Session Title
Linking the Testing and UX Communities
Presenter
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Session Type: Discussion
“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping a moment and think of it. And then, he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you.”
—A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
At the bottom of those very same stairs, there are two rooms. One is full of user experience designers practicing their art, adding value to software products of all kinds by making them useful and accessible to people. The other is home to software testers practicing their craft, defending the value of the product by exploring, discovering, investigating, and learning about it, and imparting that information to the people who make decisions about the product. And the people in the first room don’t know the people in the second very well, and the people in the second room have barely heard about the people in the first.
Yet both communities have a great deal in common. They work in complex cognitive activities, their best work is largely invisible, and their focus is on value for their clients and the end users of their products. Alas, their work is often misunderstood, undervalued, or trivialized. After all, anyone can do it, right?
What should we know about each other’s crafts? How do we learn about and describe our work? In 40 minutes, presumably without bumping, Michael Bolton (yes, that is his real name) would like to start the conversation between a community of skilled testers and a community of skilled user interaction designers.
Biography
Michael has over 20 years of experience in the computer industry testing, developing, managing, and writing about software, and has been teaching software testing and presenting at conferences around the world for eight years. He is the co-author (with senior author James Bach) of Rapid Software Testing, a course that presents a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time pressure.
In the 90s, he was with Quarterdeck Corporation for eight years, delivering the company’s flagship products and directing project and testing teams worldwide. Since then, he has been principal of DevelopSense, a Toronto-based consultancy specializing testing and software quality.
Michael is a leader in the context-driven testing community. He has been Program Chair for the Toronto Association of System and Software Quality and for the Conference for the Association for Software Testing 2008. He is co-founder (with Fiona Charles) of the Toronto Workshops on Software Testing. He has a regular column in Better Software Magazine and produces his own extremely sporadic newsletter. He lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Mary Alton (a user interaction designer) and two children.
Michael can be reached through his Web site, http://www.developsense.com.
Discussions
Linking the Testing and UX Communities
Session Title
Linking the Testing and UX Communities
Presenter
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Session Type: Discussion
“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping a moment and think of it. And then, he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you.”
—A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
At the bottom of those very same stairs, there are two rooms. One is full of user experience designers practicing their art, adding value to software products of all kinds by making them useful and accessible to people. The other is home to software testers practicing their craft, defending the value of the product by exploring, discovering, investigating, and learning about it, and imparting that information to the people who make decisions about the product. And the people in the first room don’t know the people in the second very well, and the people in the second room have barely heard about the people in the first.
Yet both communities have a great deal in common. They work in complex cognitive activities, their best work is largely invisible, and their focus is on value for their clients and the end users of their products. Alas, their work is often misunderstood, undervalued, or trivialized. After all, anyone can do it, right?
What should we know about each other’s crafts? How do we learn about and describe our work? In 40 minutes, presumably without bumping, Michael Bolton (yes, that is his real name) would like to start the conversation between a community of skilled testers and a community of skilled user interaction designers.
Biography
Michael has over 20 years of experience in the computer industry testing, developing, managing, and writing about software, and has been teaching software testing and presenting at conferences around the world for eight years. He is the co-author (with senior author James Bach) of Rapid Software Testing, a course that presents a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time pressure.
In the 90s, he was with Quarterdeck Corporation for eight years, delivering the company’s flagship products and directing project and testing teams worldwide. Since then, he has been principal of DevelopSense, a Toronto-based consultancy specializing testing and software quality.
Michael is a leader in the context-driven testing community. He has been Program Chair for the Toronto Association of System and Software Quality and for the Conference for the Association for Software Testing 2008. He is co-founder (with Fiona Charles) of the Toronto Workshops on Software Testing. He has a regular column in Better Software Magazine and produces his own extremely sporadic newsletter. He lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Mary Alton (a user interaction designer) and two children.
Michael can be reached through his Web site, http://www.developsense.com.