Gotta love the arrogance of the Know-It-All, eh? It amazes me when people say they don’t write bugs. Everyone writes bugs — it’s how well you find them before someone else does that matters. A good QA run can uncover bugs that no-one had thought of.

A few lifetimes ago, back when I was working in Ottawa, we had what seemed like half the company staffed with huge egos and know it alls. I learned a lot working there, but it was more of what not to do and how not to do things than positive role models.

One of the managers there when as far as to say (to my face) that he wrote bug free code and we (the testers) would never find problems in his code. Of course I responded with something to the effect of bull feathers, and pointed out that he was responsible for the user interface of a very large and complex software package, and it had to work properly and interact with everything else. Found my first bug in his stuff when it was built for the first time about 3 weeks later. On relating this story to a former coworker in Calgary, he responded with – “how crazy can someone be to say that?! – all someone has to do is look at the code and the problems are right there…..”

Great article – really enjoyed it!

Anyone who fails to recognise that individuals affect the team as a whole is missing the bigger picture. I’ve personally had to deal with those disruptive elements, and they cause a lot of trouble. Soon you’re dealing with a disgruntled team rather than with one person. That ruins the team’s ability to produce good work, which is not only bad for the company, but for each person’s sense of self-worth — that leads to resentment. If you’re unable to control it, you’ll lose great (or potentially great) people forever.

Thanks! Make sure you put your Experience to good use. (Yes, you can take that as my POV on your abilities.)