Extreme Learning
By the end of last week I was sure that I wasn't sure how to do my job. During my first two weeks I thought I just needed a cheat sheet--a list of questions that the technical people would understand (even if I didn't) to start discussions that would give me all the information I needed. During my third week I tried to create this list of questions but was frustrated because I still didn't understand enough about testing/quality in general to write the questions.
I've been in tight spots like this before. When I was tech writer, I was hired to analyze and design documentation for Accounts Payable software. My contract shop knew that I didn't know anything about Accounts Payable but they told me "don't worry, it's just like every other kind of software" and gave me a slightly better rate than usual as an incentive. I bought a college textbook on Accounts Payable (I probably should have looked for the Dummies book), crammed during my billable hours, and completed the work.
Last week I decided it was extreme learning time again. I went through the company library's books on testing (mostly REALLY boring) until I found the perfect book, a guide for new software testers. It explains the concepts, defines the terms, and gives the questions to think about while you're creating a test plan. I bought a skim cap at Reindeer coffee, turned on the iPod, read, mumbled and took notes.
After I finished the first chapter of the book I realized I had completely misunderstood one of the major tasks I needed to do. I was planning to discuss this task with a project team late last week and I would looked like an idiot if I had based the discussion on my old understanding.
I still have a lot of reading to do but I feel much better about figuring out the job now. Company libraries are wonderful--otherwise I would bought several useless books.
The only other interesting thing today was a discussion about outsourcing. My company outsources software testing on an irregular basis to an Indian company. My department is trying to figure out how to measure whether it really is cheaper to have this Indian company do the work and if they really do the work as well or better. It seems like someone somewhere just assumed it was faster/cheaper/better and started outsourcing a while ago. More on globalization later this week.
I've been in tight spots like this before. When I was tech writer, I was hired to analyze and design documentation for Accounts Payable software. My contract shop knew that I didn't know anything about Accounts Payable but they told me "don't worry, it's just like every other kind of software" and gave me a slightly better rate than usual as an incentive. I bought a college textbook on Accounts Payable (I probably should have looked for the Dummies book), crammed during my billable hours, and completed the work.
Last week I decided it was extreme learning time again. I went through the company library's books on testing (mostly REALLY boring) until I found the perfect book, a guide for new software testers. It explains the concepts, defines the terms, and gives the questions to think about while you're creating a test plan. I bought a skim cap at Reindeer coffee, turned on the iPod, read, mumbled and took notes.
After I finished the first chapter of the book I realized I had completely misunderstood one of the major tasks I needed to do. I was planning to discuss this task with a project team late last week and I would looked like an idiot if I had based the discussion on my old understanding.
I still have a lot of reading to do but I feel much better about figuring out the job now. Company libraries are wonderful--otherwise I would bought several useless books.
The only other interesting thing today was a discussion about outsourcing. My company outsources software testing on an irregular basis to an Indian company. My department is trying to figure out how to measure whether it really is cheaper to have this Indian company do the work and if they really do the work as well or better. It seems like someone somewhere just assumed it was faster/cheaper/better and started outsourcing a while ago. More on globalization later this week.
posted by changingagain at 7:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home