My name is Gwen Dobson, and according to the title given to me a few years ago by my current employer, I am officially a "Manager of Quality". What that means on a day to day basis can vary drastically and I often find myself puzzled by this title as it seems to imply that I have absolute control over this thing called "quality" and that it's my soul purpose to make sure that it is managed... yeah, I know... Even after all of this time, it still just doesn't quite make sense. BUT! Being the optimist that I attempt to be most days, I continue in this pursuit, and I gotta admit, I have learned a lot about quality and have even discovered that I enjoy working in the business of quality. SCORE!
I started a career in Information Technology about 15 years ago when I was hired by a call center company as an entry level support technician for Prodigy Online Service, which quickly evolved into Prodigy Internet as these types of things often do. I was there for a couple of years and then decided to move into the wonderful world of hardware support, and was hired to provide support for Packard Bell desktop computers.
During this time, I had started to attend a local business college in pursuit of an education in this whole new world of technology that I had only just begun to dabble in. With grand dreams of becoming a programmer or networking goddess, I made it through and although I had learned much, I was a bit underwhelmed by the thought of becoming a network goddess after all, oh yeah, and I wasn't all that thrilled by programming either (although, it did seem a tad more interesting to me than all the hardware "mumbo jumbo").
With that said, I had invested in my IT career by finishing school damnit, and I was going to achieve success! So I began to apply for just about anything and everything in the realms of "Entry Level" software arena.
It was during this whole process that I learned that there was such a thing called as "Software Tester". I learned this while attending an interview for a "entry level software developer" that, frankly, wasn't going so well. The man conducting the interview seemed to be able to see through my sad attempts to convince him (and myself) that I was going to be the next star developer for his team.
As the interview was coming to an end, and I had come to the realization that I was NOT going to be doing development for this company now, or ever, he mentioned that he thought my personality would be much better equipped for software testing and that he thought he had an opportunity opening up soon for one that he wanted me to come back and interview for.
After a bit of research about this whole "software testing" thing, I was actually excited by the prospect of going back and after a few months, I was beginning my career on a new team as a software tester for a suite of retail applications.
Since that day, I have tested all different types of applications, in many different types of environments, from complex enterprise retail solutions, to software services that support an entire online learning environment for higher ed students, and every day, loving what I do more and more.
Why Quality?
So why write about quality? Or better yet, why in the world would you take time out of your busy schedule to read what I have to write on this topic?
Being in the business of quality gets you thinking about quality from a lot of different perspectives, and the coolest thing about it, is that the more perspectives on quality one can take, the better they are at attaining it, no matter what discipline you apply it to.
I believe this to be the thing that has stemmed my passion. When I look back on my life, I realize that my interests in quality didn't start when I took that "Software Tester" position back in 96 as I once thought...
It started when I was a little girl, working alongside my dad as he was doing grounds maintenance for a number of residential apartment complexes. It simply wasn't enough just to do the job, no, it had to be done the "Right" way. Interestingly, figuring out the "Right" way was always the toughest part of the job, and there was always a challenge involved in getting the job done to that point.
These concepts that I learned, even at such a young age, remained true as I got older and moved onto different jobs. I remember cleaning up and proofing negatives in preparation for burning printing plates in my Dad's print shop, where even the tiniest of scratches would result in unwanted garbage on a printed page.
No matter what I attempted to do, whether it be cleaning the toilets at Kmart, or sanding and staining cabinets at a cabinet shop that I worked for, it was always the ultimate goal to see the highest quality end product as a direct result of all of my efforts. How cool is that? To be able to go home at the end of the day and feel proud about what had been accomplished that day?
At the end of it all, I absolutely love the mysteries that are involved in trying to find out first what "Quality" actually is in the confines of the project I'm working on, and then doing whatever it takes to attain that with the group of people I am lucky enough to call my team mates. THAT is what makes it all worth it to me.
Every day there is a new challenge, every day is a chance to learn something new that I didn't know before. As a manager, I now get to help mentor my team in this same types of things, help them develop their own tool sets and unique perspectives that will guide the kind of tester that they will each individually evolve into.
Although it's perhaps the most difficult things I have ever taken on in my life, it's also been one of the most rewarding, and I do enjoy it immensely.
So there you have it, that's why I have decided to write about Quality... My hopes for this blog is to share my perspectives... just a single perspective, on the experiences I go through, the challenges I face, and all of the moments along the way that offer something to be learned and something to be shared. In addition, I hope that those who read this, will feel compelled to share their own experiences back and if they have different perspectives, to offer those up as well!
I'm by no means an expert in quality... I'm just one person, who just happens to spend a lot of my day thinking about this kind of stuff... and feels compelled to share it with all of you.
So welcome! I hope you enjoy reading the contents of this blog as much as I enjoy writing it and thanks for spending a little part of your day in my little world. :)
