James Lyndsay
Member for
24 years 4 monthsJames Lyndsay is an independent Test Strategist, based in London. He's spent well over ten years in software testing, and has been the principal consultant at Workroom Productions since its formation in 1994. As a consultant, he's worked in a variety of businesses and project styles; from retail to telecommunications, from rapidly-evolving internet start-ups to more traditional large-scale enterprise. He's worked to technical requirements for companies that make and sell software, to commercial requirements for companies that buy and use software, and to unexpected requirements everywhere. Aside from consulting work, James works with testtoolevaluation.com to independently evaluate test tools, runs a mentoring scheme for test managers, and continues to be an internal irritant to ISEB/ISTQB. James is becoming a regular speaker at international test conferences, delivering keynote talks at STAREAST and AsiaSTAR in 2003. He received "Best Paper" at STARWEST 2002 and at EuroSTAR 2002 for Adventures in Session-Based Testing. See www.workroom-productions.com for more details. James is also a director of The Manual, a not-for-profit organization whose aim is to gather and publish basic skills.
James Lyndsay is an independent Test Strategist, based in London. He's spent well over ten years in software testing, and has been the principal consultant at Workroom Productions since its formation in 1994. As a consultant, he's worked in a variety of businesses and project styles; from retail to telecommunications, from rapidly-evolving internet start-ups to more traditional large-scale enterprise. He's worked to technical requirements for companies that make and sell software, to commercial requirements for companies that buy and use software, and to unexpected requirements everywhere. Aside from consulting work, James works with testtoolevaluation.com to independently evaluate test tools, runs a mentoring scheme for test managers, and continues to be an internal irritant to ISEB/ISTQB. James is becoming a regular speaker at international test conferences, delivering keynote talks at STAREAST and AsiaSTAR in 2003. He received "Best Paper" at STARWEST 2002 and at EuroSTAR 2002 for Adventures in Session-Based Testing. See www.workroom-productions.com for more details. James is also a director of The Manual, a not-for-profit organization whose aim is to gather and publish basic skills.
All Articles by James Lyndsay
All Stories by James Lyndsay
| The Irrational TesterTesters make decisions every day that are just as irrational as those made by the managers about whom they complain. In this video, James Lyndsay presents his view of tester bias, such as: why we so often labor under the illusion of control, how we lock onto the behaviors we're looking for, and how two testers can use the same evidence to support opposing positions. | |
| Things Testers Miss | |
| A Positive View of Negative Testing Negative testing is open-ended and hard to plan granularly. It needs to be managed proactively rather than over planned. Although negative testing is a powerful and effective approach, it is also a hard-to-manage task that has the potential to produce unwelcome information. In this paper, James Lyndsay explains the value of using this testing method. |
|
| Adventures in Session-Based TestingThis paper describes the way that a UK company controlled and improved ad-hoc testing, and was able to use the knowledge gained as a basis for ongoing, sustained product improvement. It details the session-based methods initially proposed, and notes problems, solutions, and improvements found in their implementation. It also covers the ways that the improved test results helped put the case for change throughout development, and ways in which the team has since built on the initial processes to arrive at a better testing overall. | |
| The Importance of Data in Functional Testing A system is programmed by its data. Functional testing can suffer if data is poor, and good data can help improve functional testing. Good test data can be structured to improve understanding and testability. Its contents, correctly chosen, can reduce maintenance effort and allow flexibility. Preparation of the data can help to focus the business where requirements are vague. |