Category: Five for Friday

It’s the FfF Moscow edition (I’m here for the Heisenbug conference.

• As I approach my one year mark at Unity (and hopefully established a small bit of credibility), I’m beginning to push a bit harder on some topics. I’m reminded of this quote from Colin Powell, who says, “…leadership is sometimes about being willing to piss people off“. I’ve heard the substance of this phrase in many forms, so whenever I see it, it reminds me that making often change requires friction…and that’s ok.
• I’m (finally) reading Principles by Ray Dalio. His story is interesting, but the way he approaches life and work is truly inspiring. Bonus quote this week (from above web site): “Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life.“
• I visited a nuclear protection bunker in Moscow this week. Amazing to have such a structure so far under ground.
• I have a minor addiction to the Advent of Code. I’ve completed the puzzles through day 8. Several times, I’ve looked at the puzzle, and declared, “nope – too hard”, and closed the web page, but I keep going back and plowing through the puzzles. Despite working at Microsoft for so long, I never really had a chance to write much c#, but for this project, I’ve been using Visual Studio on Mac to write c# solutions, and have been having fun learning the language and solving the problems.
• Seattle is getting a Hockey Team (potentially). Too many commitments these days to drive to Vancouver to watch the Canucks, but I’m excited that we may have a NHL team here someday.

Some of my favorite / most interesting thoughts and links from the week…

• Yet another quote from one of my heroes, Simon Sinek: “There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.” I half-jokingly told someone on my team this week that “leadership is manipulation”, and it reminded me of this quote. The two sides of the “or” have similarities and marked differences that are important to remember.
• The Tester’s Island Disc podcast with me came out early this morning. https://dojo.ministryoftesting.com/lessons/testers-island-discs-ep-5-alan-page
• We all heard about the apple root password bug this week. What you may have missed, is this nice writeup on what exactly was wrong (I love debugging – if you do too, you’ll like this).
• I discovered a test conference (European Testing Conference) that wasn’t on my radar, and looks interesting. Program looks good, and hope it continues.
• I’m a big (HUUUGE) fan of soccer, and last night, it was great to see the home team make it to the MLS Cup. I will be in Moscow for the final (kickoff will be midnight, local time), but hope I can find a place to watch it.

• The US holiday is a time for us all to reflect on what we’re thankful for. This has been a year of transition, and I’m thankful for my family supporting me changing jobs, and for Unity for giving me a wonderful place to land.
• Quote of the week is, “Automated user interface testing is placed at the top of the test automation pyramid because we want to do as little of it as possible.” This is from Mike Cohn (inventor of the automation testing pyramid) emphasizing that while UI tests have a place, a little goes a long way. Too many people forget this.
• Dan Pink has a podcast!
• I discovered the Plantronics Focus headphones / headset while at Microsoft, and bought a used pair from eBay after I left. They’re comfortable, have great controls, and even pause and start music if you take them on and off. They’re a bit pricey, so look for a used set if you want to try them.
• Finally, I’ve recently subscribed to Imperfect Produce – they deliver organic produce that’s not-quite perfect at a substantial discount. Personally, I don’t care if my potatoes are too big or my onions too small – the produce is fresh, organic and perfect on the tastebuds.

• I’m heading back into a flurry of travel after taking it light for several months. This time, I plan to take Austin Kleon’s advice on Never pay for wi-fi to heart and take the travel time purely for reading, drawing, and reflecting.
• I’m still reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning and thinking a lot about the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, and how “Advanced Beginners” due to the Dunning-Kruger effect, often overestimate their (our) skills. In knowledge work, we see this all the time, and it’s good to notice it and see how we can help with the inherent problems with this.
• Marcus Purvis share this article from Pinterest on (more) Lessons from Scaling Pinterest. This is a follow up to some earlier points (link in article), but this one is a lot about leadership, and a lot of good lessons for those in leadership positions.
• Last week at the (internal) test summit, one of my employees re-introduced me to the Software Testing Cupcake anti-pattern. It was relevant, funny, and worth reading for everyone.
• If you want learn more about Unicode, get some new testing ideas, or just want to see some scary exploits, check out this article on Five things everyone should know about Unicode by Gojko Adzic.

Had my entire team visit me in Seattle (Bellevue) this week, so I’m a little slow on this week’s share.

• This quote about Agile is something I think I’ll repeat frequently – “Agile is worthless unless it serves as a catalyst for continuous improvement. ” The full article (here) is also worth the read.
• Twitter appears to have rolled out double-length tweets for everyone. I’m not typically anti-change, and I usually know why I don’t like things – but I’m still pondering why I don’t like this.
• I’m currently reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning. It’s been on my about-to-read list for years, and I’m sorry I waited so long to get to it.
• I found a few leadership gems in this article on Inc.com – most importantly, “Culture comes from what you do, not what you say.“
• I used a Macbook for my last 6 months at Microsoft, but switched back to Windows when I joined Unity. After 9 months of really bad experiences with Windows, I gave up and moved back to a Macbook. It’s been an easy transition, with far fewer (so far) isues.

Here are five things that caught my attention this week.

• I created a mind-map for an article I have coming out next week. It reminded me how valuable mind-maps are for communicating information. I’ve had a lot of luck using them as test strategy docs, as the visual nature gets much more engagement and feedback than a more traditional word-only based plan.
• I read Susan Caine’s book, Quiet years ago, and still put this quote in presentations from time to time.
  “But the idea…is right. To innovate, we need environments that support imaginative thinking…heated discussion, even arguing”

  It’s so important to not avoid conflict in order to create and innovate – but do it in a way where respect and trust are always part of the environment.

• This article from HBR reminded me how important it is to balance purpose and strategy in an organization. I saw (and fought against) a lot of this at Microsoft, and do my best achieve this balance in my work organization as well as my family.
• This week, I learned about the Motte and Bailey fallacy. I see this one pop up in the twitter-verse and in some aggregated blot sites a lot – it’s where someone treats a smaller part of the whole as the whole, and uses defense of the subset as a defense of the entirety. Look for it in writing and in your own decision making.
• I fell away from inbox zero for a while. I was lazy and didn’t spend a lot of time mucking around with email. I adapted most of what I read in this article, and now I’m easily back to my Inbox-zero lifestyle.

Five things floating through my head this week.

• I’ve referred to a line from Leadership on the Line (Heifetz / Linsky) more than once this week (and hundreds of times over the years), but worth sharing again here. “Leadership is disappointing people at a level they can absorb”. I’ve frequently used “… at a level they can tolerate“, but the point is the same. No change == stagnancy. Too much change == anxiety. Find the balance of comfort that allows people to move through change.
• I’ve been reading the latest Heath brothers book on The Power of Moments. I’ve liked all of their books, and this one hasn’t been disappointing. In short, the book is a deep dive into understanding what makes some events in life stand out in our memories (and how we can lead people toward those moments).
• There’s a new podcast in town. I’m really enjoying the Testers’ Island Discs podcasts hosted by Neil Studd. It’s fun to hear tester stories, and as a music geek, wedging in eclectic and fun songs into the conversation is quite entertaining.
• This week, I learned what Morton’s Neuroma is (it’s a nerve thing in the ball of the foot). After years of powering through pain, I finally got a proper diagnosis. While all that is exciting (not), the real win is that the treatment (a small pad behind the ball of the foot to push the bones forward) is both simple, and massively effective. As someone who wants to avoid surgery and chemical injections, I’m ecstatic that the treatment was this easy.
• On a much sadder note, yesterday, I heard that Noel Nyman passed away earlier this week. I had the privilege of hanging out with Noel for many years at Microsoft, and give him a lot of credit for introducing me to the overall tester community. He was involved in presentations, peer reviews, and workshops long before I entered the testing scene. He’s been low-key for a while, but he’ll still be missed by the community.

As promised, back again with five things I think are worth sharing this week.

• First off, everyone needs to read this post from Cassandra Leung. It’s a well written and haunting view into sexual harassment. It’s something we all should read, reflect, and keep in mind as we grow any community we are part of.
• This week’s WPA2 bug / exploit reminds me how much we all need to know about security (it’s not just a job for the experts). I ran into Feisty Duck this week, which  in addition to sounding like a cousin of Angry Weasel, has a ton of good information and training on software security.
• Ministry of Testing are making a calendar to raise money for Linnea Nordström – the daughter of a member of the testing community. I bought two.
• I just finished reading A Practical Guide to Testing in Devops by Katrina Clokie, and it’s really good. It’s a How We Test (internet connected) Software book that will answer a lot of questions I see testers ask about where software testing is going. It’s easy to read, balanced, and complete.
• All of the desks at Unity can switch from seated to standing. As such, I’ve stood and worked a lot since I joined. I like standing when I work (like I am right now), but I just improved the experience 10x by buying a Topo from http://ergodriven.com/. I can’t rave enough about it. It’s a little expensive ($100), but worth every penny.

• I’ve been reading a lot (a LOT) of management books recently. Last week, I completed Debugging Teams, and recommend it. I found the earlier chapters to be interesting and valuable, especially concept of HRT – Humility, Respect, and Trust, and think it’s a good way to treat people in general.
• One of our organizations at Unity uses peer bonuses. I have liked the idea ever since I heard of Google doing it years ago. Now, there are sites like https://bonus.ly/ to help orgs get this concept bootstrapped
• The latest (oops, not latest  any more) Manager-Tools podcast is an interview with Wade Foster (CEO of Zapier). Zapier (which is just damn cool on its own) is a 100% remote company, and the interview shares a lot of ideas on how to combine good management with remote work.
• My job is filled with random tasks, and my personal life isn’t any better. Many years ago, I began using leankit.com to track everything I do in a personal kanban board. The two rules of kanban (visualize your work, limit your work in progress) help me keep things organized and get stuff done. I also attended a class once from Jim Benson and highly recommend his book on personal kanban http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/
• At this very moment, I’m listening to one of the best artists you’ve never heard of. Ben Union http://benunion.com (also on spotify) is a Seattleite with some (I think) really interesting music.