One of the Wolves

Author’s note: This post is wildly overdue.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. I was thinking about how I’d write it — how creative I could be while introducing it — to the point where I never actually got to writing it. And you know what, ladies and gentleman? That’s simply atrocious, considering how absolutely awesome CAST 2008 was.

I enjoyed this CAST more than the other two previous CASTs. Though CAST 2007 sported a fun and enlightening certification debate, and CAST 2006 paved ground with an interesting but heated discussion after the first keynote, this CAST seemed different.

The biggest difference, I think, was that I wasn’t a student.

Rob Sabourin likes to talk about people going out in the world and being “blooded” after many years experience. I am by no means a blooded professional — I’m still getting dirt under my nails — but in the last year, I’ve gained a new appreciation for the “people” aspect of our industry. Whereas in college I focused on code, exams, homework and text books (to the greatest degree of perfection I had time for), in the real world I can focus on people.

At this CAST, I made an effort to talk to as many people as I could. Not only would I talk to them, but I did my best to find something interesting about what they had to say. Though I could have simply shied away or given into nervousness or not even cared, I met so many interesting people that I’d argue meeting people was the single best part of CAST.

Though the “people” aspect was likely the part of CAST I enjoyed the most, it definitely wasn’t everything. Here’s a few bullets that highlight my CAST experience:

• Getting on a plane with absolutely no sleep, making it to Toronto in good spirits and then exploring the city.
• Meeting people that I met at previous CASTs (shout out to Henrik, who was the first recognizable face I saw).
• Going to Jerry Weinberg’s tutorial, and meeting him for the first time.
• Being told I look Irish.
• Being told I look like Wolverine.
• Being given a staff badge by Paul Holland, making me feel as if I was part of the group (though I’m sure he just wanted to make me available to help ).
• Seeing Cem and Becky again.
• Going to a small Irish pub to see Michael Bolton & Nick Wolf play traditional Irish music.
• Getting tested by Ben Simo through his use of children’s toys.
• Seeing RobSab and his wife Anne’s presentation. (Absolutely beautiful, and even more beautiful that they can do it together.)
• Having a new analogy for manual test scripts that deals with diseased rats.
• Meeting the Dorset House Publishing people, who literally work right across the deck from The Open Planning Project in New York City.
• Being gently pushed to give a lightning talk. (Dawn, thank you for that.)
• Noticing as people took notes when I gave my lightning talk.
• Getting handshakes afterward when people told me it was a good lightning talk.
• Getting told that I could have a quarterly Tim-bits column in The AST Update (or another soon-to-be named AST magazine).
• Getting told by Scott Barber and others that I should publish a book of Tim-bits a few years down the road.
• Being told I look Irish, again.
• Being told I look like Wolverine — again.
• Going out to a pub with Michael Bolton and many others, and teaming up with Louise Perold for his bouncy-ball testing game.
• And finally, Hanging out with Carsten, Louise, Henrik, Ben and Chris during most of my CAST off-time.

And there’s more items I can list. Much more.

Overall, this CAST was a great experience, and I want to thank everyone who shared in that experience with me. Thank you, all.

CAST, Testing