January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 1 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's of Software Testing Discovering the three little r's (Exercise) Building the three Big R's (Exercise) Take-Aways and Summary

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 2 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's – This Session The three r's of Software Testing Experience based insight about people doing testing Article targeted for Better Software (formerly STQE) or SQP Describes mood: resignation, resentment, righteousness Shows alternatives moods and how to work with them Experiential session– You'll get out of it what you put into it Introductory, exploratory not exhaustive Provides modes, tools and resources to investigate further Additional Stuff Handouts – Sidebars from the Article Feedback – Yes, please. Feedback sheets Contact info, presentation files QA-SIG site

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 3 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's of Software Testing Discovering the three little r's

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 4 Seattle QA-SIG The Story of the three little r's Brian has an “Out of Brian” Experience Comes up with “three r's” resignation resentment righteousness The “three r's” seem universal Jim – He (I) was all over this (another story... ) Resonates with everyone who hears about it Processes seem to go with the little r's resignation self-talk, body feeling, language actions resentment self-talk, focus in time, language actions righteousness self-talk, assessments, language actions

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 5 Seattle QA-SIG Exercise.... What are your stories? Form groups Tell your stories of testing (or dev. or life) gone sideways Pick examples in these stories Of resignation Of resentment Of righteousness One example per card – mnemonic / keyword (Optional) Process note, how it felt, what happened Like defect reports – You ought to be good at this Get the important facts, quick observations Go for coverage – lots of stories and events

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 6 Seattle QA-SIG The little r's group the experiences

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 7 Seattle QA-SIG Immediate Take-aways Notice how you are doing what you are doing “Mood” - Notice how you feel. “Mantras” - Notice your self-talk. “Speech Acts” - Notice the conversations you have. Change the processes to change the results. I feel bad (somatic)- Stand up (or sit down, or....) Speech Acts- Have different conversations. Mantras- Talk to yourself differently. Sidebar (Handout) “Mantras of the three r's (and Three R's)” Illustrates self-talk, a description Provides something to notice, an indicator Saying the mantras changes how you respond, an intervention Models suggest: description, indicator, intervention

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 8 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's of Software Testing Building the Big R's

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 9 Seattle QA-SIG From the little r's to the Big R's Each little r focuses on a kind of thing resignation “My choices don't matter.”... about my options resentment “Those choices (past & “them”) vs. my choices righteousness “They are useless.”... about the actors Pair each with an opposite assessment about the same kind of thing (cleverly named with an “R”) Resolve“I have choices that matter.” Responsibility “What's the contribution I can make, now?” Respect “The actors are valuable.” Big R's select processes complementary to the little r's

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 10 Seattle QA-SIG The little r's and Big R's Side by Side resignation and Resolve... are about your choices right now resentment and Responsibility... select which actions you evaluate righteousness and Respect... are generalizations assessing people

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 11 Seattle QA-SIG Building among the little r's & Big R's resignatio n righteousness resentment Resolve Respect Respons- ibility People generalize (without noticing) People abstract (without noticing) People act based on generalizations (without noticing) People move from assessments (descriptions) to processes (without noticing.) The little r's and Big R's help you notice. Once you notice, you can choose.

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 12 Seattle QA-SIG Next Exercise... back to your stories Back to your groups Back to your stories of testing (or etc.) gone sideways Pick examples in these stories Of resignation or Resolve (or how you consider alternatives) Of resentment or Responsibility (or which actions you evaluate) Of righteousness or Respect (or generalizations about people) One example per card – mnemonic / keyword (Optional) Which “r” or “R” (Optional) How can you flip this (r to R or process change) Like defect reports – You ought to be good at this Get the important facts, quick observations Look for common processes & patterns

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 13 Seattle QA-SIG The little r's and Big R's group experiences

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 14 Seattle QA-SIG Great, so how do I use this stuff? The little r's and Big R's go with different processes Notice the assessments by noticing the process Change the assessment to change the processes you use... or Change the processes to change the assessment... or Combinations Move around in the matrix (Sesame Street Test) Up and down: Does sitting here resigned fit with my Responsibility? Left and right: Feeling Responsible but talking about what they did. Diagonally: Do the choices I'm considering fit with my Responsibility. Investigate process models Unhelpful processes you seem to favor – lose those. Helpful processes you want to do more of – practice those.

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 15 Seattle QA-SIG Take Aways Notice what you are doing Bring your attention to “stealth assessments” you might make Notice the “stealth generalizations” you might fall into Notice how you are doing what you are doing Several process models (somatic, language, self-talk, others) The article is loaded with examples of these and other types. Sidebar – Tools You Can Use Provides a cheat sheet of processes from the article References- Resources to investigate further Other take aways? ?

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 16 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's of Software Testing The Corporate Powerpoint Version Ref: The Thinking Style of Power point – Tufte

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 17 Seattle QA-SIG The three r's of Software Testing, I of II Mood matters in software testing Bad moods -> Bad Behavior Three common moods – little r's – in testing resignation, resentment, righteousness People work themselves into bad moods. Moods build one to another Testers are particularly prone to this problem Part of the job, part of the personality Alternative moods: Three Big R's Resolve, Responsibility, and Respect Multiple techniques and models for swapping moods

January 14, 2004 The three r's of Software Testing © James Bullock, Brian Branagan contact: 18 Seattle QA-SIG The Three r's of Software Testing, II of II Choose the moods with which you work How? Watch your behavior for the little r's and Big R's You can encourage people around you to choose more effective moods Manager, set context to encourage useful moods Practices, processes and culture to encourage useful moods This article and talk can help you identify the little r's and Big R's in your experience. Techniques Mantras of the little r's and Big R's (Sidebar) Ideas you can use. (Sidebar) Resources for investigation (References) Examples in the article, especially John's story.