This article is part of a series on making regression testing useful rather than painful. The most recent article was (as you would guess from the title to this one) about day 2 of our regression testing adventure. So far we have been looking at how to do some testing, and then do some basic… Continue reading Regression testing days 3 to 7
Category: Idea management
OODA Loops for fighter pilots, business analysts and testers
When I started to learn agile approaches to projects, OODA was all the rage, but it seems to have disappeared from view as modern agilistas move from Scrum to lean to Kanban to ultra-velocitus development. I guess I am still a bit old school, because I still think the OODA loop is the essence of… Continue reading OODA Loops for fighter pilots, business analysts and testers
Famous BAs in history: Mark Twain on interviews
I stumbled on a letter from Mark Twain where he comments on "the interview": Inteviews are pure twaddle Controversially, he claimed that interviews are appalling and should be completely abolished ... which would seem to be a strong position for a business analyst to take these days. But then Mark Twain was around at the beginning of… Continue reading Famous BAs in history: Mark Twain on interviews
Stories for production support teams part 3: stories involving vendors
A long time ago I used to do production support as part of my role (I was a Unix administrator/DBA/system analyst). In those days requirements were really easy for me: people would come to my desk and ask for something, or they would email me or maybe even leave a scribbled note on my desk.… Continue reading Stories for production support teams part 3: stories involving vendors
Use cases make for better test scenarios
I have encountered Use Cases on several occasions, sometimes they seem like a simple tool that can be used to better understand how a system behaves from a users perspective, while at other times people describe them as terrifying monsters that have murdered people and led to the destruction of entire projects. So I am… Continue reading Use cases make for better test scenarios
An international standard for being stupid? The mistakes users always make
Before I worked in IT and even knew what testing was, I knew people made mistakes. But I didn’t know there was an international standard you should comply with when you want to make a mistake. Then I worked on a project with a mining company and one of the consultants explained human factor analysis… Continue reading An international standard for being stupid? The mistakes users always make
A project charter for lazy teams
I have been creating a couple of blogs on context recently. The idea is that if you know a bit about your users and the product that you are building. Both can take months or years, but I like to think we can even spend an hour or less to understand our project. When you… Continue reading A project charter for lazy teams
A simple product summary to help requirements
I was speaking to a crew who were struggling with regression testing and after interrogating them they finally admitted that a large part of the reason they were struggling was that they did not really understand what they were testing. I was shocked and horrified so I wandered off. Soon after I spoke to some… Continue reading A simple product summary to help requirements
How to use force field analysis
Force field analysis is a good way to analyse the constraints and the drivers of success when leading change, delivering projects or problem solving in general. You begin by writing your objective on the top of a sheet of paper and then putting a long line under it: Next, draw a line down the middle… Continue reading How to use force field analysis
One the other hand, your question compass is better
I have my own favourite set of questions to ask at the beginning of any assignment or project. I call this my “question compass” because the questions help me to find my way at the ambiguous beginning of most of my projects. People often write the questions down when I explain them, so I assume… Continue reading One the other hand, your question compass is better
James King 