Do you find yourself discussing with your peers what you think the system you’re building should do? Do you argue over what the users want? Do discussions wind up in a heated debate? This result indicates that no shared understanding exists about the system. With a lack of shared understanding, it’s easy to fall into the trap of making assumptions about system functionality, who the users will be, and how to build the system. These assumptions introduce errors into the requirements and design—long before a single line of code is written. Creating a shared understanding among stakeholders, users, and teams reduces the chances of not building the right thing—as well as not building the thing right. Aaron Sanders describes the techniques of experimental design, story mapping, user research, prototyping, and user acceptance testing that he’s used to help teams build a shared understanding. Learn to test your assumptions as rigorously as you test the system itself.
Aaron Sanders
Agile Coach
Through training and coaching, Aaron Sanders helps organizations design collaborative systems. Aaron owes the effectiveness of his work to practice spanning more than two decades in technological and interpersonal disciplines. He believes that his work as a Certified Scrum Trainer introduces all the initial concepts, while the full impact on the learners is usually felt days later. Coaching allows him to sense when a situation requires attention and leads to faster concept integration. Since there’s always room for improvement, Aaron finds that pairing with others helps him improve his skills and increase the customer’s benefit. Check out Aaron’s work at aaron.sanders.name.
Speaker Presentations
Thursday, October 16, 2014 - 3:00pm
Test Management
Before You Test Your System, Test Your Assumptions