"The Nine Forgettings" by Lee Copeland

I am sure most of the people who read blogs and articles have already seen this video presentation of Lee Copeland. But it is so useful and timely, that I really want yo publish it in my blog. The name of presentation is "The Nine Forgettings", which is actually means "how to be a professional tester". Presentation slides: http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/nine-forgettings.pdf

"Maybe they haven't forgot them, maybe they just never knew them."

The short summary of presentation, just in case I don't have a time to watch it next time.

1. Forgetting Our Beginnings

The most testers don't know the grandfathers of their profession.
How can we call ourselves professional testers if we are ignorant of our own history?

2. Forgetting To Grow

How can we call ourselves professional testers if we are ignorant of the fundamental techniques of our craft?

3. Forgetting To Properly Measure

4. Forgetting To Properly Reward

If you measure the wrong thing, and then you reward the wrong thing, don't be surprised if you get the wrong thing.

5. Forgetting The Boundaries

We are trying to help everybody and we convince ourselves that this is normal behavior.

6. Forgetting Process Context

IF disapears, we just left with THENs.

7. Forgetting Organizational Context

Testing does not create quality. All we do is look for it.

8. Forgetting To Honor Each Other

Many of us work in “blaming” organizations.
80% of all defects come out of the process that we use and only 20% of the defects come out of the individual mistakes. (by William Edwards Deming)

9. Forgetting Integrity

The most important.
Ultimately, the only real power testers have is their integrity.