May 9, 2017

Songs about Testing, QA





I was looking for some music related to Testing or QA to use in a presentation.  The pickings are slim, but I found these.


Works on My Box
- Art Leonard
http://artleonard.com
http://artleonard.com/audio/ART_LEONARD-Works_on_My_Box.mp3
Art Leonard is a Seattle-based Christian, radio and novelty songwriter / performer. His software engineering anthem, "Works on My Box", made a big splash at a major software development company and is now played to new employees at orientation.

Feature Creep
- Geordie Keitt
http://tester.geordiekeitt.com
http://tester.geordiekeitt.com/2009/08/cast2009-feature-creep-song-video/

I performed this a month or so ago at CAST2009 in Colorado Springs, where Becky Fiedler recorded it. The intro to this song went, “This song is written from the perspective of a piece of bloatware that used to be sleek and clean.” I did this during a Lightning Talks session, meaning I had to bring it in under 4 minutes. That’s why there’s little time for dramatic pauses…

Black Box

Cem Kaner and James Bach presented a course on Black Box Software Testing that I took circa 2003. I performed this song, Black Box, to wrap up the training.

Rapid Tester
- Geordie Keitt
I this wrote on the occasion of attending my first RST class at James Bach’s Satisfice world headquarters in Front Royal, VA. I’ve edited it slightly since then as my understanding of the material has grown, but the essence remains the same. It borrows pretty much everything from Steve Earle’s beautiful song “Someday”.

Not on The Test
- Tom Chapin and John Forster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dAujuqCo7s
Ok, so this one isn't really about QA or software testing.  It still made me laugh and has a few poignant lessons about metrics and relying solely on a script, rather than on rational thinking:  ".. Don't think about thinking, it's not on the test!"


Bugs
- Ron Brown
http://www.songsforteaching.com/intellitunes/bugs.htm
http://www.songsforteaching.com/intellitunes/clips/bbbbugs.mp3
Another one that isn't really about software.  But it's a cute song, and how can you not like a song that starts off "B-b-b-bugs, bugs, bugs"?


Piece of Crap
- Neil Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovum-GjYWKQ
http://web.archive.org/web/20040131135434/http://www.se.fit.edu/people/James/misc.html
While it's not really about software, this song fits well. I was particularly looking for a music video that James Whittaker and some of his students performed a while back. I tried all the searches I could think of, but no luck. Fortunately, my friend Martin sent me the above web archive link.
Know of any others I could add to this list?


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 23, 2011

    Awesome collection Joe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. posterMay 16, 2012

    I got to here looking for music FOR QA Testing. Here's my contribution:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNQlHKUMhOA&feature=BFa&list=PL0F8E91D3D8B305A8

    I understand not all people want to listen to music while working and that only some people will like this type of music but hey, it works for me.

    While Mozart before an exam works well for me... I find he wasn't so helpful while performing a test.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 02, 2013

    Upside Down by Jack Johnson. Great QA song. Gotta love the line "..I want to turn the whole thing upside down. I'll find the things they say just can't be found"

    ReplyDelete

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