By James Whittaker

I told the crowd at GTAC during my talk: "I wasn't sure what to expect from India. I was not disappointed." Be careful how you quote me on this statement as getting it even a little wrong can make it seem like an insult. It is no such thing.Read More

By James Whittaker

I told the crowd at GTAC during my talk: "I wasn't sure what to expect from India. I was not disappointed." Be careful how you quote me on this statement as getting it even a little wrong can make it seem like an insult. It is no such thing.

After spending a week there, I still am not sure what to expect. It's a country of such contrasts with extremes on both ends of pretty much every scale you can come up with. India must remain a mystery to me as I have seen so little of it.

The Indian people, on the other hand, I think I understand a little better now. Their hunger to contribute. Their hope for the future. Their determination to be part of the solution in every way, shape and form. This is no simple case of outsourcing we have here. That attitude is so last decade.

This was the best GTAC yet and the credit must go to the people who ran it and contributed the most to its success. This is a case of India stepping up and doing what London, New York, Seattle, Zurich (and next year Mountain View) did and then raising the bar that much more. Toe-to-toe with the world.

There are individuals who can take a bow for GTAC, but the credit has be be far more dispersed. India ... you nailed this one.

And I meant what I said at the end of my talk. I am very eager to return. Perhaps one day I will know India well enough to know what to expect. I am very sure I will not be disappointed.

by Patrick Copeland

FYI...I'll be giving a keynote at QCon in SFO next week. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case my be, the conference is sold out. But they will post a video of the talk following the conference. If you are interested here's the abstract and a pointer to their site (http://qconsf.com/) ...Read More

by Patrick Copeland

FYI...I'll be giving a keynote at QCon in SFO next week. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case my be, the conference is sold out. But they will post a video of the talk following the conference. If you are interested here's the abstract and a pointer to their site (http://qconsf.com/):

There are many paths to innovation. At one extreme, we have large companies who create research labs, staff them with world-class Ph.Ds, and set them working for years to solve extremely complex technical problems. At the other extreme, we have the proverbial "two entrepreneurs in the garage" working on a shoe-string budget. Between these two extremes, we have all sorts of combinations of organizational structure, team size, budgets and time horizons.

History shows that world-changing innovation is possible through all of these paths. But history also shows that, as companies grow in size and reputation, they almost inevitably become more conservative and risk-averse when it comes to considering, and investing in, new ideas and disruptive technology – often with disastrous results.

He will describe how Google's core beliefs, culture, organization and infrastructure have successfully encouraged and enabled innovation throughout its growth. He will conclude by presenting and discussing a practical manifesto to stimulate and leverage innovation in any organization.

By James Whittaker

Wow, India is a lot different than I expected. Visited Golconda fort today and was totally blown away. Plumbing and "telephones" all the way back then. No wonder IIT is such a good university. All this history on this trip, first England and now India makes a poor old American wish he had some Native American roots. I feel so ... imported.Read More

By James Whittaker

Wow, India is a lot different than I expected. Visited Golconda fort today and was totally blown away. Plumbing and "telephones" all the way back then. No wonder IIT is such a good university. All this history on this trip, first England and now India makes a poor old American wish he had some Native American roots. I feel so ... imported.

I'm almost finished with my GTAC talk. Trial run today in Hyderabad for anyone local who wants to come. Tomorrow I close the conference. I hear they've decided where GTAC 2011 is going to be held but they are holding it secret until the end of this one. I only assume that since I don't know that it is not going to be in the Pacific Northwest but I do expect a return to America.

On to GTAC!

By James Whittaker

One of the problems with testing is that testers don’t possess a common vocabulary for the techniques they apply to actually perform testing. Some testers talk about partitioning the input domain and others gravitate toward boundary values but in general there are no catalogues of testing techniques that would allow a conversation such as: run the Landmark Tour on the bookmark sync feature of Chrome. Everyone understands that Chrome is a web browser and that it allows users to sync bookmarks, but how does one test it with a Landmark Tour?Read More

By James Whittaker

One of the problems with testing is that testers don’t possess a common vocabulary for the techniques they apply to actually perform testing. Some testers talk about partitioning the input domain and others gravitate toward boundary values but in general there are no catalogues of testing techniques that would allow a conversation such as: run the Landmark Tour on the bookmark sync feature of Chrome. Everyone understands that Chrome is a web browser and that it allows users to sync bookmarks, but how does one test it with a Landmark Tour?

“Tours” are the metaphor we use at Google to name and describe testing techniques. Every tour encapsulates past testing knowledge, i.e., stuff that worked for other testers on other projects, and can be reused and improved upon. Over time testers get a feel for which tours apply to what type of functionality. It’s a way to identify and store tribal knowledge of the overall team. That's the fifth ingredient: test guidance.