Month: February 2025

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Documentation Rule #1: Break It

“How do you ensure thorough mobile responsiveness testing?”

One of the most important things to consider was the thoroughness of the progress testing with their checks and balances. A deadline should not define the testing procedures of a project; those procedures and processes and their timelines should be built into the project’s time budget.

Emulators can help, especially for larger projects provided they can be scripted or automated to ensure a fully holistic approach to the test.

Regarding its effectiveness and ease of use, Luddite testing is essential to any project. Establishing the minimum level of technical adeptness needed for the project requires building a focus group to test with.

More to follow…

~ Edward Caissie

I have taken the above from a recent LinkedIn invitation to share my perspective. This is the following…

Testing can play a significant role in the support processes for any application, whether it be a mobile project, a desktop project, or any other project genre. The group assisting when needed should be involved in how it is used and utilized. While there may be a bias toward in-house support services, this is where their training also needs to come into play.

The project’s documentarians also need to be involved in the testing processes. In their case, the most straightforward rule of thumb is to “find ways to break it.” Suppose you know how to break something, with the ideal being extreme edge case usage. In that case, you can provide documentation that leads the reader, or viewer, depending on your medium, to not fall into those potential issues. Please document how to use the project while steering clear of any possible problems.

When faced with a shortened timeline or one that may have been unrealistic, your documentation and those who write it will likely be the best way to provide the final testing a project needs.

Could you find ways to break it?

Could you ensure documentation avoids these pitfalls and, more importantly, provides information on achieving the same goal or obtaining the same information?

The first rule of documentation is to find ways to break it.

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Lead. Follow. Friend.

positive diverse friends with bike walking on street

Managing your team is a lot like coaching your family. In some cases, you like the person, and there is mutual respect, so the management is easy. In other cases, you simply did not choose your family, but there they are all the same.

Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Anonymous

Through many years of experience, I have learned the above does not apply, so why do I want to share this somewhat well-known quote as part of this conversation?

Let’s break down the whole thing to understand better how you can use this all the same.

Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.

Yes, you can work with the understanding that your team will blindly follow your instructions, but they should be helped and coached to accomplish the goals you set for them. Please work with your team to maximize their skills and talents.

Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.

You should not be following behind your team to pick up the pieces. Your job is to manage your team so they can recognize when something gets missed and how to reconsider best and pick up their pieces. Following behind is tantamount to micromanaging, which ultimately will drive down productivity.

Just walk beside me and be my friend.

This quote is almost valuable on its own. However, what it means to be a friend should still be considered, as should creating a friendly atmosphere. A very fine balance needs to be maintained in this case.

Developing a friendship with a team member can have many valuable benefits, but it can also create an atmosphere where directions are not followed or ignored. The friendship can smooth over the indiscretions, but that does not get the work done. Creating a friendly atmosphere will promote better, more transparent conversations and more constructive feedback in both directions.

In life, take the full quotation as you will, but with work-related situations, remember that, in general, and at best, the quotation is both a guideline and a warning. Make sure it serves you well in either case.