While adjusting to the early hour, the new commuting plan, and the woefully allergenic office mate had me concerned for a day last week, Friday things started to click for me on my new project assignment. I'm ready for Monday! I'm perfume free (hoping to help out the poor .net programmer who's allergies have been winning the war), have opted for comfort over fashion with the shoes, and I did studying this weekend on my application.

This testing assignment is TRUE acceptance testing. What I mean by that is the application is developed somewhere else, in fact, all of the code has already been deployed to production somewhere else. The configuration, suitability in this context, and integration are what I am testing! Having figured out the scope of my assignment, I'm realizing this testing task is different from testing for the software development team. In the past, my job has been to make the developers look fantastic and genius, because the software has high quality when released to the public. Now, that isn't my assignment. My assignment is to make the deployment of this software in this setting and configuration go so smoothly that internally it makes jobs easier, happier, and relieves stress and frustration for those doing the work. Being a big picture thinker, I have to figure out the overall goal before I can effectively plan my test strategy.

Even more exciting to me is knowing that I'll be helping with a round of user acceptance testing! Collaborative group test exercises and dry runs are my specialty. If I had to pick one area where I have the most experience, the most unique ideas that I've put into practice, and the most to offer software testing, I'd say without a doubt it is in collaboration. I'll have a chance to work with about a dozen users, and subject matter experts, including a lead who is going to coordinate and help the acceptance go well! I don't think I explained my experience in this area in much depth to my new boss, but he assigned me to the right project. I'm thrilled with what a good fit this is as I learn more.