notes and rants

My new blog is at https://www.angryweasel.com/blog

My blog is dead – long live my blog

I started blogging about five years ago while I was working on Windows CE. I started the blog as a...

Author: Alan Page Date: 11/02/2009

PNSQC Slides

Thanks to everyone who attended my talk today. Feel free to fire more questions here if you have...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/27/2009

I’m overflowing

…literally, I suppose. It’s been a hectic few weeks for me, but some big announcements may be on the...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/21/2009

HWTSAM in China

I’m excited to see that the Chinese version of HWTSAM is out (and soon to be followed by a Korean...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/19/2009

One last virtualization post

We (Microsoft, M$ or however you’d like to refer to us) are trying to gather some data on how...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/17/2009

My STAR talk

My talk’s over – I’ve received a lot of positive feedback (although the people who hate my talks...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/08/2009

Plane Thoughts and Plain Books

I’m somewhere over California on my way to Orange County, home of movie stars, beaches, Disneyland,...

Author: Alan Page Date: 10/05/2009

7 Influential Books

Phil Kirkham recently posted a list of 7 Influential Books and encouraged some of his fellow...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/24/2009

Niche Professions

I have been thinking about “niche” professions – those that only appeal to a relatively small number...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/22/2009

Fun with Code and TestApi

I took an opportunity to write some code last week. I’ll spare you the full background – short story...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/21/2009

Who Owns Quality?

On request from Adam Goucher – another excerpt from How We Test Software at Microsoft.  BTW –...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/18/2009

Looking for the “L” word

Although my anniversary is coming up, this post is about another “L” word: Leadership. “Senior”...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/14/2009

Flashback

I had a bit of a surreal experience this week. One of the groups I work with sent some mail asking...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/11/2009

Organizing my Life

aka – The secrets of my so called success, part 23. It’s Tuesday after a long weekend, and my todo...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/08/2009

Good Test Writing

Heusser is sad because his heroes haven’t been blogging lately (two of those have only blogged 2-3...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/04/2009

Improvement through practice

In music, the better you are at the basics, the better you are on the bandstand. Even the pro...

Author: Alan Page Date: 09/03/2009

Learning and Thinking

I’ve been meaning to write a few more posts about The Passionate Programmer. So, before I forget,...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/30/2009

Planning the next 10 months

It’s “commitment” time at Microsoft – which means that employees across the company are plotting out...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/27/2009

Look past the bug

I have a couple of stories based on a bug I was passively investigating the last few days...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/20/2009

Meeting Types

Those of you who follow me on twitter may have noticed I’ve been in a lot of meetings lately...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/12/2009

More stuff that bugs me

I had a late morning meeting today in a MS building nowhere near the one where I normally work. To...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/11/2009

Patterns on the MSPress blog

I guest-posted on the MSPress blog today. Check it out for an article on test patterns.

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/04/2009

Growing your career as a tester

Every month, I send a newsletter to all testers at Microsoft. About six months ago, I started asking...

Author: Alan Page Date: 08/02/2009

HWTSAM Video Podcast – Chapter 3

Ken and Bj and I are back with another video recap of a chapter from hwtsam. Take a look and let us...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/30/2009

Careful with that hammer

There’s a saying that goes “If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.” I see a...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/28/2009

Give ‘em what they want

Last night, I was sitting in bed reading the latest issue of TapeOp (music recording magazine). I...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/21/2009

Working on the Duc

Although it’s Saturday and I’m currently doing a bit of work, I’m happy to say that I have had a bit...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/18/2009

What's the REAL question?

I’ve been in a lot of meetings recently, and I’ve been observing the way people ask questions. There...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/17/2009

Another HWTSAM Video Podcast

This one is a recap of chapter 2. We’ve filmed though chapter 8, but we’re a little behind on...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/16/2009

Papers, Presentations and People

I finished another draft of my pnsqc paper today. I still have a few tweaks I know I need to make,...

Author: Alan Page Date: 07/14/2009

Cat Herding Tips

For better or worse, part of my current role requires me to get really busy people to answer my...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/29/2009

Earn it or Demand it?

I was recently talking with a colleague about someone he knows who is currently in a “senior”...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/27/2009

More HWTSAM reviews

Been incredibly busy lately, but wanted to share a few other HWTSAM reviews. There’s a review on...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/24/2009

Interruptable?

I was thinking about my last post – as well as the “stuff on my plate”, and thought it may be...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/12/2009

Productivity

In the world of twitter, facebook, email, cell phones and IM, I sometimes wonder how anybody gets...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/11/2009

Quality isn’t always free

I went to the dentist this morning for a routine teeth cleaning and to get my yearly x-rays. My...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/09/2009

Want to say something nice?

Work on the Korean version of HWTSAM is wrapping up, and we’re looking for a few more of what the...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/04/2009

Another review of HWTSAM

So far, the blogosphere in general has had a better experience with the book than the amazon...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/02/2009

PNSQC 2009

It looks like (pending paper composition and acceptance) that I’ll be heading three hours south this...

Author: Alan Page Date: 06/01/2009

Odds and Ends

It’s been busier than normal for me at Microville recently. My friend (and frequent soccer match...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/27/2009

Words and Status (and rants!)

Words are funny things. We use them to convey meaning - but there's more to words than that. We also...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/19/2009

Metrics common sense

I still owe you some posts covering my recent metrics presentation, but wanted to pass this along in...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/17/2009

STAR East metrics presentation

Been a busy week, but wanted to send a link to my materials from STAR. My presentation style is...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/15/2009

iTWire review of HWTSAM

Another review of HWTSAM is here. My favorite quote: All in all, this is an impressive work with a...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/11/2009

STAR epilogue

I’m on a plane returning from Orlando  / STAR east. As expected, it was a fun week, but by...

Author: Alan Page Date: 05/09/2009

Next>