[Sigia-l] Questioning common test scripting

[Listera]

"Dr. Marios Pittas" wrote:

> I know that you are not suggesting that we should be doing changes after every
> informal conversation, but how would you go about it deciding whether a
> problem suggested by a user is an isoltated incident, or exists only in a
> specific group of people.. or or.. thus the need for established processes,
> methods and techniques..

"Established" by whom?

If you go through the archives of this list, you'll discover that there are
some people (many not coincidentally in the testing business) who argue that
the future of IA is in white lab coats, "scientific" methods, usability
"engineering", etc. They argue essentially for design by testing. In case
you haven't noticed :-) I have a beef with that notion.

Every time you design a system or an app you are betting. It's a
multifaceted bet with myriad factors, usability/user reaction being one of
them. Just as focus groups for TV sitcoms, movies or commercials don't
guarantee success, there's no way to eliminate all the risks involved in app
development. It's naïve to pretend otherwise.

In this context, (potential) user input is one determining factor. Since I
don't let my users design my apps for me, my testing and 'conversations'
with them are often quite narrowly defined on specific parts of the system
I'm not sure of. I have lots of medical opinions, but I don't expect or want
my doctor to let me operate on myself ;-)

Ziya
Nullius in Verba