Satisfice Inc.

"Epistemology for the rest of us"

 

Seminars

My classes are set up to be provocative and experiential. Each class is an exploration of my notes as a student of testing, for the benefit of other students. This is an exciting subject for me, and my goal is to share that excitement; to infect you with it.

 

“James is the toughest teacher I have ever seen and the better you do, the more he will push you. This is because he wants you to learn...He has incredible skills to read people and activate their minds. Getting an answer from him is sometimes difficult, but if you are persistent enough, he will make you answer your own question! Like I noted earlier, this training gives you much more than you will ever imagine. You will understand event reporting on a whole new level after the course.” 
--Jari Laakso (Tester, Manager)

To read more about Jari and his RST experience, click here!

Also check out Bill Matthews blog post about taking the RST course; "Surviving the Socratic Experience"

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Rapid Testing Intensive ONLINE January 28-30, 2013   Mon-Weds broadcasted from Orcas Island, Washington A software testing practicum experience with James Bach Many testers participated in an immersive testing experience, RTI #1, with the Bach brothers in July 2012. These are the men who created the Session-Based Test Management and Rapid Software Testing methodologies. About 88 participated online, where it provided an experience to see how the modern theory of testing met practical work.  James is back again, and this time, he will provide an ONLINE ONLY testing event. Click here for more information and to register!       Slideshow from a Rapid Software Testing class in Cambridge, England (March 2012) - courtesy of Rosie Sherry

Rapid Software Testing

Developed and taught by James Bach, this 3-day, hands-on class introduces you to rapid software testing, a complete testing methodology designed for a world of barely sufficient resources, information, and time. Based on the principles in the book Lessons Learned in Software Testing: a Context-Driven Approach, this class presents an approach to testing that begins with personal skill development and extends to the ultimate mission of software testing: lighting the way of the project by evaluating the product.

The philosophy of rapid testing presented in this class is not like traditional approaches to testing, which ignore the thinking part of testing and instead advocate neverending paperwork. Products have become too complex for that, and testers are too expensive. Rapid testing uses a cyclic approach and heuristic methods to constantly re-optimize testing to fit the needs of your clients. Rapid testing isn't just testing with a sense of urgency, it's mission-focused testing that eliminates unnecessary work, assures that everything necessary gets done, and constantly asks what testing can do to speed the project as a whole.

One important tool of rapid testing we will cover is the discipline of exploratory testing-- essentially a testing martial art. Exploratory testing combines test design and test execution into one process that finds a lot of problems quickly. If you are an experienced tester, you'll find out how to articulate those intellectual processes of testing that you already practice intuitively. If you're a new tester, hands-on testing exercises help you gain critical experience.

If you outsource development or testing...

We have taught this class at outsource firms in India on behalf of their clients so that they can do a better job of testing without needing detailed test procedures. But more importantly, the rapid testing methodology is about getting a lot of value for the testing dollar (value that simply can't be reproduced by throwing untrained bodies at the problem) so that your top management won't see testing as a commodity activity that any stranger will do as well as you. Even if you outsource, you may want to have a core team of testers back at headquarters who can rapidly test products to check the "testing" done by outsource firms.

If you are burdened with clerical requirements...

We have taught this class in organizations pursuing the CMM and organizations subject to FDA and other regulatory requirements. Rapid testing is about thinking. As long as they want you to think well and find important problems quickly, this is a class that applies to you. However, we do advocate a lean form of test documentation, to the extent you can possibly lean it. We also teach session-based test management, which allows you to measure and document exploratory testing in a manner compatible with more "formal" process cultures.

Read a detailed course description.

Contact James Bach for details.

 

RST Class in Estonia 9/21/2011; Courtesy of Irina Ivanova

 

Rob Sabourin, creator of Just-In-Time testing methodology and a leading thinker in the Context-Driven testing school, said this about a Satisfice course he attended: “A number of years ago, sometime in the early 2000s, I was invited to participate in a special three day Black Box Testing course.  The venue was the Satisfice Test Lab, a converted theatre, in Front Royal Virginia.  James Bach and Cem Kaner tried out new training material and exercises.  They used a cross teaching approach in which James tried to teach Cem’s stuff and Cem tried to teach James’ stuff.  We did cool exercises, tied testing to lunar geology, made presentations and were constantly challenged to act purposefully, defend our positions and creatively think on our feet.  The days were filled with insights, discovery and many great “aha moments”. The evenings were filled with friendly debate about what we were learning about software engineering, what we were learning about testing and most of all what we were learning about ourselves.  The camaraderie, conferring and community have led me to a rich career and much continuing collaboration.  Some of my most important and memorable testing projects have been done with Jon Bach whom I met at the Black Box Testing course, Jon was helping James and Cem set up test environments, organize exercises, run activities and drive logistics.  I learned a lot.  It was a rich humbling experience.  I have done a lot of fun work with our classmates and instructors.  It was an energizing experience! “ Some highlights: ·     Ross Collard christened me the “Reverend Rob” after a pitch I made as part of a class group exercise trying to convince James and Cem to use our clever approach to test Open Office. ·     I was asked to test a “rubber ball” and put on the spot trying to learn “why?”

 

 

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