Nancy Keilln spoke at EuroSTAR 2022 at the closing keynote on the topic of “What the Hell Kind of Testing is That”. She explored her story as a exploratory tester, and how she and organisations adopted (or not) to new ways of testing. This post is a collection of some of the questions that Nancy Kellin was asked at the keynote Q&A that she did not get to answer at the event.
Do you think being a woman influenced how much attention you got when alerting for the problems you found?
I do believe being a woman has had an influence, and not always a positive one. Some of the negative influences have been that I’m not seen as technical as other people on the project, even though I have a degree in programming. Another negative influence is sometimes it’s seen as me being ’emotional’ and not a project problem. On the positive side however, I think as a women I’m see as less confrontational when dealing with people not in leadership positions. Testers and developers seem to feel safe in confiding in me about problems they see.
Have you ever regretted that the changes you implemented in a company didn’t persist after you left?
Not regret but sadness and disappointment. It’s tough to see something you’ve worked so hard for fall away.
Did you start to see warning signs earlier & earlier through experience? Did the “uh oh” moments happen sooner after joining?
Depending on the project I’ve seen warning signs as early as the job interview and I’d definitely attribute this to experience. Last summer I had a new client call. They wanted me to test 100 integrations in 10 weeks, BUT they had already used up 4 of the 10 weeks when they called looking for me to rescue it. I figured by the time I’d join they would have 2 or 3 weeks left. They were a little annoyed when I turned down the job offer. I told them not only would I not be successful in the role, anyone else they found also wouldn’t be successful in the role as the request wasn’t possible.
Nanaimo bars or Butter Tarts?
OMG.. definitely Butter Tarts! Nanaimo bars are gross.
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