Testing is … raking leaves

Comments: 0 - Date: January 14th, 2008 - Categories: testaphors

I had to rake a lot of leaves in the back yard last weekend, and as I was raking, raking, making many muddy piles, I had an epiphany. Software testing is … raking leaves.



  • If there are lots of leaves, you can get most of them without digging too deeply and getting your rake all clogged up, just by scraping the top layer. Leave the rest for later, if that’s your style.
  • You can turn a big ol’ yard into a manageable series of “rake areas” by picking some landmarks, say a few trees and the sandbox, spaced somewhat equidistant through the yard, and raking all the leaves between these into a pile, then the leaves between these into another pile, etc.
  • Once you get past the top layer, the leaves are wet, and your rake gets caught up in the roots and stuff. If you’re just going for max bags o’ leaves per hour of raking, you’ll avoid that kind of work.
  • But if your wife is like mine, you quickly understand that the kids need to play on solid ground, so you have to get in there and dig ‘em out, which takes more work, and a more discerning eye to judge how well you did.
  • I get into a rhythm of raking leaves while playing with the kids: push the kids on the swing, then when they’re swinging real good, go and rake a bag of leaves. By the time I’m done with the bag, they’re screaming for another push. Push ‘em, rake ‘em. Push ‘em, rake ‘em. They seem resistant to learning how to pump themselves higher on the swings, but I don’t mind - it’s “dad security”.
  • And of course - next time the trees put out a release, I get to do it again.
  • Second time, though, should be easier.



    • See? It’s uncanny.

    I’m Gonna Be a Rapid Tester Someday

    Comments: 5 - Date: January 1st, 2008 - Categories: james bach, satisfice, rapid testing, song

    Welcome to my testing blog, offering an interesting, perhaps funny, perhaps entertaining, perhaps thoughtful view of my profession of software testing.


    To kick this blog off right, I offer you Rapid Tester, a song about a tester at wit’s end about how to test all the stuff that he’s expected to test, and how the Rapid Testing course gave him hope that he could at least do a defensibly reasonable job given what he has to work with.


    I this wrote on the occasion of attending my first RST class at James Bach’s Satisfice world headquarters in Front Royal, VA. I’ve edited it slightly since then as my understanding of the material has grown, but the essence remains the same. It borrows pretty much everything from Steve Earle’s beautiful song “Someday”.


    Enjoy the song.  Did you change your opinion of yourself or your job because of the RST course or others like it?