If it seems easy...

It's been over a year since my wife got her bike driving license and she´s been doing fine using the Vespa for her daily commute. But use a bike to get early to work is not really riding a bike, so this weekend we went out for a ride.

We rented a second Vespa and headed to Dos Aguas, following a twisty road but really fun to ride. Once we got there, my wife told me: ¨You know, It is really a different thing when you are riding by your own. I had to think and decide how fast I wanted to go on every turn, what gear to use and how to line up for the next curve, or it could end really bad!¨

And I think she is right... if you think riding a bike is easy, well, try to do so.

If somebody tells you that testing is easy, then ask them to plan some testing, to perform the test, to understand the results of the test, and to write a test report, and to communicate the test results to the developer and the product manager.

And by the same logic, if you think writing user stories is easy, or writing code, or taking the phone to do support, or doing the accounting stuff, or whatever seems to be easy...

Maybe then, you should try it by yourself and find out how easy it happens to be.

For us two, going for a ride was not an easy thing, but we did it and we had a great experience...

 

...Just because we tried.

Communication skills example from Chase Jarvis

Let me show you a nice example of communication skills.

From some time ago, I am getting myself a photography aficionado, using a Canon 1100D that is helping me understand about ISO, Aperture, Exposure time and Light, I go experimenting here and there, trying to learn a bit. One of the things that also helps is the amount of videos that are available at Youtube, and this time I would like to recommend you one.

It is about a contest, where a famous photographer is given a sub-standard camera made of LEGO  and asked to go and get some pictures.

 

Chase Jarvis not only gets to do some fine pictures, but you can appreciate how he tests, how he explores the possible options he's got, the way he interacts with the people he is taking pictures to, how he is a servant, humble to understand what people are doing and why, and how he asks them for guidance before he starts shooting pictures, in order to understand the context of what they are doing.

The video is about 20 minutes long, but when I see it I think that it quite explains why you need to have communication skills and how Testers should approach Developers and the rest of the people we work with, after all, we provide a service, and we perform testing as best as we know to help others to deliver or receive the best possible feature.

Enjoy!