Maaike Brinkhof's blog

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Articles about software development, testing, coding and IT in general.

The secret fifth level of testing

The secret fifth level of testing

The following drawing was the inspiration for my Testing RPG talk. Excuse its quality, I have never left the "drawing people as figure sticks like a toddler"-stage. I have contemplated recording the Testing RPG talk and putting it out there for everyone to see, but I share

What if, as a testing community, we’ve been hung up about the wrong thing all this time

What if, as a testing community, we’ve been hung up about the wrong thing all this time

Does 2025 Maaike agree with what 2021 Maaike wrote? I found the following in my Apple Notes just now. Read it, and then I'll tell you whether I still agree with my thoughts from 4 years prior. Spoiler: it gets very real! Lots of curse words! I'

Neutral Quality is too much to ask for, shitty software is the norm.

Neutral Quality is too much to ask for, shitty software is the norm.

As a testing community, we have failed to make software better. And let me be clear, developers have also failed. We are in the same boat here. I firmly believe that most people working in software development teams are trying their best to create a better software product, write readable

The great game of pretend

The great game of pretend

When I wrote and published "Why Working Isn't Working for Me" last Monday, I received some direct messages from people who agreed with me, but who didn't dare to admit to it in public because they feared that they would become unemployable by saying

There are no problems if you don't test

There are no problems if you don't test

Dumb people and smart people agree: if you don't test, there are no problems. This conclusion can be reached because you either have one active brain cell or because you are an experienced tester. Let me explain the difference. The dumb part of the story is easy to

Testing is a team sport

Testing is a team sport

Testing is a team sport. Here's a small peek into my thought process when I was confronted with a challenge at work: It's 11:00 AM, and I've just left an online meeting. I made an agreement in that meeting with a colleague to

Here’s how I respond to "have we tested everything?"

Here’s how I respond to "have we tested everything?"

OH: "How can we be sure we have tested everything?". That's the neat part, you don't. I used to get really frustrated when people asked me this question. The person asking is looking for something I cannot give them, even though I would like