Tips from an Old Test Manager
August 7th, 2008
(From The Build Master )
For most of my career, I’ve been a test manager. I’ve come to realize that the job of a test manager is really quite simple and consists of three activities:
- Say “no” to development at least once a day.
- On a regular basis, complain that the project is off track, the schedule is ludicrous, and the quality is terrible only to be told to “lighten up” by the program manager.
- Find the killer metric to measure the product.
What I’ve learned that I’d like to pass along (the condensed version):
- If [people] really want you to do something, they’ll ask at least twice. The first time they ask is just to see if what they’re asking for sounds good to them. If you do what they ask when they’ve only asked once, you’re not playing the game right.
- The bug resolution fixed is more a wish than a statement of fact.
- You can still be friends with your developer even after threatening him/ her with a baseball bat.
- A schedule is not a sausage casing designed to be stuffed to the breaking point.
- 95 percent of reorgs have no impact on the people actually doing the work. The other 5 percent of reorgs mean you’ll be looking for a new job. The trick is to know which one is about to happen.
- It’s fun to have one’s mistakes made into a Dilbert cartoon.
- If no one else knows how to do what you do, leaving your group is going to be tough.
- A spec is like a fairy tale. Only the naïve and childlike believe it.
- The first time a question is asked, it’s fine to say, “I don’t know.” When the same question is asked again a week later, you’d better have an answer.
- Metrics are dangerous. No matter how carefully you caveat them in the original mail, they are interpreted to mean something completely different.
咨询是一种心理状态
October 6th, 2007
刚才看到一篇blog：如何运营发展一个科比球迷网站
我是什么时候做科比球迷网站的？大概是98年或者99年吧。现在那些科比的小球迷们，还有多少人记得Eddie Jones和Nick Van Exel呢？那时候大家还不用Google，在搜狐搜索“湖人”或者“科比”，我的网站都曾经是排第二名的。
但就是没坚持做下来。我觉得这是我、以及很多ThoughtWorkers、或者说这些自认为很聪明并且确实很聪明的人的一个大毛病。我们只喜欢做最刺激的部分，但一个成功的事情不仅包含最刺激的部分，甚至最刺激的部分并不是最重要的部分。只有在最难的时候坚持住，在觉得特别没劲的时候还一直做下去，把最琐碎机械的事也做到好，事情才能做成。
比如说，在科比表现不佳的时间里，在夏季休赛的时候，也一直坚持着维护他的球迷网站。这没有任何刺激的部分，从山间小树的帖子就能看出来。我有时候想，如果我能这样做事，现在中国最好的科比球迷网站大概就是我的吧。
所以，这就是为什么我只适合做咨询的原因。这种情况至今没有变化。这也挺好的。
琐碎的伟大
September 24th, 2007
Alexey告诉我，在德国的RailsConf Europe大会上，很多人对我们说“谢谢”，谢谢我们做出了那么好用的production stack。Alexey说，我们肯定是干了些了不起的事情。
整整一年没联系的S，原来去了奥组委工作。仍然是编辑出版的工作，S也说，最初的激动过去以后，日常工作还是很琐碎的。
事情就是这样的吧。事后看起来很了不起的工作，正经在做的时候，也都是些很琐碎的小破事。唯一的区别是，它事后看起来是了不起的。
结论是，即便仍然是在做着琐碎的小破事，也希望它们是了不起的工作中的一部分。
