My latest column...
Drive-by training. Never heard of it? It is exactly what it sounds
like. You drive to a training facility (or an instructor drives to you),
for a day or three the instructor delivers the pre-packaged training
class, then everyone drives back home. It's not the best training model
ever invented. There is generally no student assessment, and the only
instructor/course provider accountability is reputation. Even so, many
good ideas can be shared and lots of students come away feeling that it
was well worth "the drive."
As it turns out, I've been delivering a lot of drive-by training to
software testers this fall. That in itself isn't particularly noteworthy
-- end-of-the-budget year is a popular time for drive-by training --
but something that is noteworthy is that I have noticed a rise in some
disturbing behaviors among the individuals and organizations that select
and attend drive-by training.
At first, I thought it was just me. But after an informal poll (and
some lively discussions) with my employees and trainer friends in the
testing realm, I became increasingly convinced that the behaviors I'm
noticing are not exclusive to me and that I'm not the only one who
thinks they are on the rise.
Read the rest of the column.
--
Scott Barber
Chief Technologist, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
About.me
Co-Author, Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications
Author, Web Load Testing for Dummies
Contributing Author, Beautiful Testing, and How To Reduce the Cost of Testing
"If you can see it in your mind...
you will find it in your life."
