THE EVIL TROLL WRITES A BOOK REPORT....

Perfect Software by Gerald Weinberg

I've had two books sitting on my desk at home; Perfect Software and How We Test Software at Microsoft; finished Perfect Software last night.

First of all, Michael Bolton referred to this book as a "gift to testers", and it wasn't in my case. I spent $23.95 for it.

Often, after I read a book, I sit and think about who the book was really trying to "reach" and what it was really trying to communicate. I'm an experienced tester and manager, so what I personally find valuable or interesting is different from what would appeal to someone newer to the field or not in the field at all. Sometimes I recommend books that I personally didn't find illuminating to someone else that I think might benefit more from it.

My favorite book written in the past 10 years is Lessons Learned in Software Testing. I'm telling you this to set the context; I've read pretty much everything published for the last 25 years. But I would not recommend that book to a beginning tester. And even with that one, I didn't agree with everything that had been written. The chapter on Epistemology. Ugh. But overall, what an awesome piece of work. I wished I had written it. That's about the highest praise any of us could (selflessly) bestow on the work of someone else...

Some of the things I particularly liked about that book were the humor and fact that the writing was so accessible. By that, I mean it wasn't written like a PhD dissertation. It was actually fun to read.

Perfect Software is equally approachable.

But overall, there was nothing for ME in that book. I found myself reading and nodding in agreement over most of the points. There was nothing in it that raised my blood pressure. Nothing that presented something I *thought* I knew in a new and different way. Nothing totally new to me that I could sit and think about.

I suppose, however, it started me thinking about writing in general. Do we really write to inform, to teach, to entertain, and to challenge? Or do we want a bunch of head-bobbers just agreeing with what we have to say and telling us we're great? There are a LOT of writers out there just expousing thoughts and ideas that we've heard a bizillion times before and that they know will only garner the type of responses that are positive. So what was THIS book looking for? Head-bobbers? Or to inform, teach, entertain, and challenge?

Overall, I thought it was a thoughtful and well-written book by someone that understands testing. But I'm not sure that book was written or intended for someone like me. I'm going to assume it was written to inform, teach, entertain, and challenge and therefore I think it would most benefit those that won't read it or buy it at all. Our managers and our clients. Perhaps someone newer to the field would also be inspired by some of the ideas in the book. They're certainly presented both intelligently and persuasively.

So overall, I'm out $23.95, and the experience wasn't bad. On the Wilkinson Richter Scale of Goodness, I give it a 3 out of 5...

And for those of you currently foaming at the mouth, please note that my comments have absolutely nothing to do with Gerald Weinberg's intelligence, contributions to the field, or IQ. This report is my own personal reaction to the book.

And good, bad, or indifferent, perhaps the report of one drop of water in the lake will encourage the other drops to read too and make up their own minds.

I'm currently in the middle of How We Test Software at Microsoft ($29.69) and I'll share my thoughts when I finish it. I've already noticed that Alan Pages's writing is much better than his limericks...(check out the Software Testing Club)...

IS THERE A PROBLEM HERE?

Guess I'd give this one a "yes"; Ben Simo's new blog appears to be a rip-off of what QA HATES YOU has been doing since 2007. It's very Pretty, however.

Take a look at the two and see what you think...

I knew better than to even go look at it when my Very Least Favorite Person In The Field implied it was the Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.

Evidently I like hitting myself in the head with rocks...

And while you're browsing, be sure to start yourself a cold shower and read Quality Joy's post on her first automated test. I had to hose down my tech team with a fire extinguisher afterwards. That girl is wasted in the testing field. She needs to be writing Quivering Loins novels.

Overall, March Madness is upon us and the Blogosphere is spewing both excitement AND excrement at a heretofore unimaginably fast pace. I've started carrying an umbrella for protection. I've been so busy I find myself resenting it when I click on a link and end up wasting my time reading something just flat-out, incredibly BAD.

Since this post is having its own issues in regards to focus, maybe it's something in the air.

Or maybe there's a problem here...

This is my busiest time of the entire year. We've just started our first 2009 major migration.

I've agreed to write a chapter for the Beautiful Testing book coming out in the fall, and to say that finding time to work on it has been difficult is Quite the Understatement. If it weren't for the fact that a lot of interesting people with widely diverse viewpoints were able to put aside their differences and do this for a charitable cause, I wouldn't have committed to it. But if all those busy people can find the time, I've convinced myself I can do the same...

Over half my staff is participating in a corporate "Biggest Loser" contest, they're all dieting, and you have No Idea as to how crabby they are at this moment. I try to quietly slip into my office and close the door as quickly as possible to avoid flying objects and epithets from people who define the real meaning of the word "cranky". It should be against company policy to diet during a migration. My team really can't function at peak efficiency without the occasional doughnut.

Then, after 4 YEARS, I've finally succeeded in talking my company into allowing us to try a significantly more radical agile test methodology for a limited subset of apps that are not subject to the level of regulation as some of our other work, and our first "proof of concept" will be in two weeks. If we blow it, it will be another 4 years before they'll let us try again, so I feel like I'm about to give birth... Very little in the way of specs, no test cases will be written, and I'm totally pumped about getting an opportunity to show that technique does not necessarily equate to rigor.

So things are crazy, I only have time to read or blog during lunch hours and then it happens. The Manager's Nightmare. All of you working as managers for any length of time probably know what's coming.

I've been signed up for an entire year's worth of Management Growth classes. Stop laughing, you Evil Trolls...

Yup, every manager, director, VP, etc. in the company is required to attend these classes. You lose an entire day of your life once a month, and there's homework in-between. The classes are somewhat ...different.... in that the "coordinators" and your fellow attendees are all encouraged to give you "feedback" (i.e. "criticism") and you are also encouraged to "speak freely". Evidently one is supposed to forget that one might be speaking freely to the senior VP in charge of The Life of The Entire IT Organization. Why not just shoot yourself in the head first? It would be much faster and less painful.

So I go to the first class, and you have to sit in a Prison Chair dragged into a circle. The Prison Chair has no padding, so those of us without a whole lot of excess adipose over their tailbones are visibly suffering in less than an hour. There's no place to put your water, a notebook, or a pen. The room is cold. The participants look like they'd like the ground to open and swallow them up. The coordinators are, well, they're EARNEST. It very much resembles what you would picture as sensitivity training. Very touchy-feely. The problem is that I work in a task-oriented, practical, hard-working company that is primarily made up of men. They aren't very good at touchy-feely. It was both funny and incredibly horrible at the same time.

So my own homework is that I'm supposed to separate thoughts and feelings and stop reacting to everything intellectually and "allow" myself to react emotionally instead. Instead of saying what I think, I'm supposed to say what I feel. I'm a woman in a male-dominated field. It's taken me more than 20 years to learn to do the exact opposite.

I told my boss my homework was to "emote" (his homework was to "support"), so we tried it while discussing personnel shifts and ended up laughing so hard, we had to stop.

People, I have an entire YEAR'S WORTH of these classes to take. Now, if I was going to be giving advice to YOU on this, I'd tell you get whatever you could out of the classes (since you're stuck there anyway), and to just suck it up and do what the nice coordinators tell you to do. But (pardon me for emoting), it's such an incredible, freaking waste of my time and I have so little of it!!!!! Especially now!!!!

OK, I'm done now. I guess those coordinators were right after all. Emoting IS very cathartic. Then again, everyone outside my office is tiptoeing past my door and trying not to even peek in the window. Evidently I was bending my Mr. Bill doll (a gift from my staff) into a pretzel...but I'm in better shape than they are. At least I haven't been trying to gnaw off one of my own body parts for sustenance or counting the minutes left until I get my celery sticks...

And sorry for the babbling. Blame it on the ides of March....