Sirius Ruminations

Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to review a lot of paperwork for a few clients, most of it being test plans. I hate paperwork; not that paperwork, or test plans themselves, are inherently evil. It is just that in about 90% of the cases I have experienced, they are largely used as an excuse for, or at best a substitute for, doing any real work.

I Love conferences. I go to them as often as I can, and I almost always come home feeling energized and excited. But there is a difference between coming home and feeling like you had a good time, and coming home and feeling like you were just a part of something very special. Today, I feel like I have just been privileged to be a part of something special.

Ahh, we are at that time of year again…Conference Time! I love conferences…but sadly, like many small businesses, my ability to attend conferences in the last two years has been beaten down by the economy in general. This hurts not only me, and others like me, but also the conferences; their attendance falls overall, which makes it more difficult for them to get good content and good venues…without raising their prices…which just makes it more difficult for folks like me…you see the cycle emerging.

For the last four years, I have been working with a very large government organization on a variety of testing projects.  This experience has changed much of the way I look at and think about testing.

This morning, I am sitting here writing a blog about tool blindness.

I am writing this blog, because I have the time to do it.

I have the time to do it, because my test environment is down.

I recently went to a conference, my favorite, StarEast.  For many reasons, I have been laying low this year, so for the first time in many years, we did not participate in the vendor expo, and I did not submit a presentation.  I was simply an attendee.  However, since we have been so heavily involved for so many years, when I checked in I was pleasantly surprised to receive a small gift for being an alumnus, an insulated coffee mug with this years conference logo on it.

I have taken a long break from blogging, and that ends now.

And as is common, the catalyst for my newfound energy and enthusiasm is a conference — StarEast, to be specific.

As months go, this has been a tough one.

As weeks go, this has been a good one.

I have, for quite some time now, been involved with a very large client who is creating a massive SOA system.  Concurrently, the organization is moving from being very decentralized, to being much more centralized.  The two are not unrelated – this kind of project requires massive amounts of coordination that the organization previously did not support.  Growing pains abound.

Last week, I went to the Better Software Conference in Vegas.  I hate Vegas;  but that’s not what this is about, the title notwithstanding.

Last week, I was driving around, and my 7 year old daughter was in the back seat with me.  We were chatting as we drove along (her mind tends to wander and bounce around) when she suddenly made some comment about something she had observed.  I was immediately struck with the depth of insight her comment carried with it, and thought to myself, “Oh, I must write a blog about that – that is so relevant to what we do!”