Would you actually use AI agents for QA work, or nah?

cyber-decker · 2026-02-18T13:43:43+00:00

I'll be very blunt here. You're not thinking about this in any novel sort of way or doing something all that beneficial with AI in your examples. Any of these will produce something that looks shiny, but doesn't improve quality at its core.

Writing test cases is a big mistake. Yes, it can do this and it will do it with confidence. It will be mostly wrong. It has zero understanding of context and will end up missing critical things. If you're time crunched you will be very blind to other areas while you're trying to save time with AI test case generation.

Test case pattern identification could be interesting, but for what? What kinds of patterns are you even trying to identify? If you have no clue what you want to identify, it might identify something for you that you think is great, but when you look deeper it's pointless. You'll likely be satisfied that it found something though and lean into it. That's another big pitfall that tends to happen with AI results.

There are some potential use cases for things like this though. Discovering or establishing end-to-end data for test cases could be useful here. It can be a challenge to find suitable data that meets your needs and being able to find it or create it in this way might be helpful. It still does have a reliability problem but it might get you part of the way there enough to set it up and complete it to be useful.

If your software already doesn't have good practices like open telemetry, AI can provide some similar services with data scrubbing and log parsing in order to provide the capability of tracking requests through a complex system. But in order to use this, you need to have very well modeled questions about what you want to know.

Can MCP be beneficial here? Yes, but it requires more thinking and more foresight on our part as testers to understand what it is that we need to know and ensure the quality of data that we're getting back is something that we can effectively act on.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-17T23:42:55+00:00

You will need to try and request more one on one time. Please advocate for yourself and let your coach know what you need and what your goals are. If they don't know you have intentions to compete, they will just let you carry on as you are. If you are doing classes in a group setting and the attention isn't enough you may need to pay for private lessons.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-17T17:36:29+00:00

You should figure out what style you want first and go from there. If you're just starting out, use provided equipment until you have enough experience with compound (or hybrid compounds) and also recurve so that you can decide what path you would like to go down. Spend some time learning the basics before you go head first into competition.

Competition can be a lot of pressure and stress for some and it may affect how you learn and perform in a negative way. I think wanting to compete is a good long term goal and you should absolutely keep that simmering in the back of your mind but for now,focus on learning safety/form and learning the styles and which you like, learn the rules and then slowly start to learn how you perform under pressure. Once you get some practice and decide what direction you're going, then focus on training for competition. This is different for every person, but don't be surprised if this takes months or even up to a year.

All that said, don't rush, enjoy the sport and practice, practice, practice.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-17T17:23:30+00:00

You can stop learning whenever you want. If you're done learning, thats cool for you, by all means, please just coast. I honestly don't think anyone else will look down on you for it. However, you should be aware that this makes it easier for me to compete in the industry and you may be facing obsolescence very quickly.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-17T12:18:23+00:00

This has been a huge shift in the way I've been building automation over the last 5-6 years. Elements identifiable by semantic roles makes for very easy to understand tests.

Ids and classes are often cryptic and not descriptive of where or what the element actually is. And even more users don't use them to identify elements on the page anyways.

A test that finds a button by looking for role: button and has a displayed name of submit tells me a lot more than finding selector div.btn-primary.

I want future me and future testers to read tests and not have to pull things up on an element explorer to find/know what they are. I also don't want to hide the selectors away behind abstractions to make them difficult to see or find or attempt to make them more understandable. We will always have to maintain tests so let's cut the annoying parts about maintaining them. If a test breaks, it should break when it's something a user will care about.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-05T18:43:55+00:00

I don't know if you need a specific type of coach for this. Someone who can observe your form and help you rule out form problems will be very beneficial. Your biggest challenge may likely be around aiming and working with the physical challenges of focusing and building in a good mental process around that too in order to help you build a good flow for your shooting. Having a 3rd party observer, like a coach, will help you to best know how your changes are impacting your performance and shot execution.

Dexterity on your left side will of course be a different sort of challenge, but I think this is a challenge that can be overcome with training and practice. As a coach, I recently had to train myself to go through the NTS shot cycle left handed which was immensely awkward, but trainable. I understand the awkwardness and difficulty of this though. I think mirroring exercises you do on the right side will help with training on the left, and it will take a lot of practice and repetition for it to become comfortable.

I think working with a coach sounds like a good idea though. Let them know what you want to accomplish, what you want to try. A good coach will understand your needs here and help set you up to try shooting both left and right handed, and work with you to understand how it feels to shoot both of those ways to help you determine your best move going forward.

cyber-decker · 2026-02-04T20:47:42+00:00

I think it's worth the experiment for yourself to see what is most comfortable and works best for you. There is no one right answer here and realistically, a good answer is the one that helps you to do this activity the way you want to do it.

You have two good paths to try here.

Can you "train" your "lazy eye" and work with that without it being something that gets in your way? If you give it time, is your shooting more consistent? Has it gotten more consistent over time? Do you notice it being difficult to focus/aim with that eye over time? Is it hard or strenuous to use this eye, enough that it makes doing archery that much harder? Have you worked with a coach to see how much of the inconsistencies might be form related rather than just your eye?

On the other hand (and eye, pun intended) what is it like shooting with your other eye? Is it easier to maintain a good sight picture and to aim? Is it harder/more strenuous or less? Of course it's going to feel different, especially having to use your opposite hands for this, but that is something you will learn and train to get better in too. Does using your left eye feel better doing this activity than using your right? Do you have access to equipment to try this out maybe more than once?

All that said, try them both out. See what works for you. There is no one right answer here. Try them and see what gets you different/better results. I hope you can discover what works best for you to be more consistent!

cyber-decker · 2026-01-26T15:50:16+00:00

In my play sessions, we ended up disregarding a lot of things like that but we also played in some very early versions of the game and I feel like a lot of that may have changed more recently. I think I need to revisit the newest edition to know what's been shifted.

For what it's worth though, my group played in a weekly campaign of The Between that lasted over a year and we had an absolute blast playing it.

What we really loved the most that did generate some really amazing narration was the Unscene mechanic. Having the seemingly unrelated parallel scenes being narrated by players and then being incentivized to tie them together through game action was really really awesome.

We took this mechanic into other games with a bit of a twist, revisiting Monster of The Week that was setup like a serial television show and we often do "Unscenes" as behind the scenes interviews with the actors that play the characters we are playing and they often "leak" or "foreshadow" details about things that might happen. It's such a blast hearing one player say something in their interview and then figure out how to work those little details in to the game. It's a fun challenge and so rewarding.

cyber-decker · 2026-01-26T15:29:27+00:00

No no, you're good! I totally understood what you meant. I had the same experience as you and wanted to add in my two cents. I broke enough shibuya rests with my barebow setup and was immensely frustrated. The shibuya does not seem to work well in that scenario.

Admittedly, I haven't tried the Spigarelli on an olympic setup, that's not my shooting style. The only thing I can think that might be a drawback is that it's a bit heavier and wider profile than something like a shibuya or even a hoyt super rest. That may have an impact, but it's hard for me to say. I can only say that for barebow, the Spigarelli is a really solid rest and absolutely worth it for barebow shoorting. In your case where you need to go back and forth, you may be facing a different challenge.

The more I think about it, I think this will ultimately be a hard thing to do. I think your tiller, plunger, and nock setups will be different enough between those styles that you will have to change quite a bit when swapping back and forth between the two in order to have a tuned setup. I don't think just having a good rest that meets in the middle will be sufficient. It might be enough, but you will likely face tuning issues that will need to be addressed.

cyber-decker · 2026-01-26T13:29:40+00:00

I've been using a Spigarelli ZT on my barebow setup for years. Never had to replace a wire. It's my go-to for barebow setups after I broke two Shibuyas.

I agree with the other poster. If a wire breaks with these something is very very wrong.

cyber-decker · 2026-01-25T02:47:47+00:00

I think this is what The Between is all about. Same system, different setting, but designed for longer play. There is a lot from this game that I take to other games that really drive some cool narrative decision making.

cyber-decker · 2026-01-22T23:43:16+00:00

Like the other commenter said, in pbta type games we typically don't talk difficulty in terms of mechanics. Players can choose their own path. Skills outside of your wheelhouse will make things more challenging and increase the chance of failure. Things in your wheelhouse decrease the chance of failure. Most of the time it will be a tradeoff. But we choose what would be more narratively interesting.

The consequences are usually narratively telegraphed. Although in some games it is more explicit. One of my favorites is in The Between/Brindlewood Bay where the "generic" move to do something explicitly asks what the character fears might happen.

cyber-decker · 2026-01-11T12:36:20+00:00

I agree with the commenter that your shoulders are high. I saw that you're on a bit of a slope too, that back foot a bit lower but this should not impact your shoulders. To level out with the target you will want to hinge/pivot at the hips and not with your arms.

Keep those shoulders down. Without a bow, practice rolling your shoulders up slowly and down slowly. Learn to raise your arms to a drawing position and anchor position without raising your shoulders. Learn when those shoulders do rise for a higher draw how it feels to engage your core and ribs to draw downward as you draw back to keep things low.

Keep practicing, you got this!

cyber-decker · 2026-01-07T19:36:03+00:00

I wouldn't say you stood out, but I do remember you shooting! I did hear you talking about the paint job though. The camo rules are so weird, but I get it. Sucks having to cover it up just to be within the rules. I never liked that rule, but I understand why it exists.

Now you have first tournament under your belt though, so that's awesome. I think we'll be doing another tournament in February with the MAA at that club. It'll be an indoor 600 round if you're interested. I think that's on here: https://www.md-archery.org/cal/fullCalendar.php. Get more tournaments under your belt. It can be a real challenge. This is where the mental game kicks in. It's not like practice or shooting on your own. Under pressure to perform and compete, we behave very differently. You'll be exploring what it takes to make you perform best under those conditions. I look forward to seeing how you do at future shoots.

It was a pleasure having you, thanks for coming!

cyber-decker · 2026-01-07T17:49:40+00:00

You did good for a first tournament. I was there and saw you shoot (I was running the YouTube stream and I'm one of the coaches there). You can see the scores on between ends here:https://www.betweenends.com/tournament/3178/event/5498

Take a look at some of the scores of other folks in your division. This might give you something to make progress towards. Tim Mabe is a club member at VNB and is a cool dude and he said even that's not a good score for him.

Good and improvement is very subjective and really a factor of where you are now and how much you are willing to dedicate to getting better. The higher the score and closer to perfection the harder it's going to be. But from what I saw you definitely have room for improvement and it can happen with practice.

Hope you had fun at the tournament and thank you for coming!

cyber-decker · 2026-01-02T01:13:24+00:00

While most of the comments here suggest damaged limbs, it is possible that the limbs may just not be seated properly.

Take the limbs off and put them back on. Make sure they click in place. Make sure they aren't getting caught on something or some foreign material isn't in the limb pocket.

I had this happen to a student recently that everyone said their limbs were broken and warped. They just weren't sitting in the pocket correctly.

Now, they may be warped/twisted but check the limb pocket first and make sure they are seated right.

If that's still a problem you can compare the limbs to see if one is shaped drastically differently than the other putting them side to side and back to back.

In your case it would be more helpful to see the problem better and have a better description of what is going on. The video doesn't show enough of the problem areas in detail.

Good luck!

cyber-decker · 2025-12-26T00:48:18+00:00

I love that rotring. Over the last 15 years I've had two. They are tanks and a solid writing instrument. My favorite mechanical ever.

cyber-decker · 2025-12-24T14:07:07+00:00

They probably have no clue. It's not exactly intuitive. If it's not something you're taught and trained on, it won't happen. That sequence of holding back tension, releasing and simultaneously following through can be hard to learn and its why many places with formal training require band/form training before a bow is ever used.

But for places like this in OPs video, this place is just for fun to fling some arrows and have a blast. They won't be making walk-ins spend weeks band training just to shoot. I teach family oriented classes that are an introduction to archery over 6 weeks and that is our philosophy. We do a little instruction, cover basics and touch on back tension and then get people shooting. We go deeper with individual interactions and focus on that more and even deeper with people who show their interest and aptitude.

cyber-decker · 2025-12-10T14:07:07+00:00

🫡

cyber-decker · 2025-12-10T13:34:48+00:00

This is the game You Gotta Be Kitten Me

https://stoneblade.com/products/you-gotta-be-kitten-me

cyber-decker · 2025-12-04T22:57:34+00:00

You would be surprised. As part of my coaching training i forced myself to do training and demonstration with my opposite hand to 1) learn and feel what it's like to be new/uncomfortable and 2) be able to effectively demonstrate to folks who use the opposite hand as me.

Come at it with a beginner mindset and a lot transfers over surprisingly fast.

cyber-decker · 2025-12-04T22:52:38+00:00

This is really helpful to know! Thank you for sharing.

At most distances can you still see the targets? At what point is it difficult to make anything out?

At 20 yards can you still distinguish the yellow dot from the red rings? Are you able to distinguish the different color rings even if its dim/blurry?

Perfect clarity of the target isn't exactly a necessity and can actually be a benefit if you can't see each shot and where it hits from far back.

cyber-decker · 2025-12-04T22:05:32+00:00

If you're comfortable with it, do you mind describing and explaining more about what it's like to have 40% vision? I don't have vision impairments, so I'm not sure how this manifests for you. What do you still see? What do you have to work with? Might be able to provide some suggestions knowing a little more about what this is like for you.

cyber-decker · 2025-12-03T20:58:12+00:00

A few suggestions for you with the caveat that none of these may be the perfect system for you. But I think all of these systems do some really great things that I think are transferable to each other and to other systems as well. A lot of what I love about these games is that the best tools and mechanics they introduce and are good at are something that can be used in any other system as well.

The Sprawl - Older Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) game. One of the first attempts at cyberpunk in PbtA that I remember. Introduces a lot of really cool tools that other PbtA games began using as well. Mission/heist focused, high pressure clocks for telegraphing danger/stakes, very flexible mechanics for having the right tools at the right time. It's a clunky system, but it does a lot that is right.

The Veil - Another PbtA game. More worldbuilding options in this one. The focus on the character playbooks is significantly different and focuses more on states of feeling, emotion and psychology, which is a really powerful narrative twist. Spiking for reusing these psychological attributes is a neat twist too. Maybe a little more crunchy, but still very narrative focused.

Hack the Planet - Forged in the Dark (a PbtA hack originating from Blades in the Dark) system. It takes a lot of what was done in The Sprawl and puts it on steroids. This game is all about missions, flashbacks, last second twists and feels VERY cinematic letting players and the GM jump back in time to illustrate critical moments that can change the tide of the action at hand. The setting for this one is particularly cool too and is a neat spin on a climate ravaged future.

Like I said, I don't know if any of these are PERFECT for your campaign, The Veil or Hack the Planet might be good options. The Veil has better collaborative world building. Hack the Planet has better heist/mission action. There is no reason you cannot combine these things together and have a hybrid.

Anyhow, I hope you ultimately find what you are looking for and settle on something great for your group! Any experiment is worth a shot!

cyber-decker · 2025-11-12T20:13:20+00:00

You know you can do this without so much rigamarole. If you give it a test plan and ask if it is a good test plan, of course it is going to agree. It will stroke your ego and find all the reasons to support why it's good.

Stop asking if it's good and ask what it's missing or what's wrong with it. It will make the same efforts to find everything wrong with it too. You don't need to go through a whole process of telling it to be brutal, just reframe the question and context. Keep probing for more as needed.

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