Michael Bolton in NZ Pinheads, from the Testtoolbox, Kiwi Test Teams & More!
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NZTester The Quarterly Magazine for the New Zealand Software Testing Community and Supporters ISSUE 4 JUL - SEP 2013 FREE In this issue: Interview with Bryce Day of Catch Testing at ikeGPS Five Behaviours of a Highly Effective Time Lord Tester On the Road Again Hiring Testers Michael Bolton in NZ Pinheads, From the TestToolbox, Kiwi Test Teams & more! NZTester Magazine Editor: Geoff Horne [email protected] [email protected] ph. 021 634 900 P O Box 48-018 Blockhouse Bay Auckland 0600 New Zealand www.nztester.co.nz Advertising Enquiries: [email protected] Disclaimer: Articles and advertisements contained in NZTester Magazine are published in good faith and although provided by people who are experts in their fields, NZTester make no guarantees or representations of any kind concerning the accuracy or suitability of the information contained within or the suitability of products and services advertised for any and all specific applications and uses. All such information is provided “as is” and with specific disclaimer of any warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and/or non-infringement. The opinions and writings of all authors and contributors to NZTester are merely an expression of the author’s own thoughts, knowledge or information that they have gathered for publication. NZTester does not endorse such authors, necessarily agree with opinions and views expressed nor represents that writings are accurate or suitable for any purpose whatsoever. As a reader of this magazine you disclaim and hold NZTester, its employees and agents and Geoff Horne, its owner, editor and publisher, harmless of all content contained in this magazine as to its warranty of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and/or non-infringement. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the publisher . © Copyright 2013 - NZ Tester Magazine, all rights reserved. 2 IN THIS ISSUE… Click on title... 30 On the Road Again Geoff Horne, NZTester Magazine 6 Interview With Bryce Day, Founder & CEO, Catch Software 34 Hiring Student Testers, Ian Wells, Telogis 14 Testing at ikeGPS Jeremy Gold, ikeGPS REGULAR FEATURES 18 Five Behaviours of a Highly 4 NZTester Magazine Effective Time Lord Tester Announcements Richard Boustead, Statistics NZ 11 Testing Events 20 The Pinheads 22 Michael Bolton in New Zealand 21 From the TestToolBox Adam Howard with Katrina Edgar & Aaron Hodder 29 Kiwi Test Teams 28 When John Was a Tester Great Bugs takes a break this issue. The Journal For New Zealand Test Professionals Welcome to Issue 4 of NZTester Magazine. Richard Boustead on the perils of being a Time Lord Tester! A lot has been happening since our last issue, mainly in the form of conferences, summits and In May, Colin and I put out a combined Newsletter meetups. After the launch of of OZTester in April, in which we wrote about our personal experiences editor Colin Cherry & myself embarked upon a with the various schools of software testing. Our conglomeration of conference attendances which initial idea was that this was to be a "taster" for a encompassed the Cognizant Test Summits, STPCon, more detailed analysis of the subject in the next StarEast, ANZTB 2013 and will also take in KWST, (current) issues of OZTester and NZTester. OZWST, Let’s Test Taster, STANZ, StarWest and However, at this point in time we’re still gathering ignite over the next few months. These “road information and comment and therefore the full trips”enable us to keep abreast with the very latest article is still a work-in-progress. in testing trends and ensures that we continue to Anyway, happy reading and as always, we do establish and maintain a healthy wordwide appreciate any feedback you may have around our network of testing experts and personalities as publications. well as with professional testing practitioners from all over. In this issue we welcome Ian Wells, Adam Howard, Katrina Edgar, Aaron Hodder and Jeremy Gold to the NZTester writers fold plus we hear again from 3 NZTester Announcements NZTester Survey NZTester Auckland Meetup We’d still like to know a bit more about your The inaugural NZTester Auckland Meetup will be thoughts on NZTester Magazine so we can held in August. Details are as follows: continue to shape it according to what you would like to see. Wed, August 14 2013, 4:00pm—6:00pm Our survey with SurveyMonkey is still active. It’s Venue: mostly multiple choice questions which should Catch Software take no more than 4-5 minutes to complete. Level 3, 300 Queen St Auckland We’d certainly appreciate you taking the time out to complete this survey, we’ll hold the results over Agenda: until the next edition of NZTester (October). 4:00pm Meet and greet 4:30pm Presentation: Geoff Horne, QA Click on the logo below to go straight to the Transformation - the Journey Continues survey. 5:30pm NZTester Magazine discussion To sign up to the NZTester Meetup Group and register, click on the logo above. To register for the session without signing up through Meetup, click here. VOTE…. for your favourite article in this edition of NZTester Magazine. Next issue……! Send in your vote for the article you think is the best in this issue and the winning author will receive a $100 JBHiFi voucher. Send to [email protected] Last issue winner was Nele Nikovic of TradeMe for his Project vs Product Testing article. Well done Nele, a $100 JBHiFi voucher will be on its way to you shortly. 4 Announcements cont. Over the Tazzie, in the latest issue of…. NZTester Directories Later in the year, we will be looking to publish three testing industry directories: Interview with Brendan Fitzgerald of TestIT 1) Testing Companies - New Zealand The Joolery Diaries: An Aussie Abroad 2) Testing Companies - Australia ANZTB Conference & SIG reviews 3) Testing Tools - management, automation, Confessions of a Test Strategist code coverage etc. Starting a New Role as a Test Manager We encourage companies wishing to appear Authority Bias: The Bane of Testing in either of the Testing Companies directories to register interest with us below. Click on the cover to download. There will be no charge for placing an entry and full advertising opportunities will be available at our standard advertising rates. The Tools directory will be product-based and researched by NZTester personnel. Planit TestingI ndex Now in its seventh year, the Planit Testing Index is an industry-wide benchmark for software development projects from across Australia and New Zealand. It provides a solid foundation for strategic planning, budgeting and execution of quality assurance activities in IT. Our commentary for last year’s Index can be found in NZTester 2. The 2013 Index will represent over 10,000 software development projects from Australia and New Zealand. To participate, click on the graphic 5 This issue’s interview is: Bryce Day Founder & CEO, Catch Software, Auckland Our interview this issue is with Bryce Day, Founder The first with Atlassian, has developed numerous and CEO of Catch Software. Catch is one of New tools including JIRA (defect management) and Zealand’s success stories with its flagship product, Confluence (enterprise wiki). Secondly with Sparx Enterprise Tester, being used by such organisations Systems, creators of Enterprise Architect (CASE as PayPal, US Navy and eBay among others. tool for analysis, design, and architecture). We have partnered with both companies for about seven years and run Sparx Systems New Zealand, which NZTester: Can you please describe Catch? gives us responsibility for Enterprise Architect in New Zealand and global responsibility as one of Catch is a Kiwi software company, that has been in seven sister companies. We are also one of twenty- operation for nine years. Our aim is to develop the five global Atlassian Enterprise Experts that work world's best test management platform and for us with customers to train, consult, and implement that's not just about the software, but the services Atlassian products globally and are recognised to and support that wrap around it. We have an have the expertise to do this at an enterprise level. extremely high-performing team, that is passionate about delivering better software for test teams globally, and a solutions team that provides training, NZTester: What product and services does consulting services, and support to our customers Catch offer? to ensure that they have everything they need to be Our product offerings centre around Enterprise successful. While we're based in New Zealand, over Tester, but we also sell Enterprise Architect and 90% of our software sales occur overseas, with the associated plugins, Atlassian software (JIRA, majority being in North America to the likes of the Confluence, Team Calendars, etc.), and numerous Intel, PayPal, US Navy, LG, eBay, Stanford University, plugins for these products. On the solutions side of Scotiabank and Philips. Closer to home organisations the business, we offer training, mentoring, and like Air New Zealand, Orion Health, eRoad, consulting around our core products; Enterprise University of Auckland, Navman, and APN are using Tester, Enterprise Architect, and the Atlassian our test management software, Enterprise Tester, software. This includes both small pieces of work to ensure they are producing high quality products. around the software and end-to-end Enterprise Tester is not only a great test implementations across an organisation using both management tool, but also allows organisations traditional waterfall approaches and agile practices. to create an end-to-end integrated tool chain by integrating with our partner products; Atlassian NZTester: What do you believe makes JIRA, Rally, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Catch different? and Microsoft TFS. With this in mind we aim to provide a total product experience for our customers From a soft skills point of view we are passionate and as such provide training, mentoring, consulting, about what we do, have worked hard to put in place support along with the product to ensure they have a great culture, are globally focused, and we care everything they need to be successful.