Interview mit Sue Sims
28.05.2004
Sue, auch als Mom-Elektran bekannt, betreut bei Opera die internen Tester. Diese stehen im Mittelpunkt des Interviews, das sie gegeben hat.
Please introduce yourself and your work at Opera
My name is Sue Sims, and I've been called the Mom-Elektran, which is a title I'm very proud to be known by.
When and why was the Elektrans program started?
In late 1999, when we were ready to release Opera 3.62, and working on the codebase for Opera 4.0, I complained to my boss, Hakon Wium Lie, that I seemed to be the only one of our 30 employees testing Opera, and filing bug reports. Of course, I had a solution waiting: find some regular Opera users, through the newsgroups and mailing lists, and ask them to help me (and Opera) with the de-bugging process. I was delighted when he approved my plan, and the Elektrans were born.
What's the Elektrans main job?
The primary focus of the Elektrans is to discover from a user point of view what is wrong with Opera. From the Opera Mail client to the UI, from Chat to RSS, the Elektrans have seen it first, offering criticism to outright praise to our developers, primarily through a private mailing list, to which most of our developers belong.
Why are internal testers called Elektrans?
Elektrans comes from the code name for our rendering engine, circa 1999, which was called "Elektra". It is a catchall phrase for all of our testers now, which includes Mac-Elektrans and Linux-Elektrans, as well. We also have some specialized testing units, including Accessibility, BiDi, Compatibility, Libraries, and Voice. These individuals are also known as Elektrans, but have their own separate mailing lists, as do the Mac-Elektrans and Linux-Elektrans.
How many internal testers are there at the moment?
This is the current statistical breakdown of our testers:
| Elektrans | 25 |
| Mac-Elektrans | 37 |
| Linux-Elektrans | 22 |
| Accessibility | 10 |
| BiDi | 7 |
| Compatibility | 19 |
| Libraries | 8 |
| Voice | 10 |
Why isn't it known who's Elektran?
That was my decision. Based on the fact that every tester has signed an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with Opera, I reasoned that it would be easier for our testers to honor their commitment to Opera if they weren't bombarded with questions from Opera users which might tempt them to break the NDA.
How to become an Elektran?
I maintain a list of potential Elektrans, based on newsgroup, mailing lists, and forum postings. Basically, the only way to be invited to become an Elektran is based on performance in the above venues. We have room for testers on the Accessibility, Compatibility, BiDi, Libraries, and Voice lists, so anyone who is interested in any of those lists should write me an e-mail, detailing the list they would like to join.
What special skills have proved useful? Like ability to write web pages, like knowledge of user interface design, like ability to write reports etc.
The ability to write web pages is significant only when it comes to dissecting a page which doesn't work in Opera. Really, only one of us is needed to determine why a web page doesn't work in Opera. Knowledge of UI design is important, although it is rare for us to win a UI argument with the developers. The ability to write reports is minimal, as our conversations are via the mailing lists. In the olden days, we used to write up summaries for the use of the developers, but then found that was a waste of time.
What do you do for the Elektrans?
Since the Elektrans are volunteers, who serve without compensation, they were invited to visit Opera headquarters in Oslo twice in the past. They were treated to seminars, yachting, and a special dinner which featured Lutefisk. In return, they located and filed bug reports! One of the real pleasures of these trips was to be able to spend one-on-one time with the developers who have made Opera one of the joys of the Internet.
The women population of the internet/computer industry is relatively thin and for a big part dominated by men. What do you think has caused this pattern, will it change over time and what is your personal reason/feeling for working at Opera Software?
I have no idea why the discrepancy exists between men and women on the internet. If not for my overweening interest in CSS, I wouldn't be as involved as I am, and would certainly not have been considered for employment by Opera Software ASA. It was through my interest in CSS that I got to know Hakon Wium Lie, co-author of the CSS1 and CSS2 recommendations. After he went to work for Opera, he sent me an e-mail, offering me the job of "Electronic Evangelist" for the company. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to work for the company which had created my favorite browser! I became a regular in the newsgroups, answering questions whenever I could, filing bug reports when there was _no_ answer, and forwarding messages to the developers when I felt there should have been an answer. I found myself writing internal documentation (like the BTS documentation), joining every internal mailing list I could find to learn more about the company) and generally, making myself heard when I found something wrong. For example, I complained about the mailing list software, and ended up as the administrator for lots of lists. I tried to be responsive to what the list members wanted, and was able to tweak the settings to give them what was most important. Also, I was able to make a suggestion which made management of the mailing list Spam *much* easier.
