A Base(ic) Vocabulary

As I copied and deconstructed art by different people I started to identify commonalities within and across their works. Some of these commonalities were explicitly gathered into visual dictionaries, such as Jack Hamm’s Cartooning The Head & Figure. Even though I didn’t understand exactly how everything worked, by simply combining these pieces parts I was able to create drawings which pleased me. As I became familiar with the vocabulary I started improvising on it, and I became even more pleased with my art.

As I copied and deconstructed the way other testers worked I started to identify commonalities within and across their techniques. Some of these commonalities were explicitly gathered into testing concordances, such as Cem Kaner et al’s Testing Computer Software. Even though I didn’t understand exactly how everything worked, by simply combining these pieces parts I was able to create tests which found important problems. As I became familiar with the vocabulary I started improvising on it, and my tests found even more important problems.

A strong vocabulary is one base on which your expertise and effectiveness is built.

[Facial features copied from Cartooning The Head & Figure, by Jack Hamm. See all my art at https://www.freelyoffered.com.]

*** Want a fun job on a great team? I need a tester! Interested? Let's talk: Michael dot J dot Hunter at microsoft dot com. Great testing and coding skills required.