5 Questions For Joe Strazzere

Carrying on with my series, next up to the plate is Joe Strazzere and his All Things Quality blog in which he dispenses QA Manager advice, updates on New England sports and finds plenty of examples for his "Perhaps They Should Have Tested More" series

1. Why did you start blogging and what were you hoping to get out of it ?
( and have you got what you hoped for ? )

After reading lots of other blogs, I'd been looking for a good vehicle in which to try my hand at blogging. So when AJ at SQAForums.com offered blogs to all members, I thought I'd give it a try.

Over time, I found that it was a nice way to post some thoughts, answers to questions I had been asked, or topics I had been pondering.

It's been a lot of fun. I've gotten some great feedback and thoughtful comments from some really smart people.

2. What have you learned from doing your blog?

I have learned that writing seems a lot easier when I write what is on my mind when it occurs to me, and not force myself to write when it just isn't flowing.

I've also learned to just write what I feel, and not to worry about perfection - even if that goes against my nature.

3. Do you track your visitors - if so, any unusual searches to find your blog ?

I use StatCounter for my web tracker. It's been quite interesting to see so many visitors from so many places around the world. I wasn't sure where Myanmar was, until I saw it show up as the location for a visitor to the blog.

I do get an occasional odd search term leading to my blog. I'm still not sure what the person searching for "is yucart good for your" was seeking, nor if he found it on my blog.

4. Do you have a favorite post that you have written ?

One of my favorite posts, and one that seems to still get a fair number of hits is titled "There are ALWAYS Requirements" I wrote it when I was hearing testers on my team complain that they couldn't start planning their testing because they were waiting for the formal, written requirements. That really frustrated me, because they already knew a lot of what they needed to plan on testing.

5. Any advice to new bloggers ?

I'm not good enough to advise people on how to blog. But I would ask that if new bloggers want to copy and paste the words of others, at least attribute those words to the author! Other than that - just write something you know, something you enjoy. And let me know how to find your blogs, so that I can enjoy them, too!