The last couple blog posts I have written have not been technical in nature, and given the information I originally intended to be discussed on this blog (testing at startups), I feel compelled to discuss a subject near and dear to me, UI testing. More specifically, I will discuss how I have implemented a sustainable UI testing framework with low maintenance that is specifically designed to avoid the pitfalls commonly associated with UI testing. Continue reading
Archive | May, 2012
Scalable UI Testing with Selenium
28 MayComputers Are People Too
13 May
The study of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is all of the rage these days. I was recently talking to some students from the Information School at UW the other day and found out that they even have a program specifically focusing on it now. When I was at the Information School, this program did not exist yet, though I do remember the curriculum having a focus on HCI, and I have even have brought up subject matter from the classes from time to time in casual conversations about technology. Since one could make the argument that the current bottleneck of the efficiency of technology is not necessarily how fast computers are as it has been in the past, but more-so how effectively interfaces can be designed to make users more efficient, a lot of HCI research studies on the nature of how people perceive computer interfaces are of prime importance now. Continue reading
First Read Your Textbooks
2 May
The idea of reading a book on leadership has always seemed ironic to me. It seems that following someone else’s ideas on what makes other people good leaders would make you a follower, not a leader, and effectively be exercising the opposite skills you need to focus on in becoming a good leader. Despite my own initial bias against books of this nature, I decided to attempt objectively reading a few leadership/management books to analyze their arguments in the context of developing leadership skills and characteristics. In addition a myriad of clichés and attempts to differentiate their conclusions from conventional thought, there are some very curious similarities between leadership books and the teachings of classical psychology. The differentiating characteristic of former is a notable lack of sound, empirical evidence which led me to the conclusion that leadership books serve little utility that cannot be achieved through study of interpersonal relationships through the lens of social science.
JeffMW - The Test Ranger Blogs 