Waiting for the bus is usually very good time to stop and think about different things. It's quite (if you don't count cars), you just have to wait, you cannot do anything. Today I started to think my poem writing process and exploratory process. I found plenty of common properties.

First step looks very similar at both. With poem I call it draft or mind vomit. It has everything I want the poem to have but it's far from good poem. Language is bad, rhythm is horrible and words are not thoughts and so on. At testing the first step is walk thru. I check what I am supposed to do, take several notes, wonder how to find strange behavior from this application.

After that starts the iterative process. Poem changes its shape a lot. Words are changes to better ones. Structure is modified. Usually I read my poem aloud during this reformation process. And sometimes I end up disposing whole text, because I just can't get it work. Draft and final version differs a lot. Same is with testing. I start to test different kind of ways to check if it works or not or if it gives some really unexpected output. Too often it does.

Feedback exists at both processes. I show my poem to my friends and get some feedback. They tell me how to make it better if there is something which really requires improvement. Then I modify my poem or just ignore the comment. They usually also tell what was good. It is also valuable information. From that I know what to keep at my writing style. So feedback changes me, future poems and current poem.

Testing produces bug reports (yes, they usually just have to be written), I discuss about other things with developers, project managers, business people, help desk etc. They are giving me feedback. "This bug is not a bug. It is a feature" - then discussion why it is supposed to be feature or bug. Devs, business people, marketing, help desk - almost anyone - can give me new ideas how to get back to tested feature, and beat it new ways. If the idea is totally new for me, I add it to my mental test tool pack.

At the end I have poem or finished the testing. Both have needed iterative thinking and creativity. First there is 'draft' which looks boring but it is needed to do rest of the steps. It needs several iterations to finish the draft. And at the end feedback collection, which helps to modify my own style to better ones.

Poem writing is my hobby which helps me to understand testing better.