“The shoemakers children have no shoes” may be a common expression, but it is common because it is true enough, enough of the time. The mechanic’s car is a beater that goes without repair, the doctor refuses to get help about his back, the trainers and consultants don’t pay for training.
That might be true for some other companies, but it certainly isn’t true for us. This year, we’ve made the tough decision to attend James and Jon Bach’s Course on Reinventing Testers, May 16-18 on Orcas Island, off the coast of Washington State. Excelon will rent a house on the Island, probably hosting a reception at least one night.
Okay. So we believe in training and put our money where our mouths are. That’s great. The next reasonable question is: Why The Bach Brothers? I mean, aren’t those guys anti-Agile? Can they really re-invent testing?
Yes, they can. We know they can. Why?
Because they’ve done it before.
The single loudest voice for change in the world of testing from 1995-2005 was the Bach Brothers, who created the Heuristic Test Strategy Model, created, documented, and executed Session Based Test Management, and, along with Dr. Cem Kaner, help to move the term “exploratory testing” from a concept mentioned in the first Edition of Testing Computer Software, to become a popular engineering term. More recently, along with Michael Bolton, who coined “Testing Vs. Checking”, James has been involved in clarifying what computers are capable of and humans are capable of, ultimately dropping the exploratory part, to say that exploratory testing is testing.
This is real teaching material with depth.
The testing world is changing. The tools are better. Our interest at Excelon has expanded to include delivery, flow, and product development. Still and always, though, we find that testing has strong appeal, and though we are smart, try hard, and are sometimes first, we don’t claim to have all the answers.
We’re going to Orcas Island; there is room for one more at Excelon House.
Will we see you there?
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