When I mentioned to a friend that I emailed Harry Robinson and asked if I could come see some of his test automation, they were teasing me because I'm so blunt I just ask to stop by. He was cool enough to say yes. I headed to see him last week in his awesome non-sunlight facing office and guess what? You get to join me for the summary, much like the mouse in my pocket who talks to me about coding.

So, enough about mice and on to Harry. Why is he my technical hero? He is the smartest developer I've ever met who is a tester first. Developers in test are a dime a dozen. Testers who can code well are rare. Harry is not about automation that sucks or trying to automate a bunch of silly blackbox test cases step by step so they become a headache to maintain over time. He's about figuring out the rules that apply and making automation that can separate interesting to look into from unlikely to be interesting to look at. His approach to test automation is why I went to see him.

What he is making is really remarkable to me in that it isn't much code total. It is asking the question "Does the result match this rule?" His talent is in making the rule simple and not making a big mess. If more test automation worked this way more of it would have good ROI. He showed me some cool stuff the Bing quality team is working on. Solutions to specific well defined testing problems is what Harry offers that no one else is even considering in most cases.

So I stayed and stayed and stayed even longer. I kept chatting with him and he asked me some super hard questions to see if I could guess. Well, sometimes I guessed right, sometimes I didn't, but I played along anyways. I learned some interesting things.

Did I learn just about test automation? No. The reason I stayed so long is our talk was getting much better. Here's what I cared about. I cared that he talked to me like a person. He told me true real stories. He showed me something about how to be resilient and I've never needed it more than I do right now, wandering around talking to people for the first time slightly lost. I've NEVER heard NO from a job I really wanted. I'm not brave enough to ask. His advice is to just try stuff. Do the next thing and go from there. Learn something new, try something unexpected and get some perspective.

The reason he is a tester first? He talked about a complicated engineering project the testers are doing that he's not sure relates to testing. It's solving a development problem. He wants to solve test problems. We don't agree on this issue because I feel if you hire people who even say they are a developer FIRST in test (second) you can't expect them to want to stay in test forever and they deserve the autonomy to grow by blurring the lines between developer and tester just as I'm going to constantly try to collaborate, bring ideas in, get people talking, pairing, and get testing started. I'm willing to pay the price to do it, even though it doesn't neatly fit into the testing bucket. Is that testing?

I haven't been blogging and I'm woefully absent from most places you might expect me lately. I'm giving all of my energy to a project that is ultimately ending before long. On these silly days when I do my best to do what is needful for this project I'm on having the chance to talk with someone I admire was great for me.

Craig stopped by and was ready to go. I knew he was, but you see, there is something I see in Harry that is just like me. He's driven. He's there to prove a point and he's going to do whatever he can or drop over trying to make quality the difference. You don't pay to get that. You either have that fight when you are bouncing back or you don't. What of those who ask me, "What if it isn't a fight? What if it is a dance?" All I have to say to that is "NOT a tester, huh?" I'm just glad to have had a bit of his time and the next time he's speaking I hope that I don't end up with unexpected surgery! I plan to go see him talk.

After a great chat, I left, way more than an hour after Craig was ready to go, being very impatient with my antics and saying that as nice as it was for Harry to see me, he feels he's the only one who should be that contrary with me. Well, let's just hope he never sits in on a conversation with James Bach or he'll be really worried about me in this "testing" stuff.

Craig is not driven in the same way that I am, although he is creative and focused. He doesn't work to live. He doesn't make it personal. To him, it's business. He does a great job he's proud of and he goes home to our kitties, to me, and he's happy with a balanced life. Why I need 3 hours when 1 hr would be fine to him is confusing. Why I speak 7 times and go to 5 conferences instead of 1, I'm not sure he'll get. Why I work to the point of exhaustion and beyond? I don't know. Because I'm like Harry sometimes. I have something to prove and sometimes I'm a contrarian even though that isn't a word. I hope that next year I'll slow down, but until then I'm seeking something. I hope to tell you that I find it. Checkpoint 1, 2, and 3 are reached. I'll let you know about checkpoints 4 and 5 later this week. This may be the strangest time in my life so far. I really, truly, have no idea what I want to happen.

I want to be one day as much an innovator in testing as Harry, but I can't be him. My talents are elsewhere. Part of what makes him great is his ability to understand and explain what he does, and be proud of that even in the face of significant obstacles. In my opinion, in some cases even to remain productive in the face of betrayal and malice. That to me is strength and I hope he is proud of it if he ever reads this and doesn't think it is rude of me to speak of why I admire him. He's got something in focus that I think helps testers. He is true to testing however cool his automation is.