Just bought a TestSphere Deck

I plan to use my deck in retrospectives within my team (initially), as well as interviews and also planning sessions. Do any of you already using the deck have any advice for me?

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I’ve recently purchased a deck.

I’ve been playing a game with them to get QAs from different teams talking, we all get together, pick between 1 & 5 cards (one of each type), if said person can tell a true testing story that has happened to them that relates all the cards they win the cards. If not it opens up to the table. Winner is the person at the end of the game with the most cards.

I do plan on using them to help drive a test strategy with some teams I’m going to be working with as well.

I’m finding them very useful!

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There’s some great advice here, the last reply is also about retrospectives :slight_smile:

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Not currently using the deck but had some ideas…

Daily/Weekly/Monthly Use Of One Particular Card
I have often thought if there is a particular thing that the team needs to focus on, you could have a test sphere card of the week/day month. An email (or mentioned in a team meeting) is sent to colleagues within the team (sharing what card it is this week) and before the next team meeting you would like people to focus on the items within that card and then provide examples of how they have dealt with /focused that particular item in their role.

Project Updates
If the testing team is having a project update, place the deck face down in the centre of the table. Ask colleagues to randomly select cards from the deck and discuss the card drawn in relation to their current project/workload.

*Alternatively let colleagues select their own card relevant to something that they have had trouble with and encourage discussion between the team in this area.

  • Another idea for this, is to hand a card (of your choice) to your Senior Test Analysts and ask them to focus on this with their teams for this month, and get feedback as to how it has gone prior to your next meeting.

Learning Styles/Insights
Currently as you may know… in our office there is an insights course which helps people get in touch with the type of person they are: red, blue, green, yellow- this enables people to get a more in depth understanding of their learning style and attitude towards certain tasks etc. I have often thought if there was anyway that this could be combined with the test sphere cards we could get an accurate understanding of the tasks that some individuals may find difficult and easy.

Brainstorm
Ask colleagues to brainstorm a particular card and ways to mitigate the risk of this area (if there is for the card selected), they could then share experiences/knowledge with their peers.

I think the fact that you know I have STAs in my team might give the game away that you’re in my team :wink:

I like some of these ideas, definitely worth investigating.