In developers we Trust. The rest we Test.

The old school philosophy of testing is "Break the software". I used to think this way and be driven this way. Then I realized something, when my focus is on breaking something, my approach is attack mode..... If I want to break a glass vase, I throw it down and it breaks. If I want to break my software, I find vulnerable spots and take a jab at it. Then what? I report, "hey, its broken" and probably feel proud that "Hey, I broke it!!" Then what? I don't know.  I am not sure if this approach every worked for me. I usually fall in love with most products I work on. They are my babies. I want the best for them. I want them to evolve and improve. I want them to co-exist with their sibling applications. I want them to have a unique name in the software industries. I want to give them the best opportunities I can provide with my team. It takes a village It take a village to raise a kid. It takes a team to create a prod

I am often asked about how I deal with my programmers on a day to day basis. The question means well, I am giving them bad news about their work. It is only natural for anyone to doubt - how this paid relationship works!? There is this joke / story I heard a while ago that could explain the tension between a developer and the QA. Here the Wife is the Developer and the Husband is the QA. Wife : (puts on a new pair of jeans) Does this make my butt look big? Husband : (just stares, if he tells her the truth, she might get mad. If she does not her friends will tell her the truth and she will still get mad) Wife : Honey, you can tell me. I won’t get mad. Husband : You say that now…. Wife : I promise I won’t get mad. You can tell me anything. We should be able to tell each other anything. Husband : OK, here it goes. I slept with your sister. That is how I typically roll. I gain their trust and then give them a bunch of bugs I found. It is not my job to make sure ever

“Working so hard” “There is a lot of work to do” “Such a big application” “So many bugs”  "Too much work load"  "Not enough time" What should it really mean to the person hearing it? – Nothing. I have seen members take loads of work and not bat an eye and do it with ease. I have also seen members take little work and make it look big and stress out and stress others out. I have also seen organizations that plan and work smart. I have seen organizations that plan to work really, really hard. I am not here to explain the right way of doing things. Whatever floats your boat!! Lol But, when people talk about a lot of work, it reminds me of the Woody Allen movie – Annie Hall There is a scene in the movie with a psychiatrist. The conversation goes like this - Alvy's psychiatrist : How often do you sleep together? Annie's psychiatrist : Do you have sex often? Alvy Singer : Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.

Why was this movie not good? It was not bad!! The actors were beautiful with all star cast  The acting was top notch The direction was also brilliant The CGI and stuff was excellent The cinematography was breathtaking Most of the geographical aspects of an alien planet were pretty nicely captured. But the movie lacked something. Something was missing. It even irritated quite a number of audiences. It gave the audience a visual treat but stole the original experience they have craved for decades. The core of movie which is the  story  did not know what it wanted to give to the audience. Resulting in travelling a group of brilliant scientists without letting them know their mission, a pretty girl who works out like crazy but cannot stop running straight, a zombie, an alien snake, a beautiful android who knows too much or just curious, a dead old billionaire who is not really dead, a female scientist (I don’t even want to touch that). And the alien creator guy rips of Mich

QA efforts valued based on the bugs that make it to production. Once upon a time in an Asian village, there lived 4 brothers. All the four brothers were doctors. The eldest brother treated many patients for years.  He charged reasonably for the years of treatment. Most of them advanced to terminally ill condition.  Many of them died.  He talked a lot about all the reasons that lead to the patient's death and how his treatments to save the patient became ineffective due to reasons not in his control.  He was famous all over the village and a little in the surrounding villages too. He was very important to them.  He did not get a bad rep either. People thought he did his best. The second brother treated patients with care too for months. He charged an arm and a leg as his fees. A few of his patients became chronically ill even after months of treatment.  Most of his patients survived and recovered.  Few of his patients became terminally ill. He explained abo

I had the luxury of working with insanely smart people. I had the misery of working with mind numbingly inane people too. I had the luxury of working for morons and reporting to oxymoron. The moron are okay, they don't know any better. They can be educated. The oxymoron's they do know better. They purposefully want you to swim against the currents just to prove a point to nobody, not even themselves. They cannot be reasoned with. I would totally run from these!! And I have.

The Circle of Office -  I am a Bitch (not in general) I am my boss' bitch. My boss is their manager's bitch. The manager is the vice president's bitch. The VP is the CEO's bitch. The CEO is the bitch to all the stake holders. Instead of bitching about this situation, I try to be the best bitch I possibly can be (excuse the expression). When it comes to working in an office, we are confined to cubicles physically and to the manager’s invisible boundaries. Learn to live and learn to grow. If you signed up to swim in a pond, do not complain that it is not as challenging as swimming in an ocean. If you signed up to swim in the ocean, do not complain that it is not as predictable as a pond. Do the best you can. Learn to use the currents. Do not work against them. If you do, you will fail and a new swimmer can replace you. One should be replaced for sucking at ones job, not for trying to make a work place better. Update - Well, this is what I thought, t