Good morning, class. Today, we are going to learn a new word – Heuristication. Heuristication is a state of sophistication in dealing with and applying Heuristics as an element in an overall test methodology.

What does Heuristication look like? How can you identify it? Well, in order to answer those questions, first we have to understand what heuristics themselves are.

A heuristic is a fallible method for solving a problem. “Fallible?”, you may ask, “Why would I want to use something that’s fallible?” Well, lets look at a slightly different wording of that same idea…a heuristic is a general rule of thumb that works most of the time. Now we can begin to see the value. It is general, and works most of the time, so it can provide a solution quickly, without thinking very hard or very long about it.

Another chapter in the continuing saga of my personal quest for good heuristics.

Earlier this summer, I had the honor of attending WHET, the Workshop on Heuristic and Exploratory Techniques. Leaving the workshop one afternoon, lost in deep thought over the day’s events, I was strolling down the sidewalk toward my car. In the grassy area off to my left, I was vaguely aware of some squirrels playing away. As I approached, they stood up and froze, suddenly leery of the giant monster who had just invaded their space. As I continued to walk along the sidewalk, at complete right angles to the squirrels, staring at the ground in front of me lost in thought, taking no notice of them whatsoever, one of them finally could not take the pressure any longer, and he bolted…unfortunately, he chose his escape route very poorly, and before I realized what he was doing, the poor little guy ran headfirst, full speed, directly into the side of my foot. Right into my foot!! I’m not kidding…he hit me so hard it hurt. He bounced off of my foot, rolled over, jumped up and picked a new direction to run. I was amazed.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with James Bach on my BCRIT certification. Through that process, I have identified my use of heuristics as a good area for potential growth, and so I try to spend some time each day actively thinking about this. For those not familiar, a heuristic is a key word or phrase that encapsulates some larger idea, and triggers you to apply some strategy or behavior in your testing. You try to pick heuristics that will be easy for you to remember, something personal or interesting. Something amusing is always a good choice, James’ “Dead Bee” heuristic being a good example.

Recently, three unrelated events have given birth to a new idea in my head, and I wanted to share it with you. So, to properly set up the background, the three unrelated events:

At the recent CAST, James Bach presented a keynote, “Against Certification”. During that presentation, one of the things he did was to review some of the “Body of Knowledge” documentation upon which such certifications were based. As he reviewed this documentation, one of the things I was struck by was an underlying pattern of motive driving much of the documentation. That motive was the ability to predict, manage, and control the SDLC. Much of this “Body of Knowledge” for test certification was obviously written by managers, not testers.

I have just finally landed after spending a month running around to various conferences and workshops. I will discuss each of them in a bit of detail below, but first I want to talk about the entire experience.

Conferences, tradeshows, and workshops have many purposes. For vendors, it is an opportunity to try and get your wares in front of an interested audience. For practitioners, it is an opportunity to see the latest in tools and technology, and attend tutorials and sessions, sometimes from prominent industry leaders. And for everyone, it is an opportunity to meet new colleagues, reconnect with old friends, and engage in that most basic and valuable activity of any true conference…conversation.