Ability to think deeper is one of the most valuable skills that every tester needs, and yet it is rarely taught in universities and even in workplaces. In today’s world, problems are becoming more complex with the addition of new technologies, tools and approaches. To deal with these challenges and remain competitive we should start to think about thinking and build a framework that helps us to face any testing challenges thoughtfully and require a new toolset or framework for thinking. At its core, it must be a framework that helps with problem-solving & provides a structure for our solutioning process. For this, learning and understanding how to spot gaps in our thinking process play a significant role. As explained by Daniel Kahneman in the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, our brains have two thinking systems, ‘System 1’ which is faster and intuitive and the slower and contemplative ‘System 2’. The interaction of the two systems often helps us to get things right or fail at times. Understanding the way we use these systems to think helps us in better decision making and problem-solving. Connecting all the dots around thinking, I have figured out some hidden logics that we still need to explore and analyse. This talk will get you thinking about how you naturally think and unleash its full potential to be a skilled tester by leveraging those hidden logics & approaches. Key takeaways: Explains the importance/role of different thinking types in testers Improve your ability to think, analyse and interpret using those thinking types Guides how to generate a unique art of thinking(Incorporate thinking with metacognitive skills) for testers Learn to spot “gaps” in the thinking process Role of design thinking & Empathic thinking in the craft of testing

1. Thehiddenlogicof
thinkingfortesters
Nithin SS

2. HELLO!
● A passionate tester, community builder, speaker & blogger.
● Born and brought up in “Gods own country (Kerala, India)”.
● Engineering Manager, QA at Fave Malaysia.
● Founder - Synapse QA.
● Mentor at The Mentoring Club.
● Advisory board member, AskUI.
nithin-ss Nithin_Synapse

3. “We can be blind to the obvious,
and we are also blind to our blindness”
DanielKahneman
—Thinking,Fast andSlow
TestingUnited2022
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4. WHOA!
Thinking is uncomfortable; it takes effort!
We prefer immediate solutions, so we try to avoid it whenever possible.
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5. Howourbrainworks?
1
2
System 1:
Fast, Incredibly quick, intuitive, works
automatically, fills the gap, feeling based
system.
System 2:
Slow, Lazy, reasoning based system, conscious
thought, voice in our head, capable of following
instructions, able to execute series of steps,
makes choices, and decides what to think
about and what to do.
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Although System 2 believes it’s the hero of our lives, the automatic
System 1 is more in control of our decisions than we realize.

6. System1:Flash
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7. System2:Garfield
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8. “System 1”(Flash) thinking is
intuitive thinking.
“System 2” (Garfield) thinking is
rational thinking.
“Flash effortlessly originat(es) impressions and feelings that are the
main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of Garfield…
Flash is the secret author of many of the choices and judgments you
make.”
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9. Heuristics
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10. 1. Affect Heuristic – we intuitively think that if the decision feels good, it’s the right decision (basing decisions on
emotional reaction rather than a calculation of risks and benefits).
2. Anchoring Heuristic – we intuitively think that recently acquired information is relevant when making a decision – even
when it is not.
3. Availability Heuristic – we intuitively think the things we remember are more likely to happen again and that they are
more important (attributed importance is based on the ease they are retrieved from memory, and this is largely
determined by the extent of coverage in the media).
4. Representativeness Heuristic – we intuitively think that different events that seem similar to us have a similar
likelihood of occurrence – when often they don’t.
5. Commitment Heuristic – we intuitively think that if we’ve already invested in a decision, we should continue to do so
(AKA “endowment effect” – people justify increased investment in a decision based on the cumulative prior investment,
despite new evidence suggesting that the cost, starting today, of continuing the decision outweighs the expected
benefit).
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11. Biases
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12. ● Belief Bias – our thinking is biased by how believable we personally find a conclusion.
● Confirmation Bias – our thinking is biased towards interpreting information in a way that confirms preconceptions.
● Optimism Bias – our thinking is biased towards being over-optimistic, overestimating favorable and pleasing
outcomes.
● Hindsight Bias – our thinking is biased by the illusion that past events were as predictable at the time they
happened as they are now.
● Framing Effect – our thinking is biased by how information is presented (90% readiness better than 10%
readiness).
● Loss Aversion – our thinking is biased by an aversion to loss – eliminating the risk of losing is preferable to
increasing the risk of winning (prospect theory).
● Narrative Fallacy – our thinking is biased by the assumption that good stories are true stories.
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13. ● Regression Fallacy – our thinking is biased by not taking into account the chance component of events.
● Planning Fallacy – our thinking tends to overestimate benefits and underestimate costs, making us more likely to
engage in risky behaviour.
● Halo Effect – our thinking is biased by existing judgements about a person – if we judge them positively in one
respect, we’re likely to assume they’ll be positive in another.
● The Law of Small Numbers – our thinking is biased by generalising from the particular – we make the assumption
that a small sample is representative of a much larger population.
● W-Y-S-I-A-T-I – our thinking is biased by the assumption that – What You See Is All There Is – so we ignore what
we don’t know.
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14. Nithin_Synapse
fallacyofthinking
What thinking seems like What thinking actually is

15. “The quality of everything we do depends on the quality
of the thinking we do first.”
—NancyKline
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16. Nithin_Synapse

17. ThePauseStrategy
Pause the
Reflex.
#STEP1
Pause to
Reflect.
#STEP2
Pause to Think.
#STEP 3
Pause before
Concluding.
#STEP4
Pause to
Develop &
Ideate.
#STEP5
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18. # budget
Focus WhatIF? Question
Adjust your focus to
generate new ideas.
Challenge the assumptions
& status quo.
Question to reveal
underlying assumptions
& and separate
knowledge from
ignorance.
#FWQThinking
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19. but,why
shouldi
question?
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20. ● Clarifying your thinking and explaining the origins of your ideas (Why do I think this? What exactly do I think?).
● Challenging assumptions (How do I know this is true? What if I thought the opposite?).
● Looking for evidence (How can I back this up? What are the sources?).
● Considering alternative perspectives (What might others think? How do I know I am correct?).
● Examining consequences and implications (What if I am wrong? What are the consequences if I am?).
● Questioning the original questions (Why did I think that? Was I correct? What conclusions can I draw from the
reasoning process?).
● Curious like a kid and ask more “why’s”(Why are we doing this?, Why we can’t do this the other way?, Why it is
difficult to do so?).
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21. okay,but
howshould
iquestion,
then?
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22. ● What are the possible outcomes of doing this?
● How consistent is the information?
● What assumptions have been made here?
● How accurate is the data or information?
● What is the meaning of this?
● What are the main/key points or use cases?
● What other points of view could be expressed?
● What evidence is there to support?
● What examples are there to back-up?
● What are the past references we have when we bulit something
similar?
● Try to think of a familiar solution having the same or a similar
unknown.
● What are the best, worst, and most probable cases you can
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● Why is it necessary to solve/implement?
● What benefits will you receive by solving/implementing
it?
● What is the unknown?
● What is it you don’t yet understand?
● Is the information sufficient, insufficient, redundant, or
contradictory?
● Where are the boundaries of what we are going to
solve/implement?
● Can you separate the various parts of the solution? What
are the relationships between them? What are the
constants?
● Have you seen this solution before?
● Have you seen this solution in a slightly different form? Do
you know a related solution?
Use these set of questions to aid your thinking when you start to work on a project to practice and to think better.

23. Iquestioned
a lot,but
what’snext?
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24. Nithin_Synapse

25. designthinking
mindsetinTesting
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26. TheIterative,Flexible(andMessy)
DesignThinkingProcess
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*Image courtesy:
Teo Yu Siang and
Interaction Design Foundation.

27. endgoal
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Design Thinking is a human-centered process that may not have a fixed sequence of steps, but will certainly
have an ideal end point. The end goal is to build a solution that satisfies the tests of desirability, feasibility,
and viability.
*Image courtesy:
Teo Yu Siang and
Interaction Design Foundation.

28. Let’sdo an
exercise
Start thinking about the
problems here & let’s come up
with possible solutions based
on your thinking!
*Inspired from a LinkedIn post by Bhavana Angadi on design thinking. Nithin_Synapse

29. Metacognition&
Testing
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30. Metacognition, simply is “thinking about thinking” or “knowing about knowing.”
It is your own awareness that helps you to determine the best strategies for learning and problem-solving, as
well as when to apply them.
WhatisMetacognition?
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31. Metacognitive knowledge: What you know about the product under test and testing craft.
● Declarative knowledge: the knowledge you have about the product and testing as a learner and
about what factors can influence your performance.
● Procedural knowledge: what you know about product and testing approaches in general, such as
testing strategies you learned about or that you have applied in the past. Finally,
● Conditional knowledge: knowing when and why you should use declarative and procedural
knowledge, allocating your mental resources in a smart way to learn better.
Metacognitive regulation: The activities and strategies you use to control/formulate your testing approaches.
Metacognitive experiences: The thoughts and feelings you have while exploring and learning the product.
Therecipeformetacognitivetesting
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32. Planning: Before you start testing something new, think about the appropriate testing strategies you will use,
as well as how you will allocate your time and energy. This phase is based on your metacognitive knowledge
of yourself, your experience, testing strategies, and when to use them to maximise your performance.
Monitoring: While testing, stay aware of your progress. Are you struggling with certain aspects in particular?
Are there other sections that seem to be a breeze to go through? Instead of passively experiencing your
thoughts and feelings, always question everything.
Evaluating: When you’re done with a chunk, consider how well you performed and re-evaluate the strategies
you used. Make any necessary changes before starting to work on the next part of your project.
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33. Powerofmetacognition
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34. If you want to learn & be better, prepare yourself to be
uncomfortable, thinking takes effort where you have to
fight confusions & biases and for us, that is not a
pleasant experience always!!
closing
words
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35. “Many hidden things unfold when you change the way you think.
You can think a lot more than you think, just keep trying!”
—nithin
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36. Do you have any questions? I would be
happy to connect:
THANKS!
nithin-ss Nithin_Synapse nithinss.com / synapse-qa.com
hello@nithinss.com
TestingUnited2022

37. QUESTIONS?