Testing Principals Applied Elsewhere

The longer I remain in testing, the more often I find I am subconsciously applying testing principals to my everyday life. The one I use most frequently is Risk-Based Testing.

Risk-Based Testing prioritizes testing of features, functions, etc based on the risk they represent either on their importance or the likelihood of failure. This can be extrapolated further based on the revenue loss to the company, problems for the customer, or further if you'd like. Yesterday, I found myself applying it to buying a car.

The car in question is a 99 Porsche Boxter. She had good miles and a good price. I went to test drive it and found a few issues for negotiation. There was light, but extensive hail damage all over the car, the air conditioner was not working (not a fun test drive in 94 degree heat) and the temperature light was flashing, although the temperature dial was showing the car was not overheating. Otherwise, the car ran like new.

When I began negotiation with the dealer, they immediately offered to fix the hail damage. I took that in consideration and added that they would need to fix the air conditioning and the temp. light.

After more negotiation, we were nearing the price I wanted, but still not close enough. I knew their concern was about the cost of the potential repairs. How much would it cost them to sell me the car? Then I looked at what I wanted fixed, hail damage, Air Conditioner and temperature light.

I love watching BBC car shows, especially Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers. Wheeler Dealers buys older cars, fixes them up and sells them for a profit. One of my favorite episodes was one where they bought a Porsche 911. They would talk about problems saying, "this could be simple, or it could be expensive, Porsche expensive".

That phrase kept running through my head, "Porsche expensive".

So, instead of raising my offer, I dropped my fixes. I offered them the same dollar amount, but dropped the hail damage. I knew I could get that fixed fairly reasonably, but I had no idea about the air conditioning and temperature light. Those were high risk.

The salesman looked at me, smiled and said, "I see what you're doing, you know what the hail (damage) is, but you don't know about the rest. Smart move."

That got the price closer to what I wanted, but in the end, we left over a matter of $500. I expect I will get a call in a few days if it isn't sold.

Anyway, that is risk-based testing in action. The air conditioner could be a simple belt replacement a system recharge, or it could mean a new compressor and cost a couple of thousand dollars. The flashing temperature light could be as simple as low coolant, or it could mean a complete engine rebuild. Light hail damage can be removed via paintless dent removal, a few hundred dollars at the most.

The Tester Gene

As a QA Analyst, qaI have discovered what I call the "Tester Gene". I have the innate ability to find problems even when I'm not looking for any. My most infamous incident was on a flight from San Francisco to DFW.

I noticed as we were prepping for takeoff that the seatbelt light was out over my seat. Not a huge deal, but a safety concern. I let the flight attendant know about it so the bulb could be fixed the next time the plane was in for service.

Later, I turned on my over seat light. And it didn't come on. I was lucky enough to have a row (2 seats) to myself, so I "tested" the other light. It came on. The flight attendant came by and I let her know the light was out, too. Then, the guy in front of me tried to turn his on, and it also did not come on. he told her as well. Then the guy in front of him tried to turn on his light, and it also did not come on. So, three reading lights out and one seatbelt light out. There was clearly a short.

When we landed at DFW, I settled in, because we didn't have to change planes because the same plane was going through to Oklahoma City. The pilot then made an announcement that we were going to have to change planes due to a maintenance issue. Oops.... we wound up getting home over an hour late, thanks to my tester gene.

Well, today it reared it head again. I was completing some online job hunting training for unemployment. As I entered my personal information required by the system, name, address, social security number, I noticed the URL was for a non-secure server. A serious no-no. That could lead to a breach of information and eventually identity theft. I'm going to have to look into that and see who I need to contact. I'm sure no one will care, but at least it's reported.

Oh, if you are wondering if you are accessing a secure server, look at the URL. If it says https://www.whatever.com, you are on a secure server. If it only says http:// ... then you are on a non-secure server.

I can't believe it!

I helped found a company this weekend! No Shit! You can find out more on Twitter @TravelDice also on Facebook. Search for TravelDice. And of course, our website and blog TravelDice.com.

It's really simple. You want to go somewhere, but you don't know where. You have $700 to spend for 3 days starting on the 15th. Just go to TravelDice.com, enter the amount you want to spend, and the date you are leaving. Then roll the TraveDice.

TD will display every location within your budged and your date range. You might find out you can go to Vegas, Boston or Cancun for the same price.

If you have any suggestions, let me know or drop us a line @TravelDice.com.

Crazy Weekend Ahead

Attending Startup Weekend this weekend. It will be an intense time. okcity.startupweekend.com

Hello World!

The idea of a "blog" came to me somewhere over the Mojave last year. Partly to kill the boredom of travelling halfway across the country and back every week, and partly to flex my creative muscles again. I never got around to doing it, mainly because I rarely wanted to touch a computer in my downtime.

Well, I've now got a lot of downtime with very little else to do, so I guess I'll start.

I'm John. I'm a 34 year old QA Tester/Analyst/Designer guy in Oklahoma City. I'm married with no kids, just a very goofy cat. Until a couple of weeks ago, I was employed as a consultant by a local Software Testing firm. I spent most of 2009 as part of the Jet Set, hurling through the sky at 34,000 feet in a little metal tube at 500+ mph. I worked for a client in San Francisco. So, twice a week, I got to experience culture shock. I definitely had to check my "giveadamn"at Will Rogers, because it was never allowed on the plane or in San Francisco.

When I did find genuinely nice people, I always went out of my way to let them know they were appreciated. Everywhere I went, I tried to be as nice as possible, and it actually paid off, but needless to say, I was happy to be back in Oklahoma.

The job gave me a unique experience, and I'm glad I did it. Better pay would have been nice, so would have a little break here and there. Would I do it again? Yes. Definitely. In fact, I'm hoping to find a new job that will allow me to do the same. After all, I have an Admiral's Club membership that is going to waste.

Anyway, now that I'm not doing anything, I'm looking at things to break the boredom. I built a cigar box guitar and have started learning how to really play it. Just before Thanksgiving, we got a Blu-ray player. It's been a great investment. It streams Netflix, and we have been using it to watch movies and tv. Angie and I missed out on Lost from the beginning, and we've had regrets. But now, with Netflix streaming, we can stream it and within just the past few weeks have watched all of the first two seasons. We also watched all the Doctor Who (revamp) episodes we missed on BBC America. I'm also watching shows I just plain missed. I've been watching Red Dwarf a sci-fi comedy from the BBC. It's totally hilarious if you haven't seen it.

I've also been listening to a lot of music, and discovering what I really like. Actually, I started that on the flights to and from SF. It's pretty much coming down to the Alt-Country/Americana sound, but from artists that aren't country. Wilco is probably the most famous group of this example. Others are Son Volt, Seven Mary Three, Counting Crows, The White Stripes and almost all blues . Other stuff that fits that may surprise you would be Pink Floyd, the Killers, and the Flaming Lips. Maybe I'll put a playlist together sometime.

Well, I guess I've officially started a blog. Welcome to 2001.