Do you gather?

There is that old saying "a rolling stone gathers no moss", well yeah, because its like...uhm...moving and stuff.  If you sat around and let your bones and skills ossify you might find there is a bit of moss somewhere, or something else, of course it all depends on your location.  Because its nice to get people together and discuss something about your work, I started a monthly talk here about 9 months ago, and its worked out pretty well.

Why I did it was to give a place where everyone who was in QA, and in Development, could get together and hear a short presentation on a topic then have a roundtable to see if there were ideas of ways to use this in our own environment.  Development used to have a bi-weekly meeting to go over some new programming concept, cool widget or what have you, and while they were great to get in on they did not have much bearing on my day to day work.  Now I can actually come to a subject that is revolving around some facet of testing I do, make a presentation about it, instruct others who might derive some benefit and maybe talk about ways to improve it.  This has been nice, and we've had some good discussions and while I like to keep the presentations down to 20 minutes max, with the rest of the time for discussion, when the VP of our division came to the one on Agile and Scrum that lasted about an hour and a half as questions continually came up.  That one was great because it allowed us to look at ways to improve the process we had on a recently started major project, I am glad to say that we also adopted the information radiator concept and each of the three major sites have a weekly radiation dose of information on the state of the project.

Topics are open to all, and we've had some presentations from Documentation, on test tools like QuickTest, Virutalization on Linux, Debugging methods on our products and we have more planned for this year on Quality and API Testing.  It's great, allows people to brush up on presentation skills on a friendly audience, and gives some great opportunites for information dissemination.

Of course if you are ambitious and can do them offsite at your favorite restaurant or brewpub, more power to you!

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 13

The last one! Of all things Chapter XIII is about The Use Of Spies.

None of us should be working in an environment where we need to have people in place to give us information, that may work well in government or on television, but in real life groups need to work together and be able to have a modicum of trust. Still its no reason to let your back go unguarded, what spies really do is provide information, that is information you need for your project so if you don't have a handy spy or some hidden microphones, go and get the information yourself. Ask questions. Be curious and persistent, letting things go without getting an answer you need only causes trouble for you, and your project or your team. Keep an eye out for people in the know, and get to know them, not only because they may be nice, but they might give you a heads up in case something is coming up that you might need to know about. The more friends you have, the more you know.

Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver.

Armies are expensive, and complex to hold together and maintain. So are large groups and environments, having them just for the sake of being able to say you have them does not solve any problems. I'm not sure what a thousand ounces of silver costs nowadays, but its probably more than most people have budgeted, so count yourself lucky you don't have to carry all that silver around.

Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy's condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments,

As said previously, many times, pre-modern armies would only fight if the conditions were good and they had positioned themselves properly, except of course in surprise attacks. But if the choice came to maintain something large and expensive just for the sake of being able to use it someday, or to pay once for something that would solve the issues quickly, what would you choose? I'd got for the solution I can get quickly, but I hate to waste money and while I can be a packrat, I don't like to do it at work when I can probably use the space for that someday solution for a beer fridge.

Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is FOREKNOWLEDGE.

It's always about information,or at least being able to know, or predict, what will happen. Good Project Managers make this look easy, I still don't know whether its from some sort of psychic ability or some weird sense of things from experience.

Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience,

Ok, so much for those ideas!

Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

A ha! Direct observation, or at least some good reports. Can you say things like Status Reports or Milestones? I can.

Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.

Just sending one in without clear instructions or a goal doesn't help anyone. You have to know the information you need sometimes, or look for the gaps in your own knowledge to see what you might need. Or better yet, are there documentation holes that people have brought up, or have concerns on? Those look like good candidates for getting data on.

Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports.

Just because you asked a question and got an answer does not mean you have the right question and answer, be sure what it is you are looking for and asking. Sometimes the most important question is the one that has not been asked. Gaining data on projects is a tricky business, and sometimes you need large amounts of data that needs to flow up through various reports, and be paired with other data, to see where things truly are and the real state of affairs. Continually tune the data collection, people may ask for all kinds of data, and often just because someone in an important role asks for that data in a specific form does not mean that they know what they want. Question it, see if something else satisfies, see what they are looking for, it could be worth improving the current data collection to add this, or it could be a complete waste of time.

Finally number 13 done...sorry its taken a long time, I hope at the very least some questions have been sparked, I don't pretend to have all the answers but this was an interesting exercise for me as well.

Thanks for reading!

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 12

In looking back there are multiple avenues of attack that Sun Tzu has mentioned and advocated, some are applicable to dealing with projects, people and resources. In Chapter XII The Attack By Fire he proposes ways to deal with your enemy by an old and, at the time, untamable force. I am not advocating any use of fire, while I admire Milt's conviction in Office Space I would not condone that avenue to anyone who is unhappy with their workplace, but there are some parallels that can be drawn. Fire has been useful to civilization going back in time, from slash and burn agriculture to its use is siegecraft, but its also unpredictable as can be seen by any area that has brushfires. California sees these often, and while there are always attempts at making fire breaks and keeping the flames isolated, any good wind can spread the sparks across large areas easily. While fire can be harnessed in some situations, in others it can be downright dangerous.

Sun Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp;

Nothing like making an opponents army lose everything in a big fire. This takes care of everything in one swoop, and while the army not only looses its supplies but inevitably some soldiers will be lost in either escaping or fighting the flames. Not much to condone here, unless you are looking for a way to sabotage something, and in that case you don't need my help.

the second is to burn stores;

Isolate the damage, removing needed resources not only harms the army in the future but can cause psychological damage as they may lose the will to fight, or at best now need to spend much time foraging. If they are in a land already stripped, then things can be grim indeed.

the third is to burn baggage trains;

The supplies following an army on the march, if these are lost the army is back to losing much of its supplies, except that which is carried, and is again either demoralized or back to foraging.

the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines;

Removing the weapons from the army and it has lost the means to fight, having the will and the means is important, but without one or the other an army is severely weakened.

the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.

In pre-modern times this would probably be from flaming arrows, to flaming oil from catapults or trebuchet's or even from Greek Fire. In modern armies its probably going to be from firebombs. Either way, fire in the midst of an enemy is also a good distraction.

So what can fire do for us? Not much in the realm of Testing or Projects. What you would want to do is watch out for fire coming into your projects or tests, avoid anything that can delay you if its placed in your environment. Sharing resources is often a way of life in some companies, but don't let some really new piece of code and its sudden new required installs of software X, Y and Z be placed in your environment a week or two before you get that next big drop. You may not get your environment back in time, or worse, find out that X, Y or Z is not compatable with your project, making you rebuild your environment. A good thing to do with any machine in your environment, if you can, is make a nice basic build of your environment then snapshot it, that way in case something happens, or you need to get back to a starting point, you put the snapshot back and you are set to go.

Fire extinguished.

In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments:
To be circular about this, let's see what Sun Tzu says about attacking with fire.

When fire breaks out inside to enemy's camp, respond at once with an attack from without.
Use the distraction, and the sudden natural ally to make your assault.

If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy's soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack.

They may be lying in wait, or not even there.

When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, stay where you are.

Use the natural ally, or better yet, let them fight it out and when they are exhausted and weakened attack, don't use your resources unnecessarily.

If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favorable moment.

Choose your time wisely, whenever your enemy is most distracted - pounce.

When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward.

Last thing you want is the fire coming at you, let the enemy run away from the fire into your forces, and don't get the ash and flames in your face.

Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.
By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings.

By fire you force the enemy to move, and lose what he has, but with water you slow down your enemy or force him into an environment where he cannot attack, but he may not lose his resources.

But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being;

Once you have destroyed a project or group, you are never going to get it back, don't lose it and don't squander it.

A short one, but hey its 12 down and 1 to go!

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 11

Just as the terrain can be varied so Sun Tzu then gives more description of them in Chapter XI The Nine Situations. Just as an army can be stuck in certain terrain, or a situation when they are in close quarters so it can be when a project reaches a certain state, and you either need to defend your work or are being attacked for it. Just as you do not want to be in a bad situation during a project, you don't want to be in a worse place afterwards, but just as importantly you do need to learn the lessons of past projects. Repeating the same mistakes time after time does not scale well over time, and while it may work to keep doing the same kinds of projects when companies are small, this does not work when companies are larger and keep trying to consider the strategy of a project is always the same no matter the complexity.

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.
Not all directly correlate, but there are lessons to be learned in all things.

When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground.

When an army is fighting in its own territory soldiers, prior to being professional armies, were always at risk of running back home. With professional armies this is not so much of an issue, but just as soldiers ache to see their families for being away from them a long time, keeping unrealistic hours and schedules for long periods of time can have the same effect. I'm not a believer in the maxim that all projects require long hours to complete and that more skilled people take longer hours because they are much better and dedicated. Keeping people away from their homes for long periods can inevitably lead to domestic problems, and while its not always possible to keep home and work life separated, there are times when its always good to go home. When I first started working as a Tester it did take me sometimes 50 or 60 hours a week to understand and compelte a project, now I can do that same work in 40 or less, but I also handle more detailed projects now. So as I learn new things I expect them to take longer, but as I become more experienced I can do the work in less time. This way as I do work that is familiar it is done in less time and I have more time to work on new things, or to go home and see my family.

When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground.

Consider that a project is a piece of territory, there is a point where work is done and completed in such a case and you are committed to the work due to the resources expended. There is a time for change in large projects, but that is before you have penetrated into the territory that gets you out of your "homeland" and into the area where you can see the work. While processes like Agile keep a structure where things can change on a continual basis, not every project works that way, and you have to be careful on what is changed after a certain point. As to the hostile territory there was a time when armies would invade a foreign land and burn any bridges or boats used to invade, this was to keep the army looking ahead and realizing that they were committed and not going to go back.

Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground.

Everyone wants the advantage, whether in life, on others or in a game (when possible). When armies were outnumbered they wanted the terrain that helped them hang on to what they had, whether it was a narrow pass (as mentioned in a previous chapter) or the narrow piece of land that allows movement. If an army outnumbers you, but they can only come to you one at a time, there is no advantage in their numbers, unless they want to wear you down. Mostly this comes down to when people want to play politics, understand the advantages they have and play them accordingly, while its not normal for many mid-sized companies to have office politics in play, many do and it happens even in small companies - play those games at your own risk and when you have the advantage.

Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground.

When communication is open, people are committed and on the right path and things are running smoothly you have open ground as work is moving and going without impedence. Its a balance and a good middle ground, while a project may not always lie here, its going to occupy this space at some point. Enjoy it and when you can, get it to this place.

Ground which forms the key to three contiguous states, so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command, is a ground of intersecting highways.
In Sun Tzu's time this would be the area where many kingdoms come together, you can play one off against the other getting one weaker so you can invade, or lessen the strength of one if they are greater than you by having an ally. This the location where you command information and the resources of a project, because you have leverage on all the resources you need, its a good space to be in as you can direct things your way when you want. If its in the hands of someone who wants to impede you (see Office Politics previously mentioned) then you are in trouble, as whoever wants to impede you has the ability to get their point of view across to anyone who may want to, or can, help you. On your side this is a great place, against you failure may be imminent.

When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground.

The most recent example of this would be the invasion of Iraq by America (I won't go into my own feelings on this in detail, but let me say it was ill conceived and baseless), where many major cities and fortifications were bypassed in order to achieve the capital. This puts a force in a position where it may be strong in the center, but around it are areas that are going to be hostile to it. If you ever get a project into this state, there are very serious issues going on, but let's just say you had better be a good strategist to get yourself out of this situation.

Mountain forests, rugged steeps, marshes and fens--all country that is hard to
traverse: this is difficult ground.
As mentioned before, anything that is a delay will cause problems, avoid these situations. If you are unsure as to how difficult such terrain is to move across, try crossing a river by yourself, or a lake or marsh and see how fast you can move.

Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed in ground.
Again its all about movement, don't get yourself penned in so that you cannot make your deadlines and are short of resources be sure that you can keep up your speed of completion.

Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

Another bad spot, militarily this is a place where you can only kill or be killed, if you are in such a place there should have been numerous warning signs long before. This is a spot that it is exceedingly difficult to extricate yourself from.

Rapidity is the essence of war:

For an army to get to where the enemy is not, before him, is a strong goal. While finishing projects rapidly may be good, to do so when they are not sustainable is counter-productive. Make it a goal to finish projects on time, with support and completely, this leaves things complete and sustainable. While this quote seems more apt to Agile processes it can be used in others, so long as things are completed in a sustainable fashion.


11 down and 2 to go.

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 10

Well after talking about armies on the march, and positioning, something I touched upon in the last Chapter was about how to place armies, in Chapter X. Terrain there is more that Sun Tzu says about it. When I mentioned positioning I also referred to how ancient armies would move about on land in order to have the best placement possible, armies would occasionally move around for hours or days until they reached the best place possible to wait. The enemy may come and see the placements and think "heck if I am going up against that!" and just go home, why go against someone who is strongly situatuated when it can only lead to ruin or a waste of resources? That has led to such terms as the "Forlorn Hope" where armies would crash against a strongly situated enemy, in the hope that a crack in the defense might be made, battlefield commissions where made upon these. There is a set of books by Bernard Cornwell set in the Napoleonic Wars where the main character Richard Sharpe becomes an officer through his participation in a Forlon Hope, if you like historical fiction I highly recommend the series.

Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called ACCESSIBLE.

Basically what is being referred to here is communication, this was an important trait of pre-modern armies, in addition consider communication to be a supply train; as I said previously if you have no supplies you can often lost the battle before its begun. But consider a project where people communicate, everyone knows what is going on and what people are looking for. A very nice project, no? I would think so. When groups work well there is no blockage of communication and everything is known, processes like Agile work by opening the communication between Development, QA and the Customer (I add QA here, but mostly because I can never really find it mentioned individually in many Agile documents though I think that will change). If people and information is accessible, then things proceed smoothly.

Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called ENTANGLING.
In groups where communication often breaks down in certain situations and is difficult to return to being Accessible will be arduous to fix. As Sun Tzu mentions upon ground like this;

if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.
So if you have communication break-downs and they keep reoccurring then this will always happen unless the problem of entanglement can be fixed. You can keep going back and fixing it, but if it will not stay Accessible there are other issues going on that need to be fixed and they will continually thwart you until such a time as a disaster or unfixable issue arises. Avoid the Entanglement, although its not the worst of the lot.

When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called TEMPORIZING ground.

When there is an issue that blocks communication, but the issue itself cannot be moved nor can it be fixed, you have a stalemate. Just as two armies will be at a deadlock in such a situation and a deadlock will occur, there will be no moving the issue out of the way of your communication lines. Its one to avoid, and hard to get around, though its possible to, everything has a solution if you look hard enough and such blocking issues can be fixed or at least brought up as a, you guessed it, Blocking Issue. In the projects I work on these receive high visibility and they become warning signs that things are not moving on the way they should, and deadlines are in peril. So we move to fix them when we can.

With regard to NARROW PASSES, if you can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy.

If you've ever walked through a narrow canyon, or pass in the mountains, just think what it must look like to an advancing army, a confined space to be in and somewhere up above could be snipers, or people to push rocks down on you. If the army is on the march and someone attacks while its travelling through, there could be a lot of damage, they make it easy to defend precisely because they are difficult to traverse. In the Mexican War in the United States there were times when the Army Of The West came across some narrow passes they needed to go through, but with some fortification and resolve the opposing forces could hold the Army at bay with vastly outnumbered forces. So avoid the narrow channels of communication, if there is a bottleneck to get information on a project there can be trouble, of if one person somehow decides to play politics, or gets in a bad mood, the project can suffer because now there is only a limited number of people to go to and that person can block communication. Make sure there are multiple lines open, have alternative routes or sources, if possible never depend on just one because you can be delayed.

With regard to PRECIPITOUS HEIGHTS, if you are beforehand with your adversary, you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up.

As mentioned previously with trying to run up heights, attacking up a hill is severly difficult, but defending from up a hill is easier, especially if you have time to be situated. Being in the raised and sunny spots can put you in view of the enemy, but it also makes a tempting target for the enemy to come for and draws them in. Placing yourself, or your project, in a position where it is well situated and able to see problems coming, you've got a good spot indeed, but if you need to get a project there later on, there is a fight on your hands. Just don't find yourself fighting uphill, otherwise it will be a long and exhausting battle.

Another part of this chapter is what Sun Tzu calls the Six Calamities, these are not forces of nature or events that occur, but from leadership and they also are very important. Unless you can lead your group or project, you may be doomed to one of these.

Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the FLIGHT of the former.
Trying to take on too much with a project is daunting, but expecting the people to just handle it will cause them to break, whether its under the strain or for new employment, you never know. Look at the resources you have and don't be unrealistic with your dates or deadlines.

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is INSUBORDINATION.

If a project is being run from the people within it, and not those in charge, its the same effect as too many bosses, but what you also have is no one who is then willing to listen to someone in charge later on. Weak management is bad in the face of strong opposition and usually spells doom if no one is willing to step up and take responsibility.

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.

In pre-modern armies this usually resulted in mutiny as the soldiers felt they had nothing to lose, but just as taking on projects that are too large with insufficient resources is not a good position, taking a project beyond the capabilities of the group is equally bad. Suit the group to the project, not the other way around. Make sure what is necessary to be done can be done by the people involved, or they at least have the ability and time to get up to speed if its something new and within their capabilities.

When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or no he is in a position to fight, the result is RUIN.

Again it comes down to leadership, if the people managing individual parts of a project don't feel committed or there is no incentive there will be trouble down the line. Everyone needs to feel as if the outcome has something for them, its all about motivation.

when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter DISORGANIZATION.
Make sure assignments are known, and the ones doing it are reporting back, checking progress is paramount here, not knowing what people are doing and let them do what they want when they want only leads to disaster. Especially if there is no communication, which usually happens in cases like this, people should know and understand their jobs and what is expected of them by the end.

When a general, unable to estimate the enemy's strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be ROUT.

Again, check the project against resources, don't waste good people doing work they are not suited for or will make them resent the work. Again all about motivation, that will usually keep people happy and will keep them interested in and doing their best at their jobs.

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

This is about management styles, its about how you treat your people, and since there are numerous books on this I won't go into it, but I agree with the concept that if you treat people well and give them responsibility and maturity they will stay with you. To me, I go to a job for the work (that is interesting) but I stay for the people (the management).

Well 10 down and 3 to go...almost there!

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 9

After a long hiatus I am back, and intend to finish this before the end of the year. Good thing I have vacation!

Chapter 9 is about The Army On The March. As many know an army marches continually, moreso in ancient warfare which was about positioning your men in the best place to face an enemy, and usually draw them to you. Once firearms became standard, it was all about where you could place your armaments to make the best effect, firing a cannon downhill was preferrable to firing uphill. The British were known to place men in rectangular formations and use volley fire to take out an enemy, the squares were effective as long as they kept in form, although it also made them easy targets for cannon fire. So you have strength and weakness in one form, but as in earlier chapters its learning how to manage the risks so that your strengths are outweighing your weaknesses.

We come now to the question of encamping the army, and observing signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighborhood of valleys.

The idea is, not to linger among barren uplands, but to keep close to supplies of water and grass. Just as importantly an army marches on its stomach. Much as Burgoyne learned when trying to take Albany in the American War of Independence, once your supply lines are stretched, and your army is dwindled by leaving men to keep your supplies secure, you eventually can end up in a situation where you are outnumbered and without supplies. A bad situation for any General or leader to be in. So to put this in terms or a project, what you need is to be in a place where you have support and an ability to move about, do not place yourself in a location where you are alone, without support, and more importantly without supplies if you need them. If you are moving along on a project and do not notice that soon you will need a certain environment set up, or some equipment, do not wait until its too late, keep an eye on the terrain of your project and know when you may need that time in the Test Lab. Or if you suddenly need the Automation Engineer to hook you up with some new tests, do it early, not when they are swamped with other work and unavailable. Schedule wisely, to paraphrase another quote.

Do not climb heights in order to fight. So much for mountain warfare.

Do not move up-stream to meet the enemy.

Movement, as I mentioned, was more important in the warfare of previous centuries, one thing that also determined the outcome of various battles was the condition of the army. Forcing long marches to a battle could gain you an advantage, but if you needed to press it later on, say the enemy retreats, then your troops need to be able to follow. Tired people cannot work continually and as much as some may want to whip them on, there is only so much a person can do. Many battles were considered wins because one side or the other owned the field at the end of the day, the usual decider of victory, but there are occasions when the enemy could have been all but annihilated if the troops were in shape enough to pursue in retreat. Just as you cannot move troops infinitely, giving unreasonable schedule demands onto people for a long period of time will eventually cause work to suffer as people tire and cannot maintain focus. More severely they may leave at inopportune times, putting the whole project in trouble.

Looking at these locations in individual terms.

These are the four useful branches of military knowledge

Those, namely, concerned with

(1) mountains

Taking a group to the high ground only increases distance, this can cause animostiy among groups as well, if there is an attitude of superiority that is causing trouble for other groups or more importantly putting other groups off there won't be much cooperation. Just as bringing an army up a mountain can be tiring, putting yourself on the mountain can only sap the resources of others who may be forced to get up to the heights, which can be bad for resources. Mountains can be anything from unrealistic expectations, entry criteria that is not possible to achieve or any large obstacle to advancement. Just as the view may be nice from the mountain, it can also be a lonely place.

(2) rivers,

Rivers are wet. They can also run fast moving things along with it in a way the river wants, look at white water rafting for example, you can ride the current in your big yellow boat, but you can only go where the river is going to let you go. Rivers can also run deep, swamping you and drowning you. Avoid letting the river take your project along at speeds you cannot control and push you into depths where you feel you are drowning, keep control of what is going on, just as the white water raft needs all the oars going to keep its direction, know what direction is it going in. An oar that is not pushing you in the right direction will slow you down and can cause you to hit that looming rock around the river's bend. Keep the project, and the people on it, focused and moving in one direction and you can get through the rapids and to the calmer waters ahead.

(3) marshes,

Marshes slow you down. Anything that is an impediment, or can cause work to slow, is a marsh. They can be sticky, stinky and slow going. While you can get through a marsh, its a delaying route, avoid them. They are not always apparent, so you need to keep an eye out for them, but anything that can be a delay such as sharing of resources, new items added to a project or some new directive can be marshes.

and (4) plains.

Flat lands are easy for access, and make for quick going. But they can also be barren and without resources, armies depended upon a supply train for various things but they also spent time foraging in the areas they were in. Scortched Earth policies go back centuries. Be wary of coming into the home stretch to find out that something important is missing in the areas you are about to inhabit. Keep a good eye on what is required to proceed, and be sure that it is all as you expect. Be sure the Test Lab is set up with the proper equipment, network and devices needed for testing later on, and that it is in good working order. Just because a machine is there does not mean its properly configured.

If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad.

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.

When starting a project don't equivocate on what is required, keep everyone focused and at the same time make sure that when changes come they are voiced one way. Don't let miscommunication enter into it, be sure everyone is aware of changes and what they are, and what they mean. Be consistent with who to go to with questions, or if its a group be sure they speak with one voice. But also be sure that those in charge are approachable, if someone has a question they should feel comfortable asking it, when questions go unasked they answer that someone comes up with that they feel is acceptable, may not be and this can be a delay (or a marsh if you will) to the project. When the project lead is both in command, and the people know what to expect of the lead, and what is expected of them, then leading is easy and the team can move on as one.

In addition, just as an Army moves on its stomach, add in some free lunches or a surprise meal during milestones when possible. If people feel appreciated, even if its just a free meal, they are more willing to go out of their way when needed.

9 down and 4 to go!

Testing with Sun Tzu - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 is about Variation in Tactics. Which is good in a business setting, because we constantly need to determine the best way to tackle a problem, and with things like Marketing Requirements and Business Strategy above us there is a need to be able to see the best way to resolve a problem or conflict. Again I am sort of following business processes and perhaps some Quality Procedures, but much of the lessons are applicable in even the small day to day problems we all encounter.

There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

Well its not like QA is going to be putting a town, or a set of cubes, under siege - unless you have an office trebuchet like I do - but in some cases its not necessary. There are times when dealing with an issue that comes from above means doing nothing different at all, you could say "hey, that is stupid" and perhaps get into a fight with your boss and be fired. Or you could just say "Ok, we'll look into it" and do. Some requests come from upper management because something escalated to them, if there is a request to look into the problem of XYZ don't just come back and say "well that's not an issue", research it. Make sure its not a problem, there are times when you may be tired or too busy to initially deal with the problem, take some time to calm down and review the issue later on when you have a clear head. If you have higher priorities just check and make sure whatever has been escalated is indeed the higher priority, if XYZ is more important than finishing the latest patch make sure the consequences are understood, it never hurts to ask. Sometimes the person escalating the issue may not understand all the consequences, just present them calmly and rationally and whatever the outcome is, that is the outcome.

The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops.

From a management perspective, this is pretty plain to me at least, and is something that most good managers or leads will know - know your team and know how to apply their skills properly. If you know what the people who you are working with are capable of, then placing them on the appropriate tasks gets a project, and work, done much quicker than someone who may need to learn a new skill in a short amount of time to get a task done. The ability to learn new tasks is a great asset in a team member, but to be able to meet a project deadline that is coming in a few weeks making someone learn a new language or tool is not the best use of time. Do that in the downtimes between tasks, or when the task deadlines are further out so that you can give that person time to study and become more proficient.

In leading teams there are a few mistakes that can be made, if you see your lead making them having a talk about it may not be the best thing to do, unless you are able to do it very diplomatically; but it might on occasion be good to touch on something you see as not working right. Maybe there is something else going on that is not generally known.

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:

(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;

If work and priorities are being continually reassigned and changed there is a lot of context switching that the team may need to do, this puts everything in danger as focus is not on the task at hand when this goes on for a long period of time. Find a path and stick to it as much as possible, while fires may come up occasionally with released code, if they are continual there are other problems going on early on that will affect the post-release environment.

(2) cowardice, which leads to capture;

If, as a lead, you find yourself unable to make decisions and stick to them, especially in difficult times, then it may be time to move positions. At times you need to rise up to the challenge and make a decision, even if unpopular, and stick to it if you know its right. When things start to go bad hiding in the office or the lab, or in work, does not do well for you, your team or your project. Decisions are risk, and we are in the risk mitigation business, so make the best assessment you can on it.

(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;

Never discuss things with your team if you are angry, tired or in a bad mood. As a lead you need to be seen as the calm in the storm, being reactionary and yelling at people especially in public is bad for them, and for you. In the same way, never go to your manager or lead if you are angry and begin venting, if you have the kind of manager who wants you to vent in front of them then fine, but just blowing off whatever is bothering you may not come out like you expect. If something is bothering you, get some time to talk to someone above you, take a walk or have a nice lunch beforehand, be sure you are calm so you can be rational about it and not emotional. Its better to discuss things evenly, and not in the heat of the moment when things can be said that are never meant.

(4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;

I'll sort of leave this one as it is, America is not really an honor culture, if you are in one then you know what it means.

(5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

What this one refers to, and it needs a little translation, is that you cannot give up an advantage solely for comfort. While there are times I would like to sit around and liesurely read a book if there is an immediate task that needs to be completed and I gain something from doing it, then I take care of it and hold off on my liesure time. But then I do have a tendency to be a bit of a workaholic to a certain point...I do like to see my family sometime.

When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of meditation.

In other words take time to do a post-mortem and see where you can improve.

8 down, and I know its taking longer, but work has been catching me up as of late.