Weekend Testing for the first time

I heard about Weekend Testing some time ago but I haven't had chance to participate in it until last weekend.

The testing challenge for WTA06 was prepared by Eusebiu Blindu. It was a game that was using a hand of cards, and based on the hand selected, an image was generated when the player clicked on the "Generate Image" button. The session was divided into 2 parts - testing and discussion.

There were more then 20 participants. Even though it was american chapter, we had people from England, Czech Republic and Poland too :). In the first part we could test separately or work in pairs. It was up to us how we would manage this challenge. I didn't have chance to work in pair so I started working alone. The beginning was hard because all the messages which came every second, were very distractive. But after a while I got used to it. I was picking a test idea and following it. In the case of finding anything interesting I shared it on main chat. In the case of lack of ideas I picked someones else's and started following it. It was amazing how quickly, that one hour flew by. I had never had chance to participate in such insightful testing session.

The second part was mainly a discussion. We were discussing what skill were essential in this task. We had chance to see someone else's point of view, to challenge our own conceptions and verify our own thoughts. I have learnt a lot by watching other people's different approach, as how they use different tools and skills for the same task. I could again realize how litte I know

One more time thanks to Eusebiu Blindu for the challange and Micheal Larsen for leading the session.

If you ever have 2 hours free on Saturday or Sunday try to "taste" Weekend Testing if you want to stay in shape as a tester.

Alek