Someone wrote recently about how we get disappointed when the testing processes that we put in place don’t work anymore or don’t work for that particular situation. They suggested that we got to consider the outcome as just information and adapt by learning from that occurrence. This triggered a few thoughts in me as I am trying to devise a testing process adaption strategy, as well as building a solution for the industry I work in. Let’s look at how to do testing process adaption when it doesn’t work for a situation.
Similar problems have similar solutions – but the solutions might not work!
A common mistake that we make when devising solutions is when we think that ‘similar problems have similar solutions’. Well, this is common sense, no doubt’, but there are some catches. If you look at experiences from various fields like industrial psychology, individual psychology, medicine, and many other diverse fields, you can see that the solution offered is appropriate but it simply didn’t work! This makes us wonder why. Well, solutions offered are just boxes. If you open that box and try to acclimatize the solution for the situation at hand, you get a different result! So, the same solution that worked for a similar problem is not working now. There are several reasons for that, but there are three things that we need to pay attention to: circumstance, situation, and environmental factors. For example, the same medicine that worked for the same problem for a different patient didn’t work for you. Because your body’s environment has parameters that are different from that of the other.
Devising a testing process strategy also involves the same challenge. The key consideration is the culture and the people involved who are the make-or-break factor in determining whether your testing process would work. So when you devise a testing process for your organisation, the first thing that you need to pay attention are the people and the organisational culture.
Can I Learn And Adapt?
Of course, you can, and you should. But add that situational, circumstantial, and environmental (people and cultural) factors that you discovered recently into your solution database! They distinguish the existing solution from the recently discovered solution. Who knows, your previous instance should be ignored as it might not be applicable anymore! So, adapt as you go by.
Hope that gives you some idea on how to approach devising testing process strategy. Feel free to contact me if your organisation is looking for putting a testing process in place. Glad to help!