Author Archives: Liz

Step Away from the Tools

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Liz

This may seem odd coming from someone who spent months coding a BDD tool, but seriously… put it down. Step away. BDD has taken off in the last few years, and lots of people have approached me for help. Many … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, testing | 20 Comments

Why I didn’t sign the Software Craftsmanship manifesto

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Liz

I’ve been reading Dan North’s post on programming as a craft, and Adewale Oshineye’s response. I also don’t view programming as a craft. I believe that programming is merely the vocabulary in which we express our craft or trade (and … Continue reading →

Posted in life, values | 20 Comments

Agile Training – a Recipe for Failure

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Liz

Some while back, I was invited to a meeting with two people who worked within that area called “Human Resources”. To be fair to the individuals concerned, neither of them ever referred to people as “resources”, and indeed both of them showed an … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching | 7 Comments

Giving effective feedback: How to change your Code’s behaviour

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Liz

Have you ever wanted to change the behaviour of some code that you work with? I’d like to share a few techniques with you which have helped me to change the behaviour of code I’ve worked with, with little conflict, … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, humour, testing | Leave a comment

CodeRetreat

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Liz

I always have so much fun at Agile 20XX conferences that it sometimes feels anticlimactic when they end. This year, however, I was lucky enough to get one of the last few tickets for Corey Haines’ latest CodeRetreat in Orlando. … Continue reading →

Posted in conference, learning | Leave a comment

The Gordon Pask Award

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Liz

The Pask Committee have given the Gordon Pask award to me this year for deepening existing ideas and coming up with some pretty crazy ones of my own. I can only do this because of the fortune I have in … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching, conference, life | 4 Comments

My Grandad

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Liz

My Grandad looked like Merlin. He had white hair down to his shoulders, steel-blue eyes that sparkled when he grinned, and half his teeth. My Grandad worked as an engineer during the war. He used to talk about the bombers, … Continue reading →

Posted in life | Comments Off on My Grandad

What not to test

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Liz

A couple of people have recently written asking for advice on how to start writing scenarios. In both instances, they have started by logging in, because “that’s what the users do first”. If you’re doing BDD, may I suggest starting … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, testing | 5 Comments

The Haiku Workshop at SPA2010

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Liz

I’ll be running the ever-popular Haiku Workshop in the SPA2010 evening diversions on Monday 17th May. My focus for this is limited to 24 people. I’m not sure how attendance is being organised; however, if you want to attend and … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching, conference | Leave a comment

WiPFlash and IronRuby

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Liz

Ben Hall has blogged his use of WiPFlash together with IronRuby to test Windows applications. Thank you, Ben! The example UI that Ben’s using is WiPFlash’s own. I particularly wanted to provide a pseudo-realistic application, so WiPFlash has a pet … Continue reading →

Posted in csharp | Leave a comment