[olpc-nz] Helping our new testers

[Gregory Baker]

Seconded on the suggestion of a comprehensive intro to the NZ group and what the different sub-groups are involved in. 

Regards

Greg 



On Oct 8, 2010, at 12:52 PM, Tim McNamara <mcnamara.tim at gmail.com> wrote:

> [warning: a few themes are being mixed together here!]
> 
> On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Tabitha Roder <tabitha at tabitha.net.nz> wrote:
> The basic test template is here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_testing_template#The_NZ_activity_test
> 
> This template is really only relevant for new XO builds. It's also somewhat unnecessary - OLPC tends to do its own regression testing between builds. Now that there are paid QA staff at OLPC again, our group will probably find most of its requests are supporting Sugar Labs.
> 
> I would like to offer more structure, so that our more experienced testers have a way to semi-formally induct newer people into the group. How we introduce new people into the group is fairly poor. 
> 
> I think a well-written introduction to testing and to our group would be really beneficial.
> 
> Weekly test plans mean that there's an incentive for people to turn up because they know they are achieving goals that are required. I don't like this dialogue:
>   A: what should we do today?
>   B: just find bugs.
>   A: oh... 
> 
> I would prefer that conversation went something along the lines of:
> 
>  A: what should we do today?
>  B: here are five things that we can knock off as a group, which would you like?
>  
> It would be good to keep things as simple as possible which is why I suggest this is a good place to start. You can make it prettier and print it out like a form, but that would then require typing up later. (By the way, I haven't seen many weekly testing summaries out of Wellington in a long time, what is happening down there?)
> 
> In all honesty, I feel that the Wellington group is dying.
> 
> Our experienced testers are bored and our newer ones are confused. People are moving their arrival times from 10:30 to 11 and 11:30.  We need something to change to bring people's motivation back.
> 
> Take me for example: I need to take 6 or so hours out of every Saturday to do testing, once transport to Wellington is factored in. Now, it's really discouraging (when I need to write my thesis) to not have a plan. It's hard to know whether what we're doing is actually making a difference. Tinkering with applications isn't sufficient to hold interest past a few months.
> 
> No one is taking leadership really. I'm somewhat reluctant to take too much charge. I'm quite opinionated and don't want to come across as pushy. However, I do try to make suggestions to the mailing list. But it's fairly rare to get much engagement from others.
> 
> I don't want to recruit new people into the group yet. We're not good enough at motivating the newer people that do turn up. I think that adding some structure will do a long way to add to our professionalism, increase motivation and also lead to greater results for OLPC/Sugar Labs.
> 
>  
> I was writing out a list of things to test on Thursday and posting it to the list, but for some reason I stopped, think someone suggested there was a better way.... I can start doing that again if you want. I was usually putting in links to the test request information and where to download the necessary files. Should I start that again?
> 
> That's what the wiki page is. I don't think a single person should be burdened with this level of administration. If it's part of the overall wiki, then developers will be able to add things themselves.
> 
> It would be useful if someone from each of the groups uses the "Claimed" status on each of the tests, so that we avoid duplication.
>  
> If we are going to have any more basics of NZ testers stuff, I suggest we put it on http://laptop.org.nz and keep it simple.
> 
> Simplicity is a good start. I think it would be better to be comprehensive that is well-written and easily readable.
> 
> I think our site will be a good one as an index. Our site's certainly prettier than the OLPC wiki. But I think the global wiki is a natural place for a resource that tells people how to test things. I've never been able to log into http://laptop.org.nz successfully though. Once the content is drafted, I would prefer a platform like FLOSS manuals.
>  
> I think the best way for NZers to get involved really is to have a conversation with one or some of us, online or face to face.
> 
> I think personal connections are very important. But, we also need to recognise that people volunteer their time because they want to support education of the world's children. Wellington is not being as effective as it could be in achieving this goal. I think we need to change the way we do things.
> 
> *exhale*
> 
> Tim
> 
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