Review: September issue of Tea-Time for Testers

I've just finished reading September issue of Tea-Time for Testers, a free and useful e-magazine for the testers of the world. Here's a few comments I have to offer the magazine and its readers and potential readers.

- Selena Delesie's article is a gem. I wish all testers would copy the article and use it to lay out a learning plan for themselves. She leaves us no excuses of the sort "I don't have time for learning" or "there's simply no learning opportunities where I work." On flaw: she writes, "See my website for some books, websites and blogs I recommend." I tried the link, but couldn't find the list she mentions. I wish the link went directly to the list of recommendations that's hidden somewhere in her site.

- Anurag Khode's article on testing network connection speed is on a topic that interests me. It's highly specific and useful for that reason. Conversely, for a tester without these specific problems, probably nothing is lost by skipping the article. I wish Anurag had given a few general conclusions that might help testers in other situations. As it stands, the article itself is one model of setting up tests, but I suspect few testers will take advantage of that feature unless it's specifically pointed out.

- On the other hand, I look forward to Joel Montvelisky's articles precisely because they address the issue of applying intelligence. In this article, he tackles the application of intelligence in an area that many testers think doesn't require thinking at all: automated testing. He deserves a medal for courage, because I fear that some advocates of automated testing will lambast him for suggesting that you need to think once you've automated some tests.

Anyway, those are a sampling of the articles I enjoyed in the September issue. As usual, I read TTWT from cover to cover (even though it has no covers). As for the issue as a whole, I always love the colorful illustrations throughout the issues.

You can find the latest issue at http://www.teatimewithtesters.com/