This post is a follow-up to my TestBash Manchester 2018 Open Space session on mental health and how people try to manage theirs. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck Like many others, I have ups and downs in my mental health. I had a particularly low “down” period a few […]
Category: Productivity
![Four icons in a row: a warning triangle, question mark, light bulb, and smiley face](https://i0.wp.com/www.cassandrahl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PQIP-e1525268807944.png?resize=750%2C234&ssl=1)
SBTM in Practice with PQIP
Last year, I wrote about my first experience with SBTM, in collaboration with Mike Talks. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to use SBTM in the “real world”, on a client project that I was on for about six months. I’d like to reflect on that experience, and consider some of my learnings, […]
![Illustration of a brain; the left side is depicted as scientific and the right artistic](https://i0.wp.com/www.cassandrahl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Brain-e1523008913171.jpg?resize=749%2C196&ssl=1)
Neurodiversity and My Problem with WIP Limits for Creative Work
On a recent project with a client, I helped the development team to implement a work in progress (WIP) limit. As the team got used to working towards finishing things before starting to work on new user stories, there was a noticeable improvement in the flow and pace of stories that were ready to […]
![Close up image of a fountain pen writing on paper](https://i0.wp.com/www.cassandrahl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Writing-e1519665134717.jpg?resize=750%2C172&ssl=1)
Writing Abstracts: Non-Advice from a Speaker and Reviewer
During my last two years as a professional software tester, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at conferences and events around the world, and have also reviewed hundreds of abstracts for a number of conferences. I recently saw a thread from Richard Bradshaw with his opinions on writing and reviewing abstracts for conferences […]
![A group of blank sticky notes](https://i0.wp.com/www.cassandrahl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sticky-Notes-e1518178060624.jpg?resize=750%2C187&ssl=1)
Preventing Interruptions with Sticky Notes
In software production, there are all kinds of techniques that utilise sticky notes. Whether it’s in a physical Kanban board, example mapping, risk storming, or just general reminders, we seem to like them a lot. At the Open Space day of TestBash Germany last year, I decided to use sticky notes in a […]