The 4-hour Tester Experiment
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The document describes an experiment called the "4-hour Tester Experiment" which aimed to teach testing skills to beginners in a short time period. The experiment involved selecting key testing skills and developing brief exercises to teach each skill in 30 minutes or less. Four beginners participated in five exercises over 50 minutes total. Feedback indicated the exercises were challenging yet achievable in the time given and helped illuminate the targeted skills. However, the experiment confirmed that one cannot become a full tester in only four hours and highlighted the need for continuous learning.
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The 4-hour Tester Experiment
- 1. The 4-hour Tester Experiment (The Art of Bricolage) Helena Jeret-Mäe & Joep Schuurkes
- 2. Helena Jeret-Mäe @HelenaJ_M thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com Joep Schuurkes @j19sch testingcurve.wordpress.com NO TESTERS WERE HARMED DURING THIS EXPERIMENT.
- 3. Why the 4-hour tester?
- 4. D S S S
- 6. Criteria skill is central to testing Criterion
- 7. So where does this get us? artist: s l scott
- 8. But how to start? Shu - follow the rule (obedience) Ha - break the rule (divergence) Ri - be the rule (transcendence)
- 9. Skills - the survivors Interpreting Modelling Test design Note taking Bug reporting
- 10. Skills - the dropped ones Test reporting Focus/defocus Exploring Generating test ideas Thinking skills (critical, lateral, systems) Visualisation
- 11. Why test reporting did not make it test reporting requires test framing requires test mission
- 12. Why focus/defocus did not make it
- 14. Considerations... What does a useful exercise look like? How to help the learner make sense of the experience? How to make the exercise fit into 30 minutes?
- 15. Structure Brief: what the exercise focuses on Instructions: what to do Evaluation: how to reflect on the exercise
- 16. What to use for testing? Familiar concept Quickly learnable Sufficiently complex
- 17. Summary of modelling exercise Explanation: what are touring heuristics; examples Instructions: do user, data, and configuration tour in Google calendar Evaluation: think of how the tours help to come up with test ideas
- 19. We asked some people what they would do Thank you all! Keith Klain Kishen Simbhoedatpanday Huib Schoots James Lyndsay Ben Kelly Rikard Edgren Erik Brickarp Aleksandra Casapu
- 20. We asked some people what they would do What I’d like to ask of you is this: if you had 4 hours to teach someone testing, what would you teach them in that timeframe? The outcome would be that this person is then able to to do testing using what was taught by you.
- 21. Let's go meta I’d want to teach them to think like a tester (understand what is important, then test it.) the growing discovery of what is in the system-under-test, and what is not help them understand what it is that testers do [...], the actual combination of skills we practice is not the most relevant. Any testing task should probably do.
- 22. There's homework! a list of blogs, books and open-source projects to help them understand enough about testing to be able to further educate themselves give them Perfect Software by Weinberg as homework It’s important [...] to be open to continuous learning.
- 23. Let's sit together I’m also going to frame this as one-to-one coaching.Sit together and [...] I would sit next to them coaching them If I had 4 hours to spend with someone who wanted to learn more about testing, [...]
- 24. Euh… but it's a written, long-distance thing Rikard Edgren I believe feedback is essential to learning. If you are aiming at a totally independent 4-hour program, I think it will be very difficult (it will work only for some.) Interesting project you are doing, and I look forward to see the results.
- 25. Results
- 26. Yes, the experiment showed that small exercises could help learn and illuminate testing skills to some degree. No, you can’t become a tester in 4 hours...
- 27. 4 beginners 5 exercises 50 minutes
- 28. 3.2 Exercise was challenging 3.9 Exercise went in depth 4.4 Exercise fits in time limit
- 29. 3.8 Exercise was easy to evaluate 3.3 Likelihood of repeating 4.4 Skill clearly present in exercise
- 30. What did they learn about note taking? Labeling is something I should think about using in my everyday note taking. The next time I will write down all steps that were taken and clicks made on something, and if something worked or didn’t work. Also I’ll add comments about UI or about something else that is worth taking note of. I learned that taking notes is more important than I thought before, especially to retrace my own steps.
- 31. What did they learn about modelling? From this exercise I learned to look at testing the product in general and see the big picture. Learned to explore the software from different points of view, to see different elements in software, to structure my test. I learned that touring methods are easy to use to focus on different parts of the application.
- 32. What we learned
- 33. Both more and less is possible
- 34. What's next?
- 36. Call to arms
- 37. Thank you! Helena Jeret-Mäe @HelenaJ_M Joep Schuurkes @j19sch
Editor's Notes
- image source: http://www.douglaserice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140204-165104.jpg
- Time: 4
- Planets: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R_fTYHVWAzI/Su9jnI5zb3I/AAAAAAAAAsE/Ui-zW3dAe4Y/s940/100bodies.jpg Deconstructed camera https://iedei.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/deconstructed-camera.jpg Trophy https://library.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/news-events/Eckles%20Prize%2014%20trophy%20image_web.jpg
- time: 11 minutes
- When you see a person deseed a pomegranate this way, you do not say: Wow! Who taught you this? Are there workshops where they teach you this? How many hours of practice did this take you? You say: Wow! That's clever! image source: http://www.superhealthykids.com/fastest-juicest-method-to-de-seed-a-pomegranate/ removed: fits into a 30-minute exercise (do mention)
- show the landmarks allows for later practice allows for recognizing the skill being used image: landmarks of Manchester source: http://slscott.co.uk/shop/4588064759/manchester-landmarks-1/9875460 (dropped analogy of survival kit/knife)
- Bloom’s Taxonomy model Knowledge: whatever you brought when you decided to do these exercises Skill: we will show you Attitude: whatever you brought when you decided to do these exercises Shu - Ha - Ri Crucial to ri: you are the rule, because you fully internalized the principles beneath the rules 4-hour tester is about shu. Requires trust from participant. image source: http://aikiorlando.com/sites/default/files/field/image/articles/shuhari.jpg
- Might add later: oracles
- test reporting requires test framing requires test mission How do you define the mission of something you're new to? How can you know how the pieces of testing fit together in a report, if you don't/barely know the pieces? what we do have level 1: bug reporting, i.e. reporting interesting findings level 2: note taking, i.e. limited way of reporting about what/how you tested and with which results would be level 3: test reporting image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2603204/No-bridge-far-Army-ants-stranded-tree-build-bridge-climbing-other.html
- creating an exercise is too difficult: deliver experience through written instructions exercise should not feel like a cheap trick, a trap stopping heuristic: too much effort, too little result another reason: skill builds on other skills first build the skills to focus or defocus on image source: http://rebelsscreens.tumblr.com/post/108373221539/its-a-trap-blu-ray-screenshot Admiral Ackbar
- Time: 5
- ADD ARROW Organically arrived at this structure We didn’t experiment extensively with the structure Evaluation = significant; focused, short questions; support making sense of the experience.
- time: 3.5 minutes
- reasons: to validate our ideas: are we on the right track? are we missing something? to get input from people with experience in teaching testing
- https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0243/7593/collections/Category_beginner_large.jpg?v=1403233458 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/48/af/10/48af108a43d588f2e87aad9e94e3cfa7.jpg http://photo.foter.com/photos/pi/245/skmei-r-12-inch-vintage-france-paris-colourful-french-country-tuscan-style-non-ticking-silent-wood-wall-clock-034.jpg
- http://nistmep.blogs.govdelivery.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Challenging-Times.jpg http://67.media.tumblr.com/913d60d7a23ae914ced688c575635e2b/tumblr_mivno6O9hr1rjcapzo1_1280.jpg http://www.cultertheatreclub.co.uk/assets/content/documents/batb/hour_glass_200.jpg
- http://nistmep.blogs.govdelivery.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Challenging-Times.jpg http://67.media.tumblr.com/913d60d7a23ae914ced688c575635e2b/tumblr_mivno6O9hr1rjcapzo1_1280.jpg http://i2.wp.com/www.kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tick-box.png http://www.gridgit.com/postpic/2015/05/magnifying-glass-vector_1324947.jpeg groundhog day: http://realitysandwich.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/groundhog.jpg
- time: 1 minute
- image source: https://corriegus.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/semenov_traditional_nesting_doll_1.jpg Less and more is possible less: scratching the surface more: there's value in sharing landmarks in the testing landscape -> Skills are like matryoshka doll: layers upon layers. (or like fractals) -> testing skill snacks, quick and helpful
- time: 1.5 minutes
- => present site [J] => call to arms [H] -> next slide Reasons for site: publish what we have now invite people to contribute solutions -> feedback invite people to contribute exercises invite people to use them to learn invite people to use them to teach
- => Encourage people to share experiments around teaching lessons learned when teaching because more options needed http://static.wixstatic.com/media/873492_6504d39622864c0293b40c9d4633cfd7.png_srz_436_436_85_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_png_srz reference to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kitchener_Wants_You