Thinking Visually In

Software Testing

Strategise Visually vs Visual Strategy

Alan Richardson

www.eviltester.com@eviltester

Blogs and Websites

● CompendiumDev.co.uk

● SeleniumSimplified.com

● EvilTester.com

● JavaForTesters.com

● Twitter: @eviltester

Online Training Courses

● Technical Web Testing 101Unow.be/at/techwebtest101

● Intro to SeleniumUnow.be/at/startwebdriver

● Selenium 2 WebDriver APIUnow.be/at/webdriverapi

Videos

youtube.com/user/EviltesterVideos

Books

Selenium Simplified

Unow.be/rc/selsimp

Java For Testers

leanpub.com/javaForTesters

Alan Richardson

uk.linkedin.com/in/eviltester

Independent Test Consultant & Custom Training

Contact Alan

http://compendiumdev.co.uk/contact

What's this all about?

Visual Tools and Techniques to:

Aid your thinking

Make your thinking visual

Aid your communication

“I would rather see your thinking, than see what you think your thinking

should look like”

An adhoc example of Thinking Visually

“Let's think visually about testing the

google search box”

Adhoc Tooling

● Pen and Paper

● Camera

● Scanner

● Evernote

● Paint.net

● … have you examined what you already use?

“Over the years I've moved from; starting with technology and looking for the one true formal representation; to an adhoc multi-view approach”

What is this based on?

● I have based this on my experience

● Learning to communicate more succinctly

● Help me spot gaps in my thinking

● Systems Thinking

● Reviewing Other People's plans & docs

● Writing a diagramming & Outlining Tool

● Learning to read quickly

Uncle Al's Slogans

● How little can you get away with?

● 'game' the templates

● Important things first

● Summarise for the reader

● Meet the reader's needs

Document Examples

How not to think visually

I was taught how to not do this

● Doodles are bad

● You can't draw

● If it was quick it can't be good

!... I was also taught

● Not enough words

● Use more complicated words

● Formal diagramming rules

● … what were you taught?

I unlearned and focus on

● Value

● Communication

● Novelty

● How people remember

● Design

● Flexibility

● … and more

How to trap your thinking and your reader

● The big block of text

● Summarise without value

● Stupor inducing templates

● Hide what is important

How to trap your thinking and your reader

● Use lists to restrict 'what else' thinking

● Copy and Paste rather than re-interpret

● … how else?

Don't Believe me?

“Go find some examples on the web.”

● "test strategy" file:doc

● "test approach" file:doc

● "test plan" file:doc

● "test strategy" file:pdf

● "test approach" file:pdf

● "test plan" file:pdf

Quick tips to shake it up a bit

● If you normally use lined paper, use blank

● If you normally use portrait, use landscape

● If you start at the top, start in the middle

● Take notes positionally, rather than in time line

● … what can you do now to change your approach?

My non-psychology based view

● Words are pictures

● Everything has a visual impact

● Documents are pictures

● Thinking is different from communicating

● Thinking is for us

● Communicating is for them

● Different Visual Models have different purpose

● … think through your insights

Lessons from rapid reading

● Most words are padding

● Outlines reveal big picture

● Images, summaries, callouts

● 1st and last paras

● Read Backwards

● Illustrations vs Diagrams

● … what aids you when you read quickly?

Obvious Thinking Tools First

● Mindmaps

● Diagrams

● Log of train of thought

● Aid memory, Aid Study, ● Not for communication

● Not illustrations● Visual models that communicate

Big Block of Text NotAlways Considered Evil

Loosen Up... Think Spatially

● Single Sheet Viewport to the mind

● Text Editors

● Mind Map Tools for 'big picture' outlines

Think Spatially with Text Editors

A visual thinking process

Collate

Structure

Layout

Visualise

The OutcomeHow will this

be used?

The Consumer

Why and how visually?

● Big picture

● Chunk up and down

● Remodel

● List

● Time

● Attribute Relationships

– Tables, Categories, Outlines

● Space

● Flows

Tools to Experiment With

● Graphviz

● Freemind

● Freeplane

● Xmind

● Evernote

● yED

● yUML

● Umlet

● Drawtiming

● Asciiflow

● Text Editors

● Presentation Tools

● Art Packages

● Screen Capture

… have you got a use, to use , and used list?

You can use

prosaic tools

“Think. Make your thinking visible. Communicate your thinking. And do it your way.”

eviltester.com

Blogs and Websites

● CompendiumDev.co.uk

● SeleniumSimplified.com

● EvilTester.com

● JavaForTesters.com

● Twitter: @eviltester

Online Training Courses

● Technical Web Testing 101Unow.be/at/techwebtest101

● Intro to SeleniumUnow.be/at/startwebdriver

● Selenium 2 WebDriver APIUnow.be/at/webdriverapi

Videos

youtube.com/user/EviltesterVideos

Books

Selenium Simplified

Unow.be/rc/selsimp

Java For Testers

leanpub.com/javaForTesters

Alan Richardson

uk.linkedin.com/in/eviltester

Independent Test Consultant & Custom Training

Contact Alan

http://compendiumdev.co.uk/contact