We have this huge push like nearly any professional software company, to try to move our quality process further upstream and to reduce drama. This makes so much practical sense. Our senior director of quality is a super smart guy and he puts his money where his mouth is and puts down solid goals and really risks failure in order to change things. He isn't one of those people who 3 months later just gets distracted and stops talking about his previous goals. He's serious as can be about making less drama.

Well, I understand that goal but I can't say I find it emotionally appealing. The truth is that I started acting in plays at the age of 11. Back at Expo '86 in Vancouver Canada I was an elementary student and I had a choir, dancing, and acting part in a play at the World's Fair and I thought that was pretty cool. I directed one play and acted in 11 plays while in school. If you ask other people, "Do you consider Lanette to be low drama and laid back?" I'd be entirely shocked if anyone said yes.  So, that leaves me conflicted. I do want less drama because I care about overall quality. That's for sure. I want predictable and excellent software. However, uncovering bugs in a crafty way, seeing them fixed, and knowing I saved someone from a nasty problem is where I get so much job satisfaction. I don't feel that way about just seeing a test pass. I feel pointless when I just do my part and don't see any result. I'm not fine being just another gear in the machine--pouring out reliable and steady automation that passes, or fails in an isolated fashion. I want corrupted documents, crashers, blue screens of death, and drama. I want the Young and the Restless of software right on my screen. I want a horror movie of database corruption and a torture movie full of performance problems to report. If you take all of the drama out of the software, then where is the fun and where is the excitement? I want to save us from the shame of delivering less than a worthy product because that is the really satisfying part of the job.

I'm working on the new job for Wonder Woman now, and I believe it's a good idea for me to work on this project. It's high pressure, high risk, and high drama. The difference between the testing and the real drama is that no one dies if we fail, and no one marries their wives sister due to amnesia in software (that I know of). I'm pretty sure if you are a test manager you have some testers who just want to be left alone to make nice reliable automation. Then you have your people who come in beeping and flapping about some bug or the other they just have to let you know about with that excited expression. Well, you have a tester with a super-hero complex on your hands. You can't put them on something entirely methodical and expect them derive remotely the same satisfaction they had when their life was a bit more exciting. Even with moving the quality upstream there are going to be some areas of risk. Let them sniff it out for you and get some excitement because otherwise your drama prone testers will start to get restless and possibly cause trouble. In fact, I know a guy who transitioned from software to fire fighting. Really. I mean for the fire department. I'm not a good accountant. I am a good fire fighter though. I'm good in a crisis. I'm trying to develop my skills that work well at all times and to become well rounded, prepared, mature, but that takes time. Right now, I'm still in need of some drama.