30 Minute Challenge

A few weeks ago, my colleague Ajay Balamurugadas and I went books shopping together. Jerry Weinberg’s books were on the top of my list. I wanted to buy Wienberg on Writing while Ajay had 3 choices: The Black Swan and a couple other books related to Perl. What happens when two thirsty intellectuals go book hunting? We had every reason to buy books spanning Psychology, Management, Philosophy, Computer Science, Problem Solving, Writing and many more. Luckily, Weinberg on Writing was available. Ajay got The Black Swan.

While I was getting a glimpse of Perfect Software … , Ajay asked the storekeeper for Introduction to General Systems thinking. After some initial search, the storekeeper replied politely, “Sir, our inventory shows that one last copy is available. However, it appears to be misplaced. If you come back at a later time, we can get one from the warehouse for you”. Ajay nodded his head disappointedly. I was wondering if he would really buy so many books. I already carried 5 books for both of us though we planned to buy just 2. The sumptuous lunch party at my mom’s place was calling me home!

Conversation between us
Ajay: Are you game for a 30 minute challenge?
Pari: What?
Ajay: Let’s hunt down Introduction to General Systems thinking on our own. Let’s see if we’ll find it
Pari: OK. I’ll search the Management section. You start off from the Mathematics section (the other end of the floor). If we complete these sections, we can start looking in neighboring sections.
[This is the usual me jumping off without any preparation or strategy - Trap Gods must be happy]

Ajay: We don’t know how the book looks like. That might help us find the book faster. Let me google for the cover page of the book.
[Smart move by Ajay. This guy always springs new surprises. You'll know the reason behind it as you read on]

Pari: That is a very good idea.
Ajay: This is the cover page. It’s Red in color and if placed vertically in the book stand the side might look like this which is also in red color tilting his cell phone as though the image would tilt: D.
Pari: This is a good start for us.
Ajay: Ok. I’ll see you with the book!
Pari: Wow! Bye.

I headed to the Management section which was at the other end of that floor farther away from the Mathematics section. I chose to start my search from Management section for 2 reasons: 1) Weinberg on Writing and Perfect Software.. came from that section. I had seen the storekeeper picking them from there. So I knew there was a high possibility of finding Introduction to General Systems thinking there. 2) I thought that if I don’t find the book in the management section, I can move on to neighboring Computer Science and Investments sections while Ajay could move on to Philosophy and Psychology sections if he didn’t find the book in the Mathematics section. You may ask ‘Jerry’s book in Mathematics section?’ Well, if the book has been misplaced, then it could be in any of these sections. As a matter of factly, it could be on any of the other 3 floors of the bookstore as well. Whoa! My head rolled as I thought about the coverage for this mission.

My Strategy
Ajay’s idea of looking at the book cover was a good start. I started looking for a red book. There were so many reds. I looked at Weinberg on Writing and Perfect Software.. which I already had. I remembered that some of Jerry Weinberg’s books are mostly from Dorset House. Dorset House logo is a ‘DH’ with an inverted V over the letters DH. Now, I assumed that Introduction to General Systems thinking was from Dorset House (If I were in front of the computer, I would have googled to confirm this).

I used the following strategy: First level – look for a red book. Second level - look for Dorset House logo. Third level – check if it’s written by Jerry. Fourth level – Check if it’s Introduction to General Systems thinking. Fifth level – Success. Except the first level, every other level is an elimination level. If my findings don’t match my expectations at any level, I'll find the next red book and re-apply this strategy.

Many dread Red. Though I did not assume anything about red colored books, I was astonished to see a huge number of books in red. Each time I saw a red book, I moved on to the second level looking for the logo. If DH logo was absent, I backtracked to the first level looking for the next red book. Again, remember there are different flavors of red. I wondered if the picture we saw on the cell phone was red. It could have been maroon or magenta or any other color as well displayed dimly. So I looked not just for red books, but also maroon, magenta and others which appeared close to red color.

As I completed my search in one bookstand, I observed that most bookstands had enough space to put in an extra row of books I.e., one row of books are in the front directly visible to the onlookers. There was another row hidden behind this row. Maybe, the storekeepers stored multiple copies of books displayed in the front. Maybe, some of those books were not displayed in the front at all and hence escaped the onlookers. This could be one way in which Introduction to General Systems thinking escaped the storekeeper’s eyes.

I had two options to redesign my strategy: 1) Continue searching the front row alone 2) Search both front and back rows. In the interest of time, I chose option 1. The plan was to move to option 2 if option 1 did not help me find the book. I searched in the management section and did not find any book. Instead of switching to option 2, I moved on to the next section. I said to myself, “Let me use option 1 for other sections as well. If I don’t find the book, I’ll switch over to option 2”. I looked into a couple other sections. Ajay had moved to the computer science section already though he started from the other end of the floor. I was stunned “This guy is so fast. How could he do that?”. I stood and watched him for a while if I could get any clues to optimize my search [pair testing?]. He was not only looking at the front row, but also at the back row in each bookstand. And yet quicker than me. He had picked a few more books too.

Ajay’s Strategy
What I saw here was Ajay used option 2. He searched not only the first row, but also the back rows. He simply removed a few books in the front row and peeped into the back row if there were any red books. I was amazed to see how quick he was in spite of looking for many more books. He was not just looking for Introduction to General Systems thinking, but also was open to finding other books of interest. As he ended the search in his section where he agreed to search, he started searching in my section. ‘What? Doesn’t he believe me as I just finished searching?’, I asked myself. ‘If he finds the book in my section which I missed, then there is a lesson for me to learn’ I thought and moved to psychology section where I thought there was a possibility to find the book. I gave up at the end of 20 minutes to read the first chapter of Perfect Software … while Ajay stuck to it for the entire 30 minutes.

Let’s understand Ajay’s strategy in his own words:
“The feeling of happiness when I’d get the book and smile fully look at the storekeeper encouraged me. Once the mission was decided, there was no looking back. There was no use wasting time on things not under my control. Instead, I focused on the thought: ‘The book I’d touch now could be the book I am looking for’. I ran my fingers on each book to skim the words on the title. Quick Reading I learnt at School by Dr. Raj Bapna’s Memory Techniques accelerated my search. My prior experience of helping a library teacher in arranging books helps me fish out the book quickly. Having close to 700 books at home helped. Basically, I’m used to such book hunting exercises and hence the speed. I scanned the books for the words ‘Introduction’, ‘Thinking’, ‘General’ and any title which occupied considerable space in terms of words. Though I was aware that the book was RED in color, I had the belief that the entire list can be covered easily in 30 minutes even if you select each and every book”

Did we find the book?
No. What we learned is how common this challenge is to the daily challenges we face as testers. When we get a new build for testing, We:
1. Hit the Tests right away. No planning. No preparation. No strategy. Just jump at it. This is so bad an idea given that it hardly gives a chance to our thought process.
2. Assume many things without questioning anything or anyone – We don’t ask for more information. We think that it is the programmer’s responsibility to share. How would they know what you want to know?
3. Don't Observe enough. Red is Red. But, What is red to you may not be red to your friend. It’s about perception. My 3 yo thinks all her teeth are yellow. Being a good observant helps. Observe from your eyes. Observe from the other testers eyes. Observe by thinking about the big picture.
4. Fear Multi-Storied problem. One key issue in our search was that the bookstore had several floors and given 2 people and 30 minutes, it was hard to cover all the floors. Suppose, we had found the book in 2nd floor itself, what is the guarantee that there was no book in the other floors. There could be a possibility of finding a few more misplaced books which even the inventory [read as automation] missed. Maybe. Maybe not. You never know. Now equate this book for a bug and re-read point #4. There you go. Repeat after me..... "A bug can hide wherever it wants to"
5. Don't Brainstorm. If Ajay and I brainstormed about the strategy before setting out on our own, we could have devised better ways of looking for the book. Pairing helps and speeds up testing as well. 2 pairs of eyes observe many different things at the same time.
6. Don't Share Knowledge. From Ajay's description of his experience, it is quite clear that he had prior experience of handling similar situations and dealing with them. Talking it out with him would have definitely helped us strategize this challenge better.

What I suggest above are methods that we used. These methods are fallible. When these methods work, we call it ‘Luck’. Well, it really isn’t about luck. It’s about using the right strategy. It's about how effectively we use our prior experiences and knowledge to the challenge at hand.

At the end of 30 minutes, Ajay continued to look for more books while I signed off from the bookstore. It was a day of astonishing revelation to me. It also reinforces my belief in team work and diversity of the team members when it comes to solving problems collectively.

I feel apologetic for lengthy posts at times keeping my readers' time in mind. However, some posts appear so incomplete without being lengthy. This prevents me from chopping off any content in the review phase. This is one such post which I didn't want to miss sharing with you.

Addendum on 6th March 2010
I quoted the name of the book as Perfect Illusions instead of Perfect Software. The complete name of the book is Perfect Software And Other Illusions about Testing. This is now corrected. Thanks to Fiona Charles for correcting me.

Happy Problem Solving,
Parimala Shankaraiah