Hackney House II

So, a lot has been happening at the Olympics and East London has been going through a fantastic regeneration as a function of this.

Alongside it, has been a conscious and deliberate investment in 'Tech City' by the Mayor of London and 10 Downing street - striving to make London the go to place for Tech Start ups in Europe.

As part of this, the Hackney House technology showcase venue has been running a lot of stuff, and we've been lucky enough to be part of it.  In particular the race for apps side of things has been a key area of fun for us.

Take a look at this film that tells the story...


We loved being involved with this.  It was a real win-win.  Met some very interesting people, got inspired by some great ideas, made some new friends and some new customers too!  Most importantly for us, we started to get right in the middle of the East London Startup vibe - which is pretty cool indeed :)

Big thanks to everyone who got involved and who made this so much fun.  Special thanks go to Duncan Ray and Andrew Sissons.

Awesome Apps this week - 07/08/12

Here are the three apps / sites that have tickled me this week, in the wibbly wobbly world that is testing, TCL and other stuff:

• Deliverance - a great app if you want take out in London.  It's not to be confused in any way with the movie!  Wonderful mobile version.  Interfaces with mobank for the payment.  Simple, easy and I love the bit on the site that tells you where your order is in the process.
• Rated People - find trades people.  Very handy way to get things done.  Nice interface on the rating side.  Makes life easy.
• Museum of Science - Love this place!  love this site!  Become a member and explore this museum more.  I go there every time we visit Boston.

That's my list for this week.  Hope that you enjoy visiting these as much as I have.  Look out for more Awesome Apps in future weeks.

3 Apps I think are great :)

With all the work we do at uTest UK, and with my general nature of wanting to try new things, I tend to see lots of interesting new apps as they come to the market.  Sometimes, of course, they have been there for a while and I've only just spotted them.  This is a frenetic market place that I don't think even the likes of Mashable can do much more than keep up with - let alone be ahead of.

This week, I've found / started using three apps which I think are great and wanted to share them with the world!
Here they are:
Ringgo - solving my parking needs and giving me a very nice PDF receipt that I don't lose and can pass on for expenses purposes.  As well as making the parking conundrum (do I have the change in the car, how long will I actually be here etc) much easier, it is also taking pain out of my world and putting money back in my wallet.  From me, you get 5 stars!!

Biximo - Started using this in Boston with regards to their Hubway bike system.   It also covers the Barclays bikes here in London.  Nice little app.  Works well.  Keeps things simple.  Shows you in easy graphical form which stations have bikes and which have spaces.  V Handy!

LoYakk - These guys have put together a really nice app, which recently won our Usability prize in the Race for Apps in Hackney.  Love their approach and the way they've made a way for people to collaborate and comment in streams around venues, that can be kept private to the venue or shared more widely.  We're working with them now to set up a special feed for our next event in September to enable real time collaboration between everyone at the event and also to make a record of all the collaborations that can be shared amongst everyone afterwards.

We're involved with Hackney House over the Olympics period and meeting lots of new startups, trying lots of apps and I'll post anything here that I find really cool.

Happy Wednesday! 

Transferring the Skills of a Tester into new roles

So, I've been in the field of testing since 1997, when I joined GEC Marconi CIS as a graduate.  It's a field I have enjoyed, and one that has used many of my skills developed in my Physics degrees.  It has also been a driver to learn new skills - formally and informally of all types.  I have not, however, always been in pure testing roles.  There have been many opportunities for me as a consultant, and as a business person, to try my hand at different things and what has been particularly interesting for me has been how consistently I have found the core skills, and thinking processes, of a tester to be relevant in these new roles.

So, what sort of roles have I been involved with?  Quite a few really......
I've been a Graduate Test Analyst, Test Analyst, Team Leader, Test Manager, Programme Test Manager, Business Analyst, Business Project Manager, Project Manager, Adviser, Subject Matter Expert, Infrastructure Manager, Head of HR, Operations Manager, Managing Director, Chairman of the Board, Non Executive Director and quite a few more besides!

With different roles I've been asked to go to different countries, and so far I've had the privilege to have the opportunities to work in the following: England, Scotland, Wales, France, Poland, Belgium, USA, Spain, Romania, Egypt, Israel, Switzerland & India.

And in the midst of all this, I've found the following to be very helpful:

• Test to Prove Requirements - Knowing what you are expecting to see, looking for it, examining differences and looking for what's behind those differences.  As relevant in the board room, looking at governance, as it is in test execution.
• Root Cause Analysis - In fixing problems, you are most efficient and effective if you can find the root cause / first place of the issue and then correct from there.  This is a core component to governance, to business and systems analysis as much as it is to defect management on a software project
• Planning - As they say in Diving - Plan your Dive and then Dive your plan!  Test Plans are bread and butter to a good tester - even if those plans are on the back of an envelope, or a set of exploratory charters.  The skills to plan testing well, to look at Risk Based Testing and Failure Mode Analysis are all transferable into wider planning and strategic planning related to businesses or projects.

So, these are just three of the transferable skills - but they are very useful ones, and they've been helpful to me across many of my roles.  I had formed some seeds of these skills in my education and degree courses, but it was through my structured test training, conferences and on the job experience where I gained most of my insights and practical experience.  From there, I used these skills when faced with new challenges, and found that they worked!

Many people see Testing as a dead end.  Many people who go into testing do so out of 'fate' or 'luck' or just 'fell into it' as I did.  But what many people, as yet, don't recognise - either inside our industry or outside of it - is that it can and does provide opportunities, skills and experience that are fitting and indeed very useful for wider business roles.  It is rare for someone in a testing career to be promoted through to senior management and board directorship roles, and if they do so then it will be within a testing capacity.   This need not be the limit of our horizons!  Test professionals are more than capable of other things - my career to date is a case example. 

I plan to explore this area a little more and to find other examples of how professionals in our field have moved on to other and different roles.  It will be interesting to see what skills they have found transferable and what gaps they had to fill.

Accessibility - moving beyond simple compliance

What do you know about Accessibility Testing & indeed the needs around Accessibility?

It's an area that not many people focus on, but I think it's very interesting and rife for innovation.  In particular, I feel inspired in this area because of why it exists.

Have you ever known what it is like to be 'Internet Poor'?  To experience, in todays world, what it is like to not have easy access to the internet?  So much information, games, pay your bills, look at your bank statements, contact friends.  Well, it is a very interesting experience.

Ah, but you say this is simple - broadband is getting to more people than ever before.  Local libraries and schools offer access to anyone that needs it.  It has never been easier to get online with a smartphone in nearly every pocket.  Ok, so try this.........

• Take out your trusty smartphone 
• Unlock it and go to the dial screen
• Select the number pad option
• Visualise your own home phone number
• Close your eyes
• Dial it using your smartphone
• Open your eyes and check the result.

How many digits did you get correctly entered on the phone?  In the right order?

You've just experienced a very small sample of what it is like to be visually impaired and using a smartphone.  Imagine what its like to use the internet.  

If you'd like to experience more, then set up the screen reader on an iphone and then try using an app or going to a web page.  It will drive you nuts!  

So, here's my first point: Accessibility needs are there to be met.  There's a barrier for some of the population -and a significant part of it too, that are suffering in Internet Poverty and we can help them.  On a moral basis alone there is no excuse for not doing so.

Anyone out there reading this with half an ear to the ground in the UK and USA will know that there is legislation out there to support the campaign for accessibility.  This legislation, along with standards from W3C, help define what makes things accessible.  Happy days!  This must solve the problem, right?  Well, not so much  - not so far anyway.  Firstly, it's a bit vague in places and doesn't really capture all you need, but let's look past this.  The big kicker is - no motivation to comply!!  By Law, every company in the UK with a website should make it accessible - but if they don't who makes them pay?  Who has the power to push this agenda?  Pretty much noone, but some smart people are starting to get into this and some test cases in the UK and USA are already going ahead.  Some have already finished and companies like hotels.com are having to pay out.

So, here's my second point: There's a well intentioned set of legislation and standards to help us sort this out.  We should be using it!  We should also be helping our companies to demonstrate their compliance.  It should be a standard project mandate.

Let's think this through a little bit more.  E-commerce is going through the roof.  Smartphones are selling like hot cakes everywhere.  Accessibility needs are experienced by a significant part of the population - visual, cognitive or physical.  There is therefore a significant market, and significant spending power that is not being given the opportunity to buy products and services in a contemporary manner.  Are we commercially insane?  We're avoiding a legitimate set of customers -> and if you believe the BCS we are missing out on many many £Bns as a result.

So, here's my third point: We're all competing in a crowded, fast moving, globalised world.  You should never walk past a potential customer and ignore them.

I believe that great things are meant to be done in the field of accessibility and I believe we all have an opportunity and a responsibility to get involved.  I believe this so much that I've asked our teams who deliver the Zappers events to focus on it over the next few months and I've asked the team responsible for our showcase Star Testing event in September to set about bringing great minds together in this field and helping people find their way.   I hope that in these small ways we can contribute to building an ecosystem that shows Accessibility needs the proper respect and gets them incorporated as a standard project mandate on any new app or site.

Zap Zap Zap!

Hello and greetings from Boston!

I'm out here for a couple of weeks to do a number of things for work (in the first week) and then to have a week of welcome vacation with Lisa and Sofia. It's been nearly 7 months since Sofia was born and we're very much looking forward to some quality down time! Maybe, just maybe even some sleep.

In coming out here last week, and joining several of my TCL colleagues who are here on assignment, we decided to take advantage of the timing to run a Zappers in Boston. These don't happen very much nowadays and it seemed like a good idea to give it another try. After all the ones in London and Bangalore are going strong - and the record attendance for any one event now stands at 102 (set in February in Bangalore).

So, together with our friends at uTest, we set about putting together a quickly set up Zappers event. Some tweeting and inviting, some pizza ordering, setting up some space at uTest HQ and getting some laptops together. Picking some apps to test and generally pinging around we managed as a team to put it all together in just under 2 weeks as well as our normal day jobs of course. So how did it go? Well, it was a little smaller than the last Bangalore event, but there was a good vibe and some healthy competition. Certainly all the pizzas were devoured too :)

And the best bit for me -> well that was meeting Suresh. He'd driven down from Nashua with two friends to take part in the event. Sounds motivated, eh? Well that's not the least of it! He had been to two Zappers events in Bangalore as well, and upon hearing from a friend that one was being run in Boston he made the effort while on assignment here to come along. What a great chap. Oh yes, and did I mention that he and his team won the event? Obviously he'd gotten the inside track from his previous experience. It was great to see.

I love Zappers as an event. Its a competition and its a bit of fun of course, but most importantly its a social experience of like minded people. In Bangalore we experienced the first impromptu singing and open mic stuff - a great evolution, and a great example of people bringing their passion to the event.

It is my hope that these events will continue to evolve, and as we strive to be as inclusive as possible - inviting testers from far and wide, and engaging with subject experts to bring their experience to share with others around the globe I hope that we see a great deal more of what I have recently witnessed in Boston, Bangalore and London.

Zap, Zap, Zap .....www.Zappers-Community.com

Farewell 2011 and welcome to 2012

As we come to the end of what has been a really wonderful 2011 for me personally, I wanted to take a moment to update my blog! There's not been much of this over the year, and I feel that I've missed out.

Sure, the Twitter and the facebook activity has been high, but the blogging is where I let my brain think through some more involved topics and I'm really not doing enough of that. Certainly not for my own liking and certainly not for a person who is in the role of a Chairman.

So, what has been keeping me so busy? On the personal front, the journey this year has included some very happy times:

• Graduated from the Exeter MBA course in January
• Got married in April
• Took a two month sabbatical over April and May - spending loads of lovely time in the US and Spain, with Lisa
• The arrival of our amazing daughter, Sofia, in September was a true blessing
• Finding, buying and now moving into our new family home in December :)

There's been quite a lot going on really! The business has also been exciting, and we've moved forward in all of the TCL entities this year. Engaging with new Clients, being involved in the exciting journey with uTest and growing as a group to more than 125 people. All brilliant stuff.

I'm just about to go into the final staff review of the year, but before I go I wanted to leave you with a link to the interview I did this year for Global Entrepreneurship week. I actually did the presentation for the University of Exeter via Skype, from the uTest offices in Boston. We put this film together ahead of the day just in case there were any connectivity issues. As it turns out it all went pretty well on the day, but I didn't want the film to go to waste and we've included it on our Youtube channel. Here you go:

And so, last things last.....sometimes people ask me what drives me, and what drives TCL. I don't always share things like this; it's part of my only child approach to communication I'm afraid, but I've been encouraged by others who are more adept in this field than me to 'let it out', and what better place to start than here.

For me, I have a very great passion for testing and for making it a much more professional discipline that it is currently. I believe in innovation & efficiencies, I believe and enjoy creativity and building things - despite my disruptive tendencies - and this brings me to what drives us:

"We want to take testing to a new level. A professional discipline that is consistently recognised for its value."

"Through our endeavours we will ensure that testing is no longer perceived to be the 'Poor Cousin' of the IT industry. It will have a genuine seat at the table."

And with that I want to wish you all a Merry Xmas, Happy Holidays and I look forward to being on here again soon. My topic for January will be: using testing skills in other areas. Some reflections on my work around strategies and board development - both at TCL and other companies.

Stew

EuroSTAR 2011, Europe's Premier Software Testing Event

EuroSTAR 2011, Europe's Premier Software Testing Event:

'via Blog this'

Are you going to Eurostar this year? It looks like it will be a good one.

James Whittaker will be speaking - keynote - and he's always entertaining and worth listening to. Over the years I have learnt a great deal from James.

If you are going to the event, let me know. Perhaps we can meet up.

Also - check out the great new virtual conference being held on 13th September. This is a very good idea and innovations like this only help the community. Embrace it if you can - it is free after all :)

Sabbaticals!

Well, despite all the great intentions of my last Blog post I didn't manage that much in the blogosphere over the last few months. One of the reasons being that I have had a wonderful sabbatical for two months. Today is in fact my first day back to work.

In the two months I got married, spent a month in Boston, spent two and a bit weeks in Spain and had some fun at home too along with sorting out the house and garden in readiness for summer. A wonderful experience, all the better for sharing it with Mrs Noakes! I had never thought of taking a sabbatical and I now, in retrospect, really wonder why. It's such a great concept - if managed correctly, and one that has brought a great deal of change, rest and enjoyment.

Two months was a good length of time, but three would have been better! Seriously, while money for such a thing is tricky to manage, a third month would have been amazing. Perhaps 6 months as some people do would be almost impossible to return from - depending on the nature of what you do with the time.

For me, having spent 11 years at the helm of TCL - from bedroom floor start up to where we are now - it was a brilliant opportunity to take stock of life and self, and reflect on aspects good and bad of the journey to date. The next phase of the journey for me and for TCL is not yet fully defined, but there are a lot of thoughts and options working there way into a decent plan over the next few weeks. Let's see where it all goes.

As for sabbaticals, I highly recommend them if you have the opportunity. My learning would be to always budget at least 50% more than you thought in terms of time and cash, and also have a good contingency fund available too! With more time at your disposal it's so easy to spend more money :)

Long time no blogging!

Well, it's a Monday and I found a surprise gap in my schedule thanks to a lunch cancellation, so I've been looking around at a couple of things including my Blog, which let's face it hasn't been updated since October - and before that for quite a while too. Bad form!

So, what's been keeping it on the back burner? I guess it's bad planning, that's the real answer. I do have time in each week for discretionary stuff, and what I would see as lighter priorities away from the important and indeed the urgent that come along each day (note these are two categories, not one :) ), but these are often eaten up with things that are either a bit out of my control or indeed I choose not to control. As such, the blog never gets done.

Blogs are somewhat replaced in my world now too, with Twitter and Facebook, which get a little update most days. Twitter and Linkedin are nicely linked, so the updates go to both. Facebook I keep much more informal and with a much more social focus. The Blog is kept for indepth thinking, reflections and expressions of future ideas. All too often these types of mental gymnastics hit the skids when a new customer comes along or a new 'crisis' hits one of our operations, the market/environment or indeed one of those new Clients.

Here's a few of the things that have happened since October:

• Got engaged!
• Spent the first family xmas with new extended family
• Planned a wedding - in Boston
• Had a vacation, or two - both in the US
• Started a leadership exchange via London First, with the Met Police
• Graduated on my MBA course - After 5 years!!
  

Oh, yes, and I've been training quite a bit too. Having lost a reasonable bit of weight over the last two years, we are now - Ian, the trainer, and I - focussed on getting me ready for the Wedding in April. We've only 5 weeks to go, and there's a lot left to do! All going in the right direction though. Overall, since starting with him nearly 2 years ago I have lost around 60lbs. It's made a massive difference to how I feel each day and I am very thankful for all the help - including education and motivation - that Ian has been.

So, where does that leave us? No loose promises or wild sweeping statements, but I hope to be more blog active over the next 5 weeks before my sabbatical starts. Then, a gap of two months will hopefully see a lot more time for reflection, strategic analysis and thought along with time to visualise the future. With that will hopefully come a lot more blogging!

Star Testing - October 2010

Wow! What a fantastic event. Star Testing Oct '10 was even better than the previous ones.

Take a look at what Fred had to say about it, I think he's covered things pretty well: http://www.fredberinger.com/thanks-to-game-changers-software-testing-is-flying-high/

Three speakers this time, not just two - and a focus for the event around testing in the Cloud made a huge difference. I asked a lot of people what they thought on the day and the big things that they took away, but here are my thoughts.....

Testing is getting a bit funky! We have some game! It's not perfect but we seem, as an industry, to be evolving and innovating. Web and Mobile apps are asking new questions of us. Crowdsourcing cycles done over a weekend? On demand Cloud based performance testing available within 4 hours and ramping up to >= 1.1M virtual users. Where did these all come from? Brilliant, simply Brilliant!

I love working with uTest and SOASTA the are great companies with real imagination. They've helped us to deliver creatively and cost effectively for a number of our Clients already. I look forward to where things are going next.

Zappers = PEST + More Testing Fun!

Anyone who has been following the migration of the PEST events into the new format Zappers will hopefully have taken a look at the new community website and realised that this is now taking off with a very different flavour of its own.

I was at the last event in Bristol and it was brilliant, competitive and lots of fun. Take a look at the video that Guy and the team published today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D4CllVAgCk



It is my hope that now Zappers has become its own entity, and is receiving support and sponsorship from a variety of places it can go on to become the true community initiative we had always hoped it would be.

Over the next few months I believe we are going to see more from the Universities and students along with the expansion of the calendar for 2010 to include USA west coast and east coast events along with those in Bangalore and the UK. The first phase website is also going to get a big lift in phase 2 to become the hub for the community and the events.

If you want to hold your own Zappers event then please get in contact with Guy or Cat via the main site http://www.zappers-community.com/ and they'll let you know what you need to do!

Zappers = PEST + More Testing Fun! that's for sure :)

The TCL Vision and BHAG

It's the time of year when TCL starts to think about the challenges it faces and how to align progress and investments next year to the vision for the company.
While we do a lot of things inside the organisation to this effect, I also like to share the outline for our BHAG to everyone - and indeed anyone that will listen ;) - as I feel it helps for everyone in and around the organisation to understand what makes TCL different and why we quest for the World Class status..........

Our company has been founded on a vision. This vision is at the heart of everything we do, and so it's important that you understand it, that you debate it, that you recognise what you do and how you can work in the best ways to advance the company towards its goals.

We've set our biggest goal with a target date of 2020. If we can get there quicker it would be fantastic and will enable us to dream again and set another big goal for the future of the organisation that we want to see go on for a long into the future. It is only when we work together as a team, across all the sites and all the operations, that we will get to the goals we have set out and all get the most from the journey that is TCL.
So let me take a moment to share with you what I see when I think about our company at 2020…….

We have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to be a world wide, world class, centre of testing excellence. This means that we want to establish TCL as a Centre of Testing excellence that has world class solutions and then be able to deliver them to any industry and in any country.

When we have done this we will see that:
Our company will benefit its employees and their families. They will benefit financially, emotionally, ethically, technically and physically through the way the company is run.
Our company will be financially robust and secure. We will have sufficient alerts and contingency plans in place to ensure we can survive economic peaks and troughs whatever the root cause.
The communities in which we operate will also benefit from TCL. We will actively make efforts to be involved in those communities and the issues that are important to them.
We will also ensure that each year some of our profits are given to worthwhile charities. These are charities that are important to the people in our company.
Our culture will be totally inclusive, with all levels of the organisation being informed and involved. Each person in the company will have a personal understanding and empathy with their colleagues in relationships that demonstrate integrity and respect at every juncture. There will be awards each year for long service and we will evolve a 'dynasty' organisation where people can join as a graduate and go on to have a full and fulfilling career with TCL.
We will gather views from across the organisation and set up a team to regularly introduce new ideas to keep the company aligned with the purpose, values and BHAGs and to be a proven source of information and inspiration around the company. Competition to be part of this forum will be high, and it will be necessary for the participants to undergo three month secondments to the team to get the work done.
The TCL solutions will be aligned and accredited with organisations such as ISO and the BCS. Our method SMaRT will be recognised as a management model and be used as a template and standard in blue chip organisations around the world.
Our employees will be proud to belong to TCL and will contribute to the company progression each day with energy and enthusiasm.
We will be using the latest technology and involved with the strategic decision making process with each of our clients having demonstrated consistently our ability to add value to that process.
Our reputation will be such that there will be healthy competition to join TCL, and the selection process will be rigorous to ensure that only people who display the core values and have the aptitude to support and contribute to the TCL vision are involved.
We want to take testing to a new level. A professional discipline that is consistently recognised for its value and resourced, planned and funded accordingly within all development lifecycles.
Our Research and Development capability will lead the way with innovative and intuitive solutions that are derived from the latest theory, technology and thinking across the world. We will involve and include academic research and consideration as well as commercial best practise.
Our solutions will have been benchmarked with companies in all five continents and proven within more than 10 industries including Defence.
We will be the testing partner of choice for Safety Critical Applications and SIL levels 3 and 4.
We will have offices on three continents and research and development capabilities at each. These will have links to Universities and we will provide some financial support and assistance to these universities in the areas of research that will help further the TCL purpose.
Our presentations at industry forums will be actively sought and solicited and our representatives praised for their credentials, innovation and inspirational style of presenting.
When a project declares that their testing will be conducted by TCL it will be perceived at all levels of an organisation that this is the best way to go and that both cost and quality will be in ideal balance for this delivery.
We will be seen for our Quality and Innovation but we will never be seen as overpriced – simply realistic for the demonstrable value we add.
We will never have been sued for malpractice or incompetence and our relationship with our core clients will span in excess of 10 years.

So, what is our company like now…
We have established a company that has succeeded for nearly 10 years in increasing its capability, Client base and delivery consistency. The company has grown to have a presence on three continents and is in the process of setting up a new operation in Switzerland. Our numbers are circa 100 over all operations, and we are maturing our processes, systems and teams to make a robust and sustainable operation at all levels.
TCL has remained profitable through good times and bad, and continually invested its time, money and energy in looking to the future. We've never stopped investing in our vision or preparing for the challenges of tomorrow, even when the challenges of today have taken a great deal to solve.
We have set up scholarship programmes with universities in the UK and the USA, and have run internship programmes with students from the UK, France, USA and India. We've set up management development programmes that use the best of what we know inside the company and combine it with professional training elements available to us commercially and from academia.
We've placed the needs of our customers and the needs of our people at the front of all our decisions, and evolved an organisation that is diverse and evolving with a strong set of cultural values that bind us all together as a team.
From all of this we can see that the state of our company is strong, despite the pressures and changes in the economy and the impact that this has had not only on us but on our Clients. We must not however be complacent, or for any moment think that this has happened easily or without measure or management. It takes vigilance and discipline to keep a company sustained through turbulent times, and in the long term. We must continuously seek out new efficiencies and innovation to meet the demands of the market and look forward to ensure that we are always ahead of our competitors, in the disciplines and services we chose.
Over the next quarter the company will be building its business plan for next year, and indeed looking out two years in its operational roadmaps. All entities will be involved and engaged, and they will be looking to first meet the basic needs of sustainability and then to move forward with the vision. To that end the following themes will be seen in changes over the next 12 to 24 months:
1. Research and Development
2. Charities
3. Succession
4. Efficiency
5. Heartbeat.
These things will not be easy, but they are exciting and they are the right things to do to move the company forward. This promises to be a very interesting and enjoyable next year, and indeed I view the next 5 years with great optimism.

I look forward to talking about the TCL vision with you, and what it means to all of us. I hope that you can see already how you fit into things, and how what you do at TCL is important and valued. I also hope that you can see ways in which you can make a difference to our pursuit of this vision and will be inspired to go out there to make it happen.

MBA Dissertation : Being part of an Innovation Centre

I'm currently writing an MBA Dissertation on how being part of an Innovation Centre assists a business in its endeavours. It's a one company case study, of TCL and how we have worked with the Innovation Centre, and the University of Exeter, what we have got out of it, what we have given to it and what else we could have / should have done.
It looks at many aspects of things, including what the innovation centres are there for and how our business fits with that model, along with a perspective on how other businesses work with the innovation centre.
If you are reading this and your business is present in an innovation centre then I would very much welcome your views and response to this survey. All contributions gratefully received, particularly if you are part of the Innovation Centre in Exeter, but also if you are from elsewhere. The comparisons will be very interesting.

Note: The survey closes on Friday 06 November 2009.

NSPCC Annual Council Meeting

The NSPCC is one of the charities that TCL supports, and our support is more than just some donations of money. It's a charity that is very important to me personally, and one where we try to help them as much as we can. So this year I joined the Exeter Business Group, which helps the NSPCC to raise funds and network in the area. We've got some tough targets to meet, but it's going well. As part of my involvement I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the NSPCC Annual Council meeting in London. It gave me a chance to meet some people, see the launch of the strategy for the year and to get more of an understanding of how things work. It was a great experience.

So, this annual council thing. What is it? It's like a company AGM (annual general meeting). They vote in the new officers. They hear about the performance and successes last year and they hear about the strategy for the year ahead. Members get to vote on things, and there is open floor debate on any issues required. Quite a PLC AGM type thing. There is a huge difference though - it's not about money when you come to the NSPCC, it's about the very deeply held beliefs, values and vision of a huge number of people who believe that cruelty to children isn't right and can be stopped. This is a passion. This is a hugely driving force. It is quite something to see 400+ people in a room with such a passion. It got them from all corners of the UK to a council session in London. It provides them with the inspiration for the fundraising, and the work with children that many of them do. It's quite something to see.

As an observer I was given a brown ticket. This was important because if you have a green ticket - a member of the council - you can vote on stuff. As an observer I could speak if I wanted to - pose questions to the top team etc, but not vote. A weird experience for me - not having the ability to make a decision in the room!

The day was well structured. It had a clear agenda. It's production value and organisation was a little questionable at time - note to TCL team : we do a better job of organising our parties :). It had a diverse group of people presenting including the NSPCC Top Team, The Talk to Trustees group (young people from around the country who are directly engaged at the top level to provide insights) and guest speakers such as Floella Benjamin.

So, here's the top 5 things I learnt on the day:

• Purpose - the common purpose that binds the NSPCC is quite something. The behaviours it brings out in people are amazing. The passion and compassion that binds such a large group together is remarkable and quite inspiring to experience. While a great many people are paid to work as part of the NSPCC a lot also do things for free and happily donate of their time and energies to further a cause in which they strongly believe.
• There's not enough money - £160million is what the NSPCC raised last year. A lot of cash. The UK government spend >£6BN on child services each year though, and that shows how little the NSPCC can do with their £160million. Most importantly both lots added together, along with all the money spent by other childrens charities, is still not getting the job done, and everyone agrees they don't know what it would take to do it all. All they do know is that they can make a difference for some people and some children with what they do, and so they get on with it.
• Charity vs Business - The NSPCC seems to be very well run, and a high percentage of its money goes directly into work that helps children. They run it like a business and have a high calibre top team to keep it under control. Interestingly, the top team are all equally passionate about the work of the charity.
• Floella Benjamin is a legend - Giving the closing address Floella was an absolute legend. Employing all her skills and training as an actress she commanded a room of 400+ people with emotion and energy. No notes for the talk that lasted about 20 mins. It was told as all good presentations should be, in the format of a story - with a begining, a middle and an end. But Wow! what impact! Everyone left the room engaged and inspired and amazed. I was lucky enough to meet up with her a few days ago here at the University and was able to tell her how cool I thought the presentation was.
• We can do more - there's a lot we can't do for the NSPCC here at TCL. We aren't trained counsellors for instance, and indeed some of us couldn't or wouldn't enjoy that kind of task. We can do more though. We can donate some time to help them with IT issues. We can go to more events and raise more money. We can volunteer to help at different things and we can, as they encourage us to do, take personal accountability and if and when we see things like cruelty to children we can report it and we can help stop it.

The most difficult part of the day for me was in listening to the new strategy for the NSPCC for the year. They said it like any business would....they said ' we recognise that we can't do everything and that we have a cause we believe in. We therefore want to do the most with what we have available to us, and to that end we recognise that some of our services and operations are not efficient enough, and by changing what we do, removing some services and re-organising the way we operate we can have more impact. So, next year we are closing or relocating some centres, phasing out some services and diverting our resources to several key campaigns. We are going to concentrate on awareness and education, and removing the root causes of child cruelty.'

So, I'm sitting there and I hear this, and I am split. One part of me - the businessman - thinks this is all very reasonable and the right thing to do. It will achieve greater results and that is very valuable. The other part - let's call him the human being - thinks this is not good enough.

If there is one place you should be able to do everything it should be when it comes to protecting children. Removing services leaves kids at risk and can lead to disasters. Closing down centres takes vital volunteers out of the loop and asking people to do more than they are already doing is probably going to prove to be difficult. I want them to seek out the wrong, and to shed light into the darkness for children who can't stop what is affecting them, and to do so with infinite vigilance and infinite capacity. But it just can't be that way.

So, I am left with a dilema. I finally see a charity running itself very professionally, but it doesnt make me feel good to see what it has to do to achieve that!

Then comes the engagement. The open panel of the top team. The open debate. The voicing of concerns. You start to appreciate that these decisions have genuinely been hard. That people feel the same anxiety that I had done. That the top team had felt the same anxiety too. But they could see that to do more with what they had was better than doing the same, or in believing that it would get better without them changing. They knew how far they could stretch £160million and they knew how much of a gap it left. They had found what was realistic for them to achieve. It was a very good session. I still didnt 100% feel comfortable with it all, but I did clearly recognise the value they were trying to create and that their intentions were good.

And so where does this leave me? I've come from the annual council meeting inspired to help them more. In understanding their needs and vision for the NSPCC I have seen ways in which I, TCL and indeed everyone can help them and I intend that we do so.

I've already engaged with someone to join our team to specifically own and drive new initiatives with the NSPCC and St Michaels Small School and I've stepped up my committments in 2010 to helping them raise funds. Part of the new Charities Officer role that Cheree O'Melia will be taking on will be to engage more with both the charities and everyone in TCL and to facilitate more endeavours across the organisation that support the works of the charities. She'll also be getting more information out to everyone and publicising more of what we do, and the benefits it brings. I hope too that by the start of next year we will also have updated our policy on Corporate Social Responsibility.

I hope that when reading this you recognise some ways in which you too can help, and look forward to speaking with you about those. I'd like to thank those of you that have already signed up for events like the Great West Run, and also to those who have expressed interest in getting involved next year. It is much appreciated.

GTAC 2009 - Brilliant!

So, I've just got back into the office from a week in Switzerland and I wanted to take a moment to share some of the experiences I had while away at GTAC 2009, the annual Google conference on test automation. It was an incredibly enjoyable, dare I say it almost inspirational event!

To start to get some understanding for the richness of content at this conference, take a look at the site http://www.gtac.biz/ and the agenda. An opening talk by Prof. Niklaus Wirth, one of the founding fathers of modern computing, and talks by people like Simon Stewart (of webdriver fame) and Jason Huggins (of Selenium fame). This wasn't a conference just about experiences of using tools and doing automation, it was where you got to meet the people that designed and wrote the tools themselves. Very geeky, but very cool! Lets call it 'GeekChic' ;)

So, what else is different about an experience at GTAC compared to other conferences? Here are some top moments for me:

• Engagement - everyone I met there was smart, engaged and engaging. They had a passion for their profession and the work they do. They openly shared their knowledge and experience without hesitation or resistance. Everyone seemed very open to learn from each other too. This could be seen really clearly in the open forum session at the end of day 2 which ran from 5pm to 6pm. Open mic. Rotating panel of four people at the front, with people joining randomly from the main audience as they had something to say. Could have gone on for days - in a good way!
• The Google experience - these people love to solve problems, and they do it for kicks. The whole place just makes you think differently. It could be the sugar rush from all the free choccies. It could be the slides or the fireman's poles between floors. It could even just be that they have a free bar, and a geekfest of a library to hang out in. It could be a lot of things....
• The way you get in - Google had too many applicants to the conference, and they wanted to restrict it to 100 - so that everyone got a good experience, and they could keep it to a single track over two days. So they set up an automated voting system and the Googlers around the world voted for who should be there. Over 50% of the people attending were from various google offices around the globe. The rest of us were the lucky ones that got the highest % of the 2200 votes cast around the company. Knowing that makes you feel different about a conference.
• The international and diverse nature of things - we're in Zurich, which is pretty international anyways, but the conference wasn't Eurocentric. A great many people from australia, USA, israel, etc etc. Very diverse. Very interesting. Great collective experience and perceptions.
• No cliques - The one big turn off for me at the big conferences is the vested interests that strangle the sharing of knowledge and information. You see groups of independent contractors holding onto the 'power' and creating revenue streams for themselves over many years of talking about the same old stuff. It stifles our industry and it frustrates me. At GTAC they don't allow that in the door and they don't let it happen. As a result you see people from all companies - from Microsoft to the BBC, attending and also giving talks. It's about sharing knowledge and experience and helping people to do stuff. To get what I mean take a look at the videos-and-slides

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think that the world starts and stops at the beat of a Google drum, but I do think that they are cool, and that the people I have met there are quite impressive to say the least. I think that they have some interesting ideas and approaches to testing of web and mobile applications and I think it is clear that a great amount of the future for TCL and for the industry as a whole is in these fields so we can do well to keep a listening ear out to what Google do and say. With that in mind, take a look at: http://googletesting.blogspot.com/

The conference was not cheap. Well, it was free to attend, but the costs to go there were high. Flights and hotels and subsistence quite a bit, but the time - that's the big thing. I spent 4 days out there, including the travel. That is a lot. Nothing else would get that amount of time except going on holiday!

So what did we get for our investment:

• Knowledge - a lot of things to share, and I'll be getting on with that soon enough. This article is the start of that work.
• Ideas - I've had some inspiration to do some things differently and to introduce some new things over the next quarter that we should all find very interesting and exciting. Some are testing related. Some are cultural and organisational
• Network - I've met 5 or 6 new, important, and interesting people that I have now connected with. With networks its not just about them knowing you, but how they know you. The GTAC conference is a great context in which to meet people and to grow a network. You get to know them, and they you, in the context of a mutual passion. That can't be any better!
  

Despite being a seasoned pro at conference attendance, I didn't do all that I should to make the most of it. I got on the Google Wave, I Tweeted and I shared, but I didn't manage to:

• Get a presentation slot - only 10 people did. My submission didn't make the cut :(
• Take loads of pictures - helpful with the sharing and bringing things to life for people
• Set up specific meetings before I got there - this is something I would normally do for a big conference and helps to build the network faster.

I hope that we get more opportunities to go to, and present at, conferences like GTAC in the future. If you get the chance, then grab it with both hands and make the most of it. It will most likely be something very special.

Huge thanks go to Dr W for his guidance and inspiration to attend the GTAC. It's not something I would have made time for had he not made such a convincing case and indeed, as always, he was very right!

Crowdsourcing hits the headlines

Crowdsourcing slashes software testing time. That's what the title of the article says on Computer Weekly :) Fantastic!

It's good to see the concept getting the sort of press that it deserves. Case studies like those for IWOOT.COM really show what can be achieved.

Testing has a reputation for being slow, process driven, expensive stuff - particularly at a corporate or enterprise level, but if its a web, mobile or desktop app then this crowdsourcing stuff really shows us a total oppositve approach.

Doron, Roy and the team at uTest have received a huge number of accolades for their adoption of crowdsourcing into the testing space, and for the company that they have set up. I can see why, with such an incredible experience for the Clients and the testers this really is a win-win for everyone.

I'm in Boston soon, and we're running a PEST event with uTest out of the Kinsales bar. Roy is going to include some crowdsourcing as part of the evening, so if you are in the area and arent sure about this stuff yet then come along and see what its all about. Should be a lot of fun.

Here's the flyer for the event: Flyer.

Crowdsourcing Success stories in the UK

There's a growing trend of crowdsourcing, in all sorts of creative and productive spaces such as translation, design, development and software testing. We've brought this crowdsourcing into the PEST events with some 'software smackdown' sessions using the utest portal as the focus and it's been great fun.

Two websites have been very open minded and introduced their latest releases to a software smackdown session at PEST, and received a very intense and focussed three hour crowdsource experience as a result. They've interacted with the team in real time, and signed off the defects as we go. This gives great feedback (both ways) during the testing, and enables the pace of things to be quite amazing.

Huge kudos and thanks go to trustedlets.co.uk and iwoot.com for taking part and providing the opportunity for us to see the power of crowdsourcing. Of particular note was that the sessions not only found lots of great defects which needed fixing but also some real consumer style feedback which helps the companies to improve the customer experience on the sites.

Don't take my word for it! Here's what trustedlets.co.uk had to say..........

"After a year of successful operation with our launch site, we carried out a major refresh and wanted to test this. We carried out traditional systematic User Acceptance Testing, however decided to incorporate the techniques of PEST as part of the testing. We found the process very valuable as a means of getting a significant number of very capable people to interact with the site.

We received excellent feedback that not only covered design and technology issues, but also gave us some great ideas in how to develop the commercial and business aspects of the site."

Charles Peak-Smylie, trustedlets.co.uk

PEST Bangalore - Thursday 6th August 2009

I have great pleasure in annoucing that our next international PEST event will be:

• Event: Peer Sharing event on Software Testing

• Date: Thursday 6th August 2009
• Location: Central Park Hotel, Bangalore -> www.royalorchidhotels.com/
• Start time: 6pm
• Expected end time: 9pm
• Cost: Free to attend
• Forum: Mixture of discussion groups and experience share alongside practical testing via the uTest platform.
• Who should attend: Anyone with an interest in software testing.
• Hosts: Stewart Noakes, Manoj Chandrappa and Andrew Coggins from TCL
• To book your place: Send an email to Lisa.Ray@tcl-global.com

More information can be found at: www.pest-global.org

This is the first event that we have run in India, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how things compare and contrast. Learnt some great lessons last time in Boston, and the format is developing and 'internationalising' into something very exciting.

If you are in Bangalore and fancy joining us then please register your interest. The venue booking will limit the number of people we can host, so it's important we know that you are coming along!

Look forward to seeing you there.

Holidays are good!

Well, I'm nearing the end of my first week back, after a lovely two week vacation in Cyprus. All I can say is: Holidays are good!

At Xmas, I made some reflections on the year and recognised that there hadn't been enough breaks last year, and that when they arrived they weren't when I needed them e.g. they were reactive rather than proactive. When the holiday started I was very tired, and the entire trip was about recovery rather than relaxation and recharging and fun!

So this year the plan is different. Three vacations were booked before January had even started -> one every three months. March saw a trip to Portugal. June a trip to Cyprus and September sees a trip to Spain. The benefits are already showing. The trip to Cyprus came at the right time for me. I was able to enjoy it all the more because I was less tired, and even in returning to work I know the next break is only 12 weeks away.

Malcolm is very fond of saying: "breaks help you go faster", and he's right. (How fast would you drive a car without brakes???) I feel that I've achieved a lot more in the first quarter of the business year, and have greater clarity of mind and purpose. I do hope that it continues into the next quarter too!

Holidays are good!