John Ruberto's Blog

Golden Girls

2008-06-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

This year, the girls learned California history. A large part of their learnings were of the gold rush. We took a Saturday afternoon to try our hand at panning for gold.

I bought 2 gold panning pans at a camping supply store, $4.99 each. The girls were excited to receive them, and immediately starting planning how to spend their riches. Two weeks passed between getting the pans and the event. Almost every day they told me stories from their class learning, or dreaming what they would do with all the gold.

This was really cool. The very first pan of gravel had a couple of gold flakes in it. We averaged about 2 flakes per pan. The girls lost steam and interest after a few pans - too much work for too little payoff.

How much gold did we get? About half the amount that would be found in one shot of Goldsclager.

There's gold in them thare hills. The winter run off continues to wash gold down, where it settles in the streams. The 49ers had the benefit of many thousands of years accumulation before anyone panned those streams. We have access to the rivers that have been picked over already.

Fly Fishing the Pony Express

2008-05-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

We took a family weekend at Lake Tahoe. Who would have thought we would have snow during Memorial Day weekend in California?

I was able to get away for one day to fish. The West Fork of the Carson river flows through a beautiful valley, called Hope valley. Other nearby valleys are called Faith and Charity.

The meadow section of the river is gorgeous, but tough fishing. This is very shallow, with undercut banks and some deeper pools (2-3 feet deep). My bead-head prince nymph was unable to bring anything out of these pools.

I did enjoy the walk. After passing a couple of bait guys within 100 yards of the parking lot, I walked another mile and half with the river to myself.

A few miles downstream, the river starts down hill, into a canyon. Rapids with pockets.

After a few bumped knees, I had my first and only fish of the day, a 10 inch wild rainbow. I can describe how spunky it was, the beautiful bold colors, the gorgeous parr marks and the joy of catching a wild trout. However, it was just a 10 inch rainbow.

Continuing down the hill, the river flows past Woodfords, a remount station for the Pony Express. This is where the route came south of Lake Tahoe on the way to Sacramento.

How cool was this? A bonus day fishing, beautiful scenery, and accidentally learning some history.

Trip 9 - Searching for Shad

2008-05-10T16:34:00.001-07:00

Went fishing today on the Russian river, in search of Shad. Dredged the bottom for about 5 hours, had one hookup of this ugly thing, which actually put up a decent fight.

A "skunk" is when you don't catch any fish. I think I'll start calling a day where I catch the wrong species a "sucker".

Reminds me of a day that Michele & I floated a section of the Henry's Fork. All day, we had a running conversation with a couple that were fishing with a guide. We passed them when they were at anchor, and vice versa. At the end of the trip, Michele was frustrated that we didn't catch many trout, mostly whitefish. At the takeout, we asked the couple how their day was. The woman was all excited, telling us how many "white trout" they caught.

White trout. Suckers. Perspective.

Trip 8 - Bluegill at dusk

2008-05-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Friday at dusk, an iPod, fly-rod, Budweiser, and rising bluegill on a small pond. What a way to unwind the work week and bring in the weekend. Excuse the photo, I only had my cell phone.

Fly Fishing camera

2008-05-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

The Olympus Stylus 770 SW is a great camera to bring while fishing. Its waterproof to 10 meters, shockproof to 5 feet, and compact (size of a small fly box). The camera is 7.1 mega-pixels, and has a 3x optical zoom. The only drawback is the lack of an optical viewer (you have to use the screen to compose your picture). The battery life is also compromised, but that compromise is worth the other features in my opinion.

Being waterproof and shockproof makes me more comfortable bringing it fishing. Before having this one, I would carry my camera in a zip lock bag which added time to take a picture. Also, being waterproof, it allows taking photos from an interesting perspective like the cutthroat.

Trip 7 - Trout Season is open

2008-04-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

Trout season opened today in California. Fred and I fished a small creek in Mendocino county. We thrashed the water to a froth from noon until 6:30, then the fishing came on. I caught the first trout, but Fred out fished me for the day.

Book Review - Hunting for God, Fishing for the Lord

2008-04-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, my parents gave me a book, Hunting for God, Fishing for the Lord. Father Classen, a priest in St. Louis wrote this book, an autobiographical book describing his evolution as a sportsman and relationship with God.

I enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the spiritual aspects of fishing or just being in nature. While fishing, I think we all think frequently how perfect God made this world. It reminded me of the evening where Michele and I were alone at our favorite spot on Henry's Fork, and I felt completely at ease (preview of heaven?)

At least, this book legitimatizes some of our favorite jokes for fishing on Sunday mornings:

Its better to be fishing and thinking about God than in church and thinking about fishing.
Are you going to church on Sunday? No, I'll be acting like the disciples and "casting upon the deep".

Like the opening paragraph to "A River Runs Through It", by Norman Maclean:
"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."

You can buy your own copy of Fr. Classen's book on Amazon or through the parish web site.

Salmon Collapse

2008-04-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

The salmon fishing season will be closed this year. NBC news ran a story on this problem. See the story at the MSNBC News site. I feel a bit angry over this, but even more sorry for the 1000 of fishermen that make their living from salmon here.

Spey Casting Class - Review

2008-04-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Summary

Last fall, I went Steelhead fishing in Maupin, Oregon on the Deshutes. I used a Spey rod for the first time, and highly recommend using spey casting for this type of fishing (swinging streamers on large rivers). I also highly recommend starting with a class - the learning curve is a bit steep.

Why learn spey casting?

Fly fishing for Steelhead is about searching for migrating fish, swinging flies though likely holding water. You don't know where the fish are, so a large part of success in steelheading is covering the most water.

Spey casting allows you to cover more water. The casts are longer, with less physical effort, and I could fish closer to the bank, which better covered the edges. A couple of other benefits:

I didn't lose any flies - with no backcast I didn't have the opportunity to get hung up on the shrubs and trees on the bank
I could wade closer to the bank, better able to cover the shallow water and a bit safer wading

Casting Class

My buddy and I started the week by taking the spey casting class from the Deschutes Angler, taught by Jon and Amy Hazel. This was my first time touching a spey rod, so I was a rank beginner. We met another student, who was taking this class for the 3rd time. In the back of my mind, I though, wow, she must be a slow learner. However, if I go back next year for a week of steelheading, I will plan to start the week with taking the spey casting class for a refresher. That is exactly what she was doing.

The class was taught on the river. We floated downriver for about a mile before touching a rod. We learned the switch, circle, and double spey casts on river left. Then, after lunch, we went downstream and learned the same casts on river right.
"Lecture" was in river, with either Jon or Amy demonstrating casting, and common errors (plus how to fix the errors). The practice portion had both rotating between each student for personal lesson. There were 6 students total.
We also had on stream lessons on steelheading with spey rods. Where to cast, which flies to use, detecting strikes and what to do if the fish was on (fighting and landing), and what to do if it was a miss (hint: if you miss a strike, try again )

Overall, the class was a very effective way to get up the learning curve for fishing with a spey rod. The 8 hours was definitely not enough time for me to become an accomplished caster, but I had the basic knowledge down and ability to diagnose my cast myself. After the next 3 full days of fishing, I was making decent 70 foot casts with the double spey at least 4 out of 5 casts.

At first, I was very frustrated with my inability to cast spey. I knew, though, that I would catch on and stuck with it. To make your first casts, there are about a dozen things you have to remember (lift line off the water, sweep over for the setup, finish the setup with rod on left shoulder at a 45 degree angle, sweep rod to right keeping 45 degree angle until D loop forms, keep anchor in water, make sure flyline is off water, pause, cast vertically - in the correct direction, power with bottom hand..._) you get the picture. This was not easy to start.

Repeating a couple of things for emphasis:
Spey casting was very frustrating for the first day. Stick with it, power through the frustration - its worthwhile in the end.

However, once getting the basic cast down without having to remember everything, I could fish and practice while improving only one thing at a time. I think it was helpful that for the entire 3 days of fishing, we fished from the same side of the river, with the same wind profile. That allowed me to build my skill with one cast (double spey)

Good thing with steelheading, I had plenty of opportunities to practice casting

Equipment

I took the class, but did not immediately purchase a spey rod. I tried to fish with my 1 handed 8 weight. I found myself being more effective holding the fighting butt and spey casting anyway. At the lunch break that first day, I went back to the Deschutes Angler's shop and purchased a Beulah 7/8 which is 12 feet, 7 inches long. The Beulah was the rod that I was using during the casting class, when I finally "got it" (just after lunch). I don't know if the rod matched my casting style, or more likely, it was what I was using when I built enough muscle memory to get 1 cast correct. The Beulah was about half the cost of the Sage and Winston rods available in the shop, which also helped make this decision.

Along with the rod, the shop configured a Vision floating shooting head, custom cut to match this rod.

A cool service of the Deschutes Angler fly shop is matching the fly line to any of spey rods on the market. The Hazel's have purchased one of each model spey rod, and experimented to find the correct match for the shooting head fly line. They customize each line to match the rod by cutting back so the remaining line is the perfect weight to properly load the rod.

Fishing Report

Fresh casting lessons and with a new Beulah spey rod, we fished the Deschutes for steelhead. I was skunked the first day and a half. The next full day of fishing, though, I fought 3 fish, landing 2. Two of the fish took green butt skunk, and 1 a rusty orange skating fly.

This trip opened up 2 new worlds to me, steelheading and spey casting. Spey casting is definitely the way to fish for steelhead on the Deschutes, and taking an in person class is definitely worthwhile for learning how to spey cast.

Trip 6 of 2008

2008-04-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today, Michele & I went to the Yuba river. We got off to a frustrating start: I overslept, took a wrong turn in Sacramento and got lost, then when finally reaching the flyshop, they didn't have what we needed. On top of this, I misplaced my license - so I stopped at Big 5 to buy a 1 day license, and they were out; I had to buy a 2 day license.

Once there, Michele as first on the river. She spotted a pod of nice trout, and we worked on them all day. Nothing but skunk.

Still, we had a good time together, and finished the day with a Cattleman's steak on the way home.

Software Quality Conferences

2008-04-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to speak at a couple of conferences last year. The Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference in Portland and the Verify Conference in Washington D.C. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it turned out to be a tremendous experience.

Todd Fitch, a college at Intuit, and I collaborated on a paper that describes our adoption of automated testing from a manager's perspective. We described the journey by process, organization, and technology. The paper is available in the PNSQC proceedings

A short fly-fishing link, the PNSQC just happened to be held in Portland, in October. A short 2 hour drive from one of the best steelhead rivers in the USA, the Deschutes. After the conference, I fished in Maupin and caught my first steelhead (and second). But, this is a software quality entry :)

Tying flies to save money

2008-04-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I am well beyond the point of saving money by tying flies, but have a few ideas for those of you who do want to save a few bucks by tying your own.

#1 - Relax, don't worry about it
You will end up spending more money by tying flies than you are likely to spend if you bought all your flies. However, for me, tying adds a huge dimension to our sport. When I loose a fly, its only a 10 cent hook and some feathers. I am generous with flies for friends and family - much more than if I were buying them for 2 bucks apiece. Filling the fly box over the winter is a way to vicariously fish. And, reading the magazines articles on the latest fly pattern and the author's success is a good distraction.

#2 - Tie a few patterns, buy the complicated ones.
Flies in the flyshop pretty much cost the same. The fly shop charges the same for a San Juan worm as a Rubber-legged Stimulator. Buy the complicated patterns and tie the simple ones. This saves money and saves time.

#3 - Tie with a buddy, exchange the results
If you have a friend that also ties, split your tying duty. You tie the same few patterns, but double the number of flies you would normally tie for yourself, then swap with your friend. This way, both of you maximize your use of materials, and by tying many of the same pattern, you get better which reduces waste and you get faster. For example, instead of buying hare's mask and pheasant tails, you can buy just one and your buddy the other.

#4 - Participate in fly swaps
Likewise, participate in fly swaps that are organized by various internet communities (see Favorite Links for several that have swaps). A fly swap is where a group of people ties flies (say a dozen) and sends them to an organizer. Then each swapper receives one of each fly in the swap. The swaps are typically themed (Mother's Day caddis, BWO, etc.). You tie a dozen of the same fly, you get 11 other different patterns.

#5 - Host a fly swap
Fly swaps are fun. Hosting a fly swap is a little bit of work, but its a good way to get a swap going. Plus (here is where the saving money part comes in), many of the participants will include an extra fly or two to thank the swap host. I wouldn't host a swap just for the extras. But, its fun and a good way to get swaps going.

#6 - Use the internet instead of purchasing instructional materials
Books and videos are a huge cost for tying flies. If you were to use true accounting practices, you would include the cost of instruction in the "cost per fly". How many flies do you need to tie to make up for a $39 DVD? Now, there are many sites that show step by step instruction and videos of tying flies. Besides the sites listed in Favorite Sites, also look at Troutflies.com and Fly Fish Northern California. For videos, check out HatchesTV and YouTube.

#7 - Buy just what you need, when you need it
I spend a lot of money on materials that I never use. Avoid the temptation to buy a bunch of stuff thinking that sometime you may use it on some pattern. As example, lately I've been tying soft hackles. I already have a ton of floss in various colors, threads, and uni-stretch. I was in the fly-shop and saw spools of the Pearsall's silk - so I bought 6 spools of various colors. I bet I use 1 color and tie less than a dozen, with a color that I could have substituted. Don't be me.

#8 - Hooks and Hackles
Generally, hooks and hackles are the most expensive materials for any single fly you tie. However, put quality ahead of false economies. If you tie a lot of dries, and in "medium" sizes (12, 14, 16) consider purchasing a good quality genetic saddle. I purchased 1 half saddle of each in brown and grizzly - which covers 75% of my needs - and I think its nearly a lifetime supply. Each feather ties 4 - 5 flies. If you tie a varity of sizes, thin about a good quality neck. The necks will tie down into the 20's and have feathers for size 8.

I find that hooks are the most expensive part of a fly. I buy the main hooks that I use in bulk to save some money, and also I'll stock up when I find a sale.

#9 - Buy in bulk - sell or trade what you don't need
This takes a bit of work, but you can save a bit if you purchase in bulk. To actually save money, you should either use all the material or sell what you don't use. For example, I just looked up a hook at a retail price: its 11 cents if you purchase 1000, but 14 cents if you purchase 50. You can save a bit of money if you can use or unload 1000 hooks. OK, nevermind - this tip is goofy.

Hopefully, you find a tip or two here that is useful. Tip #1 is key for me, tying is an enjoyment in itself, but saving money is never a bad thing.

Spring Cleaning - fly lines

2008-03-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last night, I did the pre-season ritual of cleaning and conditioning my fly lines. I took a couple out today to do some comparison casting and it at least felt better casting slick lines. Completely unscientific, but feeling the slick line in your hand makes the casts seem longer.

Fred loaned me his "Reel E Good" line winder. This made the task pretty easy. I used a damp sponge to clean the line as I wound it off the reel, then a cloth with line conditioner while winding the line back on the reel.

After seeing the dirt that came off the lines, I should do this more often.

Photography and Fly Fishing

2008-03-28T22:20:00.001-07:00

I love taking pictures while out fly-fishing. The scenery is great, and a photograph is a great way to share the beauty without bringing crowds to your favorite spots. Taking a picture with a fish is a great way to capture that magical moment to share with friends and family.

Since we are going to do it, we might as well do it well. Here are a few tips that I’ve learned to make the best fish photos that I can. By no means am I an expert, but hopefully this article gives you an idea or two.

First, be a Boy Scout: Be prepared

Before stepping into the stream

· Choose a camera that you can comfortably carry while fishing, and keep it safe and dry. I use a point-and-shoot digital that is also waterproof. If yours isn’t waterproof, consider keeping it in a zip-lock bag while you are fishing.

· Remember to charge the battery ahead of time, and bring a spare battery if you have one. Make sure there is plenty of room on your memory card.

· I take a lot of photos when I go on fishing trips, so I tend to download photos to my laptop often. Remember to bring all of the cables necessary to download your photos and to charge your battery.

Before catching a fish

· Consider trading cameras with your fishing buddy. You will be photographing him and vice versa. This way, when you go home, you have pictures of you and your trophies. However, swapping files afterwards is pretty easy also.

· Set the correct mode on your camera. If you are using full auto, set that before-hand. For cameras that allow it, aperture priority with large F-stop also works as this gives good depth of field. The depth of field will show the fish and fisherman in focus, along with the background.

· Turn the flash to always on. This helps illuminate the fish and your eyes under your hat. This helps even in full sunlight.

Congratulations, you caught a picture worthy fish.

· After landing your trophy, keep the fly in its mouth in case you fumble the fish while setting up the picture.

· Keep the fish in the water while you set up the shot. The photographer should compose the picture, get the camera ready, etc while the fish remains in water (either in the net or with a firm wet hand on its tail).

· Take a quick look around the surroundings and compose the picture.

o Ideally, the sun is towards the back of the photographer, so the fish and fisherman are illuminated by the sun.

o Consider the background behind the fisherman. Is there anything interesting? If

there is a good scene behind, consider stepping back and including the background in the picture. One trick to get something in the background to appear closer is to use the telephoto setting for the lenses (zoom), and step back. The telephoto will magnify the background a bit.

o If the background isn’t particularly interesting, I like to get close to focus on the fish and fisherman. This tends to de-emphasize the background. As they say, trout don’t live in ugly places.

· Have the fisherman take off his or her sunglasses and give the fisherman a few seconds to adjust to the sun. Squinting does not make a great picture.

· Compose the shot with the fish still in the water. We are doing this to preserve the trophy, while allowing the fish to live. No sense in stressing the fish any more than necessary. Press the button halfway to “trigger” the camera, which locks in the focus and lighting settings on the camera.

· Then, bring the fish into position and snap the shot. Put the fish back in the water while checking the shot on the camera.

· If you are happy with the shot, remove the fly and revive and release your trophy. Congratulations!

Head cement - what I use

2008-03-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

I use 3 types of head cement. Here is what I use, and when:

Loon Outdoors water based head cement. This comes in a bottle that includes a thin metal tube applicator. This cement really absorbs in thread and materials. I use this for smaller trout flies, interim steps like securing hair wings in place, etc.

Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails (clear). This is really nail polish. You have to be comfortable with your manhood to buy a bottle in the drug store. This is much thicker than the water based stuff, and leaves a nice shiny head. For steelhead flies, 3 or 4 coats gives the heads that glossy finish.

5-minute epoxy. For Clouser minnows, I use 5 minute epoxy for the head and locking the eyes in place. I use the glossy paper for ads in the sunday paper to mix the epoxy, using a tooth pick to mix and apply the epoxy. Each small batch is good for half a dozen flies.

Root Cause for Problem Escape - Questions to ask

2008-03-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

Being a test manager, I've been in the position a few times to explain why the test team did not catch a problem that our customers found. Early in my career, I would tend to defend the test team or test plan. However, that is not a very effective response to the situation. At the end of the day, we should be focused on delivering the highest quality products for our customers. Escapes happen, and we should use each as a learning opportunity.

In examining the escapes, I've rarely found a case where the answer was very simple. Its usually a "perfect storm". To help guide the investigation, I've developed the following set of questions which help guide a comprehensive root cause.

If you find your self in the unfortunate position of having too many escapes to perform the full analysis, choose a subset driven by the severity of the problems. One customer was very helpful, finding many of our defects for us. To get some control of the situation, I performed the Root Cause Analysis on all Critical bugs. In a few months time, we had just a few Critical bugs that I extended the analysis to Major bugs. That customer gave us a letter grade (like in school). We went from an F to an A, in part because of this analysis.

Describe Problem: (QA)

Describe circumstances and consequence of the problem. This description should be a summary of the information, with enough description for readers not familiar with the issue. Include a reference to CR number, or other tracking information.

Where was the problem introduced? (dev)

Describe the phase in which this was introduced, i.e. requirements, design, code, build, etc.

Describe the root cause of the problem: (dev)

For the phase where the problem was introduced, describe what actually happened. For example, the requirements could be missing, incorrect, unclear. Designs might not have provided for error handling, or consider the performance requirements. Coding errors may be logic, missing table entry, incorrect logic (“and” instead of “or”), etc.

What reviews were held for the phase? (dev)

For example, requirements review for missing/incorrect requirements. Code reviews for coding errors.

How and why did the problem escape testing? (QA)

Examples, test case doesn’t exist, test was not run, defect introduced after test passed, etc. Also, describe why (for example, why didn’t a test exist, etc.)

What could be done to prevent this type of error in the future? (team)

What process improvement could have prevented this problem from occurring?

What could be done to find this type of problem in the future? (team)

What test or review should be implemented? Examples are adding a test case, implementing a new automated test, adding new exit criteria to peer review, etc.

Fishing Log - Trips 4 & 5 of 2008

2008-03-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

I told Fred about my idea of using this blog as a fishing journal. In general, he liked the idea, but said it had a major flaw, I don't fish enough.

Fishing trips 4 & 5 of 2008 were short ones, only 2 hours of fishing in the Russian River for steelhead. Both days were similar, so I'll cover with one report.

I had family obligations on both days, which precluded a full day's float on the river. However, Fred was able to float. So, I played his shuttle driver in the morning, and fished for a couple hours at the put in area (Veteran's Memorial Beach in Healdsburg). I then drove his truck to the takeout.

I fished a variety of flies, with only 1 grab for both days. The grab came on a green butt skunk.

I did see a few downstreamers each day, but no bright fish.

All in all, the best of both worlds. I was able to fish a bit and be with my family.

Fishing Log - Trip 3 of 2008

2008-03-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in March included a day of fishing on Fred's lake for largemouth bass. We fished for about 6 hours, and I caught 6 fish.

I had to leave about an hour before sunset. Fred stayed. He caught another 6 in that hour. The lesson, stay for the magic hour.

The water was a bit cool still, and the bass seemed to be on their beds. We used black bunny leeches and little rainbow trout streamer patterns.

A few favorite links

2008-03-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite fly fishing links

Northern California Fly Fishing Board - This is fun fly fishing community, centered, of course, on northern California. The board is compared to a campfire - the discussion is mostly fly fishing, but like any campfire talk it moves into politics, humor, and sometimes gets testy. The community gets together several times a year, usually camping out near some great waters.

Fly Angler's Online - I look forward to the Fly of the Week, a new pattern with accompanying story and tying instructions. They also have other weekly articles, tons of information in the archives, and a very active bulletin board.

Fly Fishing on the Web - This is a very new site, still developing content. The key draw for me is the podcast. They release a new hour-long podcast each week on iTunes. It sounds like a conversation between friends. One refreshing nature of the podcast, the hosts, Todd and Jason, have been fly-fishing for just a couple of years - they bring a fresh perspective to our favorite sport - and they haven't learned latin yet.

Dan Blanton's Board - Dan's site features another bulletin board dedicated to fly fishing - with a particular focus on Striped Bass in the Bay area and California Delta - but there is information about fly-fishing across the world. The hot flies section has photographic instruction for many of Dan's flies and a few guest tiers - flies for salt-water and striped bass.

Charlies Fly Box - Charlie Craven runs this site, which is associated with his fly shop in the Denver area. What is really cool about this site is the number and quality of fly-tying tutorials. There are about a hundred different patterns with step-by-step photo tutorials. The photography and instructions are excellent.

Westfly - Westfly is a pretty comprehensive site for western fly fishing. Westfly includes river information (flow rates, links to flyshops, hatch charts, etc) and some great forums for Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Fishing Log - Trips 1 & 2 - 2008

2008-03-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

We visited Idaho this February, and Michele and I were able to fish twice. We fished the Henry's Fork, near the Stonebridge access point. The weather and insect activity was similar for both days. A little overcast at 11:00 am (start time), with air temperature of 14. We fished until about 3:00 PM when it warmed up to 25. The sun came out both days around noon - most fishing done in mostly sunny conditions.

For bugs, there was a sporadic hatch of midges and size 22 BWO.

I fished for about an hour, then hopped in the car for a warmup. Every 10 casts or so, I had to clear the ice out of my guides.

For gear, what worked best was neoprene waders (5 mm) over fleece sweats (with stirrup's to keep my ankles warm). For my hands, I just used polyproplene glove liners. The glove liners were enough to keep my hands a bit warm, and still be able to feel the line.

For flies, what worked was size 20 to 22 pheasant tail soft hackle with a bead head. I cast straight out into the fast current, and swung it on a tight line. The fish were at the seem between the fast water and slower.

Each day, I caught 7 or 8 fish. About split equally between rainbows and browns. All were in the 14 - 16 inch range. Each day also featured one whitefish.

This could be heaven or this could be hell

2008-03-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, my buddy and I had plans to fish on a Saturday in the fall. It was a bit early in the season, but there were possibly steelhead in the river. At least there were half-pounders. I was looking forward to this trip, the summer had been long and hard having to work most weekends on a difficult release.

The inevitable happened, I ended up having to work that Saturday. The good news, I did not have to go in, but participate in 4 conference calls and be available by email. Instead of canceling the trip, we switched our plans and instead fished the American river in Sacramento. One section of the American is a couple hundred yards from a Starbucks (well, I guess every location is now close to a Starbucks). It cost $9.99 to get an all day internet connection.

I participated in 3 of the conference calls in my waders, by the river. Working was interrupted by fishing stints. I ended up catching a few half-pounders (which felt like quarter pounders on the 8 weight).

A few years back, having to work on a Saturday meant having to go in the office. Mobile technology saved that fishing trip. On the other hand, hell is watching your fly on a perfect drift and hearing a cell phone ring.

Cooking great software

2007-10-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

I saw a cooking show the other day where the chef was asked his secret for great food. His reply was essentially start with great ingredients and don't screw them up.
That got me thinking about our software quality and my experiences in the workplace. It seems like a lot of time and effort are spent on managing to our exit criteria. We spend hours negotiating exit criteria, tracking progress of pass-rates, writing waivers, etc.
Thinking instead like the chef, our time may be better spent on the inputs to our processes instead. At least we should focus on the inputs as much as the outputs and current status. At our lessons learned, after the project is over, we do point to inputs (poor requirements, poor code delivered to system test, etc.).

Some ideas to concentrate on inputs:

Requirements
Typical Exit criteria

Requirements document written in proper template
Reviewed and signed off by development, test, quality, etc.

Better to put more emphasis on activities that improve requirements

Actually talking with customers
Test our requirements with prototypes, models, etc
Anticipate change in requirements (build a prioritized backlog and develop in iterations)

Design & Coding
Typical Exit Criteria

Have the reviews been conducted?
Do the developers tell us they executed unit tests?

Better to put more emphasis on activities that help make code better

Using design patterns
Reusing code
Are design and code reviews effective? How can we add value to the reviews?
Pair programming, Test Driven Development

Test
Typical Exit Criteria

Test coverage
Pass rate
Quantity and severity of defects

Better to put more emphasis on activities that help find more and better defects

Customer feedback
Negative mode testing (fault injection)
Exploratory testing
Building the knowledge of our testers, in technology and domain knowledge

These lists seem obvious, but in the heat of projects, especially with schedule pressure, the temptation is to jettison any activity that doesn't seem to contribute the exit criteria.

Welcome to my Blog

2007-10-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

My career is software quality and test. My passion is fly fishing and fly tying. I'll be writing about both areas in this blog.

Professionally, I'm working for Intuit, maker of Quicken, TurboTax, and QuickBooks. I'm responsible for the test automation team in the Small Business Division. Prior to Intuit, I worked for Alcatel (now Alcatel-Lucent), Phoenix Technologies, and McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing).

You can see my profile on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ruberto

For my fly fishing pursuits, I live in Northern California, and spend not enough time in eastern Idaho. I mainly fish for trout in streams, but I am learning the art of fishing for striped bass in San Francisco bay and the Sacramento river delta. This year, I also started spey casting for steelhead in coastal rivers in Northern CA and Oregon.