Hello to everyone at SQAForums and SQABlogs. Here's a little bit about me and why I have started a new blog here.

I've been working in software testing and development for 15 years. I first became seriously interested in software in the early 1990s when, after years of studying mechanical engineering, I started my own software company. I learned two things from that experience: I am not a businessman, and developing software is a lot harder than it looks if you haven't done it before.

I landed in Boise, Idaho where I tested software and firmware for laser printers at Hewlett Packard. HP had a very traditional waterfall release model, and a strong quality culture in the laser printer group. I also spent several years developing in-house test management and automation tools.

In 2005, I left HP and moved my family to Seattle, where I have worked for several small companies with both traditional and Agile development models. I have done a lot of development and automation in my career, but made a decision to stay on the QA side of the industry in recent years.

The name of this blog is partly about how I feel about quality. I have mixed feelings about the "context-sensitive" way of thinking about software testing because all too often the "context" they are talking about is the business context. One way of expressing this view is to say that as a tester you can in the end only accomplish what the people running the business allow you to accomplish. The only best practices are the ones the developers and management in the company you are working for at the time will support.

That is true, but testers are also part of a larger quality community as well as society. Our work impacts our families and the families of the users of the software we test. That is what motivates me to get up in the morning.