Show up and Engage

Photo Credit: Jacob Earl: https://flic.kr/p/Tuasqx

The podcast DecodeDC had an episode about the success of the National Rifle Association.  Essentially, it comes down to their membership showing up and being engaged. Regardless of what you think of how they use their power, it was a good reminder of the value of loud, consistent voices no matter the number.  

They pay attention and are willing to raise a fuss.  It works. 

It's easy, and in fact tempting, to be apathetic.  "The legislature is never going to change...My vote doesn't matter...They've already chosen the actress for the lead role...Those people are so much smarter than I am, why even show up?"

We have to anyway.  Once we give up on the idea that improvement in our lives, workplaces, communities, and society is impossible, then the light that makes life worth living dims and fades to black.  

So continue to talk about what is important to you.  Research ways to work around or erode obstacles. Gather with others to discuss what the ideal future looks like.  Learn about people and history and economics and technology.  Learn how to be an effective communicator and advocate.   Show up, full of energy, ready to make the next step forward, even if it's small.  Or even to stand, strong and resolute with pride, to prevent further losses.  Because if you don't continually show up and remind everyone of what's important, then over time, people may start to forget that it *is* important. 

More on the Future of Testing

"As service providers we are adapting to the reality of our teams, and this means a number of different things. For example:
– I see that testers are doing a lot more automation and in different levels within their projects. We are writing all sort of scripts to help the development process, working with multiple automation technologies, and using automation to help us do our tasks faster.
– I also see many more testers going deeper into the technical work of their teams. This is further than automation, going into the logs of the product and sometimes even reviewing the actual code while looking for issues.
– In some cases, and in some organizations, I am seeing how testers are doing more work with production environments, doing A/B testing in live features and becoming data scientist and DevOps alchemists within their teams." - Joel Montvelisky

In addition to "ninja" and "scrappy"..."alchemist" is a good descriptor to aim for professionally.