Matthew Heusser

The DevOps movement promises to be as influential as project management and good requirements ever were in programming and testing. By combining ops (deploys, monitoring) with programming (automated builds, automated virtual servers) and testing (risk management), we get something that is more than the sum of its parts.

In the tech industry especially, you have people of many ages who need to work together. Young people are joining all the time with new ideas and ways of doing things, and this can create barriers with established employees who have more experience. Both sides need to think about where the other's coming from and focus on demonstrating value.

Cem Kaner once defined testing as “a technical investigation done to expose quality-related information about the product under test.” If you agree, then a tester is a technical investigator—which is just what you need to be when testing the back end of a program. But is that enough? How else can we think about testing?

Context-driven testers see the world in a fundamentally different way than testers from other schools of thought. Matt Heusser provides some tips on avoiding risks of communication across those schools.

Let's take a look into the future—all the way to the year 2013! As a software tester or software quality engineer, are you planning to learn a new skill in the new year. If you are, make sure you approach it in a way that will make that skill stick.

The prevailing wisdom is that software careers are short. Matthew Heusser suggests an alternative perspective—that the short life of a tech career creates additional options and, toward the end, may even be worth letting go of.

The technical career ladder may be a quick climb, but what will you find at the top? Matthew Heusser looks at the lifespan, challenges, and opportunities of the modern tech career.

Matthew Heusser goes beyond trivial examples to talk about the tradeoffs and ancillary benefits of a large-scale acceptance check automation strategy.

One hundred percent test automation and 100 percent exploratory testing are absolutes. They make for great arguments, but, for those of us stuck in the great middle ground, those positions aren't very helpful. Matthew Heusser describes a blended approach to software testing, explains how some of his clients have used it over the long term, and provides tips for evaluating and adapting your approach.

Between cloud computing, crowd-sourced testing, and even the recent claim that "test is dead," what's a boutique tester to do? Matthew Heusser offers his thoughts.

As we move from one season to another in life, it’s important to step back, take stock, and gather the lessons that will benefit us in the next season and beyond. In this article, consulting software tester Matthew Heusser reflects on some of the lessons he’s learned.

As Matt Heusser sees it, the "war on work" that exchanged centuries of craftsmanship for being a small part of the big machine has itself been replaced in the past decade--at least in the software industry--with a revitalization of the craftsperson. What's more, he sees the realization of the "boutique developer" as a promising sign for the possibility of boutique testers.

I will discuss new techniques that apply Agile principles to the traditional conference settings, specifically open spaces, self-directed workshops, simulations, group networking activities, and lightning talks. Join me at STAREAST in Orlando, Florida from May 16-20, 2005.