Well this has definitely been a great year for my QA corner blog. I have had more visitors and more posts read this year than all other years combined. For that I say thank you to all of you that have come in and read my thoughts on QA.
This year has been a big year for me, first full year with a new company, getting more exposure and visibility within the QA discipline and putting my thoughts to actions. It was not all sunshine and lollipops, there were some very stressful times during the year where bad news had to be said or where my actions didn’t get the desired outcome. Although those situations happened I still stood in front of everyone and took accountability with what happened. Some of it I could have easily put it on someone else, yet I did not. Why create strife within a team when it is easier to move on and get a solution?
I got to speak at QAI QUEST again and got invited back for next year. This is something I thoroughly enjoy doing with discussing ideas, good and bad, is something that is needed more within our discipline.
2017 also marks the 24th year I have been involved in QA in some form. My early view was very simplistic: Go and try to break the software. From there it got me to delve deeper into what is needed for QA. Now that I am being viewed as a thought leader is something that my younger self never would have thought would happen.
I think the best part of the year was being able to put what I talk about into action. My team has done amazing things over the year, where there have been noticeable improvements from the beginning to the point now where everyone in the organization looks back and is impressed with what we can deliver.
I find it interesting that I continuously get compliments for what has happened and I don’t really accept it. My response is always that the team are the ones that did it, I just gave them the vision and direction. I guess that is the modest part of me. It would make sense if I was the only one that did all the work and made all the improvements myself to take the credit. Here though is not the case, I am a leader and provided the leadership needed to get to where we needed to go. I did roll up my sleeves and helped out with some of the work, that is what leaders do. It also allowed me to see my direction first hand to ensure it made sense with where I wanted us to go.
2018 will be my 25th year in QA, a quarter of a century of my life in something that most people do not stick around in. I am a big proponent of a good, successful career in QA and that there is more to it than just executing test cases. There is so much more that can be done and I want to be part of the other thought leaders making the QA discipline given the rightful value it deserves.
One of the other changes that will happen next year is the expansion of this blog. The amount of viewers I have seen over the year tells me it is time to do more. Along with the SPaM podcasts contributions that I do and tie my posts to them, I will also be doing video blogs. These blogs will be me just chatting away or small tutorials on subjects, who knows where I will go with it. If you have suggestions contact me.
So as 2017 starts to fade 2018 looks to be an even bigger year for the QA Corner and myself as well. I hope you all have had the best 2017 possible and I wish you all the best for 2018.
QA corner 