The document discusses the importance of framing and analysis skills in testing and software development, addressing how different perspectives can lead to various interpretations of problems. It explores exercises related to root cause analysis, bug reporting, and risk assessment to improve understanding of quality and testing issues. Additionally, it emphasizes the gathering of information and reaching consensus among teams to enhance decision-making processes.

1. Lifelong Analysis
Skills
for Explorers and Process Junkies alike!
Simon Morley
@YorkyAbroad
Thursday, May 23, 13

2. Why did we not find that fault?
Why is testing late?
How do we find the most important
features to test first?
What should we test?
Who should test this?
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3. FICL - My little
helper
F - Framing
I - Information
C - Consensus
L - Lessons
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4. What’s framing?
Frames draw our attention to certain aspects
leaving other parts out-of-view / attention
Frame:
A mental model that guides our understanding of a
complex world by viewing it from a certain (limited)
perspective.
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5. Frame exercise
Talk to your neighbour and discuss what
would be good quality in this product:
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6. Thursday, May 23, 13

7. Good quality?
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8. Transactional
Relational
Focus
Emotion
Fear of
failure
Filter
Distort
Time Cost Quality
Risk
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9. The exercises will explore different aspects
connected to framing
Use your testing brains (whether test lead,
tester, manager, developer, other...)
This /might/ mean you don’t have all
information
But also, be careful not to chase details
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10. Root Cause Analysis (Explore Framing)
Bug reporting (Framing and Information
gathering)
Prio analysis (Framing, Info gathering &
Concensus)
Risk analysis (Framing, Info gathering &
Concensus)
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11. Exploring Framing
Problem:
A customer receives a product and some
feature isn't working.
The customer considers the non-working parts
to be "basic".
So a root cause analysis is requested from the
customer.
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12. Thursday, May 23, 13

13. Exploring Framing #2
Split into 3 groups:
Development Team, Project Team,
Product Mgmt Team. Each team consider:
What might've gone wrong?
Potential reasons for problem?
Potential hypotheses/areas to
investigate?
Make notes!
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14. Dev Team Proj Team
Dev Team
Dev Team
Dev Team
Product Mgmt
Proj Team
Customer
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15. A customer receives a feature and some part of the
feature isn't working.
The customer considers the non-working parts to be
"basic".
A root cause analysis is requested from the customer.
What might've gone wrong?
Potential reasons for problem?
Potential hypotheses/areas to investigate?
Task Summary
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16. De-brief / reflect
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17. Bug Reporting &
Advocacy
(Whole Group)
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18. Bug Reporting #1
You sit in an integration team.
A bug/problem is found in testing - it
appears to be blocking testing of a feature.
So….
What to report, how and in what
detail?
Any different perspectives?
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19. Thursday, May 23, 13

20. Bug Reporting #2
Consider that the problem might block a
customer doing some acceptance testing
How would the perspectives and
content change?
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21. De-brief / Reflect
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22. How did the problem change when looked
at from the team vs the customer angle?
(Framing)
Did the type of problem affect the frame?
Good Information in a bug report (Info
gathering)
What was missing?
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23. Risk Assessment
&
Test Priority
(Teams)
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24. Risk Assessment
2 Teams: Development & Project
Task:A new release will contain 1 new and 2
modified features.The new feature is a launch-
blocker for a customer and the timescale appears
“tight”.
What aspects should each team think about?
Make a risk list with guesstimates of risk
assessment.
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25. New
Mod
Mod
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26. Test priority
assessment
2 groups:Tester(s) & Rest of development team.
As a tester you’ve thought of a new approach to
troubleshoot a problem you’ve been stuck with
(to help the project)
E.g.There’s some new logging you can use
A developer on the team has got a potential fix
for a problem that was blocking some testing.
Which aspects to think about in determining
priority of the tasks? What perspectives and what
information is needed?
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27. Thursday, May 23, 13

28. De-brief / Reflect
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29. Question re-visit
Why is testing late?
Why did you not find that fault?
You tested for THAT, didn’t you?
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30. FICL
F- Framing
I- Information Gathering
C- Coming to concensus
L- Lessons/Learning
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31. References /
Further Reading
Decision Traps:The Ten Barriers to Decision-Making and How to
Overcome Them (1990; Russo, Schoemaker)
Winning Decisions: Getting It Right the First (2002; Russo, Schoemaker)
Quality Software Management,Vol. 3: Congruent Action (1994;Weinberg)
Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects (2003; DeMarco,
Lister)
Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (1999; Heuer)
Understanding and Managing Risk Attitude (2007; Hilson, Murray-Webster)
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