can read more about the differences on his blog posts.

Become your enemy

2011-07-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

In the world of software testing, there are many testing techniques. The primary objective of a testing technique is to help the tester do some actual testing. Every technique has its strengths and its weaknesses. Some techniques can help decide who does the testing (e.g. unit/user/beta testing), other techniques can help identify which areas to test, but not one technique can help in every way.

One technique that gets a lot of air time in the software testing industry is Risk Based Testing (RBT). There are two ways that RBT is used and described. One is where you have a set of tests in mind and you use a risk approach to prioritise the tests. The higher the risk, the higher the priority and the sooner you execute the test. The second way is when the tester (or project team) generate a set of risks that may apply to the application under test, and then they test the application to see if the risk does apply (please Google RBT if you want a longer and better description). The thing that annoys me about RBT is that some people think it’s the be end and end all. It’s not, it’s just a technique, an approach, it has its strengths, but it also has weaknesses. For example, it’s not very easy to get a reliable idea about feature or code coverage using RBT. You might have good coverage on the risks, but you may be concentrating on one area of the functionality. The risks themselves are heavily influenced by the people or testers analysing the risks, so you could end up with a narrow focus (tunnel vision) of the risks. Another weaknesses is that RBT doesn’t tell you how to actually do the testing – should it be heavily scripted or use a more exploratory approach. Also, who’s to say the risks are realistic, maybe the risks are too farfetched.

With that in mind, I want to introduce the perfect software testing technique. As far as I know (and I know a lot), this technique has no weaknesses, it is pure strength! The technique is called “Know your bugs” © 2011.

With this technique, the tester images or visualises how a bug could appear in the application (the tester becomes the bug). With this in mind, the tester executes a test to confirm or reject the bug exists. Pretty simple really. And please don’t confuse this technique with RBT, it’s totally different.

Anxiety

2011-07-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Why didn't you find this bug?", "Why didn't you test that?" These questions can drive a tester to madness with worry, stress, fear, the sort of feelings that often get tagged as negative feelings, the ones to avoid. But feelings aren't negative or positive in themselves, is how you react to them.

As a dad, there are times when I worry for the safety of my children. Some of these worries can seem very real, and the worry quickly changes into a fear. Typically, this changes how I act or react as a father. I would hold on to my child a little more tightly. I would keep an eye on them a little bit longer. I would instruct them a little more clearly. All this is good, in fact, is in our genes. As parents, we want the best for our children, This includes their safety, as well as their education, security, etc. The trick, and it's a very hard trick to get right, is knowing where the parenting stops and the independent child is set free! That's something I will need to learn.

In software development, the worries and fears are altogether different to parenting, but worries and fears they still are. There is no excuse for a toxic working environment, where management in-still a blame culture. But even in healthy working environments, testers, including myself, can feel worried that, once the product is in Live, a bug will pop its ugly head when it could've been spotted during development. It's how we react to these thoughts that will indicate how we're going to survive as testers. Are we going to be down-and-out testers? Or live-for-another-day testers?

When you start your next test project, when preparing the test planning or attending the first project meeting, ask yourself "how do you want to feel the moment the software is put Live?" My response is "A modest confidence I did my best as a tester". From here, I would go and learn about the application, ask questions, be a team player, do my upmost to find important bugs quickly and communicate my findings to the project team.

My final point goes to those who don't ever feel worried: one day you might wake up… just saying…

Fishing Tales

2011-07-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hi one and all,

Once again I’ve failed to update this blog.

I wish I had a good reason for it, but I don’t.

As a way to get your favour back, I’ve decided to post a totaly brand new set of cartoons on this blog. The plan was to print them in an e-book and sell it through Amazon but I changed my mind!

The new cartoons are based on the experiences of cats trying to catch mice. The Cats and nice is an analogy of testing where testers are trying to find bugs, but please note, I’m not calling all testers cats nor all bugs mice. It’s an analogy, it only applies to a point. Most cats are cute, most testers are… well, you get the message.

With each cartoon I have added a quote that I think relates to testing. I got the idea of using quotes from a Twitter hashtag – #ihatequotes !!

Like all previous cartoons, feel free to use the new cartoons in presentations, but please contact me if you plan to use it in merchandise or magazines.

Alongside the cartoons, I will share some of my experiences in testing. I hope it comes in useful.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be posting the Cat and Mouse cartoons, stay tuned :o)

Before all that, here’s one of my favourite cartoons, it was printed in the Testing Planet at STC. I like this because of two reasons: One, it took a number of drafts before I was happy with it; two, it’s an area in testing I feel I need to improve on – selling the testing tale!

Rikard's cartoon

2011-05-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

The EuroStar conference programme for 2011 came out today. The line-up looks very promising. At last year’s conference I got to meet many great testers. Rikard Edgren is one of them, he writes for The Testing Eye, and as far as I know, he is the only tester who has come up with a testing concept using a vegetable – Potato Testing!

Rikard came up with the design/dialogue for the following cartoon – all I did was draw it. Thanks Rikard!

I should also add an apology for not updating this blog! Sorry everyone L

I started a new job at the beginning of March and with a few other things going on my brain has been on overload. But don’t fear, I can’t imagine I’ll ever stop drawing J

Testers are Ninjas

2011-04-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Tony Bruce (twitter: tonybruce77) is organising a fantastic software testing workshop event this May at London: London Tester Gathering 2011. The programme looks very promising and it's free to attend, the only bad thing is that they aren't many places left, so you better be quick and register if you want to attend.

Tony asked me to draw a cartoon for the event. So here it is! Hope you like. The theme is to do with ninjas as the Skills Matter web site which organises loads of free training events has a ninja theme to it as well.

The Good, the Bad & the Promising

2011-03-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

How to spot a tester cloud spotting

2011-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

A great team

2011-02-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the cartoon tester’s 1^st year. One thing I failed to mention (purposefully), is the fact that over Christmas I accepted a new software testing job at a different company. I’m really excited about the role and looking forward to the new challenges!

While deciding to accept the job, I knew I was going to find resigning and leaving my current job difficult. The reality has been much more difficult than I envisaged. I’m totally going to miss the people I work with. I’m especially going to miss my team. They are all absolutely great people and have made my job a lot easier over the several years we’ve been working together. Here’s a cartoon for my team… probably the greatest software test team there ever was…

How to Spot a tester in the making

2011-02-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

CARTOON WARNING: My wife told me this cartoon is only funny to 6 year old boys...

What happens when Testers meet up???

2011-01-28T05:09:00.000-08:00

Last year I attended a Tester Gathering in London that Tony Bruce organises, I was very impressed with the format and general atmosphere of the event - he's done a great job! So much so, that my colleague Adam Brown and I are now organising a similar event in Nottingham. With lots of help from STC, we are holding the first ever Nottingham STC Meetup on Feb 23rd.

It will be free to attend and James Bach has kindly agreed to give a presentation!
Please check Adam’s post with more details of the event.
And register to the event at the STC meetup site

P.S. I say Adam and I are organising it, the truth is Adam is doing all the work!

The Dark Side of Bugs

2011-01-25T04:27:00.000-08:00

the 'The Legendary' Pradeep Soundararajan

2011-01-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt about it, today's cartoon was inspired by Pradeep Soundararajan. He's a bit of genius, you should check out his blog.
Recently, he emailed me about a couple of cartoon ideas. I love it when this happens, new ideas seem to trigger even more ideas. One negative side effect though, is I end up feeling like a pessimistic developer! There is no way I can meet the [cartoon] requirements, as I will understand the requirements differently to the way people think they have explained them. But not to worry, I always provide a prototype of the cartoon to check it meets some level of satisfaction/quality :o)
Anyway, this cartoon is my representation of Pradeep's idea. Thanks Pradeep!

No user would ever do that

2011-01-14T05:03:00.001-08:00

1 Year Anniversary

2011-01-11T05:21:00.000-08:00

Today is the Cartoon Tester 1 year anniversary and what a year it has been!
Thank you all for following the blog and leaving comments. Initially I thought I would only run the blog for a few months, but due to the great response I decided that it was definitely worth continuing.

Some of my Highlights for the Tester Cartoon blog include:

Over 30,000 direct visits to the site – that’s incredible :o)
Cartoons printed in a number of magazines/newspapers/ebooks:
STC: Issues 1, 2, 3, If I was a test case I would
STP: Vol. 7 No. 5 and No. 6
Many Cartoons translated into Russian
The site is Number 32 in the charts!
Cartoon Tester display stand at EuroSTAR 2010
Received a hard copy of I am a bug
Accepted into the w-a-t group.
Got free entry to ExpoQA
Cartoons displayed in Test Conference in Croatia
Mr. Fails

Wow! What a list! Thank you again for all the great support I’ve received that has made the above a reality.

Recently, a few people have asked when and why I started drawing cartoons about testing. I think some of them were asking ‘Why? Why are you wasting your time drawing stupid cartoons?” but I think others were genuinely interested!

There are a number of reasons why…
One was that I wanted to get more involved in the wider testing industry. One option was to start a typical blog but I knew I wasn’t great at writing articles.
I knew that I had ‘some’ skill at drawing cartoons. I used to draw cartoons about my wife and I and our relationship together. Some of the cartoons made her laugh, so I thought I was unto something as she’s my toughest critic!
Another reason was that I wanted to improve my employability. I thought my CV/resume was boring to read, I felt I needed something extra, something a bit different.
With all this, I started drawing cartoons about testing early 2009 and ended up with around 20-30 cartoons, I submitted them all for review to the first STC magazine. I received such a great response from them that I decided to start this blog. Like they say… and the rest is history :o)

Here’s my updated CV, I had to remove some private information, but I think it looks much better than my old one…

Equality

2011-01-07T05:04:00.001-08:00

Lyrical Tester

2011-01-04T04:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

If I were a test case I would...

2010-12-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Anne-Marie Charrett (the Maverick Tester) has put together a lovely e-book to raise money for Chandrashekar B.N (Chandru), a tester recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The e-book contains over 300 memorable and funny responses to a Twitter challenge started by the Daily Testing Tip prompting testers to complete the phrase “If I were a test case I would…". The book is available for download for free here.
The e-book also contains some never seen before Cartoon Tester cartoons specially made for the e-book. Enjoy :o)

The Testing Planet is out

2010-12-20T04:50:00.000-08:00

Go and get your copy of the Testing Planet here

Here's a cartoon from the last issue:

Mr Fails

2010-12-16T04:23:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I would like to introduce you to a good friend of mine, Mr Fails.

He is an excellent tester but he's gone through a rough time of late. With his permission, I have written a short biography, please read his story here.

Mr fails would like to know if you have any feedback on the eBook. You can leave comments in the STC blog site, on this post or you can email me. All feedback is appreciated :o)

Kind regards,
Andy Glover

A little exercise

2010-12-14T05:49:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I lead a short exercise at the Danish Alliance during the EuroSTAR conference. I must add my thanks to Zeger Van Hese (@TestSideStory) and EuroSTAR for arranging the conference room for the evening session.

The exercise was straight forward but not easy. People had to go into groups and create a number of drawings of what testing is, BUT they had to use one of James Bach's descriptions: ”Testing is the infinite process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous so as to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous". The words infinite, invisible, ambiguous, unthinkable and anonymous had to be 'drawn'.
At the end of the exercise, I collected all the drawings and here is the result:

NOTE: I collected another drawing for 'unthinkable' but I can't remember what its meant to be now (really bad drawing skills by me!). If you were present at the exercise and remember the drawing, please let me know. Something to do with a cave/exit??

EuroSTAR highlights

2010-12-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Sorry for not updating the blog for ages. The last few weeks have whizzed by and now it's less than 2 weeks to Christmas! Where has the time gone?!
One thing that has kept me busy recently is EuroSTAR, a software testing conference held in Copenhagen. The conference organisers invited me to display some of my cartoons. To begin with, I was apprehensive, I wasn't sure how the cartoons will be received (I don't get to see people's reaction to the cartoons when I post them on the blog). Thankfully it was all positive, lots of people visited the cartoon stand, I even heard a few of them laugh out loud! Below is a photo of the stand:

I also managed to produce business cards to give out (not that I own a business!), so people could take them home and check out the blog. Each business card had an individually hand drawn mini-cartoon:

It was certainly a highlight to share my cartoons with other testers and chatting with them - a lot of them gave me really positive feedback on the cartoons. Another highlight was attending the many track sessions and workshops. It was unbelievable the wealth of experience and knowledge at the conference. The most interesting topic for me was SBTM (google it if you don't know what that means) but it is now better known as MTBS (coined by Carsten Feilberg). After one of the sessions, I met up with a few other testers who work in a similar environment to mine and we agreed to set up an email group so we can share our experiences on using exploratory testing and MTBS (that's another thing that's kept me busy over the last week - in a very good way!)
The social side of EuroSTAR was great too. I was kindly invited by Shmuel Gerson to attend the Danish Alliance. It was a real pleasure to chat about testing over a couple of beers (or maybe a few more). One of the nights I got the group to do an exercise (more on this in a different post). Suffice to say, I was glad I did the exercise even though I was nervous and not at all prepared! Many thanks to Shmuel and Jesper Ottosen for organising the Danish Alliance events. I won't forget the experience :o)

Last but not least, the biggest highlight by far during EuroSTAR was completely unexpected. I met Rob Sabourin. I knew of Rob through a children's book he created 'I am a bug'. I remember reading the e-book version a couple of years back and loving it. So, during the Danish Alliance, I approached him and introduced my self, to my surprise he said he was hoping to meet me! Wow! He wanted to give me a hard copy of the 'I am a bug' book, I was so honoured. The book has a great history - all the pictures/cartoons were drawn by his daughter - how cool is that?! I've since read the book to my kids and they love it :o) I got my wife to take a photo, you can tell they like the book as usually they can't help but look at the camera.

To finish off, here are two cartoons. The first one was designed and drawn by Nathalie Rooseboom DeVries (@FunTestic). The second was designed by Bart Knaack (@btknaack). He was one of the guys behind the Test Lab at the conference.

My first day at Expo:QA

2010-11-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended Expo:QA, a software testing conference in Madrid. The people behind Expo:QA did a great job organising the event and looking after everyone. They even provided beer and wine during the lunch break! The Spanish food (tapas) was fantastic too.
It was great to meet and chat with testers from around Europe and I found the sessions and key notes interesting.
The first key note presented by Arnold Aumasson was about the testing industry as a whole, its history and future growth. I’ve drawn a little cartoon to describe some of the points (but don’t quote me on it!).

The next keynote was from Dot Graham where she talked about test automation. My favourite bit was if someone is showing off about their test automation, ask them to run the automation right here, right now. If they come up with excuses (e.g. The tester who has to run it isn’t around, or we don’t have enough licenses, or the scripts are not available, etc) then their test automation isn’t up to much.
Next I listened to a session by Derk-Jan de Grood. To kick off his presentation, he said he sells testing. I think that’s great. More testers should be selling testing. He talked about selecting test design techniques depending on the risks.
Geoff Thompson was next. He talked about why in development we are still making mistakes. His overall message ‘testers are the silver bullet’ was well presented and explained.
After a fabulous Spanish lunch (with sea food paella) I attended a keynote by Alan Brown. He talked about improving the visibility of the development process. He was able to give a real example and I was amazed how transparent their development and testing was.
Virginia Chalegre was up next. She talked about accessibility testing on web sites for the visually handicapped. I found her presentation very interesting. Unfortunately, most web sites have a long way to go. One thing that stood out for me was if a web site is accessible then it naturally becomes testable too (this is certainly the case when it comes to test automation). At the end she showed us how to say ‘question’ in sign language. As I think a major role for testers is to ask questions, I made a note to remember the sign.

The last session was presented by Graham Moran around tool evaluation and implementation. I took lots of notes on this one so I think I’m going to have to vote this session as the best of the day!
During the evening, ExpoQA organised a social in a famous Madrid park, El Retiro. Drinks were flowing and I managed to speak to a number of people from Spain, France and Italy! I was impressed with how well they all spoke English.
Later on, I had a sit down meal with other testers. Here’s a cartoon of the people I sat with. A gold star if you can work out how many languages were spoken at the table!

After the meal we watched an excellent Flamenco show – a fantastic way to finish the day :o)

For more details of the presentations, you can check the expoQA site.

Beautiful testing

2010-11-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

[NOTE] This cartoon was printed in the Testing Planet

Oxymoron

2010-11-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

I’ve been a fan of Banksy for a while now. He’s a street artist who draws brilliantly funny graffiti. You can check out some of his work here.

Banksy recently did a film about making money in the art world. Guess what? Anyone can make loads of money out of not very good art work. So, with that in mind, I thought I could make (and sell) some testing ark work too.

And here it is (see screen shot below). What do you reckon? I call the piece “Oxymoron”. It is estimated to be worth around 3,000 US dollars. Of course, this is just an image. The original art work has been printed using a black and white printer.
This great piece of testing art can be yours. Just send me an email with your bid and the highest bid wins. Simple. (Bidding closes tomorrow evening).

On second thoughts, you’re better off giving your money to charity.

…And you’re in luck! This Christmas, STC are raising money for the charity Oxfam through a great eBook entitled “A tester is for life, not just for Christmas”. Testers can contribute to the e-book as well as giving money to charity. Read all about it here.

The Cartoon tester talks about testing

2010-11-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

I'm off to expo:QA'10 very soon! The s/w testing conference is in Madrid which is very special to me as I lived there for around 8 years during the 80s/90s. I can't wait to visit the place and listen to people talk about testing in my native language (as well as the chance to eat real food, you can't beat churros con chocolate).

Here's a cartoon I made for the conference...

Is that a bug in a s/w testing site?

2010-11-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

First things first. If you like my cartoons and want to find out more about me and what makes me tick, The Software Testing Club have just posted An interview with Andy Glover. Let me know what you think :o)

If you don’t get the “irony” of this cartoon you should definitely read this book: “Perfect Software and other illusions about testing”. It comes highly recommended (I’ve read it twice and I will read it again soon).

BTW… this cartoon was originally inspired by Rosie, the creator of Software Testing Club… don’t know why she would come up with a cartoon like this!! :o)

Cloning

2010-11-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be at EuroSTAR this year, YEAH! EuroSTAR's monthly newsletter has today's cartoon on it. Hope you like it :o)

More details here of what I'll be up to while at the conference.

Let me know if you'll be there and we can meet up.

BVA

2010-11-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

When testing, always know why you're testing.

Monotonous, context and certification

2010-10-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I just want to thank everyone who follows this blog! I would have given up months ago if it wasn’t for all your support :o)

It’s been a bit hectic of late so I’ve not been updating the blog as much as I wish.

Today’s cartoon was first printed in The Testing Planet (check out the newspaper if you haven’t done so yet).

I specially like today’s cartoon because it reminds me that if we follow scripted tests without using our brains, then we’re not testing, we’re just following a script! That can get very boring, I don’t like being bored!

I got the idea about the matchsticks from a fellow tester who heard the same joke a few years a go (thanks Karen!). The title for the cartoon “the monotonous tester” I got from an article by Pradeep Soundararajan (thanks Pradeep!).

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I hope some of my cartoons reflect the following statements I believe about testing:

Good testing is a challenging intellectual process (hence today’s cartoon)
There are no best practices for testing. It’s all about context!
Every software development is unique (e.g. be very careful with testing metrics and estimations)
Testers provide a service to the software development project (by testing and finding out relevant info on the application)

I *think* all of the above rings true with the context-driven school of testing. Some of the text was taken directly from the “Lessons Learned in S/W testing” book.

This has led me to believe that the current test certifications are harmful to the testing industry. Being a certified s/w tester (which regretfully I am) does not mean I know how to test. Test certifications are very good at identifying people who are good at memorizing words (I can be good at memorizing words). By claiming we're good testers because we have just passed a multiple choice exam sends the message to the wider s/w development industry that testing is fairly simple, so much so, that in future we could train monkeys to do our job (or automate every single thing that we do in testing).

I’m not a monkey (or a robot). Nor do I think my job could be done by a monkey (or a robot).

Thanks for reading. Thanks again for following this blog.

WARNING: You might find this cartoon depressing

2010-10-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like Phil (see his comment on yesterday's cartoon ), I suggest you close this web window/tab immediately.

Clash of the Bugs

2010-10-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

I recently watched Clash of the Titans. A very average film, but it sure would be nice to be a super hero, even if it was just for a day.
Anyhow, come back for tomorrow’s cartoon to find out what your partner really thinks.

How severe is your bug? What's your definition of Catastrophic?

2010-10-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

I read recent posts by Alan Page and the Testing Rat Pack regarding testing definitions, specifically around a test strategy. I thought both posts were great. Really good to see further discussions growing from them.

A Test Strategy – or whatever you want to call it - by Alan Page

Isn't there a word for that? - By someone from the Testing Rat Pack (whoever they are)

Part of me thinks that as long you and the people you are working with know what you mean then that’s all that’s needed (that includes other testers in your team, Dev, Users, Clients, PMs etc). The other part of me wants more! Surely the testing industry as a whole can do better!

Do check out both posts and see what you think.

If you like it, Alan has just posted another entry where he will be talking about the what and why of his typical test strategies:
Free Test Stuff

The Beard of Experience

2010-09-30T04:43:00.000-07:00

Today's cartoon was designed by Adam Brown (thanks Adam!)

Adam's contact details:

Website: http://testing.gobanana.co.uk/
Twitter: brownie490

Who are you calling a tool?

2010-09-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

Today's cartoon was designed by Nancy Kelln (thanks Nancy!)

Nancy's contact details:
Website: www.unimaginedtesting.ca
Twitter: nkelln
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/nkelln/

About Nancy:
Nancy Kelln is an independent consultant with 12 years of diverse experience within the IT industry. Nancy is motivated by working with teams who are implementing or enhancing their testing practices; providing adaptive testing approaches in both agile and traditional testing teams. She has coached test teams in various environments and facilitated numerous workshops and presentations.

DO NOT DISTURB, I'm testing

2010-09-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

At my work, I’ve recently introduced Session Based Test Management (created by James Bach). It has been piloted in an Agile project. I could be biased, but I think the pilot is working extremely well. There are lots of positives from it, which I hope one day to share, but there’s one thing we’re struggling with so I thought I would come up with some ideas and then open it to the rest of you for your suggestions and comments.
The problem is that when a tester is in the middle a testing session, it’s best if they are not interrupted. But with all the talk on being collaborative, the testers are getting interrupted all time. I need a solution where testers remain part of the team but are left to do testing when required without appearing rude. Please let me know your ideas :o)

Cleaner

2010-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Due to contract changes in our facilities department, our lovely cleaner has decided to start a new job elsewhere. Today is her last day and some of us will be taking her out for a well earned drink down at the pub!

Just a reminder to send your cartoons by the end of next week. I have a couple of cartoons already but would be great to have more cartoons submitted. For more info, check out an earlier post:

http://cartoontester.blogspot.com/2010/09/over-last-few-months-ive-received-few.html

If Metrics Ruled the World (part II)

2010-09-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

My second favourite testing article that I have ever read must be the Metrics article by Cem Kamer and Walter P. Bond:
Software Engineering Metrics: What Do They Measure and How Do We know?

How to spot a tester in the kitchen

2010-09-03T04:50:00.001-07:00

Create your own cartoons

2010-09-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months I’ve received a few emails/comments were people have said they are inspired to create their own cartoons. I really think this is great and I would love to use this blog over the next month or so for people to post their own testing related cartoons. Are you up for the challenge? It would be really good if we get lots of people to create and submit cartoons!

Hints and Tips:
Concentrate on the content of the cartoon. Unless you’re a really good artist, the text and dialogue are more important than the drawings, so try an avoid drawing complicated images (e.g. drawing some facial expressions is really hard)
Give yourself an hour or two to complete the cartoon.
Don’t re-invent the wheel. Have a look at other cartoons on the web and see what you can learn from the way they draw them. Some examples to check out:
• Xkcd
• Hyperbole and a Half
• The Oatmeal
• Not invented here
• Geek and poke

Email me your cartoons at cartoontesting@googlemail.com by Monday, 20th September.

I will review the cartoons before posting them, as I don’t want anything that is inappropriate/rude/offensive on the blog.

Let the fun begin!

... On a similar note, here's a cartoon that Markus Gärtner designed and I created. Check out his post on why blaming doesn't help

S/W Has Got Talent, and the x-Factor!

2010-08-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

I forgot about this cartoon but was reminded by a news item on the BBC web site: "Success for 'China's Got Talent' amputee pianist"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11106935

I goot a good feeling the testing industry are going to love today's cartoon x x x

Become an Exploratory Tester for only $100

2010-08-24T04:51:00.000-07:00

Actually, it may not be that hard to become an Exploratory Tester. Check out James Bach’s short but to the point blog post about exploratory practitioners

Long Test Strategies and Test Plans

2010-08-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I had the pleasure of writing a Test Strategy for my test group. By the time I finished it, the document was around 30 pages long, with lots of detail and in depth explanations of our approach to testing. I was very proud of it! There was only one problem, nobody read it. It was way too long, the table of contents was enough to put people off. Looking back, it was generally a waist of time for me and for the two people who had the misery of reviewing it. Since then, I've heard about other testers who have written large/huge test documents which were then ignored.

But the other day I was inspired. An artist has created cool posters/paintings using famous literary classics, postertext. He has copied all the text from a book, pasted it into the painting and removed some of the text to create an image. I thought I could do the same with my Test Strategy (only it isn't a classic).

Once again, I can be proud of my very own Test Strategy document. What do you reckon? I can now print it out and pin it on desk... although I probably won't do that...

TWITTERS: A special mention to people who follow me on twitter: I apologise if I sent you loads of DMs. What can I say? I feel ashamed. My only consolation is that I wasn't the only one to fall into the spammer's devilish trap. Until the next time, be assured it won't happen again.

Agile v Traditional Housekeeping methods

2010-08-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

Light Bulb

2010-08-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

When I approach a new testing project, I can be all the people from this cartoon. Sometimes I worry that I haven't got the right skills/training for the project. Sometimes I think the project isn’t exciting enough so I don't put my all into it. I might worry that I'll make a huge mistake (like not find obvious bugs) and get the blame, or even the sack! On occasions, I ask all the right questions but then don't follow-up on the responses. Metrics can sometimes drive my work rather than highlight how the project is progressing. While in a project, I can be very good at covering my own backside!

Where am I going with this? I guess it's important to know how you approach testing projects. If you know you have areas you can develop on, you can tackle them as you start your next project. A good way to help you with this is to share your experiences in testing forums/communities.
Plus, in Matt Heusser's latest blog post, you can definitely fine tune your skills in approaching testing projects. This is a great opportunity to compare your skills with an expert!

Breaking software, or not

2010-07-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of talk about testers breaking software: articles, blog posts and even books on this topic. It seems that a lot of testers get their job satisfaction in breaking stuff and a sign of a good tester is that they can break anything. But when they’re testing, are they really breaking s/w?

If this was the case, different techniques for breaking s/w would have been created and refined over the years…

And possibly in a galaxy far, far away...

Another opinion which is very different is that testers don’t break s/w, but rather the s/w is already broken before testers get their hands on it. In this case, a major role of the tester is to identify where the software is broken.

Initially, testers may question the s/w engineers’ abilities since they are delivering broken code. But on reflection, the errors may have been introduced before the coding had started and if it wasn’t for the engineer’s mistakes, the tester wouldn’t have a job to do anyway.

Therefore, the testing techniques and methods deployed by the tester when testing the s/w should revolve around identifying the areas that are broken.

When something is broken, it’s an error that has manifested itself as a software fault, or bug. The tester’s role is to spot or discover these bugs as they reveal themselves. An expert tester is able to spot them quickly, in an effective manner.
How do they spot them quickly? It’s because the expert testers believe in the ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu, who taught his men to “Know your enemy”. Expert testers know their bugs. They know where they often hide, know how they operate, what kind of diversion techniques they use and they know how they reproduce.

Would you like to be an expert tester? To be an expert tester you need to start thinking like a bug, get in the bugs’ shoes. Get to know everything about bugs.

Every time you approach s/w to test, think before you start: How would a bug reveal it self in this s/w? Or in short: What Would Bugs Do? This can be shortened so it’s easier to remember: “WWBD?” And if that is still hard to remember, there is lots of stuff out there you could order to help you recall “WWBD?”: T-shirts, wrists bands, mugs, etc.

Happy bug hunting :o)

*************************************************************

Of course, the ultimate testing expert doesn’t have an enemy. The ultimate testing expert works closely with the developers to reduce the number of bugs created in the first place… but that’s another story.

*************************************************************

Trivia:
The first testers who came up with the idea that testers don't break software were most likely Cem Kaner or John Bach during the mid nineties. A gold star for anyone how can confirm the correct date and place for this.

Links:
The main theme of the post is around discovering bugs. This links well to exploratory testing, do check out Michael Bolton’s list of resources for exploratory testing articles/blog posts.
The next testing book I wan to read is "How to break software" by James Whittaker. He seems to have a different opinion to this blog post. I'll let you know if James changes my mind.

Here’s another cartoon from Torsten J. Zelger about breaking software.

*************************************************************

The Testing Planet

2010-07-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! The STC have just released a new testing newspaper, THE TESTING PLANET!!! They've included 4 never seens cartoons. I managed to get a hard copy and the whole newspaper looks great, with good and relevant articles and it has a crossword too – they’ve thought of everything!

While on a similar topic, I must thank Rob Lambert from STC. He was the first tester to see my cartoons and he gave me lots of positive feedback. If it wasn’t for him, this blog might never have happened. One of Rob’s recent blog posts was about loosing one’s testing mojo… after my time out (and all the sport on TV) I’ve lost mine, I must find it back.

Just a quick note on one the cartoons in the testing planet as I feel I need to explain my self!
The naked tester cartoon - (which is on the same page as articles from Lisa Crispin and Anne-Marie Charrett. I’m not worthy!) the idea originated from some one in my team who came up with the name “the naked smoke test”; where we trimmed down an older automated smoke test so it would run quicker. Unfortunately the name didn’t stick. Some testers didn’t like it and the developers were really scared, I think they thought we were going to run the automated smoke test while naked – What’s scary about that?

... Anyway, do download The Testing Planet, it's a great read.

10 Reasons to stop testing

2010-06-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

I created this cartoon many months ago but I’ve been saving for now… If I remember correctly, I drew a draft of the cartoon and then read a post from Michael Bolton which helped me finish it off.

The reason I’m posting it today is because I’m going to take a short break from the cartoon blog… not just because the World cup is in full flow and the Tour de France is just round the corner, but also (drum roll) I am a now a proud father to a wonderful daughter, born on the 23rd June!! Mother and the two older brothers are doing well :o)

I will stay in contact (email/twitter) so feel free to drop me a line. I will continue to post cartoons over the next month, but not as many as usual… Now lets all hope Spain win at the world cup. Venga España!

QA v TEST

2010-06-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Actually, there is a better way to find out which one is better.
Michael Bolton wrote an article on this very topic (check out his blog post). Now, Eurostar have setup a webinar for Michael to present his opinions about QA and testing. I've already sign up to attend. His article is so good, that a couple of weeks back I organised a group discussion on it during a team meeting. It was a worthwhile activity :o)

3 types of bugs

2010-06-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different

2010-06-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

What's the best testing tool ever?

2010-06-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Don't do it

2010-05-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

How did you end up being a tester?

2010-05-25T05:17:00.000-07:00

NOTE: this cartoon was first published in the Software Testing Club magazine

Bertie the Bug

2010-05-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

Cartoon plagiarism and toast

2010-05-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

I've had an absolutely crazy week. Lots of stuff going on, mostly positive, some surprises, nasty news and a nice way to end the week. After an eventful 5 days, I can honestly say I was toast.

Let me explain how it all started...
On Monday, I heard about a new job role that looks very interesting which I think I will be applying for. This made me excited but also anxious as I haven't looked at my CV in ages and I've not done an interview for even longer.

But all of that became old news because on Wednesday two things happened. Eurostar announced that I will be displaying my cartoons at the conference during Autumn (get in my son! Come on! You beauty! Yeah baby!) and in the evening I attended the London Test Gathering for the first time.

To get to London, I ordered train tickets on line. Guess what? There was a bug in the web app that screwed up my order. I ended up with two sets of tickets. Man did I get angry once I realised I wasn't going to get back my £32 back.

After a while my anger subsided, and anyway, there must be a rational reason why there was a bug in the s/w, surely.
Lesson learnt: sympathise with users. Some bugs can make users very angry.

I got myself down to London with two sets of tickets. One ticket for me and the other for... me.
At the event, I found it a bit hard to "network", going up to people that I've never met and striking up a conversation.

After a few drinks though... it suddenly became much easier.

It was good see Michael Bolton speak for the first time. He's probably not aware, but a couple of years back, he once said to me on a test forum that he would buy me a testing book (perfect s/w) if I couldn't get my manager to buy it! Wow! Incredible, don't you think? Anyway, meeting him makes you realise that this man breaths, eats and sleeps testing. I hope people see some of my passion in testing through my cartoons, but there's no mistaking it with Michael.
During the event, I got to meet up with Alan Richardson, the man behind the Evil Tester. It was great to meet him for the first time as we've exchanged emails in the past discussing test cartoons. At a future LTG, we might do something together cartoon wise for a bit of fun...

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to run to the train station so I wouldn't miss my journey back. I was hoping to "network" with Anna Baik (an organiser for weekend testing), Michael and Phil Kirkham (does work for Software Testing Club) - although I couldn't spot him on the night. It will have to wait for another time.
After three hours travelling I got back home soon after midnight but couldn't sleep very well. Still buzzing from the networking and my old, tattered and extremely uncomfortable bed didn't help.

The following day, Thursday, was fairly uneventful.
Friday was different. To begin with, work was really busy. I'd organised a group testing session where in the space of an hour, 5 (ish) testers were on the chase to find bugs.

Later on Friday, the bomb shell dropped... I found out that someone in Russia had taken one of my cartoons ("the bugs have feelings too") and created mugs with them to sell at a Test Conference. I found out through an eagle-eyed tester (Roman Tverdohlebov) who had spotted this unethical behaviour. Can you believe it? Someone had taken my cartoons, printed them on mugs and was selling them!
Part of me was saying:

"Wow, someone must really like my cartoons if they think they can make money out of them."
Another part of me was saying:

"I can't believe they beat me to it! I was going to do that. Are they going to sue me now if I steal the idea of printing the cartoons on mugs?"

And yet another part of me was saying:
"The cheek of it. They stole my cartoons. There will be retribution. First, a train line steals my money, and now, my cartoons have been plagiarised. What's next?!!!"

Actually, what was next was going home to find out my new, well overdue bed mattress had arrived. Thank you God! I was toast and I needed a nice bed.

Good night

Updated Tuesday, 18th May 2010
After a few emails back an worth, the people who took the cartoons were very apologetic. They've agreed to include the copyright information on the mugs (rightly so) and also promised to send me a copy.

Defect Causal Analysis

2010-05-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Note: This cartoon was originally published the 1st issue of the softwaretesting club magazine.

A Test Presentation

2010-05-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

I’ll be watching/attending a couple of presentations tomorrow (Wednesday, 12th May). First, the webinar for the EuroStar programme announcement, there’s a free ticket for the conference up for grabs! Second, I’ll be attending my first London Test Gathering organised by Tony Bruce. Michael Bolton will be speaking there, so should be good, I’m looking forward to it.

Also, a special mention to Karen Selby who had the original idea for today’s cartoon. Karen and I have been co-managing the testing group for a number of years at my current place of work, and if I may say so myself, we’ve been doing a grand job!

Back due to popular demand

2010-05-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Bug Trophy

2010-05-04T12:10:00.001-07:00

Gambling Testers

2010-04-29T12:35:00.001-07:00

Stressed?

2010-04-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's a miracle!

2010-04-23T05:11:00.000-07:00

Real test estimation

2010-04-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

If metrics ruled the world

2010-04-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Design your desk to give a good impression

2010-04-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Fix them bugs, now!

2010-04-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

Bugs everywhere!

2010-04-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

bug advocacy

2010-03-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

He should have been a tester

2010-03-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

When trying to define what makes a good tester, a number of characteristics often come out: ability to learn quickly, attention to detail, resolve. I’m sure you could come up with more.
Which made me think; there must be lots of people out there who are slogging away at their job even though they were born to be a tester. They make a perfect match for the software tester role but somehow destiny has gone against them. Poor little souls.

Have you seen any of these people recently? Have you spotted a “should have been a tester” type person?

Perfect Software

2010-03-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Load testing

2010-03-10T00:22:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid this is the last cartoon in the "No user would ever do that" series. I hope you’ve enjoyed them!

Some people have not understood the cartoon about bugs being socialites. The idea behind the cartoon is that bugs often cluster or group together (in my humble experience). For example, if you find a number of bugs in one area of the software, you can bet your donkey there will be more bugs if you continue to test this area (although you might need to change the type of testing you are doing).
If ever you don’t get a cartoon, feel free to email me and let me know and I will be more than happy to explain, or add a comment to the post and other people might chip in with their thoughts too ;o)

One last thing, for all the twitters out there, I’ve just joined twitter! Search for cartoontester to find my tweets.

What's your Fault-Feedback-Ratio?

2010-03-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

Clusters? I'll believe it when I see it

2010-02-26T02:04:00.000-08:00

That's not a bug

2010-02-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

There were a number of people who didn't get the cartoon about differentiating between a good and a really good tester. For those who didn't get it or like the cartoon, thank you for return to this blog again :o)
The idea behind the cartoon is that it can be very difficult to assess the performance of a tester, this can be specially hard during the recruitment process. For example, a tester with a testing qualification (ISEB/ISTQB) does not necessarily mean they are a good tester (nor does it mean they're a bad tester!).
I’ve been recruiting testers for around 4 years and it’s not getting any easier. It can be very hard to determine if the candidate is actually any good at testing, it's one thing giving answers to questions in an interview but it's completely different testing real applications. If I had to give any advice, I would recommend employing testers who you think are suited to the culture of your work place; would you get on with them? Would other testers/developers get on with them? Also, for our workplace, it’s important that the candidate understands what type or style of testing they are getting into: is it heavily documented? What SDLC is used? Is there a requirement to use automated test tools sometimes/all the time?
I could give you more advice on recruitment, but I'm afraid I would have to charge you and I couldn't guarantee the advice would be of any use.
;o)

Calendar

2010-02-19T00:40:00.001-08:00

If most testers couldn't lie

2010-02-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

HELP NEEDED: I don't know what title to use for this blog post

2010-02-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

How to become a testing expert

2010-02-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

The Softwaretesting club have just released the 1st issue of their community magazine. It has lots of great articles and they have printed 5 of my (exclusive!) cartoons in it, you can download the magazine from the club's site. Enjoy!