The most important tool - Good People

I've talked about tools that can help people be more efficient and do a better job. But a good software engineer/programmer will beat all the poor programmers with good tools hands down, every time.

A person who has had software classes on “How” to program and what is a good program and not just coding is much better than the guy who has had one or two classes and thinks he's a programmer. NOTE: I do want say that there a many really good programmers who are self-taught, they understand the what, the how, and the intricacies of how. Theses are the code ninjas (without getting into the pirate vs. ninja discussion) These are the guys that you should really find, but I don't know if they would be willing to work in test.

Failing on finding the code ninjas out there and convincing them test software is the place to be, you need the good software people who loves to operate the hardware. I don't agree with programming tests at interviews but I do believe Test Software people need the skills and knowledge of programming in order to do the job right. Even if they are doing both the software and hardware parts of the job. Programming skills should be a requirement to do test software.

Another aspect of the people portion of the job is “can we all get along”. Engineers are notorious for personality quirks. Major problems can happen if a teams quirks don't mesh. In this world of diversity we're all suppose to be accepting of each other. But sometimes, it just doesn't work. Especially if there's a time crunch or big technical hiccup. So, even with diversity, sometimes teams don't work due to personality conflicts. If there is a toxic personality on the team, it can be just as bad as having all bad engineers on the team. (When I hear Diversity I always think of the Dilbert cartoon where someone says “The longer I work here, Di Verse it gets”, say it out load and you'll get it)

The point I want to make sure I get across is that People are really and truly the most important asset, and are more important than all the tools in the world.