Dance Dance Revolution

Rob Sabourin's Becoming a Code Listener session at Worqference has just finished.

Although the presentation ostensibly covered technical practices, a recurring theme was how important collaboration is to establish shared understanding, intent, and context.

During the Q&A, in response to a question about introducing code listening activities on a team where collaboration levels are low and testers have no access to source code, Rob dropped a beautiful analogy.

As a student he used to go to high school dances. What he found was all the boys along one wall and all the girls along another. Not dancing.

As a consultant he goes to client planning meetings. What he finds is testers sitting in the corner, silently, angry about the meetings being a waste of time. Not collaborating.

Testers, if we want more satisfying interactions, if we want others to collaborate with us, if we want to show that we have something to offer, we have to step up and actively participate.

It may feel revolutionary, but we have to be prepared to start the dancing!
Image: Wikimedia

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