A tale of two tests and a team
I’m re-publishing this to consolidate more of my writing. It was originally published on LinkedIn Nov. 9, 2015.
I had just a bit of fun writing up a summary of my Atlassian Summit test lab experience last week. It’s meant to be pithy and fun more so than deeply informative. Enjoy!
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” But mostly it was the best of times. I took myself from the warm corner of the Bitbucket world and forsook my writerly bonds to leap forth into the world of user testing. My impressionable mind sought the answers to many questions. Principle among these were the larger, more eternal, questions, “Will users find Projects in Bitbucket?” and “How do Atlassian customers use and feel about our documentation?” central questions for all humanity, to be sure. Yet these queries somehow remained unanswered.
Cool moist air rushed across the bay, sun low in the eastern sky, as I boarded the ship which would take me to the testing grounds at the Marriott Marquis. There I would meet the council of design, who would be leading the quest for knowledge. We sought to answer many ancient questions, “how do users navigate?”, and more recent questions, to puzzles only just imagined and presented on paper. There were questions for almost every persona and product. Luminaries of research would shape the scrolls of testing which we would use. Lead by our benevolent potentate we were taken from the time of foolishness into the season of light.
Now, the team assembled, we gathered our wits and hence came to the flood of users. Guided by their desire to contribute, for good or ill, they came. They came the JIRA admins, the managers of product and project, customers who wore many faces. Oh, but my heart would sing for every developer who would walk through and be sent forth to my table, to my test, to fill my cup with knowledge and insight. And thus they came, and tested, and conversed, and opined. To each and every word I listened, to each comment I would nod, to each gesture I would note or respond and and attend to the whim of the user.
And what, ask you now, did I learn? I learned that most assuredly our customers are a wondrous bunch who had little trouble with any task I presented them. All found the illusive Bitbucket project with little difficulty and completed their tasks forthwith. Many, however, were displeased at not being able to seek the project through the window of search (okay that was a tortured sentence). Some were pleased at the ease with which they could achieve so much and that perhaps Bitbucket would be right for them… though most still required a firewall to satiate their own potentates or those who would rule them (regulators, legal, IT Security) in their choices.
Our scribes are highly regarded by the customers, our documents read deep and wide. Though the customer usually takes the Google road in their quest for our documents and mightily did complain that the roads (search) which we built ourselves were like the mines of Moria dark, cavernous, and without reward. After wandering the Google roads to our documents they almost always found therein the answer they sought.
HipChat! Many said give us HipChat that we might communicate and stave off the scourge of email. Yet they were to be denied the joy of collaborative chat. Dismayed and sullen they would share their tale of woe and pain at not being able to convince those who would restrain their desire and relegate their teams to a more ponderous path. Security, privacy, a removal of history upon demand, these were the things I heard cried from the corners of the room.
Hunger set upon me and was quenched by the generousness of my teammates. Food had been retrieved! Relief was to be had! Cooperation and a dose of good cheer spread throughout the team and beyond. A zeal and verve permeated the air, driven by people who were user advocates by blood, seeking to acquire the best from and for our customers. And yet, amongst the chaos and passion, each never forgetting their teammate. To offer a small smile and a “how’s it going mate?” or a coffee or muffin. Together we, the temporary council of design in the Marriott Marquis, struck forth and together we did finish this endeavor. The lot of us better for it all.
I’ve sailed back across the bay and in my study now do I begin to piece together the events just gone by. I find much to reflect upon but greatest amongst the things is my admiration for the many teams of which I am but a small part. Then to our amazing partners, vendors, experts and, most important, our customers who were friendly and engaging to talk with. Such that you’d be forgiven for thinking they threw us a conference and not the other way around.
Well, that is my tale: The tale of two tests, and a team.
Have an exceptional day and keep listening to your customers,
Dan
