The Second Pass
A field guide to guerrilla QA
Version 2026 edition · Updated 5 Aug 2026
Your tests passed. A customer still found the bug.
Some escaped defects are not caused by weak formal testing. They survive because the people closest to the product become fluent in its assumptions.
The Second Pass adds one fresh person, thirty focused minutes and five unscripted moves after formal QA and before release.
The method was born in production work at Cisco and is designed to complement a strong QA process, not replace it.
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Coverage catches expected failures.
Fresh eyes catch assumptions the team stopped seeing.
The framework
The fresh-eyes pass
- Reset
- Roam
- Stress
- Record
- Decide
A deliberately small quality layer aimed at human assumptions rather than another scripted test suite.
Product proof
What you can inspect before buying.
Each book page shows the method, the scope, and the kind of transformation the material is designed to create. Real reader testimonials are only shown when genuine quotes are available.
Preview format
Review the method and answer structure directly on this page.
Scope map
The page maps the topics and levels covered by the book.
Answer-card preview
The fresh-eyes pass
Reset
Roam
Stress
Record
Decide
The roadmap
Where this fits
- 01Get Found
- 02Build
- 03Interview
- 04Answer Practice
- 05ArchitectureYou are here
- 06Staff Systems
- 07Build With AI
- 08Lead
- 09Architect
Reader reviews
What readers say
“Very detailed explained, thank you!”
Reviews shared from published reader feedback for the corresponding books.
Who this is for
- Engineering Manager
- QA Lead
- Head of Product
- Hands-on tester
Not for
- Have no first QA layer
- Want to replace formal testing
- Need another automation framework
About me
Mike Salari
Staff Mobile Engineer · Mobile Architect · Technical Author
I wrote this from a lightweight practice I watched work at Cisco on top of an already strong QA system. The value came from fresh eyes, not more ceremony.
- 15+ years
- Building production mobile software
- Production scale
- High-trust consumer and enterprise mobile systems
- Mentor
- Engineers helped through interviews, growth and senior-level decisions
- Ex-Cisco & Mastercard
- Plus experience across Apple, Adobe and Visa
Published author of The iOS Interview Blueprint.
Read the full storyRun one second pass before the next risky release.
Give a fresh pair of eyes thirty minutes to find what familiarity made invisible.
Instant PDF and EPUB download. Secure checkout via Gumroad. Lifetime updates.
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