How We Roll at Intent Media
Kurt Schrader, otherwise known as "The Shrade", "Shradester", and my boss, recently wrote a post about how we roll at Intent Media. And by how we roll, I mean how we use Cucumber to power automated functional tests of a large scale ad platform. Oh ya, that.
When I first mentioned Cucumber to a close member of the context-driven testing community, the reaction was "Oh, so you're just entering manual scripted tests into a computer." She's South African, so it was more like, "You're ent-ring scripted tastes into the computah!" (Ya, she knows who she is.) Though I felt her pings of discontent quickly, the answer was -- "Well ya, I guess..."
In the tools world, Cucumber is the blood relative of both your normal manually-scripted tests and, say, FIT or FitNesse, with a bent toward integration tests (if that's what you use it for). It's manual scripted testing because you type your manual scripts into the computer; it's automated testing because you also define pieces of code that match up with each line of each test. All Cucumber does is find the right match -- and then happily goes chug, chug, chug.
It's been a fun ride so far, and I don't have many complaints. There is a question about whether to write imperative or declarative steps throughout your tests, as well as where to put your implicit state (we leave it in the browser). But as Kurt mentioned, we've been highly successful so far. I'd be interested to see if we have the same troubles that plague manual scripted tests over the long term, or if automating them keeps them in the public eye (i.e., continuous integration = continuous test fixing). We shall see.
In any case, it should be noted that Cucumber isn't our only line of defense, and part of the reason Cucumber works is because of everything else going on around it. We have PMs doing acceptance testing, devs doing TDD and unit testing, I'm leading exploratory testing (which arguably the PMs are doing as well), and Cucumber is backing us up with integration tests that both the devs and I write. And that's only functional: We have performance testing, user testing, smoke testing, and the whole nine-yards going on elsewhere throughout the company.
So ya, I'm proud to say that's how we roll. If you're interested, I'd encourage you to follow Kurt's blog for more updates about the technical aspects of Intent Media, and to see how we're building "the next great online advertising startup" (TM).
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.
I work next to art.
For the longest time I've wondered what the painters across the street were doing.
Now I know.
Technical Extrovert or Lazy Technologist?
I've been doing a little introspection on my work habits lately and I've noticed how they differ in different settings.
For instance, I'm starting to find that in many cases, I would rather walk over to a local expert in my office than search for what I'm looking for on Google. The local expert is usually within my vicinity, many times in the same room, but Google is always right there, right at my computer. My question is: Am I a technical extrovert -- a fancy name for a social butterfly in a field of (stereotypically) moths; or am I habitually lazy, consistently bugging the person who knows?
I would rationalize myself as an extrovert, and it turns out Myers-Briggs would too. But lazy?
Some habits at work are:
- Ask someone before searching Google.
- Walk to the person who will know the answer rather than talk over AIM or IRC.
- Talk to people in meetings (or spontaneously create them) instead of use email.
- Take notes on paper because I will forget many of my coworker's "quick fixes," like what command to use, or how to use it.
Put those in contrast with my habits at home:
- Google my error messages extensively.
- Research how to solve my specific task.
- Try out my hypotheses or find examples.
- In many ways, learn by doing.
And put that in contrast with my undergraduate career:
- Remember every word the professor said, taking notes that I probably won't read.
- Learn by doing, especially when given specific homework assignments.
Is the difference in behavior the time pressure of the work environment? The effect of having knowledgeable people directly in my vicinity? An attribute of my extroversion? The result of having an authority figure?
I don't know. And whatever it is, it's ingrained, because I don't think about it -- or, I have to work to think about it when in context. But maybe that's why they call it work.
Regardless. It's clear I'd rather walk and talk than sit and research.
Flash Forward: Medill, and Journalism
I'm going to start something we'll call a Flash Forward.
Whoa Doc. This is heavy. -- Marty McFly
That's right. In an attempt to flesh out some career possibilities I'd be interested in pursuing, I've decided to blog about the ones that may have actual footing in reality.
The first is Medill's (Northwestern University's) Knight Foundation Scholarship. It seems the Journalism program at Medill has recognized the ever-increasing influence of the Internet, and has at the same time realized the opposite decline in print media. To keep up with the times -- or to boldly go where no one has gone before (let's face it; this is cool stuff) -- Medill is giving away full rides to students interested in fusing technology and Journalism.
What's great about these scholarships, and what makes Medill a clear candidate for my first Flash Forward, is it's an actual possibility. Given my technical background, my interest in writing (this blog) and the timeliness of the opportunity -- the deadline for January 2010 is this June, and the program is only a year long; I can see myself jumping for it.
But it's true: As Doc Brown said, the future hasn't been written yet. Stay tuned for my next Flash Forward, where I introduce you to Dr. Coulter (in training) and a few ideas for graduate study in Software Engineering.
The Prestige
On the heels of James Bach's Buccaneer Scholar, a new idea, book and blog where he details his experience with exploratory thinking and learning, comes my own wrestling, not only with how I learn, but what I should learn. Due to recent events I'll make clear in a few weeks, this question has begun to capture all of my spare CPU cycles -- and it won't quit.
The crux of the question, I think, is this: When I was thirteen, I set a goal to go to college, get a degree, and work for Microsoft (then the most popular software company in existence). While in college, I latched onto open-source software and the free software movement -- happily ditching Windows for Gentoo, Mandrake, then finally Ubuntu -- and gleefully traded Microsoft for a slightly newer and more exciting company called Google. Google had free food, funky office chairs, and they fit the goal I previously made when I was thirteen. My sense of self was intact, no harm done.
When it came time to interview, though, things were messier than I expected. I was still trying to finish school -- to graduate, move out of the dorm and wrap up all the extracurriculars that consumed most of my spare time; and I was, on the more personal side, simply trying to grasp what was happening as I made the transition from college life to real life.
It was all too fast. Not only was I not accepted by Google (that's a story for another time), but I didn't know where else to go from there. In magicians terms, I made all but the prestige of my childhood goals, and I was left like a confused audience member contemplating whether I should stand up and applaud.
But, prestige aside, I realized my longstanding goals ended after college, and whether or not I was employed by Big Popular Company mattered little to anything but my ego. Even if I did achieve my goal, I'd still be left with the same question: What happens next?
When I learn, I need to know the big picture. I like to know where I'm going, why I'm going there, and in general, how to get there -- but not always. I know the devil's in the details, but I like figuring out the details as I go along.
Looking back, I had more or less achieved my goal -- college, degree, employment -- but I didn't have the big picture telling me where to go next. I still don't. I'd assume even James' Buccaneer Scholar, with his exploratory state of mind, would have some type of charter, though I can't believe he'd always know where he is going. James, I'd like to hear you expound upon that if you haven't already.
This leads to the more practical dilemma: Of my interests, which path do I choose? The following is a list of career paths I could be interested in taking. Though I run the risk of taking the totally incorrect approach to, well, life, of these career paths, I can't help but be interested in their prestige. Here goes:
- Independent test consultant.
- Product Manager/Test Manager for large software engineering projects.
- Ph.D in Software Engineering or Cognitive Science, researching and teaching software engineering and/or software testing.
- Software Developer for cutting-edge, Web 2.0 technologies (I am that now).
- Entrepreneur for my own software development company. (I'll probably need an MBA).
- Entrepreneur for my own software testing firm. (Again, an MBA).
- Tech Journalist for popular blogs and magazines. (I'll probably need to study journalism).
- Politician. (I'll probably need to study political science, though this brings me to my next interest...)
- Something in the arts, say, acting.
And as an aside, this whole process feels like one big game of Twister.
TOPP’s got a new do!
People have told me many times -- especially since I've been to New York -- that I look like Wolverine, or more recently, the actor known as Hugh Jackman. I'm not totally sure that's true. Even so, whenever I'm told I could be Hugh's stunt double, it's almost always followed up by, "It's the sideburns." And it is the sideburns: I have long, Wolverine-like sideburns. To my benefit, they get attention.
Similarly, TOPP, the company I work for, has had some growth of its own also worthy of attention. On top of hiring plenty of awesome people and putting our feelers out for a new office, our website's got a new do. I must say, we've got a pretty attractive website. If I saw it in the street, I'd do a double take. It looks professional.
So, in short, this post is to simply say, "Good work guys and gals. You've got a growth on the side of your head that looks nice. You should be proud."
And we are.
LivableStreets Release Date: TODAY!
I am happy to announce that my organization, The Open Planning Project, has released version 1.0 of the Livable Streets Network.
The Livable Streets Network is a conglomeration of five websites: NY StreetsBlog, LA StreetsBlog, StreetFilms, StreetsWiki, and LivableStreet's Groups. All together, they help urban planners and community members alike work together to make our city's streets a better place to live.
Applause to all for a great run!
WOPR: Work Presentation Slides
I just gave a presentation at work about my experience at WOPR. From what I can tell, it went great, and was a good introduction for the organization.
Here are my slides.
They were crafted specifically for The Open Planning Project, though they may be useful elsewhere.
A big thanks goes to everyone at WOPR, and a thank you goes to David Winslow at The Open Planning Project for setting up this talk!