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Do you trust your mental models?
Henrik Emilsson Let’s Test 2012
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Agenda
1. About me 2. First example 3. Definitions 4. Second example 5. Exploratory testing 6. Third example 7. How to sharpen your mental models 8. Closing up 9. Questions
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About me
" Henrik Emilsson, born 1975. " Lives in Värmskog. " Spare-time musician and gardener;
with a special interest in electronic music and Honeysuckles.
" Started with software testing in 1999 and has also been User Experience Team Lead. " Organizing Let’s Test 2012. Ran the EuroSTAR TestLab 2011. " Teacher at Karlstad University and the higher vocational study colleges in Karlstad and
Gothenburg. " Runs the internationally known blog thetesteye.com together with Rikard Edgren and
Martin Jansson. Have published posters on Software Quality Characteristics and 37 Sources for Test Ideas.
" Is currently managing the test team at Qamcom Research & Technology in Karlstad.
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First Example
" What is your model of a year?
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Models
" A model is anything used in any way to represent anything else
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Mental Models
" A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world.
" Jay Wright Forrester defined general mental models as: "The image of the world around us, which we carry in our head, is just a
model. Nobody in his head imagines all the world, government or country. He has only selected concepts, and relationships between them, and uses
those to represent the real system.”
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Mental Model Characteristics
A mental model is generally: " founded on obscure, or incomplete facts " flexible – is considerably variable in positive as well as in negative sense " information filtering – causes selective perception, perception of only selected
parts of information " very limited, compared with the complexities surrounding the world
" Or in plain English:
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Second Example
" An application - RedNotebook " Look at the user interface for a couple of minutes " How would you test this?
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Second Example
" An application - RedNotebook " Look at the user interface for a couple of minutes " How would you test this?
" Do your models include any of the following dimensions? " Capabilities " Data " Technologies " Competitors " Quality Characteristics " Users / Usage Scenarios
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Exploratory Testing
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Exploratory Testing
" Freestyle ET imply using mental models " Good ET require using many/diverse mental models " Good ET benefit from having a blend of mental and conceptual models
" Mental " Implicit " Explicit " Invisible
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SFDPOT – Product elements
From Bach/Bolton
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CRUCSPIC STMP– Quality Characteristics
From TheTestEye
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CIDTESTD – Project Environment
From Bach/Bolton
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Capabilities
Failure Mode
Models
Data
Surroundings
White-box
Product History
Actual software
Technologies
Competitors
Purpose
Image
Business Knowledge
Legal aspects
Creative Ideas
Internal Collections
You
Project Background
Information Objectives
Risks
Test Artifacts
Debt
Conversations
Context Analysis
Many Deliverables
Tools
Quality Characteristics
Fears
Usage Scenarios
Field Information
Users
Public Collections
Standards
References
Searching
From Edgren & Edgren/Jansson/Emilsson
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Third Example
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How to sharpen your mental models
" Awareness of biased thoughts
" Don’t let biased thoughts and fallacies dominate your models…
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How to sharpen your mental models
" Create explicit models " Before " In the meantime " After
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How to sharpen your mental models
" Step out of your consciousness
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How to sharpen your mental models
" Force yourself to think in several dimensions
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Closing up
" Can you trust your mental models? " Yes!
" You use them every day.
" But… " Be aware of biases and fallacies " Use tools to guide your thinking " Shut out thoughts that are inappropriate (for your task) " Diversify your information dimensions
" Skilled software testers aren’t just lucky…
" They use many rich and diversified mental models in order to be successful.
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Questions
Henrik Emilsson, Test Manager
[email protected] +46 733 80 24 29
Twitter: @henrikemilsson Blog: www.thetesteye.com