From Lean Startup to
Intrapreneurial Testing
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
Email: <maaret@iki.fi> | Twitter:
maaretp
Testers See the World
Differently
Testers start at the end, and work through the product
from quality in delivery. Empirical evidence over theory.
Builders start at the beginning, and work through the
product for quality in delivery. Theory to handle versatile
cases.
We are never just something.
Be aware of your use of time.
Opportunity cost - what you don’t do
since you are doing this?
From Idea to Implementation
Customer (business
owner)
End User
Implementing
Product /
Solution
OPPORTUNITY SPACE
IMPLEMENTATION SPACE
Details
Pipe: One thing at a time,
focus
Funnel: Going through
the options and
making a selection
4
Ideas
Traversing Back in Lifecycle
Time
…in my
life
Testing
features in
systems
Requirements
Reviews
AGILE
Testing
Contracts
Testing
changes in
systems
Co-creating
Specifications
Testing
Business
Models
Testing
Product
Backlogs
Testing Business Models
Time
…in my
life
Testing
features in
systems
Requirements
Reviews
AGILE
Testing
Contracts
Testing
changes in
systems
Co-creating
Specifications
Testing
Business
Models
Testing
Product
Backlogs
Testing Product Backlogs
Time
…in my
life
Testing
features in
systems
Requirements
Reviews
AGILE
Testing
Contracts
Testing
changes in
systems
Co-creating
Specifications
Testing
Business
Models
Testing
Product
Backlogs
Testing changes in systems
Time
…in my
life
Testing
features in
systems
Requirements
Reviews
AGILE
Testing
Contracts
Testing
changes in
systems
Co-creating
Specifications
Testing
Business
Models
Testing
Product
Backlogs
Certainty
“I know what I know”
Exploit
Caution
“I know what I don’t
know”
Explore
Amnesia
“I don’t know what I
know”
Expose
Ignorance
“I don’t know what I
don’t know”
Experiment
Looking at World from Different
Angles
UnitTesting
ExploratoryTesting
Builder
view
Tester
view
What Testing Gives Us
UnitTesting
ExploratoryTesting
SPEC
FEEDBACK
REGRESSION
GRANULARITY
GUIDANCE
UNDERSTANDING
MODELS
SERENDIPITY
Testing as
artifact
creation
Testing as
performanc
e
Experiments are tests to learn about your assumptions. In this talk, we look into lessons of a tester helping with relevant experiments in intrapreneurial setting: a startup environment within an established company.
We learn from discussions that take place allowing a thinking tester as far left as possible, before implementation: testing the user experience for features we need, testing the need of features to identify if what is asked for is worth building, and testing the elements of the business model to steer towards customer satisfaction and financial success.
This talk provides thinking tools and ideas for a tester to contribute in the opportunity space, before entering the implementation pipeline. Unleash the entrepreneurial talent of testers to boost innovation!
Empirical evidence vs. speculation
Testing feeding development before development again feeding testing
Story: implementing the basic equipment list – no one outside wants it. Implementing the equipment acceptance process – no one wants it even internally and now implementing concept.
Unhelpful attitudes in development team is to stop this or say you needed to know in advance.
Example: if we knew this when we implemented… But we did not. And while we focused on doing what we did, we got that out and it brings value already.
hindsight and forward thinking attitude, let yourself learn when the software speaks to you, don’t punish yourself for not being perfect yesterday, treat every day as a learning opportunity (games, save point and do-over)
Agile is about lowering the cost of change that is inevitable anyway.
SOMETIMES YOUR BUSINESS DOES NOT KNOW IT.
Example: if we knew this when we implemented… But we did not. And while we focused on doing what we did, we got that out and it brings value already.
hindsight and forward thinking attitude, let yourself learn when the software speaks to you, don’t punish yourself for not being perfect yesterday, treat every day as a learning opportunity (games, save point and do-over)
Agile is about lowering the cost of change that is inevitable anyway.
Gojko’s SBE workshop: ”It’s about domain modeling – making business terms match the technical implementation”
Unit testing focuses on what we know should exist.
“there’s a process of knowing” – learning
Does not give as regression; serendipity (safety against things happening randomly) / unwanted serendipity events.
This is what it is and what it could be. There’s a direction to it, not just statement of what it is.
Coaching is not just feedback, it’s pointing them to the right way.
Safety.
EXPERIENCE (the verb) rather than facts ; emotions over facts. REACTIONS.
HISTORY, Lessons learned, checklists. Modeling.
UNDERSTANDING – where you start (knowing the thing (code & environment), knowing the user, knowing the problems, knowing the developers (how to help them and what they do so that you can efficiently test), knowing the hackers (weird use cases outside common ‘have you tried reading it upside down’) , knowing all stakeholders, knowing the business priorities)
Uncovering things I cannot know, giving the application a change to reveal information for me.
This allows you to know things.