Sachin's 241* and Discipline in software testing

Three days in 2004, the Master Blaster demonstrated what is considered one of his best innings.

Those who follow cricket, know it. 

For those who don't, here is a brief:
"Cover drive" is a type of shot played by a batter and Sachin's cover drive was an important shot in his range of shots. In this innings, Sachin did not play a single cover drive. Imagine if you are suddenly asked to not use your thumb and index finger while typing. How difficult it would be? And you still managed to type out an entire book.

That was the kind of discipline displayed by Sachin Tendulkar in this innings. 

Now think of software testing and the various ways in which we are tied to a certain habit, tool, behavior, approach.

People:

Are we so comfortable working with certain people that we will struggle a lot when we switch teams?

I do understand the bonding aspect within good teams. At the end of the day, it is very rare that there are teams which work with the same members all the time. How are we preparing for it?

Thinking systems, processes, checklists? Think of the tasks that you do and how you do it. Is there a set pattern to it? Are you aware and well versed with the alternatives?

A handy guide to jiggle your thought process is here - What Do Software Testers Do? by Ministry of Testing

Process and Approach:

How attached are you to a specific process? Suddenly something changes in the process - how quickly can you adapt?

Tools:

Do you have favorite tools? What if they suddenly disappear? Do you have backups?

I felt handicapped for sometime when Jing, TestBuddy decided to move on.

Start browsing and using Ultimate Productivity Toolkit sponsored by TestProject and The Test Tribe to start with.

Data and Domain:

Are you using the same data, relying on the same source and adding minor variations? Where are your new sources? You could try out five new sources and still stick to the old one. By the way, if you are looking at the next weekend testing session, we are targeting Game Testing on Mobile Apps. 

Details here: https://weekendtesting.com/?p=4680 See you there.

When was the last time you tried something new? 

Unless we try, how will we know our potential and areas to improve?

The key takeaway I want to leave you with is:
Process, Tools, Approaches all help. THE key is a nice combo of Skill, Discipline and Practice.
Next time you feel too attached to anything in software testing or life in general, remember 241*