Owner: I ask questions URL:http://iaskquestions.com Join Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:59:51 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I ask questions - to tell stories (about testing) Site statistics:Click here
Fairies can not do everything - can others? 2007-04-06 09:25:58 At the moment I am reading Peter Pan (original edition title: Peter and Wendy) by J.M Barrie. There is an interesting place in the book when Peter, Wendy, John, Michael and Tinker Bell reach Neverland. The pirates can see them because of Tinker Bell’s light and they get the big gun out to let it fly eventually. First, Wendy, John and Michael want Tink to go away. But of course Peter does not abandon her (good Peter).
“Then tell her,” Wendy begged, “to put out her light.”
“She can’t put it out. That is about the only thing fairies
can’t do. It just goes out of itself when she falls asleep, same
as the stars.”
“Then tell her to sleep at once,” John almost ordered.
“She can’t sleep except when she’s sleepy. It is the only
other thing fairies can’t do.”
“Seems to me,” growled John, “these are the only two things
worth doing.” (from Project Gutenberg)
I like this part. B Read more:Fairies
Can I forget - to learn again from beginning? 2007-04-06 06:07:47 Interesting title, isn’t it?
So far I thought I knew some things (there were also times, when I believed I knew many things). I also told from time to time the following Socrates saying: “I know that I do not know.” - without really understanding it.
I am reading at the moment children books, fairy tales and other interesting things. And the more I read, the more I wish I could forget what I have learn
ed so far.
Best would be, if someone would erase my brain so that I can start fresh again. But perhaps this way is even better: now with this attitude perhaps the learning experience can be much better?
Let me find this out.
Erkan YILMAZ
BTW: do not tell right now that I am crazy or dumb or both - wait a few months Perhaps you also would like to be like this then?
story telling and sound 2007-04-05 21:52:47 I wanted to call someone by Google Talk. But the person was not available. So I heard the answering machine text - implemented on a Googlish way: “The person you are trying to reach isn’t available, please leave a message after the meep… MEEEEEP” (actually I talk in the following mainly about this MEEEEEP implementation and the ideas I have about this)
Please: to get the idea of this post at least try to experience this also by listening to the Googlish answering machine text yourself - watch the HOWTO. Perhaps I will add later only the female Google voice, if I have asked about the copyright.
And here my live comment.
I immediately informed the person to send me this voice mail. This was a very original comment and I wanted to listen how this sounds. It is interesting what kind of things can make you drift away, laugh or rethink. Of course this is depending on the person; the moment; the things I did just before…
So, you may not find this any interesting at al Read more:story
story telling and pictures 2007-04-01 07:41:34 I was searching German testing blogs - during this I found Frank Westphals blog and there I read some good things about story
telling (btw: this is the Maytag repairman which Andy Goodman talks about in the podcast) and visual aspects of stories.
As Goodman tells: story telling is powerful, because of:
- the history as a species, that has made us a story telling people since 10000s of years
- our identity, which is comprised of stories – literally who you are is just a group of stories
- there are the cultures that we belong to, which are just stories we all agree are true
- stories help us remember better
So, a good story will catch you or you will not continue reading. So I thought why not include more pictures? This will help you to remember the stories better. I will think of other ideas to tell you even better stories.
I do not (yet) know if I am a good painter or not. But I will try to learn this skill also (have just ordered a book to help me), by adding more pictures to the
Translate to think more (TTM) 2007-03-30 06:02:38 Before you read this, keep in mind, that I speak the German language better, because I grew up with it.
I try to give you as reader articles which are as good as possible (of course considering cost and value). Lately I have started to translate my English articles into German (reason here). While doing this, I recognized, that I could have written some articles better.
So, if you think
you have nothing to add anymore (well, there is always a better version possible) to an article or you do not want to continue or other reasons, then translate it into another language.
This is my first article which I wrote multilangual on the same day:
1. first in English and
2. then translated into German
3. while doing step 2, I had some new ideas on the result of step 1
I think this will help you to think again more on some words. Because while translating, you are forced to think more on the meaning of one word.
Sometimes I see, that I use English words by instinct – perhaps because I read the Read more:Translate
What is the story about this notepad? 2007-03-29 16:40:30 What’s the story
about this notepad?
While writing this posting, my buddy Chris came along and I told him that I am writing a story about my notepad. He only had a short look at the first sentence and said: “Well, that is a diary – what is so special to write a blog article about it?” He is right: it is nothing special – for him, perhaps also for you too. It is a notepad which costs 70 Euro-Cent and which can be bought at many places. But it is special for me - for what is written in it. I asked him: “Do you have one?” He shook his head and I explained him, what effect it has on me (well, I will not say too much here – not yet - here some preview).
So, if you feel like this posting has no value to you, it may be, because my (or should I say: your ?) context is different.
OK, let’s start with the notepad story:
I am wearing the notepad since this month and write down things that I observe. What kind of things? Well, it always depends: things which I find interesting;
German speaking testers - speak out online! 2007-03-25 10:22:17 Today I added a language switcher (English and German
) for the blog articles.
Reason is this: I would like to see more involvement from German speak
ing testers online
(remember: there is Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
I will invest now time to translate the articles into German. I do this, because I think it could help inspire more German speaking readers.
I am asking myself, why e.g. some places for testers to meet have limited access and also require a fee? So far I did not see any other German blogging place for testers like
TestingReflections or the Indian software testing bloggers community.
This is my personal view - who knows, perhaps I did not search enough. If so, please drop me a message.
All we need, we get for free (blogs with web space, ideas to write about, …).
I must say, that I have gained already a lot because of interacting online with people and blogging. So, why don’t you want to get rich in experience?
Everybody can participate - testing means as
I ask questions 2007-03-21 18:30:40 A friend
inspired me today to increase my questioning skill.
So, I decided to show this also in the name of my blog:
Iaskquestions
.com
Google translator 2007-03-20 16:31:51 I was talking with a friend and at some time he told me a German sentence – I was impressed, because it was grammatically correct and also the pronunciation was good. Later he told a 2nd sentence – and again I was impressed (but this time the pronunciation was not so good ). When I asked about the German sentences, he told he used Google
translator. I told that Google translator must be good.
But the next 3 translated sentences proved me wrong – I could not get the meaning at all. Also not, when I translated the sentence word for word back to English (reason: I assumed Google would translate it like this). So I had to take back my initial assumption.
But did I have enough data to say something at all on the quality?
So, we agreed, that I do some further testing on this.
How did I proceed?
1. Search some background info on Google translator (e.g. it was fed with 200 billion words).
2. But well, I did not want to read at that time too much and also maintain my curiosity, so I con
my daily share price 2007-03-20 14:51:37 I got this idea from Mike Kelly’s blog What’s your credit score?
Please read it and then come back (if not, no problem, testingreflections has lots of good blogs).
I implemented this technique also and I see some positive effect.
I have a blackboard in the company where I paint my share price
for different aspects (won’t tell you now what
aspects exactly - this is my secret for now. But if it helps you: also nobody else knows it, it is in coded form ).
On the X-axis I have my aspects and the Y-axis has 3 values: good, middle, bad
The great thing with this is:
Every time I see it, I think of how to improve my share value, so that at the end of the day I am a top seller
As it was told in the posting above, sometimes it is hard to maintain your value on top. But no worries, there is always a next day at the stock exchange.
I can recommend this - get yourself a blackboard or alike immediately.
Erkan YILMAZ
digesting some information 2007-03-17 01:52:14 Lately I have consumed a lot of information
. Now it is time to digest this all.
I do not want to belch like people perhaps would do when they eat a lot. Let’s see if there will come more than just this kind of air through my mouth. After I have fully digested, you will see some more activity in this blog.
Erkan YILMAZ
talk with strangers about their profession 2007-03-16 15:20:59 I guess you remember the article about “skills of doctors + testers“?
I am interviewing at the moment people, which I never met before (Namasté Pradeep ).
If I am sitting somewhere and have some time (because in 5 minutes you can not talk that deep), I start a talk with strangers around me and get to know details on their profession
. Of course some people are not willing to talk to strangers, but some are
Reason is: I want to know what I can use for my profession from their profession/experience. Won`t tell you now, what the result is - must still do some more research.
So far I had following professions (sorted alphabetically):
financial auditor
innkeeper
metalworker
office management assistant
varnisher
Erkan YILMAZ
my mouse is striking - what can I learn from this? 2007-03-13 03:29:10 My mouse is at the moment not behaving well (may be it is already too old):
for example: I can not select a text with several words anymore
(e.g. normal behaviour would be:
1. press on the left mouse button + keep it pressed
2. move the mouse cursor to the end of what you want to mark
3. release now the left mouse button
now the text is marked)
but: selecting a single word works with double click
sometimes also one left click makes 2 left clicks at once - let’s see what other failures I will encounter.
At first this was very unpleasant, because it costs more time: now I am forced to do the same actions with other methods: e.g. copy+paste by cursor.
These things interrupt me in my normal behaviour. They pull me out of my thoughts and I must think how to solve this to complete my goal.
It is interesting how much the mouse as input device influences our life.
Didn’t think much about it - but now I am also eager not to buy that fast a mouse (of course I will buy a new mouse ev Read more:learn
2 hour free talk with a testing expert 2007-03-09 10:13:29 If you are from India, now here is your chance:
you can call Pradeep Soundararajan and make a date for a 2 hour Mirchi Test Masala (btw: Mirchi Masala is Indian and means “spices”). I bet you will gain new insights from this 2 hour free talk.
As Pradeep tells: an expert is someone who inspires you to think (even) more.
Click here, to read more.
Erkan version 2.0 2007-03-04 08:31:24 Lately I was quite active in some online places. I did not see the consequences. Now I realize what happened.
I wanted to show and prove me that I am able of doing this and that in software testing.
But so less I knew - these are just exterior things, tools.
So, I decided to decrease my online activities to a few, so I can concentrate on my personal skills more.
And this needs reflection and time.
I hope you are not disappointed about this - be happy for me, that I made such a decision.
Like always in life, there are many ways to look on something: without these activities, I probably would not have realized, what is really important. And I am thankful for this.
I am sure, you will see, that version
2.0 of Erkan will be much better than version 1.0
Erkan Yilmaz
skills of doctors + testers 2007-03-03 18:50:19 In this series I would like to show my view on:
how is the relationship between skills in other professions and in testing.
(Well, actually since I believe that everybody tests at any time - at least unknowingly - it is no real comparison)
Since my profession is that of a tester (yes, you read correct, I truly identify myself as tester), I will let others speak for their profession. Reason is: they know probably better which skills are the important ones. I will try later also to assess from my opinion, but why not let someone involved in the material speak first? My task is to find the best sources and list them here.
I am sure there are other views than what I got in my fingers - if you find a better one (there is always a better version) tell me please.
Dr. Ulrike Hennemann tells in her article “Is my doctor a good doctor?” how patients can check themselves for the quality of their medical care, because:
many people would - so she tells - ask themselves if the doctor th
use also the other shoe lace 2007-03-01 13:28:31 Imagine you are binding your shoe laces.
Now close your eyes for a moment and really imagine this !
1st question: With which shoe lace do you begin?
2nd question: Do you start most of the time with the right or the left one?
3rd question: Did you ever think of starting with the other shoe lace?
4th question: If not, why?
Question 3 I had, when binding my shoe laces. So, I select always another shoe lace than the day before.
I think when you start with small things like this, this can help to not take the usual paths and also take other ones, which you do not take anymore.
Imagine since how long you always have this habbit with the shoe laces.
What would be different when starting with the other one first? Would this cost a little more time? Could your brain get activated a little more? What do you think?
How about, if you extend this to other things like:
Writing with the other hand. Well, this would be difficult at beginning. But it will let you think of situations which you normal
toilet paper 2007-02-20 02:16:00 The toilet paper
heuristic:
Happened just to me: I have produced big work - well this one I did at the toilet. First, I felt eased.
But I did not look before, if there was enough paper left. Perhaps I was still sleeping, because I woke up recently.
When I grabbed the paper, I thought: “Will this be sufficient?”
You could now say: “Man, don’t you buy/store enough paper in the toilet?” Well, I did not buy any before, because I thought it would suffice until today.
So, in that situation I hoped: “This must suffice.” And used then the paper wisely.
I was alone for the time being in the appartment. So, I could have also gotten a substitute from the kitchen. But you could imagine, how I would look like: pants down walking through the appartment. Since nobody was there at that time, also no problem
Well, I could also use water to clean my a..
This incident let me rethink my visits in the toilet lately. I do not always use the paper wisely - I tak
never forget your keys 2007-02-19 11:57:52 This heuristic I call: never forget your keys
BTW: I like the term “keys”, because it is similar to “key” (=main/important thing).
If I leave my appartment, I am always sure, that I can go back inside again.
I learned as child: always check - before closing the door - if you have your keys with you.
And with time, I do this now intuitively - just a short check in my pocket, until I hear sound or feel there is a bow (not what you think now ).
The result is, that I always can go inside the appartment again (well, I could also by kicking in the door - but this would cause other problems).
Also other things come to mind, e.g.:
When I am with someone else and I hear key sound or we are standing at the door - I watch them and ask: “Do you have your keys?” So, this can help others too. But it could also be seen as redundant, because the other person already checked - this also has to be observed.
Or it could be said: “You are insecure/not self con
starting on heuristics 2007-02-19 11:17:30 At the moment I am attending the class Rapid Software Testing by James Bach and Michael Bolton.
Now I would like to add heuristics of my own (though we did not cover the topic itself yet - but I have seen some heuristics/mnemonics recently by others and now I am eager to also approach this topic).
Reading about heuristics is fine, but you better make your own ones, so you can take them in.
So, if you see, that my heuristics can be improved, please tell me, so I can improve them (and me).
Forgive me, if I select sometimes topics which are not polite. But I think with these I can better remember. And also: this is my way of doing it
So, what is a heuristic ? (see James’ slides v 2.1.1 page 49)
a heuristic is “a fallible method for solving a problem or making a decision.”
Heuristics bring useful structure to problem-solving skill.
“Heuristic reasoning is not regarded as final and strict but as provisional and plausible only, whose purpose is to discover the solution
When did you read ALOUD the last time ? 2007-08-11 19:24:01 I am reading a foreign language book - aloud.
I remember the last time reading aloud - over a longer period of time - was in school, when we read set books in class.
Why am I doing this now (again) ?
Perhaps to get more of my senses activated ? Could also be because of the topic of the book - it is about ancient times. And as you know: stories sound better, when they are told.
I noticed that this slows me down (when comparing to “normal” silent reading). Could be because:
- now I read REALLY the complete text instead having read some parts (quickly)
- sometimes also the pronounciation/accentuation seems not correct to me and I stop and think how it would be correct
- perhaps I see more with my mind’s eye ?
The book has >500 pages - I wish all my neighbors fun listening
Erkan YILMAZ
How does it feel to be a guinea pig ? 2007-09-13 08:41:39 I just watched the video of our online session with Elisabeth Hendrickson. Though we had at the begin technical problems, this did not stop us: it was fun, we laughed a lot (to answer the question above). We were 6 persons and I guess this is what made the online virtual training experiment so cosy.
The session was presented with an exercise, which certainly everybody knows and which transmits the message of the training easy. Curious ? Well more info here.
And thanks to Merlyn Albery-Speyer, Mark Anderson and Martin Clarke I know now more about Erlang (for German readers: it is not related to the German town Erlangen :-)), stapler testing and stolen blog posts. And I am sure Pradeep Soundararajan you know already from my other posts.
Erkan YILMAZ
Read more:guinea
, guinea pig
Where is Erkan ? 2007-10-06 06:13:17 Friends certainly wonder: Where is Erkan ?
I am taking a break (again). At the moment I am fullfilling an old dream of mine: I am reading a book (see here) together with secondary literature.
And this demands a lot of time (looking up facts, making notes, thinking on what you just read,…)
and I must add: it makes very much fun to also read aloud during this.
From time to time - like today - I get an edgy feeling and visit some friends also online on their blogs. But for the moment I am addicted to another drug (if it is urgent call me and let’s talk about it while playing table tennis).
Erkan YILMAZ
You certainly have also an old dream or not ? Take the time and pursue the dream again. If not now, when ?
week 3 - philosophical background of the OER movement 2008-03-17 13:01:36 Assignment for this week: read mostly articles on Wikipedia (WP), discuss them, e.g. show similarities and differences
I think I will start with the German WP articles first and read then the English ones - I guess with this I can help also WP: optimize both articles perhaps, at least get more info, …
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