Huib Schoots Interview

Q: What are you know for?
A: I have been a speaker at many conferences the last years, so people might know me from one of my talks. Of course at RTC I am known as the program chair of last year and keynote speaker in 2015. But people might also know me as RST teacher. I am very proud to be one of 5 teachers of Rapid Software Testing in the world. I wrote an article about my journey.Q: Any advice for your previous boss?
A: Oh yes many. The most important one is this: be a leader and let your people decide how they want to do their jobs in stead of micro managing them. I think it is important that professionals have the environment to excel created by managers. I mean, managers should not interfere with how the work is done. Micro managing is often a sign of lack of trust. I really like Daniel Pink is this perspective. His book Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, is awesome and every manager should read this! This youtube animation video tells the story in 10 minutes:


Q: How many coins would fit into the keynote room?
A: That depends… What do mean by fits? I guess almost every coin will fit into the room. Maybe not at the same time.

And what do you mean by THE keynote room? RTC has two keynotes at the same time… Which one would be THE keynote room? Or is there another room that people call the keynote room? And what you you mean with a coin? CoĂ­n, the city in Spain won’t fit in the room. The 22K population won’t fit in the room either. But if you mean Coin, the city in Page County, Iowa, United States. The city itself wouldn’t fit, but the population is around 193 and would fit in one keynote room at RTC. Coin, the American indie pop band from Nashville would also fit in the room.

But let’s say that the keynote room is the Vivaldi Room, which is 11,50 x 25,50 x 5,30. And a coin is normal 1 euro piece (diameter: 23,25 mm and height: 2,33 mm). A simple calculation would tell us that: 494 x 1.096 = 541.424 coins on the floor. 2.274 coins from the floor to the ceiling. So 541.424 x 2.274 = 1.231.198.176 euro coins would fit the keynote room (if all furniture is taken out of course…). Happy now?

Q: During the conference, will you Teach me something I don’t know in less than five minutes.?
A: I am happy to teach you in less than 5 minutes, although I guess I can only point you in the right direction in those 5 minutes… Although I can teach you a easy magic trick in 5 minutes

Q: You’ve been given a baby Owl. You can’t give it away or sell it. What would you do with it and why?
A: I will probably still give it away… I am a tester and I break rules }:‑)  But okay, let me play along here… A baby owl you say? I would train him to deliver messages like in Harry Potter. But since that is pretty boring, I will also train him to get me beers from the fridge. The owl can also act as my drone, taking a camera in the air filming stuff. I would also train the owl to help me out during workshops, handing out markers and sticky notes to participants. Did I mention that I do not like birds as pets?


Q: What’s the most important social skill to have in order to thrive as a tester?
A: Social skills are very important to testers, I guess I don’t have to explain that to anybody. The most important social skill is listening. I think everything starts with listening. Understanding others, motivating others, solving problems, everything! And listening is not easy… Read this article to learn more.

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