Maybe an Example Would be Handy
December 5th, 2007
Filed under Ruminations
I confess surprise. Not one person has dropped me an email or a comment to say, “Hey! Online experiential training would be cool! Yes, you should offer it!”
Speaking as a business person, the resounding silence suggests that I should probably be saying to myself, “Gosh. Not a lot of demand. I’ll move onto my next project.”
But I’m stubborn. I find it difficult to believe that no one is interested in this. There’s plenty of demand for my in-person training. And there’s demand for teleconferencing solutions. So I just have to believe that there are people out there who really wish it would be possible to get a deep and rich experiential training experience online.
So instead of giving up, I’ve been thinking to myself, “Perhaps I have not explained what I mean well enough to capture people’s attention.” Brian Marick’s catchy slogan “An example would be handy right about now” is running through my mind. So let me try again.
Imagine you are in my (as yet unavailable) online Exploratory Testing class.
You look at the right side of the screen, and see the smiling faces of me and your fellow classmates. In the first session you got to know them a little. You recall that Bart is mischievous, Marisa is good at spotting little details that others miss, and that Dana is new to testing.
In this session we’re talking about how to look for “test opportunities” while learning the software - things we want to try changing such as input values, operating conditions, user actions, timing, etc. We’re using a web-based application as an example, and that you’ve already had the opportunity to explore as part of your pre-work for the class. You have access to supporting material and have skimmed it. You haven’t taken the time to read it in detail yet, but that’s OK.
I launch a shared browser running from my machine. I talk about looking for input opportunities and show an input on a form and inputting into the URL. Then each participant takes a turn driving the browser and showing other types of inputs. Bart shows how a malicious user could insert JavaScript into a field. We then talk about - and show examples - of timing-related test opportunities. And we talk about varying user actions. Marisa shows how hitting the back button reposts the last data sent to the server. Dana shows how opening a link in a new tab causes the site to lose the frame. You still have access to the test application, so you try out a couple ideas on the side, then report your findings back to the group. You drive the shared browser to show a bug you found.
Toward the end, we talk about the clues that led each of us to recognize the particular test opportunity we chose and distill a list that we title “How to Recognize Test Opportunities.”
By the end of the 2 hour session, you have several pages of notes of things you want to try in the software that you test, and several questions to ask the developers about how the features work. The session material was immediately relevant to what you’re working on right now, and you didn’t have to take three days away from the office to get it.
NOW is anyone interested?
And if not, I’m really curious why not.
10 Comments
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Dec 05, 2007
11:33 pm
I would love to be involved in something like this. I have too many books with too many examples. But seeing it “live” would be fun and engaging.
Zach…
Dec 06, 2007
3:25 am
Hi there!
I have been following your blog for quite a while now and i have always picked up interesting information from it. Theres always something new to learn which is great! I must admit i am a bit disapointed some days when you are probably too busy to blog about anything, because it means i havent learnt from you for that day.
Back to the topic at hand. I read the previous blog about the online training and it is quite interesting, to me and probably to many others. Most of the times i prefer learning directly from people than from a book. And yes, in many a field experience helps alot!
I would be interested in being part of an online class, and here comes the but! What would it cost? Considering exchange rates and cost of living and so forth around the world, only the guys that can afford it, will be able to attend. But then again, thats life i guess! You too need to make a living and be rewarded for your efforts.
Another thing would be that we have become so aquainted to the culture of free resources on the net, that when we see a price tag attached to something, we turn around!
In conclusion, it sounds like a brilliant idea, if it is practically possible then i think you should go for it, i’m sure you would do an excellent job of it!
Thanks.
Regards,
Dec 06, 2007
5:42 am
I’d love to participate! I wonder how I could miss your previous post
Anyway, it would be great to see course in action
And thank you for being stubborn!
Dec 06, 2007
10:18 am
I, for one, would find this incredibly useful. I’m UK-based and it seems to me that many of the interesting and informative testing discussions/workshops/conferences are US-based. I’m a big blog reader (including quite a few of those listed in your blogroll to the left) but there’s nothing better than learning directly from an expert - even if that’s remotely.
Dec 06, 2007
3:13 pm
I’m not interested because I don’t have a webcam at work and getting one means arguing with IT or sneaking it in.
I could probably be persuaded to go through that trouble, but that’s time and energy I’d prefer to spend on other tasks right now.
Dec 06, 2007
3:43 pm
I’d love to participate. Send me details when you push through with it. By the way, there’s a typo error missing ‘m’ in experimental (”Hey! Online experiential training would be cool! Yes, you should offer it!””)
Dec 06, 2007
4:04 pm
Hi Elizabeth,
m_i_m mentions cost, and points out why this might be a barrier. Zach and Andriy said they’d love to participate, but I wonder would they love to pay? I’d love to participate too, but I probably couldn’t afford to.
Perhaps if you think of it this way: You are asking individual testers would they pay for this training. m_i_m’s answer is a no. I probably wouldn’t pay either. But then I never pay for training. I attend training courses frequently, most are good, but many are terrible. They cost thousands of Euros, but I don’t pay, my employer pays.
Perhaps as a consultant you do have individual consultants who pay for your training courses, and perhaps many of your readers fall into this category? But I am not a consultant, and my experience is that somebody else pays.
Much of the cost of these courses is down to travel, yes? Either the delegates have to travel, or the trainer. I think you’re on to something if you can deliver training over the web, and cut costs significantly. I expect it would cost you less to run training from your home town? I imagine you could pass some of those savings on to clients, since you’re not onsite, it’s never going to be as rich. If you do that, if you can get this working, and costs come down then the people who pay for these training courses will take note. You could even run more courses. One in India today, Ohio the next, with no jet lag. Just another day at the office.
I doubt I personally could afford to pay for your training. And I doubt the training department, or the finance department read your blog. So perhaps that’s one reason why not many people responded. You need to be speaking to the right people. Ask people who are responsible for paying for training. I’m sure if you mention how it’s ‘cost effective’, or ‘cost efficient’ (they’ll love that…), and still rich and interactive, you might get some more useful feedback.
I hope that’s helpful,
Mark
Dec 06, 2007
6:55 pm
I did a variaiton of this live at STARwest. I was testing small flash apps describing my explorations, with input on test ideas from the crowd, then Michael Bolton tried some testing with commentary as well. It should be a good course. I’ll stick to doing it live for the moment though….
cheers,
Erik
Dec 09, 2007
4:45 pm
I am interested - and your example helped me decide to step forward.
I participated in one of the experiments. Your last paragraph sums up the results nicely. I used what I learned in a job interview the week after the training, and have thought back to it and used it frequently in my job since then.
At first I had second thoughts about cost. But having met you and participating in an experimental class from you, I have no doubt that I would have a positive ROI from taking any training I can get from you regardless of my ability to convince my employer to cover the expense.
Dec 10, 2007
1:17 am
Hi again!
So then would a middle-grounded option be something like “try before you buy”
I think that might work. Allow people to sample your “product” and if they feel happy about it, then i’m pretty sure they would want to buy the full “product”!