Monthly Archives: February 2021

Lessons learned from writing a ten-part blog series

After leaving Quest back in August 2020, I spent some time working on ideas for a new venture. During this time, I learned some useful lessons from courses by Pat Flynn and got some excellent ideas from Teachable‘s Share What You Know Summit. When I launched my new software testing consultancy, Dr Lee Consulting, I decided to try out one of the ideas I’d heard for generating content around my new brand and so started a blog series, inspired most notably by Terry Rice.

After committing to a ten-part series of posts, I decided to announce my intention publicly (on Twitter and LinkedIn) to keep myself honest, but chose not to commit to a cadence for publishing the parts. I felt that publishing a new blog post once a week was about right and made an internal note to aim for this cadence. Some posts took longer to write than others and the review cycle was more involved for some posts. The series also spread over the Christmas/New Year period, but the entire series took me just on three months to complete so my cadence ended up being close to what I initially thought it would be.

My blogging over the last several years has usually been inspired by something I’ve read or observed or an event I’ve attended such a conference or meetup. These somewhat more spontaneous and sporadic content ideas mean that my posts have been inconsistent in both topic and cadence, not that I see any of this as being an issue.

Committing to a series of posts for which the subject matter was determined for me (in this case by search engine data) meant that I didn’t need to be creative in coming up with ideas for posts, but instead could focus on trying to add something new to the conversation in terms of answering these common questions. I found it difficult to add much nuance in answering some of the questions, but others afforded more lengthy and perhaps controversial responses. Hopefully the series in its entirety is of some value anyway.

My thanks again to Paul Seaman and Ky for reviewing every part of this blog series, as well as to all those who’ve amplified the posts in this series via their blogs, newsletters, lists and social media posts.

The ten parts of my first blog series can be accessed using the links below:

(Feel free to send me ideas for any topics you’d like to see covered in a multi-part blog series in the future.)

Donation of proceeds from sales of “An Exploration of Testers” book

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In October 2020, I published my first software testing book, “An Exploration of Testers”. As I mentioned then, one of my intentions with this project was to generate some funds to give back to the testing community (with 100% of all proceeds I receive from book sales being returned to the community).

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve now made my first donation as a result of sales so far, based on royalties for the book in LeanPub to date:

(Note that there is up to a 45-day lag between book sales and my receipt of those funds, so some recent sales are not included in this first donation amount.)

I’ve personally rounded up the royalties paid so far (US$230.93) to form a donation of US$250 (and covered their processing fees) to the Association for Software Testing for use in their excellent Grant Program. I’m sure these funds will help meetup and peer conference organizers greatly in the future.

I will make further donations of royalties received from book sales not covered by this first donation.

“An Exploration of Testers” is available for purchase via LeanPub and a second edition featuring more contributions from great testers around the world should be coming soon. My thanks to all of the contributors so far for making the book a reality and also to those who’ve purchased a copy, without whom this valuable donation to the AST wouldn’t have been possible.

Common search engine questions about testing #10: “What will software testing look like in 2021?”

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This is the final part of a ten-part blog series in which I’ve answered some of the most common questions asked about software testing, according to search engine autocomplete results (thanks to Answer The Public).

In this last post, I ponder the open question of “What will software testing look like in 2021?” (note: updated the year from 2020 in my original dataset from Answer The Public to 2021).

The reality for most people involved in the software testing business is that testing will look pretty much the same in 2021 as it did in 2020 – and probably as it did for many of the years before that too. Incremental improvements take time in organisations and the scope & impact of such changes will vary wildly between different organisations and even within different parts of the same organisation.

I fully expect 2021 to yield a number of reports about trends in software testing and quality, akin to Capgemini’s annual World Quality Report (which I critiqued again last year). There will probably be a lot of noise around the application of AI and machine learning to testing, especially from tool vendors and the big consultancies.

I feel certain that automation (especially of the “codeless” variety) will continue to be one of the main threads around testing with companies continuing to recruit on the basis of “automated testing” prowess over exploratory testing skills.

I think a small but dedicated community of people genuinely interested in advancing the craft of software testing will continue to publish their ideas and look to inject some reality into the various places that testing gets discussed online.

My daily meditation practice has applications here too. In the same way that the practice helps me to recognise when thoughts are happening without getting caught up in their storyline, I think you should make an effort to observe the inevitable commentary on trends in the testing industry through 2021 without going out of your way to follow them. These trends are likely to change again next year and expending effort trying to keep “on trend” is likely effort better spent elsewhere. Instead, I would recommend focusing on the fundamentals of good software testing, while continuing to demonstrate the value of good testing and advancing the practice as best you can in the context of your organisation.

I would also encourage you to make 2021 the year that you tell your testing stories for the benefit of the wider community – your stories are unique, valuable and a great way for others to learn what’s really going on in our industry. There are many avenues to share your first-person experiences – blog about them, share them as LinkedIn articles, talk about them at meetups or present them at a conference (many of which seem destined to remain as virtual events through 2021, which I see as a positive in terms of widening the opportunity for more diverse stories to be heard).

For some alternative opinions on what 2021 might look like, check out the responses to the recent question “What trends do you think will emerge for testing in 2021?” posed by Ministry of Testing on LinkedIn.

You can find the previous nine parts of this blog series at:

I’ve provided the content in this blog series as part of the “not just for profit” approach of my consultancy business, Dr Lee Consulting. If the way I’m writing about testing resonates with you and you’re looking for help with the testing & quality practices in your organisation, please get in touch and we can discuss whether I’m the right fit for you.

I’m grateful to Paul Seaman and Ky who acted as reviewers for every part of this blog series; I couldn’t have completed the series without their help, guidance and encouragement along the way, thank you!

Thanks also to all those who’ve amplified the posts in this series via their blogs, lists and social media posts – it’s been much appreciated. And, last but not least, thanks to Terry Rice for the underlying idea for the content of this series.

Common search engine questions about testing #9: “Which software testing certification is the best?”

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This is the penultimate part of a ten-part blog series in which I will answer some of the most common questions asked about software testing, according to search engine autocomplete results (thanks to Answer The Public).

In this post, I answer the question “Which software testing certification is the best?“.

There has been much controversy around certification in our industry for a very long time. The certification market is dominated by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), which they describe as “the world’s most successful scheme for certifying software testers”. The scheme arose out of the British Computer Society’s ISEB testing certification in the late 1990s and has grown to become the de facto testing certification scheme. With a million-or-so exams administered and 700,000+ certifications issued, the scheme has certainly been successful in dishing out certifications across its ever-increasing range of offerings (broadly grouped into Agile, Core and Specialist areas).

In the interests of disclosure, I am Foundation certified by the ANZTB and I encouraged all of the testers at Quest in the early-mid 2000s to get certified too. At the time, it felt to me like this was the only certification that gave a stamp of professionalism to testers. After I received education from Michael Bolton during Rapid Software Testing in 2007, I soon realised the errors in my thinking – and then put many of the same testers through RST with James Bach a few years later!

Although the ISTQB scheme has issued many certifications, the value of these certifications is less clear. The lower level certifications, particularly Foundation, are very easy to obtain and require little to no practical knowledge or experience in software testing. It’s been disappointing to witness how this de facto simple certification became a pre-requisite for hiring testers all over the world. The requirement to be ISQTB-certified doesn’t seem to crop up very often on job ads in the Australian market now, though, so maybe its perceived value is falling over time.

If your desire is to become an excellent tester, then I would encourage you to adopt some of the approaches to learning outlined in the previous post in this series. Following a path of serious self-learning about the craft (and maybe challenging yourself with one of the more credible training courses such as BBST or RST) is likely to provide you with much more value in the long-term than ticking the ISTQB certification box. If you’re concerned about your resume “making the cut” when applying for jobs without having ISTQB certification, consider taking Michael Bolton’s advice in No Certification, No Problem!

Coming back to the original question. Imagine what the best software testing certification might be if you happen to be a for-profit training provider for ISTQB certifications. Then think about what the best software testing certification might be if you’re a tester with a few years of experience in the industry looking to take your skills to the next level. I don’t think it makes sense to ask which (of anything) is the “best” as there are so many context-specific factors to consider.

The de facto standard for certification in our industry, viz. ISTQB, is not a requirement for you to become an excellent and credible software tester, in my opinion.

If you’re interested in a much fuller treatment of the issues with testing certifications, I think James Bach has covered all the major arguments in his blog post, Against Certification. Ilari Henrik Aegerter’s short Super Single Slide Sessions #6 – On Certifications video is also worth a look and, for some light relief around this controversial topic, see the IQSTD website!

You can find the first eight parts of this blog series at:

I’m providing the content in this blog series as part of the “not just for profit” approach of my consultancy business, Dr Lee Consulting. If the way I’m writing about testing resonates with you and you’re looking for help with the testing & quality practices in your organisation, please get in touch and we can discuss whether I’m the right fit for you.

Thanks again to my review team (Paul Seaman and Ky) for their helpful feedback on this post, their considerable effort and input as this series comes towards an end has been instrumental in producing posts that I’m proud of.

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