NottsTest: 15th Feb 2023 - Problem Solving on Hard Mode + a write up with useful resources

Mike Haber is coming along to talk to us about recovering from a serious issue. How do we fix something that causes chaos and confusion among everyone at work? Mike uses visual Thinking Tech to get people around a common picture and work together. How can we avoid putting people’s noses out of joint? Find out with this in-person talk!

This talk isn’t about testing as such, but includes some discussion about how testing wouldn’t have found this problem. There are also loads of skills in this talk that will be hugely beneficial for testers to use.

Overview

The talk will focus on a particularly tricky P1 incident and resolution. The focus will be on

  • The ‘Once in 20 years’ nature of the issue
  • Managing the team of people fixing the issue
  • Assessing the suggestions for fixes from colleagues
  • Management concerns around time to resolution
  • Using simple visuals to share understanding and maintain trust
  • Scientific problem solving under pressure

There will be a focus on visual problem solving, perspectives and blame management.

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Well, this turned out quite a lot better than we’d hoped. 20 folks turned up for a great talk in a fab space. It’s good to be back in-person, and we even proved we can do it hybrid too

OK, so here’s a bit of a summary:

Mike showed us some of the methods he used to ensure the issue was fixed, and also to manage expectations of senior managers & other stakeholders. There was a LOT at stake, as a serious incident like this could have affected the uni’s standing in the media and among students.

He’s engaged with everyone related to the incident, created a spray diagram/mind map of the system under test and used this to target potential areas for testing (rather than use a ‘just test everything’ mindset). He’s used clean language for interviews when talking to system experts, so that he avoids polluting the answers with his own thinking and biases. There was a RACI diagram using OODA principles for management feedback, and he’s considered mental modelling methods like cynefin to keep him focussed on the right things.

Mike’s used as many visual modelling techniques as he could for this incident, and he achieved a really good outcome. It’d be interesting to see if anyone else has used these kinds of techniques?

Some links that might help fill in some gaps:

Problem Solving Checklist.pdf (198.5 KB)

Mike has created a checklist which is (hopefully!) attached here. Do let him know what you think! He really appreciates feedback. Contact details are on the checklist

Thanks for adding the review! A couple of interesting takeaways might be
a) When do you know it isn’t a normal problem, and has people and tech elements? You don’t want to leave it too late.
b) Ideally you’d have the skills before you need them - or get them really quickly. Blame free conversations, understanding rules and visual communications are useful in general, but essential with People and IT problems.

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