Building Rapport with Personal Conversation
One of the most important things to do in an interview is to build rapport. I led a session last week at AYE, focused on conversations (not specifically interviews). One of the more memorable things I said is that you need to be personal but not intimate. A participant asked, “What is personal but not intimate?” I explained that personal is about you, and intimacy is something you might see or do in the shower. (Ok, that was not one of the most articulate explanations I’ve ever given. You get 5 minutes to laugh and then please keep reading.) The problem with small talk is that it’s not personal.

People are Not Tools
I’ve been reviewing job descriptions from clients that are a laundry list of tools. Or, that ask for “significant experience” with a particular technology. No, no, no. People are not tools. They are human beings who have specific qualities, preferences, and technical and non-technical skills. When you think about those personal qualities, think about these questions: With whom does this person work? What kind of deliverables does this person have in the short term and the long term? What kinds of interpersonal skills does this person need to do their job well? Take a look at the job analysis

What Do Agile Testers Look Like?
I recently spoke with a recruiter. “I don’t understand the QA market anymore. No one is hiring except for agile people. And they want people who are developers. What’s happening to QA?” Manual testing was never quality assurance; it was testing. And, manual testing is low-value, high cost work, especially when you compare it to automated regression testing. Now, before you assume I mean there is never a time for manual testing, no, I did not say that. There is a time and place for exploratory testing, which tends to be more manual. There is a time and place for opportunistic testing. But the kind of system-level testing that says “Does this fea