[Talk] Time Management in Testing

As a tester, you are often faced with tight deadlines, overwhelming workloads, and a constant stream of new tasks. In this talk, we will explore a range of time management lessons specifically tailored for testers. You've heard about clear goals and priorities, yet we'll talk about discovering your goals while already doing something useful. You've heard about staying focused and on track, yet we'll talk about recharging and creativity time. This talk will help you grow effective by limiting work in progress and focusing on serial tasking with learning and contributing.

Small streams create major impacts over time. Steer your impact intentionally.

Transcript

1. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   by Maaret Pyhäjärvi
   Time Management
   in Testing
   

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2. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   Life expectancy, Finland 2022
   82.31 years
   988 months
   

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3. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   One persons time wasting
   habit is another person’s
   recharging technique.
   Drain me Recharge me
   

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4. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   M&M
   Managers and Meetings
   

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5. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   There’s things that it’s time
   to take care of. And things
   that time takes care of. – Antti
   Laine, around year 2001 while being
   my boss
   

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6. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   Tester and Developer
   Source: Adapted from Bret Pettichord. 2000. Testers and Developers Think Differently
   Tester Developer
   Need of Mastery
   Focus of Modeling
   Focus of Thinking
   Tedium and
   Conflict
   Get up to speed quickly
   Generalist
   Domain knowledge
   Ignorance is important
   Thorough understanding
   Specialist
   Knowledge of product internals
   Expertise is important
   Model user behavior
   Focus on what can go wrong
   Focus on severity of problem
   Model system design
   Focus on how it can work
   Focus on interest of problem
   Practical
   Empirical: What is observed
   Sceptics
   Theoretical
   How it is designed
   Believers
   Tolerate tedium
   Comfortable with conflict
   Report problems
   Automate tedium
   Avoid conflict
   Understand problems
   

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7. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   How Long Does It Take
   to Test X?
   

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8. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   Stakeholders happy,
   even delighted
   –Quality Information
   Good Team’s Output
   –Quality Information
   Less than Good
   Team’s Output
   –Quality Information
   Results Gap
   Surprise!
   Results Gap
   on a Team that thinks
   Testers == Testing
   Pick up the pizza boxes…
   ”Find (some of) What Others May Have Missed”
   

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9. @maaretp
   @maaretp@mas.to
   

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10. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    

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11. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Test Strategy for E-Primer
    Tests for E-Primer
    

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12. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Creativity requires time
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDngw5R32WE&list=FLrTlIKuIS-LmRk-aAbcxTKg
    

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13. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Explore with Intent
    Mission Charter
    Other
    Charters
    Details
    INTENT
    LEARNINGS
    

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14. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Gambit
    Midgame
    Endgame
    Intake
    Survey
    Analysis
    Setup
    Coverage
    Closure
    Introduce Richer Vocabulary
    

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15. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Time-box thinking and stop
    without being done.
    Bugs make estimating tricky.
    

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16. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Discovery Delivery Production
    

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17. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    

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18. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Limit WIP
    Serial tasking FTW!
    

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19. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    25 years in testing
    …now managing 25
    

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20. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    You do all this stuff…
    How?
    What Have You Learned
    about Time Management?
    

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21. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    You must be the
    guardian of your
    own time.
    

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22. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Options
    Leading to Serendipity
    Leading to Knowing More
    Your career is too important to be left at whims of
    your manager. Your impact is what makes a career.
    

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23. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Availability timeline
    Results
    Productive Generative
    Short term
    Long term
    Find and get fixed
    Executable docs
    Holding space
    Leaving co-owned
    automation behind
    Leaving better
    behind
    Improving *your*
    skills
    

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24. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    1 month
    2x – 6 months
    3x – 8,5 months
    4x – 10 months
    5x – 1 year
    Output
    ROI of spending 1 hour a day
    learning for a 1% increase
    1.01^365 = 37.8
    

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25. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    Impact and
    Results
    Zero Bug
    Policy
    Reflection
    Wall Time
    Forget
    Plans, Start
    Planning
    Continuous
    is the Magic
    Share and
    Ensemble
    Credit
    Time Box
    Thinking
    Docs as
    output
    Rebel Rule to Testing:
    NEVER be bored.
    Be Away
    Regularly
    No Bug
    Reports,
    No Bug
    Closing
    

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26. @maaretp
    @maaretp@mas.to
    2020 2016
    MIATPP
    Most Influential Agile Testing
    Professional Person
    #PayToSpeak #TechVoices
    #EnsembleTesting #EnsembleProgramming #StrongStylePairing
    #ExploratoryTesting #TestAutomation
    #ModernAgile
    #AwesomeTesters
    Maaret Pyhäjärvi
    (from Finland)
    Email: maaret@iki.fi
    Twitter: @maaretp
    Web: maaretp.com
    Blog: visible-quality.blogspot.fi
    (please connect with me through
    Twitter or LinkedIn)
    2019 - 2022
    https://exploratorytestingacademy.com
    Ohjelmistotestaus ry
    https://techvoices.org
    

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