'Creativity to Show the Way in Software Testing' by Nathalie van Delft
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Where more common techniques like mind-mapping and plain modeling techniques are translated to a more artsy form to help testers, but especially none-testers, to get more engaged and grow interest and understanding in software testing. That's because artistic styles, as we know from 'regular' art, tend to invite questioning and that leads to debate and learning!
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'Creativity to Show the Way in Software Testing' by Nathalie van Delft
- 1. Today’s webinar is presented by Nathalie van Delft and she will discuss Creativity to show the way in Software Testing Welcome to the EuroSTAR Spring Webinar Series www.eurostarconferences.com This webinar is due to start at 11am. Make sure you stick around at the end for the Q&A session and continue the conversation with the speaker on Twitter after the show! @esconfs #esconfs
- 2. Creativity to show the way in Software Testing Nathalie van Delft, Turien & Co. Assuradeuren (Netherlands) Nathalie is a Testteam Leader at an underwriter called Turien en Co. in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. She’s been involved in IT (professionally) since 1997 and is involved Software Testing since 2004. She is very passionate about (software)testing in general, but the subjects Data Warehouse Testing, E2E-testing, Standardization, Ethics/ Philosophy and Test Architecture (Framework) are most favorite. She speaks on national and international test events on regular basis, writes in specialist publications and participates in the Dutch Standardization Body (NEN) for Software- and System development and BNTQB board member. She’s married, has no kids and is a very enthusiastic CasualtySimVictim. She’s a FunTESTic TestFanatic and proud of it! www.eurostarconferences.com
- 3. How can I get the slides? www.eurostarconferences.com Slides and all materials will be posted on the EuroSTAR blog as well as emailed to you.
- 4. Join the conversation on Twitter #esconfs @esconfs @FunTESTic www.eurostarconferences.com Continue the conversation with the speaker on Twitter after the show!
- 5. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs Creativity TO SHOW THE WAY IN SOFTWARE TESTING
- 7. Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of subjective value (such as a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc). It is also the impetus and motivational force behind any given act of creation, and it is generally perceived to be associated with intelligence and cognition. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs
- 8. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of subjective value (such as a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc). It is also the impetus and motivational force behind any given act of creation, and it is generally perceived to be associated with intelligence and cognition.
- 11. Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of subjective value (such as a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc). It is also the impetus and motivational force behind any given act of creation, and it is generally perceived to be associated with intelligence and cognition. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs
- 12. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs (such as a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc).
- 18. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs Mindmap from blog Better Testing from Darren McMillan http://www.bettertesting.co.uk
- 28. www.eurostarconferences.com @esconfs #esconfs http://martinvalasek.com/blog/pictures-from-a-developers-life What about the EuroSTAR – movieSTAR contest! Great creativity there!
- 30. EuroSTAR Webinar Archive Access almost 50 on-demand software testing webinars by the world's leading testing experts. Topics include…. www.eurostarconferences.com Agile, Automation, Test Management, Process Improvements, Risk-based Testing, Performance Testing, Test Documentation, Cloud Testing, Session-based Testing, Weekend Testers Visit the archive! http://www.eurostarconferences.com/community/member/webinar-archive @esconfs #esconfs
- 31. The EuroSTAR Community. Are you a member? Did you know we have an online resource area with almost … www.eurostarconferences.com 600 software testing presentations, 50 topical webinars, over 40 videos and podcasts and 20 expert eBooks Do you know that membership is completely free and you can access these premium testing resources anytime? Join today! http://www.eurostarconferences.com/community/ member @esconfs #esconfs
- 32. www.eurostarconferences.com Are you coming to Gothenburg? Join us in the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden from the 04-07 November for the 21st annual EuroSTAR Conference. Visit www.eurostarconferences.com for more information on what you can expect to see at Europe’s largest software testing event! @esconfs #esconfs
Editor's Notes
- Thank you Daragh for the introduction and Hi everyone welcome to this webinar about Creativity to show the way in software testing..in the next half hour, maybe forty minutes I’ll guide you to the possibilities YOUR creativity has to show both testers around you and non-tester the way in your world of software testing.
- Loads of people think about ‘drawing’ when I start talking about creativity for use in Software Testing. I bet you ‘re thinking about it too, even if it’s only because I show you a picture about a hand with a pen in it. Creativity is actually much more…
- Lend from Wikipedia I got this text. Which doesn’t say anything about drawing at all…although it states something about a painting which might involve some drawing. A painting is just a product of creativity, but it could be anything….
- What I like to highlight for the purpose of this webinar is the impetus and motivational force and perception of association with intelligence and cognition. What is important for you to know that you don’t have to have a skill to draw to be creative, and I guess most of you will agree (maybe to only an extend) that in your way you are also creative in your job. I bet even some of you have ‘I am creative’ in their resumes with the intend to say to your future employers to say you think differently and out of the box to get excellent results.
- Hey the phone rings… you pick up… and start taking notes…. The other person starts to tell a story… your focussing and……
- When you hang up the phone… a pattern has shown, could be floral, curvy or just letters, blocks lines… it’s creativity helping you to stay focussed at long conversations….not doodling? No worries, your probably focussed all the way….
- Just a little sidetrack to get you thinking … let’s get back to the wikipedia text….and another highlight… something new, a product and a subjective value… hmmm … It could be just about everything right? Subjective might be tricky… but… I think THAT is just THE thing that starts the conversation; subjectiveness invites to questioning and mutual understanding… I’ll get back on that later….
- It could be everything… RIGHT!
- YES!!!!!It could be everything!!!! It could be photographing, doodling, clay, music, film, using postcards to make a collage, poems, and painting/ drawing…I’m sure each and everyone of you can think of something that is creative in this way and are comfortable picking up. You are more creative than you might think…. (click) Okay …. Are you ready? Are you doodling? Are you focussed? …. Have your hands at your keyboards, because I can’t hear you, but I CAN read you in my panel. Let’s try if a webinar can be interactive…..it’s – kind of- PICTIONARY time!!!!! Just type what you think I mean with the pictures in the next slide….
- Yep it’s teststrategy…. Funny right ? That imagery can both substitute words but also have an effect of discussion. It’s the basis of my message…because when you answer questions because of imagery (or another creative expressions – such as discussions because of it) it tends to stay in your mind much longer…let’s do another one…
- EuroSTAR community… !!!!I put a simular picture in my office an people started asking me why I put a train on the wall… and I started talking about EuroSTAR the conference and that is had a community, a blog and on the website … loads of stuff for knowledge growth! Guess what… people started talking about the train and repeated the story to other colleagues exactly like I told them… now… there checking the site and are interested in the conference… HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!So Are we warmed up a bit… well you can relax again a bit. Let look at a technique that is probably familiar to you….
- Yep… it’s a mind map. And it’s already a great (and creative) way to make theory interesting to people. But… computer made schematics are still a bit dull….
- This is again a program generated mindmap – about mindmapping- notice your attention is drawn to the pictures already? See what’s in the bottom?
- These mindmaps are hand-drawn. They are visually very attractive and invite the people to take a closer look; even more than the already creative forms we saw before. Like art… they fascinate.. And because they do, they’ll also invite to questioning and you are off course ready to guide them through the map; is the purpose of the map to be clear at once? NO! that’s where the first mind map probably does a better job. The purpose is to start a conversation and to use this to make information more accessible. Creativity as a mean to create a safe and fun place to ask questions.
- In 2012 a group of tester’s gathered at Hereford and visited the MappaMundi. Which is a still remaining original medieval map of the world. The mappa has different layers of meaning and is indeed a piece of art; topography, fylosophy and perception of the world and it’s believes are mixed into a piece of display. Inspired by the map they created the MappaTesti; a snapshot of the testingworld as they perceived it at that time. When looking at the Mappa the viewer discovers more and more details and starts wondering what the meaning of the different parts are and why they are positioned there; than the fun begins to explain and tell more about each detail, explaining, teaching and learning on the way. The Mappa isn’t –like the handdrawnMindMaps- not intended to be perfectly clear the first time; it’s a piece of fascination and invitation to start discussing. You might not have agreed with me in this case, but as you learned before; creativity results in a new product that is subjective to subjectiveness… there’s no right, there’s no wrong. That’s why creative ways also have less argument and more positive discussion as a result. Let’s look at this part of the MappaTesti January 2012 from Hereford. The position of this detail is the right upper side. The tree you see is the ‘garden of best practices’ a perciflage of the garden of eden; you can discuss here wether you truly feel best practice exist of that the are a part of a belief, just like in the scripture and the concept of faith. Next to the garden of best practices is are the plaines of alfa-and beta testing; black and whitebox testing and the Gorgon of Metrics. Allthough these are next to a stream from the lake Ethica; the software testing industry – no matter what kind of testing basics you prefer- is - at least I hope- populated by professionals that have Ethics in high regards. A bit more down we see the corporate demon, who are attacking the principle of privacy and this is why security (testing) is important. And we see the grey city of techniques, who are perceived as boring a lot of times but provide a home for many testers…they also let businesses flourish like HP and IBM for example. Centered in this image is the region of testingmethods; you can distinguish the V and W model, Tmap and Scrum, there’s also a Chimeara of mixed methods there... In the bottom we see A bunch of bugs, the top of lake Ethica, the camping site of reassurance, a crack of terror (you have to pass that to only get to the chimaera) en you see the field where the Cucumber grows. At the right side you see the boundary of the map; in the boundary are (around the whole one) influencial books, in this case the Tmap book (don’t worry; lessons learned is also there in another place) . In the round circle are letters with basic principles of the testing profession. A is for automation, on another place is Ag for Agile…
- This year there was yet again a Tester’s Retreat and this year visual notes were made of the things we discussed. The drawings (in total there are four) refelct the highlights of the topics in the weekend. I have them on the wall in my office. Besides that they add a (very) colorful touch to the place they also have raised questions and lured people into making remarks, making me explain what happened and what I learned. It lets me remind thing even better and share and teach about what I learned in that weekend….oh… that reminds me… I still have to read the annotated snark and tell everybody here that Julian Harty has this great initiative called Kindles for Kenia… yep.. .those are right above and below those big pink arrows about influence… did you ever think about what and who influences you in the testing world and who and what you influence?
- Like I said… I love putting things on the wall; most obviously because it’s visual and it’s RIGHT in sight! But I’m not drawing all the stuff. In my current job I’m introducing a structured testing process, while people (also non-testers!) can cooperate and add things by sticking notes. Beats handing out a book with a process or obliging people to read the intranet (or sharepoint) and do stuff as they are told… It’s NEW, it’s FRESH and most certainly CREATIVE.
- Creativity is not bound to art, it can be anything… are your people up for a challenge?
- Some Tester’s might recognise these prinicples of SMARTEST (Valori). I could have put the words on a sheet on the wall, like I said, I like sticking things on walls, but the pictures are much more interesting… and I haven’t used a pen to make it; I just borrowed them from the internet., I bet most of recognise AND know what the next picture means…
- Even jokes are creative…
- http://martinvalasek.com/blog/pictures-from-a-developers-life
- So whether you can draw or not, it doesn’t matter if you want to use creative ways to show your vision you can use whatever means that are out there; just remind that the more creative it gets, the more curious people get and ‘ll engage in conversation and questioning which will lead to understanding and learning, This is the most powerful way a message or lesson in software testing can be brought in my opinion; they don’t have the saying ‘a picture says more than a thousand words’ for nothing. Creativity will help you lead others on the way in software testing. So if you haven’t started doodling, sketching allready; go out there and try some messaging in an alternative way yourself!