Skill development list - explanation

LINK TO THE SKILL DEVELOPMENT LIST

After reading this inspiring blog post (about an, probably even more, inspiring keynote by Tobbe Ryber) and long been fascinated by the 101 goals in 1001 days concept, I got the idea of listing the things I want to do to become a more proficient software tester.

You can find the current result in the page listing (skill development list). The idea is to continuously improve the list so any comments on the items are very appreciated. Also, in case you've done something similar, I would really love if you send me a link in the comments section.

Anyway, the list is (currently) divided into 6 sections. Knowledge lists things that would help me improve general knowledge about software testing (theory). I've not listed common stuff I more or less do daily in this section, like "watch presentations" or "read testing articles".

Since I have a long history of "reading stuff that I've then not put into practice" I've added a Practice section. The idea is maily to remind me that learning stuff is fun but the real value is often in actually doing them.

Something I've started to value a lot recently is Social Networking. I found a lot of inspiration in the discussions during my first EAST meetup and I'm looking forward to continue meeting up with other people interested in software testing, especially people not working for the same company as I am.

As a former public speaker and recurring educational writer I've realized teaching is one of the best ways, at least for me personally, to really make things stick. I also hope I can give something back to a testing community that has already helped me a lot. So the section Spread Knowledge is about stuff I can do to others that also helps me excel.

Finally there's the sections Other (simply stuff that doesn't fit any of the other sections) and Continuous/Ambiguous which is stuff that, in one way or another, is hard to really set checkpoints for. Details about these areas will instead end up as individual blog posts.

So what's the purpose with this list? To keep me focused! To make sure I don't end up in the situation I once was where testing didn't feel interesting and exciting. I guess I'll have to evaluate the usefulness in 1001 days.

... regarding 1001 days, before someone corrects me, this list does not contain 101 items, there's no time limit and some of the items are ambiguous thus making this far from a 101 items in 1001 days kind of thing, it's only inspired by it.