1.
T19
Test Management
10/16/2014 3:00:00 PM
Before You Test Your System,
Test Your Assumptions
Presented by:
Aaron Sanders
Agile Coach
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
888-268-8770 ∙ 904-278-0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

2.
Aaron Sanders
Agile Coach
Through training and coaching, Aaron Sanders helps organizations design
collaborative systems. Aaron owes the effectiveness of his work to practice
spanning more than two decades in technological and interpersonal disciplines.
He believes that his work as a Certified Scrum Trainer introduces all the initial
concepts, while the full impact on the learners is usually felt days later. Coaching
allows him to sense when a situation requires attention and leads to faster
concept integration. Since there’s always room for improvement, Aaron finds that
pairing with others helps him improve his skills and increase the customer’s
benefit. Check out Aaron’s work at aaron.sanders.name.

3.
B E F O R E Y O U T E S T Y O U R
S Y S T E M , T E S T Y O U R
A S S U M P T I O N S
A A R O N S A N D E R S , A G I L E C O A C H
T W I T T E R : @ _ A A R O N _ S A N D E R S
R E V I E W I N G R E Q U I R E M E N T S O F T E N L E A D S T O
B E L I E V I N G W E H A V E T H E S A M E
U N D E R S T A N D I N G

4.
V I S U A L I Z I N G I N F O R M A T I O N A L L O W S U S T O
D E T E C T I N C O N S I S T E N C I E S I N
U N D E R S T A N D I N G
W E A C H I E V E T A C I T K N O W L E D G E U S I N G
D I S C U S S I O N A N D F E E D B A C K T O C O - C R E A T E
B E T T E R M O D E L S

5.
U S I N G T H A T B E T T E R M O D E L W E E F F E C T I V E L Y
W O R K T O G E T H E R T O W A R D S T H E S A M E
O B J E C T I V E
D I S T R I B U T I N G R E Q U I R E M E N T S
L E A D S T O A N I N S U F F I C I E N T
U N D E R S T A N D I N G O F T H E S Y S T E M

6.
T O B U I L D S H A R E D U N D E R S T A N D I N G
S K E T C H A N D R E C O R D O N W A L L S A N D
W H I T E B O A R D S
W O R D S A N D P I C T U R E S H E L P
E V E R Y O N E B U I L D S H A R E D
U N D E R S T A N D I N G

7.
C O L L A B O R A T I V E W O R K S H O P S I N V O L V E
S T A K E H O L D E R S , U S E R S , A N D T H E D E L I V E R Y
T E A M
M O D E L I N G W O R K S H O P S F O L L O W A
S I M P L E F L O W
Introduce the objective of the workshop
1. Get information out of minds and on to walls
2. Organize the information into similar groups
3. Distill the information and find patterns
4. Find focus to engage in the best work
Summarize and record what you’ve learned

8.
L E A N A N D T H E D E S I G N O F
B U S I N E S S
• Every decision you make about your offering is a
design decision.
• Every design decision is an hypothesis.
• Declare your assumptions and test them.
• Evaluate your results ruthlessly, and be prepared to
change course.
D E C L A R E Y O U R A S S U M P T I O N S
What assumptions do you have?
…about your customers?
…that if proven false, will cause you to fail?
In other words: what do you need to know in order to move
forward successfully?

9.
T Y P I C A L P R O D U C T
A S S U M P T I O N S . . .
Who is the user? Who is the customer?
Where does our product fit in their work or life?
What problems does our product solve?
When and how is our product used?
What features are important?
How should our product look and behave?
T Y P I C A L B U S I N E S S
A S S U M P T I O N S
How will we acquire customers?
How will we make money?
Who are our competitors?
What’s our differentiator?
What’s our biggest risk?
How do we expect to solve it?

10.
H Y P O T H E S I S S T A T E M E N T
We believe that
[doing this]
for [these people]
will achieve [this outcome].
We’ll know this is true when we see
[this market feedback].
A P P L Y D E S I G N T H I N K I N G

11.
T H I S
Source: "Facilitator's Guide To Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner and others.
.
V A L U E O V E R V O L U M E

12.
M O D E L O U T O P P O R T U N I T I E S
C R E A T E E M P A T H Y M A P S
Do?

13.
C O N D U C T I N T E R V I E W S
S T O R Y M A P O U T U S E R
J O U R N E Y S
Sequence of
events
sub-tasks,
alternatives,
variations and
details

14.
B U I L D S T O R Y M A P S I N S M A L L
C O L L A B O R A T I V E G R O U P S
P R I O R I T I Z E & S T R I P E T H E M A P B Y
O U T C O M E

15.
E N G A G E T H E W H O L E T E A M I N A
D E S I G N S T U D I O
S T A R T B Y
S K E T C H I N G
I N D E P E N D E N T L Y

16.
S H A R E R E S U L T S O N E - B Y - O N E
F I N D T H E B E S T I D E A S
( N O T T H E B E S T
A R T I S T )

17.
T E S T H Y P O T H E S E S W I T H
P R O T O T Y P E S

18.
F I E L D - A N D L A B - T E S T
P R O T O T Y P E S
Prototype like you know you’re right.
Test like you know you’re wrong.

19.
R E L E A S I N G V A L U A B L E S O F T W A R E
F O R T H E U S E R I S A W I C K E D
P R O B L E M
C O N T I N U I N G W O R K O N T H E M A P

20.
D I S C U S S I O N S D R I V E O U T M O R E D E T A I L S ,
V A L I D A T E , A N D B U I L D S H A R E D
U N D E R S T A N D I N G
V A L I D A T E D L E A R N I N G C Y C L E

21.
S H O W W E A T H E R O N T H E W A Y
T O T H E A I R P O R T
F O R T H E B U S I N E S S T R A V E L E R

22.
A T T R A C T M I L L E N I A L S W I T H A N A P P
I N O R D E R T O C H E C K I N A N D O U T
O F H O T E L S W I T H T H E P H O N E
A L L O W U S E R S T O S E A R C H T H I R D
P A R T Y S I T E S W H I C H W I L L T A K E
T H E M T O O U R P A Y M E N T F L O W

23.
A T T R A C T O U R N E W S P A P E R
S U B S C R I B E R S W I T H A N I P A D A P P
A N D A S I M I L A R P A I D S U B S C R I P T I O N
M O D E L
Q U E S T I O N S ?

24.
T H A N K Y O U !
T W I T T E R : @ _ A A R O N _ S A N D E R S