The importance of (b)logging

I must confess, I haven't read a book for a while.

I have a reading list as long as my arm in many subjects, but I'm currently struggling to pick one and get started. I came back from #testbash 2015 with so much energy and inspiration...and another load of books to add to my list! So while I was going through my notes, it just made me feel very anxious and overwhelmed about the thought of reading those too and staying up to date. I'm not supposed to be feeling this way. What happened to the motivated me?

Don't get me wrong, I have read lots of books in the past. There are 2 books that I keep re-reading though - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Secrets of a Bucaneer-Scholar by James Marcus Bach. They are my safe, inspiring books that don't take long to read. I'm familiar with them, and they just give me that little kick I need every so often when I'm feeling low.

Here is that process I have gone through to:

1. Conclude that I need to start writing things down more, and use my blog as a good platform
2. Show how this relates to the importance of good test documentation. 

So what is stopping me picking up a new book? I've been mulling over this thought for the last couple of weeks, and decided to make it a testing issue. Stop, think and evaluate why.

I'm not ready
Good, that made me feel a lot better. Its not always an easy thing to admit, but if I were ready, I would be doing it, right? 
ACTION: Apply an 'I'm not ready' heuristic when blocked

You wouldn't start testing if you were not ready, would you?

Planning
So why am I not ready? This is because I have taken in too much information, and have done nothing with it. I am a great believer in applied knowledge and have such a wide range of interests. I enjoy finding the links between them and how they relate to testing. I currently have so many ideas swirling about in my head and think I'm worried that I am going to forget what I've learnt before.
ACTION: I need a study plan / mind map

Imagine if you were planning your tests for the next story, but you didn't organise them in any way. Or better still didn't write them down! You know full well that you wouldn't be able to execute them very efficiently or remember them all. So you write high level sessions, and order them in a logical way so you have a good flow of tests without needing to go back and forth.

Priorities
How do I decide what to read next? Which book will benefit me the most? Its one of the downfalls of being process driven rather than goal driven I guess. The trouble is that I have interests in many areas that seem just as important as each other.
ACTION: I need to MSCW my books.

So applying this analogy to testing, prioritising our tests in a risk-based way means that we can concentrate on the highest impact / highest risk tests first to increase our chances of finding and feeding back the juicy bugs. The last thing you want to do is get bogged down with the trivial tests and then find that your time (or life in my case) is slipping away.

Review
Which direction I should be heading? Should I be reading books on Testing, Psychology, Management, Programming etc? I've always tried to work this out myself, which is another reason for hesitance. I'm confused as to what I should be doing next. Twitter has given me this wonderful forum where I'm free to ask questions to the people that inspire me. You are all my mentors.
ACTION: Use the Test Community for advice

So when you have written your Session plan, its always a great idea for it to be peer reviewed by your team members. Developers, Testers and BAs should be able to give good feedback to firstly confirm that you are not missing anything vital, secondly to discuss any tools that could help...I could go on and on with the benefits of reviewing session plans before execution, it perhaps needs a blog post for itself!

Pressure
I'm a sucker for this. I'm always beating myself up about deadlines. I look at the amount of books on my reading list and think that I should be further ahead, or that I should have finished x of them by now. In Buccaneer-Scholar, James says "Keep your aspirations high, and your expectations low" which suddenly becomes very relevant.
ACTION: I need to be realistic about what I can achieve.

Testers should be relaxed but in the 'zone' to be able to get the best out of us. Rushing your testing to meet a deadline is one of the worst things you can do as a tester, as you will become sloppy and cut corners. Whether it relates to story points or estimates, think worst case scenario and add contingency. Be realistic about how long / how complex the testing is, rather than say something that sounds right, or what others want to hear. During testing, don't wait until the end of the day or the scrum to say if testing is going badly. It could be too late by then and just increases risk. Ease the pressure on yourself so you can do a good job.

Distractions
This is the hardest part that I need to work on. How do I make sure I concentrate enough on one thing at a time, as I know through experience that multi-tasking is bad. I'm learning to avoid distractions at work. Turning email offline, booking a meeting room to finish that report, using headphones to avoid office noise. I also use a timer called Tomighty to time box my work for when I need to concentrate, and when I need to take a break.
ACTION: Get myself in the zone (with a pen and timer) and turn off tech.

But we have learnt that distractions are good when we are testing, yes? The ability to go off on a tangent and explore some other interesting path to look for lurking bugs? Its not as simple as that. It takes discipline. The ability to know when to switch focus or when to continue down the path needs a mixture of intuition, prioritisation and timing. So if you get distracted, take a step back, wonder why, and use your gut feeling to decide what to do next.

(B)logging
This penny has just dropped while I'm typing. If I'm looking for metaphors, those two books I keep re-reading must be a sign. They are both about searching, learning and passion, which is very apt for the way I'm feeling at the moment. So if I write things down it will sprout new ideas, especially when writing about my feelings. It will also help me to analyse my thoughts and have closure, so I can move on.
ACTION: I need to document my feelings and ideas, using blogs and book reviews.

Logging your findings and feelings and evidence during test execution is vital because it will help you to focus your testing more creatively. It will sprout new test ideas as you are going through the learn, design, execute and analysis cycle.

So what do I do next?
My blogs are intended to be my therapy. I'm hoping that once I have got my initial thoughts down (I currently have 6 draft blog titles that I have lined up!), I will be able to think with more clarity. This means I should have the capacity to pick up another book, and get back on the path of learning and developing my skills - but also learning more about myself, which is just as important.

I have another confession to make now. I didn't plan for this blog to turn out the way it did. It was just supposed to be about me saying that I want to write more blog posts to share my ideas, to allow me to move on and pick up the next book. Relating my issues to testing has made the journey much easier for me to understand, and is really helping to answer why I've been feeling anxious, unfocussed, distracted and a bit lost. To quote Elisabeth Hendrickson

"a test is an experiment designed to reveal information or answer a specific question about the software or system"

We can also add "about life, myself, or a problem I'm having" to this quote.

Testing is about asking questions, so blogging will help me in my pursuit to become a better Tester too.

My first TestBash (and blog post)

Wow, what an impact TestBash2015 has had on me. It appears that I set up this blog in 2009, with the intention of blogging my test thoughts. Where have I been the last 6 years? I know. I've been learning new things to help my job, concentrating how I can work my way up the ladder, pleasing my managers, the usual stuff.

Fast forward to now, and here I am writing my very first blog which is based on the last 3 days of my life. That's the kind of impact Testbash has had on me.

Realisation 1
Working is just a thing we do. Before you shout, being a Tester doesn't just mean physically testing. I am a "Tester in Life" first, and a "Principal Test Engineer" second. Hey it's Saturday, what am I doing. Its not a work day!?!

So Day 1, I was nervous, like I usually am. I tend not to like meeting new people, stick to my comfort zone, hide in the corner. I was on Matt Heusser's Lean testing course, which had great content, but I gained more. If I compare myself from the beginning of the day to the end, I had a different outlook on things, and enjoyed talking about testing when it wasn't just based around a narrow minded test qualification. I also had the chance to ask a question to one of the top gurus that's been bugging me for years, that I thought would never be answered.

Realisation 2
Sometimes the content isn't the only thing that's important. Its also important to refresh and confirm that the ideas you already have are backed up other people that know what they are talking about.

There were also evening events in the pub. Don't worry I thought, my work colleagues will be my safety net in a social situation. I had only spoken to testers that I have worked with, but here I felt suddenly at home. There were lots of mini conversations going on, and I felt that I could join any of them, feel welcome, relate to them and actually contribute!

Realisation 3
Don't talk to your colleagues. You can do that when you get home, so take the opportunity to speak to someone you don't know. Make the most of it.

Michael Bolton was in the pub too. I'd actually met him before as he came to our work to do the RST course about 3 years ago. I have to publically apologise for allowing his wonderful course to take second place because ironically "work got in the way", and I didn't have enough testers to bounce off. I stayed out until the end with him and around 10 others. These are the people that inspire me.

Realisation 4
If you don't speak to other people with the same passion, it is possible to lose it.  If the colleagues you work with don't like talking about testing, they possibly shouldn't be there, so talk to us.

Here's a first. I joined Twitter that night. I have to stress "For test community only". Since then (after 4 days) I'm following 25 Testers, have 6 followers and have tweeted 15 times with a with a couple of mine re-tweeted. Not bad for an introvert who doesn't make many new friends. It feels ok because I know them and have a connection. That's also down to the power of TestBash. I can truly say I had a great time.

Day 2. I went down to breakfast thinking how I could make my journey time more efficient and how I could improve it further the next day. Applied knowledge is a beautiful thing. This was a pick and mix day where there were 3 rooms with different workshops going on. I wont go too much into detail but many thanks to all for wonderful presentations.

To be honest I was suspicious of what some of the workshops could offer me, which actually turned out to be quite a lot!

I especially have to thank one presenter called Nicola, as she had the most impact on me of all. No offence but I thought her workshop would offer me the least, due to the way my work operates. But it opened my eyes on one major area that interests me, which is motivation.

I want to blog again. This is because of Nicola, and it framed the remainder of my time at TestBash. Thank you.

Realisation 5
Step away from something that you might think doesn't offer any value, and think again. Break it down, evaluate it and find a different angle to how it can be of some use. It is such an important thing to do because you learn just as much from what you perceive as negative as you do for the positive. Hey that sounds like testing!

I enjoyed the fact that some of the guys and girls from the day before were in the same workshops as me. It was like being back at Uni again going back the next day and catching up. Remember these are people I'd only known for one day! Building those bonds with like-minded people is so important.

I went to the pub again that evening for another late finish, including more of those pioneers of testing. I was tapping on peoples shoulders, shaking their hands, giving eye contact, and motor-mouthing my way though the night dropping brain dumps of all the ideas I've had. Some of the guys that had been around the block were doing puzzles, although at one point I was thinking "If I jam this pen in your eye, will it still be a pen?" because I was frustrated that I couldn't get the answer. Very interesting and good company and I really came out of my shell.

Day 3 was a buzz from the beginning. This was the day when most people visit - from actually everywhere in the world. The 10 speakers were all inspirational and all are recommended to follow on twitter. The breaks during the day were amazing. I was in my element now asking questions and giving advice to complete strangers, and bumping into the growing number of my new friends.

I have to be proud of this, but one of the slides changed on Michael Bolton's presentation because of a chat I had with him the night before. He actually mentioned me during his presentation! I'm a no-one, and I had an impact (small to him, large to me). That's the power of TestBash, and that's the kind of thing that inspires me.

One of the speakers upgraded from a 99 second speak he did in a previous bash to be a main speaker this year. That could be you. Damn, that could be me!!

Realisation 6
Testers that want to go to Test Bash, care about each other. You can inspire others by being there just as much as the speakers inspire you. You may not realise know how much you can contribute, but  speaking to one person will provoke thought and a new idea that they can apply to their own life and their own goals.

Conclusion
So please go to TestBash and tap people on the shoulder. Ignore the ones that have their head buried in their phones (unless they are taking pics or contributing on twitter) because they probably don't care as much as you. I wish I had the balls to ask "Were you sent here, or did you ask?" That would have told me so much.

If your work wont pay for tickets next year, ask for time. That's paraphrased from one of the 99 second speakers. Honestly, book a cheap B&B for a few nights, go to the evening and morning events, they are really worth it, and pay for the last day yourself if you must. It really is a buzz.

As long as you are a motivated Tester, I guarantee that you will going home feeling like its your last day at work. A mixture of feeling sad for leaving your friends behind, but excited about what the future holds. If you are anything like me at the beginning of this blog, you wont be by the end of the TestBash. You get out what you put in. I'm definitely going next year.

I hardly spoke to my wife and kids for 3 days, but I weighed up the risk and knew they would forgive me.

Realisation 7 and counting...
Its the kind of people that want to go to TestBash that make you a better Tester.

http://www.ministryoftesting.com/