Cat HerdingBug Mastering:Why Every Project Should Have QA Leaders (and who in the heck would be dumb enough to do that anyway?)Luis VillaXimian Evolution BugmasterGNOME 2.0 BugmasterNovell Desktop Managerregular volunteer againCat HerdingBug Mastering:Why Every Project Should Have QA Leaders (and who in the heck would be dumb enough to do that anyway?)Luis VillaXimian Evolution BugmasterGNOME 2.0 BugmasterNovell Desktop Managerregular volunteer again

Go oo oo oo d Mo rni ng ● Why am I here ? ● w h y w e n e e d b u g z i l l a ( h t t p : / / t i e g u y. o r g / t a l k s / ), t h e s e q u e l h t p : / t i e g u y. o r g / t a l k s / ● o n e d a y W o r d r e a l l y, r e a l l y s u c k e d... ● Why are you here ? ● p o s s i b l y y o u a r e n o t a s h u n g o v e r a s y o u ' d p l a n n e d ● p o s s i b l y y o u a r e f i n a l l y d e s p e r a t e f o r a m e m o r y s t i c k

Wh y are you rea lly her e? ● you are a hack er, and want to now how one volu ntee r can mak e hack ing mor e fun and your soft war e bett er ● you are doin g QA alre ady, and want to kno w if ther e are thin gs you coul d do diffe rentl y or bett er ● you are a prop rieta ry com pan y, and you aren 't sure why unit tests and scrip ted testi ng still doe sn't see m to be maki ng the prod uct bett er as fast as you' d like

All ow me to ran t a littl e “Wh y w ou ld yo u tru st a to ol ?” - st ud en t in la w cl as s

All ow me to ran t a littl e mo re “Th e ke rn el do es n't re all y ha ve an y kn o w n bu gs.” - w ell kn o w n, na y, fa m ou s ke rn el ha ck er “Oh, w ell, dri ve rs, th at' s dif fer en t.” - sa m e w ell kn o w n, na y, fa m ou s ke rn el ha ck er

Ho w are we doi ng ? ● kern el nee ds micr o- rele ases ● debi an stabl e has GN OM E 1.4 and X 3.3 ● gno me + bug bud dy ● u b u n t u : d u p s o f s o m e b u g s i n o n e r e l e a s e c y c l e, n o t c l o s e d ● r h a t : d u p s b e f o r e s n e a k i n g i n a f i x i n a s e c u r i t y r e l e a s e ● x i m i a n e v o l u t i o n : d u p s b e f o r e l u n c h o n a g o o d d a y

Co m mu nity QA Dy na mic s ● Man y eyes mak e all bug s shall ow (sort of) ● t r u e o f k e r n e l, w i t h t h o u s a n d s o f o b s e s s i v e e y e s ● t r u e o f f e t c h m a i l, w i t h f a i r l y s m a l l c o d e b a s e ● w h a t o f t h e p r o j e c t s i n t h e m i d d l e - l a r g e b u t n o t w i t h k e r n e l - l e v e l o f c l a r i t y o r o b s e s s i v e n e s s ? ( a k a G U I t o o l s ? ) ● thou san ds of bug filers ● doz ens of hack ers ● pote ntiall y, thou san ds of triag ers and doz ens of skill ed QA

We do n't ask hac ker s to do... ● art and musi c ● com pilin g ● tran slati on ● doc ume ntati on ● so why do we ask the m to do triag e and QA?

self - her din g, sor t of ● TOD O, FIX ME, OTH ER CAP ITAL IZE D THI NG S ● maili ng lists ● bug zilla – m u c h m o r e w i d e l y a c c e p t e d t h a n i t w a s ● not that diffe rent in the prop rieta ry worl d – p r o d u c t m a n a g e r s i n v o l v e d – ' b u g r e v i e w m e e t i n g s '

wh at can a bu gm ast er do ? ● com mun ity nurt urer – s o m e t i m e c r e a t o r : b u g d a y s – m e d i a t o r : w e ' v e a l l b e e n t e m p t e d t o f l a m e o v e r a b u g ● triag e god – h o w m u c h d o e s t h i s b u g m a t t e r a n y w a y ? ● reso urce for dev elop ers – d e v e l o p e r s m u s t t r u s t t h e – a b o v e a l l, r e s o u r c e f o r d e v e l o p e r s ● big- pictu re view

Wh at do n't the y do ? ● Lob by for pet caus es ● com mun icate solel y thro ugh bug zilla ● bec ome a poin t of failu re – m u s t d e c e n t r a l i z e k n o w l e d g e a n d r e c r u i t o t h e r s ● mak e hack ers' live' s hard er – s p a m t h e m

So, wh o is go od at all tha t? ● Ever y dec ent size d proj ect has pote ntial bug mas ters! ● und erst and s dev elop er goal s – e n a b l e s t h o s e p r i o r i t i e s i n s t e a d o f t h e i r o w n ● has time to do dirty work – d i r t y w o r k m a k e s d e v e l o p e r s l o v e y o u ● grok s the soft war e – d o e s n ' t h a v e t o b e a s k i l l e d p r o g r a m m e r, b u t g o o d s e n s e a n d u s e r - l e v e l e x p e r i e n c e i s c r i t i c a l ● care s abo ut quali ty

Wh o is gre at? ● com pulsi ve orga nize rs – b o r d e r l i n e o b s e s s i v e : ) ● big pictu re view – q u i c k l y k n o w s ' t h i s b u g i s t h e m o s t / l e a s t / t h m o s t i m p o r t a n t b u g ' ● refin es or crea tes proc esse s – a u t o m a t e s g r u n t w o r k - t u n e s o r c r e a t e s t o o l s – t r a i n s h a c k e r s, b y h o o k o r b y c r o o k ● peo ple pers on- moti vato r, talke r, what ever ● prog ram min g back grou nd big help

Wh en do bu gm ast ers fail ? ● dee p, hard prob lem spac es – b e i n g t h e k e r n e l b u g m a s t e r w o u l d b e f u n b u t l i f e - s h o r t e n i n g – c o m p l e x i t y o f d i s t r o s h a r d b u t n o t i m p o s s i b l e ● mas sive proj ects – b u g m a s t e r s o n l y s c a l e b y # o f h o u r s i n t h e d a y ● hack ers and bug mas ters disa gree on what is imp orta nt

Is this rel eva nt out sid e fre e soft war e? ● big proj ects are big proj ects ● QA that isn't holis tic is (so meti mes ) as bad as non- exist ent QA – o v e r s t a f f i n g ( r e l a t i v e t o f r e e s o f t w a r e ) l e a d s t o d i v i s i o n, l a c k o f b i g - p i c t u r e ● auto mati on != QA – m o s t v a l u a b l e f e e d b a c k i s r e a l u s e - q u a l i t y c o m e s f r o m s u b j e c t i v e q u a l i t i e s t h a t c a n ' t b e a u t o m a t e d – b u g m a s t e r s e n g a g e u s e r s, a r e n ' t f i r e w a l l e d f r o m c u s t o m e r s b y P M l i k e t r a d i t i o n a l Q A

Thi s talk has be en 10 0% cott on an d has nev er be en wor n. “Th e fut ur e m as ter s of te ch no lo gy wil l ha ve to be lig ht he art ed an d int ell ig en t. Th e m ac hi ne qu ic kl y m as ter s th e gri m an d th e du m b.” - M ar sh all M cL uh an