What Filter Do You Have On?

Continuing on with my "Meme Theme". There is a particular category of Meme called a distinction meme. (Brodie happens to divide memes up into 3 categories: Distinction, Strategies, and Associations). Everything around us is just stuff. Anytime you talk about this "stuff", it's just a concept that has been concocted (a set of memes). Remember, a meme "is just a unit of information in a mind whose existence influences events such that more copies of itself get created." So, I thought, those people who happen to follow a particular "school" of testing, whether it be the Context Driven approach, the Agile approach, the TDD approach, whatever, those approaches/concepts are just there because we say so. We have just been programmed with a meme for those particular approaches. You are probably saying to yourself, yeah, who cares. That's the approach I've chosen to follow. Why does this matter?

"Distinctions are one kind of meme. They are ways of carving up the world by categorizing or labeling things."

The part I found particularly interesting about this distinction-meme is that when you choose this particular distinction-meme (whatever that may be) you now start to "see" certain kinds of things, but lose sight of others. It's almost like you've put on a pair of glasses that filter our certain kinds of light. The important part of this distinction-meme concept, in my opinion, is to really be aware of what distinction-memes you have been programmed with; and to keep in mind that you (you referring to that particular group of humans spreading that meme) have invented this particular distinction, and, along with all other distinction-memes, it's not "reality." To quote Brodie:

"If you see it's a meme, and not the Truth, you open up the possibility of other memes to talk about the same thing."

I'm now thinking to myself, because I've chosen to follow a particular approach to testing (I've chosen this distinction-meme), "What kinds of things have I gained access to by adopting this approach, and what things have I lost sight of?" Let's say it's the distinction-meme of the Context Driven school. Seeing as it's an approach I've chosen to be infected with, I think one of the benefits of the Context Drive school is that it focuses on testers being "aware" of what's going on while they test. Now, remember, the distinction-meme states that "it's useful to be conscious of what distinction-memes you're programmed with" as this helps you be aware of why you have these distinctions -- and that you are not just blindly adopting them. As one of the basic principles of the context approach states:

There are good practices in context, but there are no best practices.

What distinction-memes were the founders of the context-driven approach infected with? Why did they chose to replicate those particular memes. I need to find out more.

What Are My Testing Memes?

What do you mean I have a mind virus!? A little bit of preamble first.... I was first introduced to "testing" back in 1989 as a university co-op summer student. I was lucky enough to be involved in what was a top notch graphics package for it's time (Corel Draw). Back then I was not aware of many "techniques" software testing other than what I heard the full time people talking about, and what few tips/tricks I could scrounge up from old papers on "quality assurance" (little did I know I was headed down the wrong path at that point, but I learned). I was also lucky enough to have a father who was a "creative" thinker -- he had such books a "A Whack On The Side of The Head", Edward de Bono's book "Thinking Course". Those books, although I did not consciously know it, led me down a path of testing where I was actually thinking while testing; although I did not think of it that way back then.

Fast forward a few years. It's now the early nineties. The "internet" was becoming really popular.. go figure. I was lucky enough to have stumbled across a few articles written by this testing guy named James Bach. I remember to this day reading those articles and thinking to myself, wow, that's kind of how I test, but he just had a better way of describing it. I remember from that point on reading most of his articles/presentation, I remember ordering his "Market Driven Software Testing" course and disseminating it to my testing team at the time, which then spread to other teams.

....... So back to my opening sentence "What do you mean I have a mind virus?!" I recently stumbled upon a book called "Virus of the Mind" by Richard Brodie. While I'm not quite done the book yet, this book talks about Memes. Perhaps you are like me and are saying to yourself... huh?! A what? Without regurgitating the book (which I recommend all testers read) simply put:

"A meme is a unit of information in a mind who existence influences events such that more copies of itself get created in other minds."

Little did I know back then when I started reading books like "A Whack on the Side of the Head", "Thinking Course', articles by James Bach, I was indeed getting infected by memes. Why was I testing the way I was? Why was I being influenced by these particular books and articles? Did it go back further to the way my father brought me up? The information he left around or encouraged me to read? Why was I interested in testing, and in particular why did I approach testing the way I did? I do have to admit though, back then I was not as "aware" of how or why I was doing things as I am now. Now that I look back on things, I was more concerned with the books and information I was reading and not as focused on how I could use that information.

To take another quote from the book "Virus of the Mind" :

"A virus of the mind is something out in the world that infects people with memes. Those memes, in turn, influence the infected people's behavior so that they help perpetuate and spread the virus."

I'm quite interested in this model -- this science of Memes. Why is "Exploratory Testing" a meme that has infected my, and many others, minds? What other memes affect this exploratory approach? Where do these memes come from? Like many other "thinking" testers, I want to know why I have these memes. There is a quote from this book that really made me think about the way I test -- is it really the right way?

"Beliefs are like cow paths. The more often you walk down a path, the more it looks like the right way to go."

I'll keep blogging as I try to uncover my memes, and my meme's memes! Could be interesting... Might lead me down a new cow path of testing. Moooooove over memes, there might be some new viruses coming in!