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By Lynn McKee, October 28, 2010 9:52 am

I truly love to learn and am always seeking new sources. Although I have really diversified my learning avenues over the years, books remain a fantastic resource. I have been maintaining a “Books to Read” list for a couple of years now and it is always growing (despite my frequent book shopping habit). I find myself adding to the list frequently and when I attend courses or conferences, the list tends to take a significant growth spurt!

Today I reached out to Michael Bolton asking for some more good reads. Michael is like a living encyclopedia and somehow manages to drop the name of a new book every time I see him. As it turns out he gave me a listing of 172 books!!! Thank goodness at least some of them are books I have already read. I am excited to sift through the listing and decide what to put on my Christmas wish list.

You can find a listing of great books on my Books page. The majority are books I have personally read although I have added several I know to be outstanding that I simply have not been able to get to yet. If that list doesn’t have anything new and exciting for you, maybe I can share Michael’s list of 172!

So, how about you? Any great books to recommend? If you are like me you probably have a few collecting dust that have a perfectly intact spine still. Take advantage of the upcoming holidays to put some new books on your wish list, and then take some time for yourself and catch up on your reading.

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By Lynn McKee, October 28, 2010 9:20 am

My Resources page recently experienced a growth spurt and I was forced to reorganize. Now each section has its own page and includes a “Featured Resources” section on the right which was fun to create. The resource listing includes:

• Approaches, Techniques, Tools
• Associations & Online Communities
• Conferences & Workshops
• Courses
• Books
• People

The Conference Calendar links can now be found on the Resources and Conferences & Workshops pages or referenced directly at www.qualityperspectives.ca/calendar/. NOTE: There is no change in the URL.

The Testing Mnemonics listing can be found on the Approaches, Techniques & Tools page or referenced directly at www.qualityperspectives.ca/resources_mnemonics. NOTE: This is a new URL so update any bookmarks you may have to this page.

If you know of a great resource I do not have listed, please email me . Enjoy!

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By Lynn McKee, September 15, 2010 9:19 am

This week I posted the blog entry “Next “Spot On” Interview Oct 21 – Guest Expert Naomi Karten” sharing the news about Gil Broza’s upcoming interview with Naomi Karten. I am very excited about this interview and I am hoping to spread the news about this great opportunity.

Naomi is an internationally respected speaker, seminar leader, author and consultant, known for helping individuals and organizations improve customer satisfaction, manage change, and strengthen communication and presentation skills.

I have heard many wonderful things about Naomi although I have not yet had the opportunity to meet her in person. Earlier this year I purchased two of her books, Managing Expectations and Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them. These books are now amongst a collection of 10-15 books that are in my “must read” referral list for software testing folks.

You can read more about Naomi including a listing of her books and articles on her website at www.nkarten.com. Also consider checking out Naomi’s Blog or following her on Twitter @NaomiKarten where she frequently tweets insightful thoughts and references great articles and blogs.

I encourage you to attend this upcoming interview for the chance to glean invaluable insights from Naomi and Gil. Read more about the interview on my my blog post here.

Gil is hosting an excellent series of “Spot On” interviews with guest experts every 2 months. I recommend you check out his “Spot On” series and his “Q & Agile” podcasts on his website at www.3pvantage.com. You can also find Gil on Twitter @gilbroza.

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By Lynn McKee, May 5, 2010 1:34 pm

“Research evidence shows that mental stimulation through brain games and interactive puzzles encourage brain cells to develop more connections with each other, improving our general thinking.” This quote is from the book BrainMatics Logic Puzzles by Ivan Moscovich.

The book is full of excellent brain games and shares some valuable insight into how we can improve our problem solving ability. I found this very interesting and to have great synergy with the craft of software testing. Here is an excerpt from the book on thinking as a skill.

Thinking as a Skill
“Your brain works better than you might think. It is capable of making a virtually unlimited number of synaptic connections, each of which is a pattern of thought. The number of possible connections has been calculated, and the result is astonishingly huge – 1 followed by 60 million miles of zeros.

BrainMatics includes carefully designed visual problems, that will sharpen your ability to recognize and perceive patterns, to stretch your imagination, to make the most of your thinking. And as you do these puzzles and problems, you will improve your creativity, insight and intuition. Thinking is a learnable skill. If you make even a small effort to develop it, you will see improvement.”

The book includes further thoughts on the thinking skills of creativity, problem solving and intuition.

Creativity, Problem Solving and Intuition
“People once assumed that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that evil spirits caused diseases. Creative thinkers challenged these ideas. If we accept what we are told without every questioning its truth, we may never discover better ways of doing and thinking.

Throughout human history, people have regarded creativity with wonder. Creative thinkers seems to be able to maintain a connection to a childlike state of wonder, and to use it for creative ends. How do they do it? How can we learn to be more creative?

Creativity is the most powerful mode of human thought, a resource we can all draw upon in order to understand our life and to build a better world and future. From earliest history human beings needed creativity to solve practical problems. If our ancestors had not been creative, we would still be living in the stone age. And for this reason we all have a creative urge hard-wired within us.

Yet creativity is difficult to define. More than just the process by which new ideas are generated, it is really a different way of thinking, one less preoccupied with details than with fundamental relationships, less concerned with facts and numbers than with arrangements and connections. The ability to “think outside the box” is highly sought after today. A new age is upon us, in which creativity is increasingly important and more highly valued than ever.

Many researchers into creativity have noted the element of chance in the creative process. American scientist Linus Pauling (1901-94) was asked at one of his lectures how to create scientific theories: he replied that one must endeavor to come up with many ideas – then discard the useless ones.

Recent research suggests that the unconscious mind plays a key role in creativity. The research indicates that complex decisions are best left to your unconscious mind and that the conscious mind should be trusted with simple decisions only. Thinking hard about complex decisions based on multiple factors appears to confuse the conscious mind: people concentrate on only a subset of the available information , often resulting in unsatisfactory decisions. In contrast, the unconscious mind appears better able to consider the information as a whole, and produce a more satisfactory decision.

We use intuition constantly in our everyday life. Yet until recently the scientific study of intuition was largely ignored. New research has found that intuition springs from a set of important human skills that all act together to give a so-called “gut reaction”. The more you use these skills, the better your intuition becomes.”

You may have read my recent blog post “Sharpen Your Testing Skills with Games & Puzzles” in which I commit to providing some interesting games and puzzles on my blog. I look forward to sharing several from the BrainMatics Logic Puzzles book. I hope you will attempt some of the puzzles and games I post on my blog to develop your thinking skills.

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By Lynn McKee, May 4, 2010 12:01 am

My passion is in building high performing software quality and testing teams. I have found that successful and highly regarded teams are comprised of individuals passionate about their professional craft. Establishing a continuous learning environment is key to inspiring and motivating your teams. The following are some of the focuses I incorporate in the learning and development of my teams.

Advocate for Testing Within Your Organization
Advocating for software testing within your organization is fundamental as a test lead or manager. In fact, it is important for all testers to champion their profession. As it relates to training, it is important for management to understand the value of your team in order for you to secure appropriate budget and support for team development.

Establish a Continuous Learning Mindset
Our industry is constantly changing and it is imperative to maintain a commitment to the training and development of our teams. Continuous learning encourages an awareness of industry trends, provides a focus on continuous improvement, inspires personal growth, and through creative thinking it advances the craft of software testing. Ideally you will be able to establish the continuous learning mindset for your team, and more importantly instill a lifelong commitment to learning for each individual. Ultimately each individual needs to take ownership for their professional development.

Provide Frequent Learning Opportunities
Frequent training and development opportunities are important to remain current with the industry and to sustain the learning momentum. Being mindful of potential budget constraints, there are numerous low cost options to consider incorporating.

Incorporate Diverse Learning Opportunities
There is a tremendous number of learning opportunities for software testers. It is important to incorporate diverse opportunities in alignment with the organizational needs and the skill sets of your team. Consider including a variety of the following options:

• Courses
• Conferences & Workshops
• Organizations & Associations *
• Webinars & Interviews *
• Books, Magazines, Newsletters *
• Discussion Forums & Blogs *
• Internal Cross Training & Lunch and Learn Sessions *
• Networking, Networking, Networking *

In defining your team’s training and development plan, be sure to emphasize the options highlighted with an ‘*’. These options are typically low cost or free. From my experience, actively engaging in a few insightful organizations, magazines, books, discussion forums, blogs and by networking has the potential for greater learning than more traditional options. That said, there are some excellent courses and conferences available. Research the options and leverage your network for recommendations.

Often there are internal training options that can be considered. Leverage the strengths of your current team through cross training and hosting lunch and learn sessions. Encourage the sharing of new ideas by team members who attend courses and conferences through white papers or informal presentations.

Networking is a powerful tool for learning. Extend your network of software testers and interesting minds to discuss and constructively debate ideas. Challenge your team members to seek out perspectives that differ from their own. If there is the opportunity for team members to attend courses and conferences, place networking at the top of their “to do” list. Lessons learned from networking are just as valuable as the material covered during the conference sessions. Additionally, the industry relationships that can be developed at these kinds of events can be invaluable for future discussions or support.

Do not discount the online social networking options such as Twitter. If you are selective in the individuals, lists or tags you follow, there is a wealth of valuable information. In fact, if you follow many of the industry leaders you will quickly find that the volume of insightful information can be overwhelming. These folks are constantly tweeting about new articles, blogs, interviews, courses, conferences and challenges related to the craft of software testing.

Also consider sources not directly related to software testing and find synergy in the concepts. Michael Bolton is excellent at this. He finds synergy in everything from books such as Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, to theatre and music.

Consider referring to my Resources page for a listing of Associations, Conferences, Workshops, Courses, Books and People (many with blogs) you may be interested in learning from.

Place an Emphasis on Integrating the Learning
Knowledge and skills are truly gained when new concepts are applied and integrated into our existing frameworks. The statistics on learning retention rates are staggering. The following statistics are from http://www.tenouk.com/learningretentionrate.html:

Be mindful of your organization’s context and quality needs. Practices that work well in one organization are not guaranteed to fit in your organization. Consider identifying appropriate pilot projects to incorporate new concepts, techniques, tools, etc. on your teams. Continually assess the integration of a new concept and adapt or drop it as appropriate.

Provide Coaching and Mentoring Opportunities
Many times as leads and managers we adopt roles as teachers, coaches or mentors to share our knowledge, perspectives and passion for software testing. Ensure coaching and mentoring opportunities are provided for your team members. Often times the coaching may need to be from an external source such as a consultant to assist with implementing new concepts.

Set a Positive Example
My final thoughts are to be active in your own continuous learning and share your excitement. Enthusiasm is energy that easily spreads from one person to the next.

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By Lynn McKee, April 12, 2010 10:38 pm

Today I finished reading “The Gift of Time”, masterminded and edited by Fiona Charles. This wonderful book is a collection of essays in honor of Gerald M. Weinberg written for his 75th birthday.

I first saw Jerry at the CAST 2008 conference in Toronto where he delivered a keynote presentation. At CAST 2009, I had the pleasure of attending a full day workshop facilitated by Jerry. It was an outstanding experience. I was amazed at the casual, conversational format of the workshop and with my numerous “ah ha” moments and insights. Jerry genuinely engaged with each and every participant and shared his knowledge, experiences and perspective. I was further astounded later that evening to find a group of conference attendees gathered around Jerry in the hallway of the hotel. At 9:30 PM?! Very cool. This was a recurring theme as Jerry could often be found surrounded by inquiring minds eager to learn from the pioneer in the industry. Jerry was sharing the gift of his time.

The book includes the following essays:

• “Personal Recollections of and a Biological Look at Jerry Weinberg, Computing and Software Pioneer”, by Robert L. Glass
• “The Prince of Testers” by James Bach
• It’s All Relative”, by Michael Bolton
• “When a Therapist Meets an IT Community”, by Jean McLendon
• “Tool Time”, by Sue Petersen
• “Congruent Feedback”, by Esther Derby
• “Solving the Groupthink Problem”, by Willem van den Ende
• “To Measure Process Improvement, Look at How People Behave”, by Judah Mogilensky
• “The Wisdom and Value of Experiential Learning”, by Naomi Karten
• “Reflecting on a Workshop Called Problem Solving Leadership”, by James Bullock
• “The Consultant’s Consultant”, by Tim Lister
• “Writing is the One Surefire Way to Avoid Writer’s Block”, by Johanna Rothman
• “Generational Systems Thinking”, by Jonathan Kohl
• “Living in a Dream World”, by Dani Weinberg
• “Time – And How to Get It”, by Bent Adsersen

Each of the essays are enjoyable, quick reads. I found myself ranging from laughing out the loud, to scratching my head pondering why I had not achieved similar thought processes or conclusions. Better late than never to gain new insight!

As the back cover of the book states “Jerry Weinberg is the author of more than 40 non fiction books. His wit, storytelling, and jaw-dropping insight has won him fans around the world.”. Since meeting Jerry in 2009, I have realized many of my colleagues and industry thought leaders already knew of Jerry, his work and his invaluable insight. Many have shared with me that his work has had a significant impact on their outlook in virtually all aspects of the industry. I have sometimes wondered what rock I was hiding under that I had not learned of Jerry earlier in my career.

This book has affirmed for me that I look forward to my continued learning through Jerry’s work. I currently have 5 of his books and I look forward to picking up several more this year. If you are not already aware of Jerry and his work, I encourage you to read this book or others by him. I am certain you will be intrigued and inspired to learn from this industry pioneer.

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By Lynn McKee, March 16, 2010 6:58 pm

Lately I have enjoyed some great professional development books and am looking to share my thoughts here. Today I added a blog entry on the book “Behind Closed Doors, The Secrets of Great Management”. I will be adding more blog entries as I have read several books in the last few years that I would really like to recommend to folks. I also have a good sized stack to go through yet. I kinda went crazy picking up Gerry Weinberg’s books at CAST and TesTrek last year.

So I am asking the question, have you gotten “Hooked on a Good Book Lately”? I really hope folks will write me back and share their great reads with me. I am expecting to be through my backlog very soon and will need some new challenging and interesting reads.