STWC-NA 2014 Retrospective

On April 25th I, with two other colleagues (Graeme Harvey [@graemeRharvey] and Brendan Drew [@drewbrend]), participated in the North American leg of the Software Testing World Cup testing the next release candidate of Snagit® (created by TechSmith®). We were able to put some testing emphasis on both the Mac and PC versions of the software. I thought I would compose a brief retrospective of what I found as well as some ideas we had discussed before and after the competition by asking the typical retrospective questions.

What went well?

• Originally created a rough mind map based on information available through Twitter and the STWC World Cup website 
• Kept on top of logging defects 
• Google Hangouts worked in a pinch because we could no longer be collocated 
• YouTube channel 
• Multitasking went pretty well even though it caused a distraction that may have limited the amount we got done 
• Google Drive allowed for collaboration with updating a strategy (really just jotting down ideas), and creating our Test Report 

What did we plan to do that didn't get done?

• Collocate for testing 
• We had planned to be collocated for the testing portion however due to a bug in our plan there was time zone miscalculation by us, then the organizers, then again by us (us being Ed with no “review”) 
• Google Hangouts was quickly tested when we discovered just a few hours before the competition that we weren't able to use the location we had planned on because of timing 
• Pre-create ideas of what to include in a test report 
• We did create a mind map a few weeks before the competition of things we could have used however because it was still several weeks away 
• It was rough because we did not know what the SUT was 
• Before we knew it, it was the week of the competition and we didn't get a chance to review because our schedules had gotten really busy between family and work commitments 
• Most of what we had in our “strategy” because it turned out to be a software completely different than what we had anticipated 

How could we do this better in a future competition?

• Plan a backup strategy in advance so that if person presence has to change we could have failed over 
• Make sure schedules are coordinated better 
• We did have a fourth person that had to back out last minute due to a seminar commitment he had 
• Have one person pay attention and co-ordinate questions to the YouTube channel so it does not distract us all 
• This person could also have started on the Test Report 
• At least dual monitors at home (although this was solved by using two computers/Chromecast) 
• Perform more of a “Kanban” approach 
• Create a more software agnostic “strategy” 
• We (incorrectly) assumed that the SUT would be a Web App based on the FAQ’s but turned out to be a Desktop App 
• This caused us to rethink our strategy last minute 

In the end it was still a great experience that really highlighted how different skills come together to form a cohesive team that worked well together, was able to re-strategize in a pinch and adapt to a changing landscape. We felt that we achieved and provided some valuable information back to the judges (and in turn TechSmith) that they will be able to make some useful calls/decisions pertaining to the competition and in TechSmith’s case, the next release candidate.

For those interested, here is a shot of the original mind map that gave us (undocumented) ideas for testing this software: