The Tester

I've been doing some testing for a friend lately.   I love testing, it's lots of fun.   It's not always about finding errors in something but looking at some code, a model, an idea, a product, and seeing how it would work to meet a particular need.   The design might not hold up over long use or it might no work easily or it could be non-intuitive.  From a design standpoint, there are many ways to look at a thing and give advice back that will improve the resultant product. 

The nice thing about designing something is you can have multiple iterations and changes can occur all along the way.   I like helping but I have to tell myself it's important to give feedback other than, "it's great, I love it, it worked just like I thought it would and it was so easy to use!"   That feedback is nice, but it's not as helpful as real feedback on how you were unsure what to do until you'd looked at things for a bit.    

Tonight, I asked my husband what he thought about something and he had some entirely different suggestions than I would have thought of.   It makes me realize how important feedback is from different perspectives.   How I might use a piece of software or kitchen sponge is not necessarily how my husband would.  And yet that sponge or cell phone app or 3D printed model needs to be able to be universally picked up and used by everyone.  

Testing is a fun job.  Developing a robust product is hard. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son almost lost screens for the next several days for being unable to quit using them when he's told to stop.   He always has just a few more minutes.   He may have to lose the right to get on the computer for a week or so before the message hits home that when we say it's time to stop, it's time to stop.

The Tiny Girl Chronicle:  My daughter likes playing word and verbal games in the car when we drive to and from school.   But lately, she is completely interested in listening to the audiobook I'm on.  It's a series she's listened to herself that is quite good, "The Lost Cities" by Shannon Messenger.   She gets in from school and says, "audiobook?"   She's learned not to tell me what's coming up because she knows I definitely don't want to know.