HSBC Understands Quality
Or at least their marketing department does. Their slogan, glued up in ads all over the Times Square subway station, goes, "Only by understanding what people value can we better meet their needs." And it's accompanied by great images that quickly deliver the message.
I like 'em. Here's a sample of the ones I saw on my way home from work today.
Ch-ch-ch Changes!
July 2009 will forever go down in the Coulter Encyclopedia of History as the month with the most extraordinary life changes in a single 30-day timespan. There is so much to tell that I'm forced to gloss over many of the details (many of which you can get if you ping me personally), but it all seemed pretty amazing considering I've kept my sanity intact. Or so I think. 
In no particular order:
- New job! Today was my first day as a Software Quality Engineer at Intent Media, Inc. in Times Square. I can't tell you anything about the company yet except to hint at their awesomeness, but I can tell you I'm extremely excited to be a part of this team. They're a great group of people and I feel very welcome.
- New Apartment! I moved to the Upper West Side July 1st, the new job cutting my commute down to less than fifteen minutes! I also have a new roommate, and she's female -- that's a first. Though my stuff made it to the apartment by the 27th of June, I didn't officially unpack everything until the 18th of July because I was...
- Flying off to faraway places! The first place I visited was my hometown, Portland, Oregon. Though it was great to be home, family details prompted my visit making the trip bittersweet. But moving right along --
- The second place I visited was the much more earthy Colorado Springs, Colorado. Not only did I get to spend time with awesome people (you know who you are), but I'm now on the board of directors for the Association for Software Testing and I am officially a CAST keynote speaker! The speech went great, and thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions!
- I'm now on Twitter! You can find me here: http://twitter.com/timothyjcoulter (timothyjcoulter is blogging about cool stuff.)
- I'm now living in Apple-land with a work-provided Macbook Pro. Later I'll sync my iCal schedule with my iPhone so I can be on time for meetings at my new iJob! (Jokes aside, this is all new and exciting territory.)
- Annnnnnd lastly, WAMU has become Chase, grumble grumble. Though this isn't particularly life changing, Chase's website is drastically lower quality when compared to WAMU's website (where, of course, "quality is value to me"), and because of the differences, it greatly lowers my perception of my banks' goods and services. I loved WAMU's website, and I used it often. I feel like I'm being forced to use Chase, which... well, is pretty much true.
And I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting. Regardless, it's been a crazy month with big changes and lots of excitment.
My 100th Post!
This is it. You're reading it right now. Were you reading it in your favorite fast food chain, you'd win a free milkshake.
I really had no plans for my 100th post other than to announce that this is truly my 100th post since starting the blog in 2006. With the fanfare, I thought it'd be exciting to look back on a few of my favorite posts and add commentary about how the blog and I have changed since its inception.
In total I've found nine biggies. Link to the ones I'm forgetting in the comments.
1. Frist Post!!!!!!!!!11!!1!0!11!
You know how good first posts can be... 
This one was actually my second, though I think it qualifies. Read at your own risk.
2. Third Post!
This one might honestly have something to it. Topics covered: "Agile as a marketing term." "What does it mean to be Agile?" "Agile from a student's perspective." Actually made it onto a "Top 10 Agile Analogies" blog post from someone I don't know personally. Sweet.
3. Ruby Subversion Bindings: You heard it here first.
These two posts -- this one and this one -- are the two posts that drive most of the traffic to my blog. Usually they drive more than half the unique visitors per month, and that's simply because official documentation for the Ruby Subversion bindings doesn't exist yet (to my knowledge). Now they've the top Google hit. Go figure.
4. The Beginning of "Tim Bits."
This post is my reaction to the workshop where the first Tim-Bit was born. A bit dramatic, but still delicious.
5. AST Certification Debate
This was a hot button at CAST 2007. Five representatives of major software testing certification programs graciously agreed to a facilitated debate. I'm sure you can imagine the elephant tensions in the room once the AST members got a hold of their K-cards.
6. CAST 2008
Hands down great professional experience. Response to CAST 2009 to come soon.
7. My Move to New York.
Though the blog doesn't properly show it, the move was not at all what I expected -- and it included a fictional misdemeanor on my credit report preventing me from getting an apartment. I am not a crook, guys. Sheesh!
8. I start test managing!
Well... kindof. A good attempt in my context. I'm sure there's a lot more to learn.
9. The Prestige
And last but not least: what I'd call my greatest post to date (i.e., well written, insightful... ...modest. ). This represented a round of both career and soul searching that ended in an extremely pleasant result. More on that to come very soon.
--
As always, a big thank you goes to all my readers.
See me @ CAST 2009
And not only me -- there are better, more qualified and exciting speakers making this CAST the best yet. If you're interested, sign up now! It's not too late.
Here's a sneak peak at what to expect:
CAST 2009: The challenges of regulation, an interview with Jean Ann Harrison
CAST 2009: Understanding how much responsibility a testing team should have, an interview with Gerald M. Weinberg
CAST 2009: Challenging a classic idea in testing, an interview with Doug Hoffman
CAST 2009: Taking a closer look at scenario testing, an interview with Fiona Charles
CAST 2009: Test gurus Sabourin, Coulter preview keynotes
“Given enough eyeballs…”
I'd like to express this articulately some day, but for now I'll just stand on the shoulders of greatness -- and then correct him:
Given enough eyeballs, all shallow bugs are shallow. -- Linus Torvalds Tim Coulter
Maybe it's an economy of scale thing. e.g., When is there ever enough competent, manageable, able-to-fix-your-problem eyeballs?
Hot off the (word)press!
Complete personal plug, I must admit, but a recent interview with Rob Sabourin and I just made it to the web! Check it out:
The author and interviewer was Mike Kelly, a director for the Association for Software Testing and a "sometimes independent testing consultant" working from the midwest. He interviewed Rob and I about our upcoming speech titled, “Tim Bits: What I Learned About Software Testing at CAST 2009,″ which will likely be the most exciting thing for me since that time I went skydiving. I can't wait for the speech -- and in fact, the whole conference! -- and I look forward to seeing you all there.
He does his own barrel roll!
A friend sent me this video last night. Funny MLB 2k9 bug cluster with commentary.
Caution: Strong Language
Software Engineering is to Computer Science…
A friend sparked me onto this article, and it's topic is what I've been saying colloquially since college though the author says it profoundly better.
The conclusion: Software Engineering is very different than Computer Science, and it involves a human component not found in the ideas of traditional computer science programs (e.g., algorithms, compilers, etc.). It's a beautiful read, and well worth checking out:
http://www.ddj.com/architect/217701907
PS: The struggle between choosing Rensselaer Polytechnic or Florida Tech for my college career came down to Florida Tech offering a Software Engineering program where Rensselaer Polytechnic didn't. Though I couldn't articulate it then, it had already seemed as if there was a fundamental difference between the two disciplines.
MyUHC.com: Mysterious Theme Change
This is one of the oddest ones I've seen -- and one of the easiest to reproduce, though it's not straightforward.
UnitedHealthcare's consumer website, myuhc.com, changes themes when you're not expecting it. And all you have to do is click the back button.
Check out these two screenshots:
The first is what appears to be MyUHC's newest website. The second is what happens when you read one of MyUHC's articles, then click the back button. The second website looks a lot older, a lot less polished (graphics don't align, less snazzy), though is apparently still functional.
What's mysterious is the reproducibility. Earlier today, reproducing the theme change meant navigating to an article, pressing the back button, pressing the forward button once, then pressing the back button again. That was in Firefox. In IE, all I had to do was press the back button once, and the site mysteriously changed its look and content. Now, about six hours later, both Firefox and IE display the same behavior -- but only sometimes.
First check out their article about swine flu (the first article in the list), then press the back button. If that doesn't work, press the forward button, then the back button again. If that still doesn't work, rinse lather repeat. It appears, too, that the only way to get the newer-looking website -- and thus, the article about swine flu -- back is to clear your cookies. Also, the url on what appears to be every page is "http://www.myuhc.com". Shouldn't there be something following the domain name?
Mysterious.
Update, 6/5/09: I found the following text in the "What's New" section of the old MyUHC website:
New myuhc.com coming soon!
myuhc.com, is going through a complete redesign to better meet your needs. The new site will have enhanced tools and features; quicker and simpler access to these tools, and content that is easier to read and more detailed. Look for your new myuhc.com in June.
I guess they're not done yet.
I work next to art.
For the longest time I've wondered what the painters across the street were doing.
Now I know.