John Hunter's blog posts (all time)

Better Meetings for Your Organization

Sat, 3 Oct 2026

This is similar to Deming’s ideas on management, I don’t believe their is a recipe to follow. There are principles that are universal. But what specific form they take depends greatly on the specific circumstances and systems in place.

Here are principles I believe will help:

Have a written objective
Document decisions and actions to be taken
Prepare people in advance (and don’t expect people to come if there isn’t a good reason for them to be there)
Talk to those involved in the meetings to learn what is working well, what needs to be improved and if the meetings are worth the effort (should there be fewer meetings or should less time be taken with them)

Better Meetings for Your Organization

Sat, 3 Oct 2026

If meetings in your organization are frustrating and not effective then taking steps to improve the situation is likely wise. There are principles I believe will help:

Have a written objective Document decisions and actions to be taken
Prepare people in advance (and don’t expect people to come if there isn’t a good reason for them to be there)
Talk to those involved in the meetings to learn what is working well, what needs to be improved...

Don't Claim Your Customer's Suffering from Your Management System Results are a "Learning Opportunity"

Sat, 3 Oct 2026

If you force the consequences of mistakes on your customers making up excuses about how this failure is a learning experience for you is only ok if you actually spell out how you are changing to assure you don't fail your customers due to this same management system failure again.

You need to design your systems to minimize consequences to customers when something goes wrong.

Acting as though a problem is due to some specific issue only with the exact circumstances that created the consequences is exactly the message you expect from businesses that have no respect for customers.

Countering Confirmation Bias

Sat, 3 Oct 2026

In most organization we need to introduce changes to the management system that reverse the current pressure to go along and to not question or ask for evidence of current practices. Most management systems would benefit from encouraging the challenging the accepted beliefs. They would benefit from encouraging the testing of beliefs and the examining of the results of those experiments.

How to Improve at Understanding Variation and Using Data to Improve

Fri, 2 Oct 2026

Getting better at using data is a bit tricky, so struggling is fairly common.
Probably the easiest thing to do is to stop reacting to normal variation (caused by the system) as if it were special. This isn’t super easy but it is the easiest step. And it does make a big difference even if it doesn’t seem very exciting.

The idea of actually using data properly provides big benefit but it much trickier. Don Wheeler’s book is a great start. Making predictions and evaluating how those predictions turn out is also valuable. And in doing so often (though not always) it will also spur you to collect data. This process of predicting, figuring out what data to use to help do so (and to evaluate the results) and considering the result of the prediction and how well the predictions overall are working can help.

Examine the Results of Your Testing Practices and Continually Improve Your Methods

Fri, 2 Oct 2026

The idea of delibrately examining your software development and testing practices will be familar to those using agile retrospectives. The power of continually improving the development practices used withing the organization is hard to appreciate but it is immense. The gains compound over time so the initial benefits are only a glimpse of what can be achieve by continuing to iterate and improve.

84% of Software Defects Found in Production Could Have Been Found Using Pairwise Testing

Thu, 1 Oct 2026

Studies show that 84% of defects found in production could have been found by testing every pair of parameter values. Those bugs were the result of interactions between 2 parameters. The complexity of software means there are many interactions and as the data shows often the bugs seen in production are the result of such interactions.

Transforming the Management System of an Organization

Thu, 1 Oct 2026

I don’t think there are simple answers to the questions that take the form of “do this simple thing and you will have the results you wish to see.”

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There are principles that can be fairly easily captured (respect people, improve using iterative experiments, use data to learn and test your understanding when possible but also realize that using data is not always possible…), but doing that does not offer a simple recipe laying out what steps to take. What should be implemented in your organization and what specific steps to take are not obvious, it requires applying the principles to your organization. And doing that also requires building the capability of your organization (including your people) to operate using those principles.

The Psychology of Change is Often the Trickiest Part of Process Improvement

Thu, 1 Oct 2026

The psychology of such efforts is usually much trickier than the process improvement. This point is actually one of the reasons creating a continual improvement culture that has respect for people at the core. When you create such a culture the psychology of change piece becomes much much easier which and as you continually improve processes the most obvious process improvements are made. If you don't create the right culture continuing the continual improvement process gets more and more difficult but if you do create the right culture it gets easier.

Solar Energy Capacity Continues to Grow Rapidly (Chart of Data by Country)

Wed, 30 Sep 2026

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates Italy has the largest percentage of electricity needs capable of being produced by installed PV systems at 8%, with Greece at 7.4% and Germany at 7.1%. Japan is ranked 5th at just under 4%, UK is 12th at 2.5%, China is 22nd at 1%, India 24th and the USA 25th at close to .9%. They estimate the total global percentage at 1.3%.

The global percentage is rapidly increasing each year as solar costs have shrunk and the benefits of reducing climate change causing pollution are known to be extremely important for the future of the planet.

USA Health-Care System Ranks 50th out of 55 Countries

Wed, 30 Sep 2026

None of these rankings are perfect and neither is this one. But it is clear beyond any doubt that the USA healthcare system is extremely costly for no better health results than other rich countries (and even more expensive with again no better results than most poor countries). It is a huge drain on the economy that we continue to allow lobbyists and special interests to take advantage of the rest of us...

Wat Mai Suwannapumaram, Luang Prabang, Laos

Tue, 29 Sep 2026

Photo of golden relief wall on temple in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Stone Bridge over River, Yangshuo, China

Tue, 29 Sep 2026

Stone bridge over river (that I was rafting down) in Yangshuo, China.

Hand by John Hunter

Mon, 28 Sep 2026

Art by me when I was in Nigeria (and was 10 years old).

VW Vanlife in Kenya

Mon, 28 Sep 2026

This is a photo (by my father) of my early experience with vanlife. My family took this VW Van in Kenya when I was a kid. We only spent a couple weeks in Kenya before living in Nigeria for a school year.

Backyard Wildlife: Family of Raccoons

Sun, 27 Sep 2026

I took this photo of this mother Raccoon with 3 youngsters in my backyard. Raccoon’s are pretty big; it is somewhat amazing to me they manage to find enough to eat. I have seen individuals around over the years (not very often though) but only saw this family twice.

Promoting Open Science

Sun, 27 Sep 2026

We need to take back science from the closed-science journals. Historically journals were useful (before the internet). With the advent of the internet instead of maintaining the mission they started with (to aid the spread of scientific knowledge) the journals sought to maximize their profit and their own pay and jobs at the expense of sharing scientific knowledge with the world.

The Worst Aspect of TPP That Gets Nearly No Attention

Sat, 26 Sep 2026

Sadly among the worst aspects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP (and also the TTIP) is the promotion of the copyright cartel's agenda along with very bad patent policy. Almost no one with political power is even talking about these huge problems with it.

I support free trade. I don't support the politically motivated trade agreements that impose the USA political donors' wishes on citizens of the USA and other countries.

6 Tips To Help You Achieve A Better Retirement

Sat, 26 Sep 2026

Are You Adding to Your Retirement Savings With Each Paycheck?
Direct some of your paycheck to a 401(k) or IRA and you will soon be above average in preparing for your retirement.
One of my favorite tips to nearly painlessly greatly improve your retirement life is to put some of every raise you get toward retirement savings.

While these six ideas are easy enough to grasp and won’t require any financial wizardry to put into action, the challenge is breaking bad habits and replacing them with good ones. It’s uncomfortable, of course, but if you do, it will be rewarding in the long run. The earlier you get started, the better your retirement options will be.

Making Money as a Nomad in the USA

Fri, 25 Sep 2026

There are many posts about how to make money online as a nomad. Some ideas work pretty well for some people (freelance work – especially as a digital nomad, writer, bookkeeper, etc.). The biggest problem isn’t learning about these options (they are repeated all the time in many different places online) but actually making them work for you.

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I have been paying much more attention lately to nomads in the USA which opens up income possibilities in addition to online income.

How to Lead From Any Level In the Organization

Fri, 25 Sep 2026

From an interview with me:

2. Help people solve their problems.

Similar to helping other people grow their careers is the idea of helping other people to solve their problems. Again, this starts with a clear understanding of your sphere of influence. “It determines what strategies you can pursue, and building your sphere of influence should be part of your decision making process.”

What it comes down to is proving yourself in this way—and doing so consistently. “It isn’t some secret sauce. Prove yourself to be valuable and you will gain influence. Help people solve their problems. They will be inclined to listen to your ideas.”

Applying Toyota Kata to Agile Retrospectives

Fri, 25 Sep 2026

Retrospectives are a good method to help improve but if there is no time to think about the issues raised and come up with experiments to improve and review of whether those experiments worked or not and why failure to improve is the expected result.

Creating a culture where it is expected that any improvement ideas are tested and evaluated is one of the most important changes on the path to a company that will be able to continually improve.

Management Tools for Quality Improvement Succeed When Practicing Respect for People

Thu, 24 Sep 2026

An article, by my father, also addresses this area very well, while explaining how to capture and improve using two resources, largely untapped in American organizations, are potential information and employee creativity. It is only by engaging the minds of everyone that the tools of “technical” quality will result in even a decent fraction of the benefit they potentially can provide if used well.

Break Down Barriers Between Departments

Thu, 24 Sep 2026

Addressing these secondary, tertiary… effects is usually more challenging. We normally can’t directly tackle the issue. Just telling people to work together doesn’t do much good if the management system drives them to different behavior. Such support for “teamwork” is merely a slogan without the necessary management commitment. We need to change the management system and the behavior of those in leadership positions in the organization.

Export anything to a friendly country except American management

Wed, 23 Sep 2026

Part of the reason improvement has been so slow is that while many people seem to like sharing such quotes with their friends and colleagues very few people dig into the context of his quotes in order to learn how to actually improve. Humor is useful is piquing people’s interest. Sadly even if thousands of people appreciate and share such a quote, very few actually think about what they can do in their organization to improve the situation. Some people do, and that is wonderful.

Minimize Total Cost

Wed, 23 Sep 2026

Another common way of explaining this point is to discuss the problems created when organizations have created management systems that encourage decisions based on what is best for parts of the organizations. So when each department is appraised on whether they cut their costs each will seek to do so, no matter how much that increases the costs for other departments. The problems of this are fairly obvious and it isn’t that those choosing to create systems that focus on improving the parts want to accept these consequences.

Statistical Techniques Allow Management to do a Better Job

Tue, 22 Sep 2026

For all four groups of people [management, statistical administration, research, front-line workers], the statistical method is more than an array of techniques. It is a mode of thought-sharpened thinking. It helps anyone in the four groups, be he a machine operator or an executive, to make better decisions, and to do his work better, than he could do otherwise.

--- W. Edwards Deming

Those who continue to thinkW. Edwards Deming was focused on the factory floor alone have missed most of what he proposed. Improving the decision making at the executive level was always Deming’s focus. Continual improvement should be a part of everyone’s job but as executives have more authority the impact of improving their performance multiplies, or stifles, the impact of improvement anywhere else in the organization.

Statistical Techniques Allow Management to do a Better Job

Tue, 22 Sep 2026

Deming thoughts on consumer research are rarely discussed. I think this is because to some extent these ideas have become part of the accepted way of operating. But even in this area the full richness of Deming’s ideas are still missed today

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most importantly gaining intimate insight into customers so that you can predict and innovate was key to Deming’s way of thinking but is often far short in businesses today.

Addressing Systemic Policing Issues in the USA

Tue, 22 Sep 2026

I have long been concerned about problems with our system of law enforcement in the USA. In recent years one good thing is that the problem is getting much more attention (the increasing militarization of police department however is a very bad trend that has gotten much worse over the last 10 years).

I strongly believe the former police chief of Madison, Wisconsin has very good ideas on what should be done. His blog has many useful ideas and he discusses Deming's ideas often. He also wrote a guest post for the W. Edwards Deming Institute blog: Quality Beginnings: Deming and Madison, Wisconsin.

2015 Health Care Price Report – Costs in the USA and Elsewhere

Mon, 21 Sep 2026

The damage to the USA economy due to inflated health care costs is huge. A significant portion of the excessive costs are due to policies the government enacts (which only make sense if you believe the cash given to politicians by those seeking to retain the excessive costs structure in the USA the last few decades buy the votes of the political parties and the individual politicians).

In 2015, Humira (a drug from Abbvie to treat rheumatoid arthritis that is either the highest grossing drug in the world, or close to it) costs $2,669 on average in the USA; $822 in Switzerland; $1,362 in the United Kingdom. This is the cost of a 28 day supply.

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The report also includes the cost of medical procedures. For both the drugs and the procedures they include not only average but measures to show how variable the pricing is. As you would expect (if you pay attention to the massive pricing variation in the USA system) the variation in the cost of medical procedures is wide. For an appendectomy in the USA the 25th percentile of cost was $9,322 and for the 95th was $33,250; the average USA cost was $15,930. The average cost in Switzerland was $6,040 and in the United Kingdom was $8,009.

My Office in Laos

Mon, 21 Sep 2026

View from the porch of my cabin in Luang Prabang, Laos with my laptop in the foreground. This was a wonderful place to work.

Common Sandpiper, Tanjung Piai National Park, Malaysia

Sun, 20 Sep 2026

Common sandpipers on the beach in Tanjung Piai National Park – the Southernmost Point in Continental Asia (near Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Singapore).

US Fish and Wildlife Service Plans to Use Drones to Drop Vaccine Treats to Save Ferrets

Sun, 20 Sep 2026

To date, SPV has been applied by hand with people walking pre-defined transects and uniformly dropping single SPV baits every 9-10 meters to achieve a deposition rate of 50 SPV doses per acre. Depending on vegetation and terrain, a single person walking can treat 3-6 acres per hour. All terrain vehicles (ATVs) have been considered but have various problems.

If the equipment and expertise can be developed as proposed here, a single UAS operator could treat more than 60 acres per hour.

If the equipment can be developed to deposit 3 SPV doses simultaneously every second, as they envision is possible, some 200 acres per hour could be treated by a single operator.

My First Trip To Japan by Peter Scholtes

Sun, 20 Sep 2026

At the Aisin Seiki Company:

Throughout the plant were the charts and graphs we had come to expect in companies pursuing quality. Each work station had formed it storage for tools, warning systems telling when drills should be changed and systems to assure the reorder of parts when the supply was low. Their kanban system applied not only to the component on which they were working, but to the drills, etc. which they used in their work.

I recommend reading Peter’s full report which includes thoughts on visits to: Toyota, Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard, Takeanaka Komuten, Kansai Electric Company and more.

Autonomous Delivery Robots Launched in Europe and USA

Sat, 19 Sep 2026

Robots developed by Starship Technologies are meant for delivering packages, groceries and food to consumers in a 2-3 mile radius. The robots can drive autonomously while being monitored by human operators in control centers. Introduced to European and American cities since the end of last year, the robots have already driven close to 5,000 miles and met over 400,000 people without a single accident.

USA Health Care Crisis: Opioid Abuse

Sat, 19 Sep 2026

Opioid abuse has greatly increased these deaths in the last decade. Chronic pain is a real problem we need to manage. But the current practices are leading to troubling results as are our methods for dealing with drug abuse (including illegal drugs such as heroin). Abusing prescription drugs such as addictive opioids and illegal drugs such as heroin are both leading to an increasing number of deaths in the USA in the last decade.

Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur

Fri, 18 Sep 2026

The Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park is located in the Lake Gardens area which includes the KL Bird Park, National Mosque of Malaysia, Islamic Arts Museum, etc..

Vanlife in the USA

Fri, 18 Sep 2026

The combination of where I want to travel (National Parks, National Forest and nature largely) and the cost effectiveness for van living works out very well. You can often park for free in US National Forest and BLM land. Also the cost of campgrounds is much less than any form of lodges, motels or hotels; so even in the instances you pay for lodging the costs are greatly reduced...

Functional Websites are Normally Far Superior to Apps

Thu, 17 Sep 2026

Just like old school businesses were only comfortable with their old business models and didn’t create functional websites (instead using the web just to advertise that you should go to their store, or giving you forms to complete and fax back to them…) new businesses are often stuck on only using apps even though they often provide a lousy user experience compared to a functional website.

There are some apps that are very useful and not having a functional web app can make sense, but it is fairly limited. Getting a ride apps I can see as only apps. Driving instructions and live maps using GPS to locate you is another great app use...

Unintended Consequences - distorting the system or distorting the data

Thu, 17 Sep 2026

Using data to understand your processes and improve them is very useful.

But using data often results in unintended consequences. If you don’t have a good understanding on the pressures collecting data will bring to bear on the system you can create pressure for results that damage the delivery of value to customers...

Distorting the system or distorting the data are often the result, instead of the process improvement that is desired and expected.

Support Theatre

Wed, 16 Sep 2026

Support theatre provides the appearance of supporting customers when in fact it is just treating customers poorly based on a management system that disrespects customers. It is a similar idea to security theatre that has become so popular for government in the USA for the last 10 years.

Companies that practices support theatre are usually very focused on cutting the company's cost and not "wasting" the companies time fixing the problems they create for customers or even helping customers put on "band-aids" to cope with the injuries the company has inflicted on the customer. Those companies also don't learn from their failures to improve and stop future customers from suffering the consequences of their poor processes.

It is painful to interact with such companies.

Product and Service Innovation is Driven by Customer Focused Organizations

Wed, 16 Sep 2026

At the core of W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy is a focus on delighting customers, allowing everyone to contribute what they have to offer and continually improving.

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An organization must have a deep focus on customers in order to continually improve the value delivered to those customers and to innovate and create new products and services that delight those customers and future customers that the business can win over.

How to Use Data and Avoid Being Mislead by Data

Tue, 15 Sep 2026

One of the four areas of Deming’s management system is “understanding variation.” The core principle underlying that concept is using data to improve while understanding what data is and is not telling you.

The mistakes in interpreting data are very often related to mistaking natural variation in data as meaningful. Combining this with our brains ability to find patterns (even from random data) and confirmation bias this creates problems.

Data can’t lie, but people can be mislead and they can even mislead themselves by misinterpreting data.

How to Use Data and Avoid Being Mislead by Data

Tue, 15 Sep 2026

Systems Thinking: Feedback Loops

Tue, 15 Sep 2026

A reinforcing loop encourages the system to continue in that direction (e.g. a damn starting to leak, as water flows over the damn wall will further erode the wall which leads to more water flowing over causing more erosion).

When the reinforcing loop is undesirable it can be referred to as a viscous cycle...

An example of a positive reinforcing loop is building trust in an organization. As people gain trust (and fear reduces) people are more willing to be trusting and cooperate, that behavior then encourages more of that behavior and so on. A positive reinforcing loop can be called a virtuous cycle.

Bill Scherkenbach Interview with Dr. Deming

Mon, 14 Sep 2026

This video also provides a view of W. Edwards Deming's personality. He repeatedly expresses the importance of changing the management of our organizations to let those doing the work use their brains, which far too often American management represses due to heirarchacal management systems.

Inquiring Minds: Improving Elementary Science by Linda Lippe

Mon, 14 Sep 2026

This presentation also makes it obvious how well Leander ISD intergrates the use of quality tools into their efforts. Quality tools alone are not sufficient but the effective use of quality tools is extremely important to long term success of efforts to improve the system. And most organizations use quality tools far too infrequently.

6 Questions to Ask Your Software Testers

Sun, 13 Sep 2026

Making sure your software testing process is staying current with the best ideas in software testing is an important factor in creating great software solutions that your customers love. Often companies understand the need to stay current on software coding practices that are successful but fewer organizations pay attention to good practices in software testing. This often means there is a good deal to be gained by spending some time to examine and improve your software testing practices.

10 Questions to Ask When Designing Software Tests

Sun, 13 Sep 2026

Too often software testing fails to emphasis the importance of experienced software testers using their brains, insight, experience and knowledge to make judgements about what is the best course of action. Hexawise is a wonderful tool to help software testers but the tool needs a smart and thoughtful person to wield it and produce the results we all want to see.

Hexawise Buys the Beers

Sat, 12 Sep 2026

George Box was an amazing person, scientist and statistician. One of the traditions George started in Madison, Wisconsin was the Monday Night Beer Sessions.

An excerpt of Mac Berthouex’s introduction to An Accidental Statistician: The Life and Memories of George E. P. Box:

I met George Box in 1968 at the long-running hit show that he called “The Monday Night Beer Session,” an informal discussion group that met in the basement of his house. I was taking Bill Hunter’s course in nonlinear model building. Bill suggested that I should go and talk about some research we were doing.

Hexawise has decided to bring this tradition to software testing...

Chart of Global Wind Energy Capacity by Country from 2005 to 2015

Sat, 12 Sep 2026

In 2013 global wind energy capacity increased only 13% while in both 2014 and 2015 it increased 17%. Still 17% is less than any year in the last 10, except 2013.

At the end of 2013 China had 29% of global capacity (after being responsible for adding 62% of all the capacity added in 2013). In 2005 China had 2% of global wind energy capacity. At the end of 2015 China accounted for 34% of global capacity, the only country in the top 8 increasing their share of global capacity. The USA now has 17% of capacity.

Foreign Ownership of USA Stocks Reached 26% in 2015

Fri, 11 Sep 2026

In 1965 foreign ownership of USA stocks totaled about 2%, in 1990 it had risen to 10% and by 2015 to 26%. That the foreign ownership is so high surprised me. Holdings in retirement accounts (defined benefit accounts, IRAs etc.) was under 10% in 1965, rose to over 30% in 1990 and to about 40% in 2015. The holdings in retirement accounts doesn’t really surprise me.

Curious Cat Tax Proposals

Fri, 11 Sep 2026

My plan would have 3 parts. I like a flat tax, I doubt it will ever happen, but if we could get one I would be happy. Cruz proposes that (at 10%). I am fine with his proposal to eliminate all deductions but mortgage interest and charity. I would definitely tweak that some – no more than $50,000 in mortgage interest deduction a year and the same for charity. Basically subsidizing it a bit for the non-rich is fine. Subsidizing these for the rich seems silly so I would cap the deductions in some way.

Increasing the giveaways to trust-fund baby as Cruz and Trump propose is the single worst tax policy change that can be made. I have explained previously how bad an idea this is: The estate tax is the most capitalist tax that exists.

Social Security taxes are nearly equal to other income taxes. They are highly regressive. I would eliminate the current elimination of the tax on high income earners. I would just have the tax due on all earned income (no cap). If that let me reduce the rate, great, if not fine it would just make the fund solvent for longer. I would not increase the benefits due for high earners beyond what it is now.

Stock Buybacks, Giveaways to Executives and Non-GAAP Earnings

Thu, 10 Sep 2026

One of the things executives like about non-GAAP earnings is they pretend the stock they give away to themselves doesn’t have a cost to shareholders. When you call attention to spending over $2 billion in the quarter to buy back 3.2 million shares it seems silly to then claim that the stock you gave away shouldn’t be considered as an expense.

Reporting on the Noise Level of Lodging Options

Thu, 10 Sep 2026

I would love a service that reports on the noise level of hotel rooms, apartments for rent etc.. I am far more sensitive to noise than others. And in my nomadic existence the most annoying thing for me was noisy places.

Reading reviews will provide some level of noise warnings when past travelers complain about noisy conditions. But this is time consuming (reading through lots of reviews to try and see) and not very accurate.

Golden Rules for Making Money

Wed, 9 Sep 2026

P. T. Barnum wrote the Golden Rules for Making Money in 1880. He provides a few paragraphs on each of the 20 golden rules:

1. Don’t mistake your vocation
2. Select the right location
3. Avoid debt

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"Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly."

Cliff Norman and Ron Moen Discuss the History of the PDSA Cycle

Wed, 9 Sep 2026

Ron emphasized the importance of the iterative nature of learning supported by the PDSA cycle. The importance of iterating the PDSA cycle multiple times is something that I find most organizations would benefit a great deal from. Another API consultant spoke on this importance at the 2006 Deming conference.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Wed, 9 Sep 2026

If your preference is to increase your odds of having a successful digital nomad experience then I suggest taking longer. Do 3 things:

1) Get experience earning money in a location independent way (you can do that where you live more easily than anywhere else).

2) Save up some money...

Health Insurance Considerations for Digital Nomads

Tue, 8 Sep 2026

Health insurance is something that many young healthy people don’t think about. And many digital nomads are young healthy people, though not all of them are. And if you are from most rich countries you may not think about health insurance as your country makes it pretty easy to just be treated if you have health care needs, without a need to have bought health insurance.

But when you are traveling outside your country health insurance is important...

Software Testing and the Impact on Quality

Tue, 8 Sep 2026

The aim for software testing is not just to fix the bugs software testers catch but to function as part of a system to figure out the reasons those bugs were created and improve processes so fewer bugs are created in the future.