No More Advice
By Zef Hemel | 7 minutes read - 1353 words
Iâd like to learn how to write automated tests!
I was excited to read this in the self reflection form of one of the QA people in my team.
Yes! I know how to do this! I went through the beginnings of software development myself (albeit some time ago), Iâve gained all the knowledge you will ever need to do this. I can help!
First, you will need to learn the basics of programming. I know a basic programming course to take! You will learn all about variables, assignments, if
-statements, for
-loops, functions. Then, we can move on to learning about HTML, the DOM and CSS selectors. Then…
I had the plan all mapped out in my head.
In our next one-on-one meeting, I enthusiastically mentioned I had seen her intent to learn test automation.
âIndeed!â she said enthusiastically, âand hereâs how Iâm going to approach it.â
What she laid out was a completely different plan.
She happened to know that many other QAs were also interested in learning how to write automated tests, so she would turn this into a community-based learning exercise. Every Friday, theyâd block out part of the day and learn together, supported by the more experienced test automation engineers. Together, theyâd set up their development and testing environment, and then walk through the existing tests and explain how they worked.
I was shocked. This plan was so different than what I was about to offer as advice. Taking this approach⌠made complete sense. It used the idea of learning in a group, which is not how I learned programming myself at all. The whole concept never even crossed my mind.
This was a humbling experience. What would have happened if she would have been slightly less proactive? I would have pushed my advice earlier, and likely sheâd be learning the fundamentals of programming in Pascal right now. Everybody knows thatâs how to properly learn programming. Thatâs how I learned.
As we get older, we accumulate knowledge, experience and â what weâd like to believe â wisdom.
We are good people. We want to make the world a better place. We naturally feel the best way to do so is to share what weâve learned with the people around us.
One of our go-to techniques to share knowledge and experience is giving advice.
Giving advice feels great, especially when it is specifically requested.
âOh wow, you came to me for advice. You must feel I have something valuable to say. Letâs not waste a minute! Hereâs what I think you should do.â
Or perhaps, somebody didnât ask us explicitly for advice, but the situation they describe looks so familiar we just cannot help ourselves.
âIâve seen this a million times before, let me tell you exactly what to do!â
Itâs natural. Itâs human.
And it should be our last resort.
Letâs step back and look at the bigger picture, especially as leaders in a coaching role.
Ultimately, what are we trying to achieve?
Yeah sure, weâre here to help people achieve the companyâs, teamâs and peopleâs individual goals, etc. etc. However, there are an infinite number of roads that lead there. Some are shortcuts that offer instant gratification, some take longer, yet yield better results and teach us more.
Giving advice is a shortcut.
There is a time and place for shortcuts. Sometimes youâre on a tight deadline. Sometimes youâve wandered long enough, and itâs time to get to the destination. In such cases: give advice and cut the trip short.
However, if thereâs space for an extended journey, consider doing so. It will likely be the better path for two reasons:
- The problem may be solved in unexpected and potentially better ways (like my learning automated testing example).
- People (including yourself) will learn and grow more by taking the detour.
No more advice.
Meta advice
Let me be highly ironic and give you advice on what to do instead of giving advice. Iâm sure you would have figured this out on your own at some point, but, frankly, itâs been long enough. It’s time for a shortcut.
In No More Action we talk about an interesting art. An art that has many applications, including one in this context.
Itâs the art of doing jack shit.
In the story I started this essay with, I unintentionally did. I planned to do something, but I was late. Close call.
To precap my instructions (though not advice) in No More Action: you see a problem emerge; itâs a problem youâve seen many times before; you know exactly what to do.
But, you do nothing.
There are a few ways in which this could play out:
- The problem goes unnoticed. Nobody knows it is there, and nobody is doing anything about it. This is eating at you. However, it is possible that it turns out that your problem is not a real problem, or worth addressing. So, not taking action is perfectly fine. Nevertheless, if youâre really sure it requires some sort of response… fine, point it out. âHey all, have you noticed the problem?â âWuh? Wha?â theyâll say, and look towards the problem. Then, you go back to your rest state of doing nothing.
- People notice the problem and they come up with a solution. It may not have been your solution, but thatâs alright. You may ask some âclarifying questionsâ to weed out the obviously terrible ideas (no judgment), but altogether they identify the problem and solve it by themselves. Great.
- People notice the problem, and have no idea what to do. Freakout! That is unfortunate. However, they come to you for advice, so that feels good. Alright, let us proceed to the next stage.
Our options
âBoss person, we got a problem!â
âIndeed, you do!â
âWhat do we do now?â
You shrug. âI donât know, what are our options?â
We are in clean coaching mode now. All we will attempt at this stage is to trigger some thinking and discussion. Note that weâve asked for options rather than the solution.
âWe could do A, B, or C!â
âAnything else we could do?â
âI guess we could also do D.â
âAny pros and cons of each?â
More thinking and discussion.
âB and C donât make any practical sense. The advantages of A are A0 - A5. However, the disadvantages are A6 - A10. The advantages of D are D0 - D7, and we can only see D8 - D10 as disadvantages.â
âAlright, so what are you going to do?â
There are two options at this point in our choose-your-own-adventure game:
- âWeâre going to try X!â They decided and got there on their own. Great.
- âWe donât know, what do you think we should do?â Crap. Letâs move on to the next stage.
One last shot
We are now getting dangerously close to actually having to offer advice. However, we can give it one last shot by augmenting the teamâs analysis with our own experience.
âI agree with your analysis of B and C, they donât make sense. Your points regarding A make perfect sense, although I wouldnât put much weight on A7, Iâve found that in practice that doesnât really matter much. Regarding D, the key observation here is D2 and D3, Iâd put a lot of weight on those. So, what do you want to do?â
Fingers crossed.
Did they decide? Yay! Still not? Alright, you leave me no choice.
Hereâs what I would do
Itâs advice time. However, we can still be careful in framing our advice, acknowledging our biases.
âI learned programming using Pascal myself. It worked for me, but it was the early â90s and I had my dad looking over my shoulder. Things are likely different for you. I hear thereâs now a novel language called JavaScript, you may want to check that out.â
âI would take this route, but I donât like taking risks, therefore I always tend to pick the safe option.â
And then, after we offered our advice, all that remains is to hope for the dream scenario:
They give us a well-meaning smile.
They thank us.
And then take their own path.