Feature List: I can! (I Can-Do!)
Surely, you have repeatedly heard about to-do lists (To-Do). You may have used them a long time ago and successfully abandoned them. What is the problem? In my opinion, the whole problem is negative To-Do motivation. After all, these are things that you have to do. I propose to replace the negative debt to yourself with a positive opportunity. And in this article, I want to share with you lists of opportunities. Lists " I can! "
“I can”, further can-do is a list of your opportunities. This is not what you should do or have to do, this is not what you want to do, but exactly what you can do. Although, of course, the best of all is that desires coincide with our capabilities.
As in the classic joke:
')
This anecdote best illustrates the simplest can-do list that an excavator would write to himself regarding work:
I can:
Now is the time to give a dry logical theoretical definition, but be patient a little, I want to tell a story about the practical application of the Can-Do list, and then perhaps the definition will not be required.
Our company opened a new project. It was a pilot project, and the team, in which my friend (QA) worked, needed to show the highest professionalism and show himself and his work well to customers. And the customers, in turn, were in no hurry to share the specifications and requirements of the project with the testers. Having met me in the smoking room, my friend said: “I have no requirements for the project. I can't write test scripts, which means that I can't test . ”
I have heard something similar from other people before. Our people love to complain. But, I could not understand, where is the logic in this statement.
I listened with interest to this person, in the hope that I would still understand this tremendous problem and the greatest obstacle in testing that he told me about. But in the end, I did not understand. It turns out that the only way to test is to review the requirements, analyze the specifications, create test scripts and pass the tests. And everything? Is there no other way to test an application in the whole universe? And if this Single Method is impossible due to the lack of requirements, is that all, we are at a dead end?
I ask these sarcastic questions not because I am a naive and inexperienced newcomer, but because I am sure that there is always another possibility, another way, in any situation. I myself faced such “enormous difficulties”, and I know that any task is solvable.
At the beginning of one of the projects, my task was to conduct load testing of the application. Here, only bad luck: I did not have all the necessary access to the application, I never saw this application in my eyes. I did not know how it works. I did not know what data it was working with, and I had no idea how to use it. I felt like a dead end.
But, I had access to the physical server of the application. I could talk to other project members. I had access to the documentation at Sharepoint, but, unfortunately, there was so much documentation there that I simply did not know what to undertake. But, I also saw that my friend now sees a dead end, and not the beginning of a successful work on a project.
I was very upset. When I got home from work, without even turning on the computer, I turned on the light, took a notebook with a pen, sat down on the bed and asked myself: What can I do? After the first writing to a notebook, I felt better, and things went much faster. And I wrote this:
That evening, I sent myself an email with a list of can-do mail at work, and the next day I started to do everything to get started with the application and overcome the obstacles in my way. A couple of days later I started work and, which is quite important, showed my interest in the high-quality execution of the task before the superiors. I came out of the impasse.
And now let's return to the problem of my friend, who was convinced that without the requirements of the application, he could not create a test plan and start testing. So I wanted to ask him: and you just can not create a test plan without the requirements? Can't you do anything without all the documentation?
But, I limited myself to telling this story. I do not want to teach people how to live. If he cannot test and does not want to look for opportunities, being interrupted by excuses, this is his choice. If he cannot, he cannot continue, but I can .
If you've read this paragraph before, you are most likely wondering: What is the difference between this Can-Do list and the good old To-Do? Very, very little. The only difference is in motivation. It is much more pleasant for me to remember what I can do than about what I have to do. And you?
What's better:
Or,
Repeat each phrase 10 times. After what phrase will it be easier for you to do this? Whatever phrase I chose, you guessed it, and which one you choose - I do not know, because people are all different.
Can-Do lists give me energy. If I feel at a dead end - then I think about what I can do, and not about what I have to or should do.
So, the next time you feel stuck, ask yourself what can you do?
PS: The Can-Do List is the result of brainstorming your own brain. Personally, I prefer the text version of the recording of the list of opportunities, but the graphical version using Mind Maps will also be convenient.
PS 2: Can-Do lists are applied in education. Can-Do lists are used for student self-assessment. Such lists help identify student / student gaps in the skills that he should have acquired during the period of study. These are not cunning exam tests that test knowledge with intricate questions, but statements that the student may agree or disagree with. Example:
The author of the original ideas and stories: Karen N. Johnson
Original:
Can-Do List: One way to get unstuck. Really.
What is the “I Can” List?
“I can”, further can-do is a list of your opportunities. This is not what you should do or have to do, this is not what you want to do, but exactly what you can do. Although, of course, the best of all is that desires coincide with our capabilities.
As in the classic joke:
Ask the excavator:
- Man, what do you know how to do?
- Dig! - replies.
- What else?!
- Dig !!!
- Well, and something else?
Offended, says:
- I can NOT dig!
')
This anecdote best illustrates the simplest can-do list that an excavator would write to himself regarding work:
I can:
- Dig
- Don't dig
Now is the time to give a dry logical theoretical definition, but be patient a little, I want to tell a story about the practical application of the Can-Do list, and then perhaps the definition will not be required.
How I came out of the impasse and helped my friend tester
Our company opened a new project. It was a pilot project, and the team, in which my friend (QA) worked, needed to show the highest professionalism and show himself and his work well to customers. And the customers, in turn, were in no hurry to share the specifications and requirements of the project with the testers. Having met me in the smoking room, my friend said: “I have no requirements for the project. I can't write test scripts, which means that I can't test . ”
I have heard something similar from other people before. Our people love to complain. But, I could not understand, where is the logic in this statement.
I listened with interest to this person, in the hope that I would still understand this tremendous problem and the greatest obstacle in testing that he told me about. But in the end, I did not understand. It turns out that the only way to test is to review the requirements, analyze the specifications, create test scripts and pass the tests. And everything? Is there no other way to test an application in the whole universe? And if this Single Method is impossible due to the lack of requirements, is that all, we are at a dead end?
I ask these sarcastic questions not because I am a naive and inexperienced newcomer, but because I am sure that there is always another possibility, another way, in any situation. I myself faced such “enormous difficulties”, and I know that any task is solvable.
At the beginning of one of the projects, my task was to conduct load testing of the application. Here, only bad luck: I did not have all the necessary access to the application, I never saw this application in my eyes. I did not know how it works. I did not know what data it was working with, and I had no idea how to use it. I felt like a dead end.
But, I had access to the physical server of the application. I could talk to other project members. I had access to the documentation at Sharepoint, but, unfortunately, there was so much documentation there that I simply did not know what to undertake. But, I also saw that my friend now sees a dead end, and not the beginning of a successful work on a project.
I was very upset. When I got home from work, without even turning on the computer, I turned on the light, took a notebook with a pen, sat down on the bed and asked myself: What can I do? After the first writing to a notebook, I felt better, and things went much faster. And I wrote this:
- I can talk to the lead programmer P., maybe he can talk a little about the application.
- I can talk to the developers and ask them what they are concerned about when working with the application.
- I can ask my manager to increase my access to the application, and if it does not help, then at a rally with the customer.
- I can start writing a test plan without access to the application. I know that I will test when I have the opportunity to start working with the application. And then, I can correct the plan as I learn new information. In addition, an outline of the test plan will help me when talking with the customer.
- I can imagine that I already got access to the application. So what will I do first? What next?
- I can talk to the project manager and ask her what she expects from me.
- I can talk with other testers, and find out what the bottlenecks are in the application, what they think about testing the application, in general, everything that can be useful to me.
That evening, I sent myself an email with a list of can-do mail at work, and the next day I started to do everything to get started with the application and overcome the obstacles in my way. A couple of days later I started work and, which is quite important, showed my interest in the high-quality execution of the task before the superiors. I came out of the impasse.
And now let's return to the problem of my friend, who was convinced that without the requirements of the application, he could not create a test plan and start testing. So I wanted to ask him: and you just can not create a test plan without the requirements? Can't you do anything without all the documentation?
But, I limited myself to telling this story. I do not want to teach people how to live. If he cannot test and does not want to look for opportunities, being interrupted by excuses, this is his choice. If he cannot, he cannot continue, but I can .
Can-Do vs. To-Do
If you've read this paragraph before, you are most likely wondering: What is the difference between this Can-Do list and the good old To-Do? Very, very little. The only difference is in motivation. It is much more pleasant for me to remember what I can do than about what I have to do. And you?
What's better:
I can go to the dentist tomorrow.
Or,
Go to the dentist tomorrow. (Hidden meaning: I have to go to the dentist tomorrow)
Repeat each phrase 10 times. After what phrase will it be easier for you to do this? Whatever phrase I chose, you guessed it, and which one you choose - I do not know, because people are all different.
Can-Do lists give me energy. If I feel at a dead end - then I think about what I can do, and not about what I have to or should do.
So, the next time you feel stuck, ask yourself what can you do?
PS: The Can-Do List is the result of brainstorming your own brain. Personally, I prefer the text version of the recording of the list of opportunities, but the graphical version using Mind Maps will also be convenient.
PS 2: Can-Do lists are applied in education. Can-Do lists are used for student self-assessment. Such lists help identify student / student gaps in the skills that he should have acquired during the period of study. These are not cunning exam tests that test knowledge with intricate questions, but statements that the student may agree or disagree with. Example:
The author of the original ideas and stories: Karen N. Johnson
Original:
Can-Do List: One way to get unstuck. Really.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113083/
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