Christmas is almost over and while I am still having holiday with the family, I’m beginning to think a bit about testing again.
I am passionate about software testing.
There is a lot of talk about passion, but do we know what passion is?
The word shares roots with the greek ‘pathos’, which is one of the three key components of persuasion in rhetoric. The other two are ethos and logos.
Good communication should be fact based (logos) and serve a common greater good (ethos), but passion adds something important to communication.
The passionate lecturer
I remember two math lecturers from university. One taught analytical algebra, the other graph theory and combinatorics.
Both were personalities of the type you would notice if you saw them in the street, but if someone would then whisper to you: “He is an associate professor in mathemathics”, you would exclaim “ah!” and understand exactly what you were seeing 🙂
Their style of lecturing was very different, however.
Every lecture in graph-theory and combinatorics was unique. It seemed the lecturer literally reinvented what he was lecturing while he was doing it. He was not particularly organised in his teaching, sometimes he would even forget the subject, and divert off a wrong ‘graph’ (sic!). But he had passion for the subjects, and that showed. The lectures were often very engaging and fascinating.
The other lecturer prepared his lectures to perfection: He always started on the exact minute putting his chalk to the board in the top left corner of the first of the six large black boards in the auditorium, and by the end of the 90th minute, he would finish writing formula in the last available spot of the lower right corner of the last board. He repeated that time after time. A fascinating performance. But there was a problem, as he had obviously lost passion for the subject he was teaching. I felt bored to death during his lectures, and I am not sure I ever passed that exam.
Some testers are passionate about what they do, others try to be perfect. I always prefer passion over perfection.
Suffering by Passion
Passion is one of those tacit capabilities we know by heart, but will probably never be able to code, teach to a neural network, or explain to someone who has never experienced it.
The word has an interesting record in the Douglas Harper online etymology dictionary. Apparantly, passion used to be a kind of suffering:
Passion: late 12c., “sufferings of Christ on the Cross,” from Old French passion “Christ’s passion, physical suffering” (10c.), from Late Latin passionem (nominative passio) “suffering, enduring,” from past participle stem of Latin pati “to suffer, endure,” possibly from PIE root *pe(i)- “to hurt” (see fiend).
The article even goes on linking passion to sufferings of martyrs.
Let me confess now: While I am very passionate about good testing, I am not going to become a testing martyr.
Words change meaning over time and passion is certainly a word that has become more of a daily language term than it probably was back in the late 12th century.
Today, linking passion to sufferings, even physical sufferings, may seem out context.
However, it reminds us that passion does involve trading in some things that I like too: Staying relaxed, calm and cool, for example.
I am neither of those things when I am feeling passionate.
Passion seems to be a kind of double-edged sword.
Passion-Fatigue
I am always more tired after working passionately on a testing problem than when I’m doing more trivial things in my job: E.g. diligently replying to e-mails, writing factual test reports, checking out plans and schedules.
Could there be something called passion-fatigue? I think so, and when passion is a driver in daily work life, relaxation and recharging is important to stay healthy, sane, and well in the longer run..
The need for Hygge
Now that Christmas has just passed, but I am still enjoying days of holiday with the family, it seems right to mention ‘hygge’ (pronounced “hyk-ge”).
Hygge is Danish for relaxing with others, a good book or in other nice ways.
Hygge is difficult to define. In that way it’s similar to passion, except opposite: Relaxing, calming and mentally soothing.
A day with hygge could be so relaxing and good that it deserve finishing off with a good tequila, scotch, or another good drink of your preference 🙂
What’s interesting here is that hygge seems to be a good cure for passion-fatigue. Hygge creates space for passion.
And this is exactly what ‘Julehygge’ is about: Getting away from daily life, relaxing with family and friends, and recharging.
Is “hygge” becoming a global fashion trend? The New York Times had an article on the fashion of hygge a few days ago: Move Over, Marie Kondo: Make Room for the Hygge Hordes
