One of my coworkers asked me for advice on shifting from a testing role to development. Inside IBM, cross-role experience can often be picked up within a project, on a BizTech opportunity, or by assignment to another role (if the project manager really, really believes in you). Here are some tips if you’re considering the shift yourself:

Although you can build your skill in steady increments, building expertise can be a long and frustrating process. You’ll make a lot of progress in the beginning, but you’ll probably hit a plateau. Don’t be frustrated.

Unless your project manager is okay with taking a risk on you, you probably won’t be able to immediately spend time developing those skills on the job. Here’s how you can free up some time to work on improving your skills:

1. Look for ways you can work more efficiently and effectively, so that you can save time.
2. Document those processes so that you understand them better and so that other people can take over your role when you leave.
3. Automate as much as you can, saving more time and enabling more people to do your work.

You want to be replaceable. You can’t spend time learning something else or move on to another project if that would leave a big gap in your previous team.

How can you learn more about development when you’re testing?

• You can improve your processes, learning more about available tools along the way.
• You can learn how to script while automating tasks.
• You can learn an in-demand skill and get pulled into projects that way.
• You can focus on providing additional value while testing. For example, if your project is okay with it, do whitebox testing in addition to blackbox testing. By reading the source code, you might be able to think of test cases that should be covered. You can try helping with problem identification, using tests to narrow down where the bug might be. Once you get good at that, you can try documenting your problem-identification process and commonly-encountered bugs. When you’ve got a good feel for the structure of the program and how things are generally fixed, you might even tentatively propose fixes.

What other advice would you give to people who want to move from testing to development?

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Moving from testing to development

Here are a few more books:

Fight For Your Money: How to Stop Getting Ripped Off and Save a Fortune David Bach, 2009 Decent reference, useful form letters. Nothing too surprising in terms of advice. I like this more than his other books, which tend to hammer in the Latte Factor a bit much. Good to give to people who are just starting out in Canada.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By Scott A. Shane, 2008 Surprising data-driven insights into entrepreneurship. Depressing in some places (such as when he’s looking at the statistics for women and entrepreneurship), and encouraging in others (such as when it comes to capitalizing new businesses). Something to read in a library.

How are these Friday book reviews working out for you? How can I make them better?

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

From the book bag

Interests can be rabbit-holes of awesome. There’s no telling how deep they run.

One of the things I love about exploring interests is getting inspired by people who are passionate about them. Book-binding, for example—there are people who are very geeky about book-binding. Same goes for photography, sewing, gardening, and all sorts of other good things. That’s what’s great about the Internet. It’s easy to find people passionate about an interest, no matter how niche it is.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Rabbit-holes of awesome

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

I want more colour in my day

I’m trying to figure out how to explain to other people what this barkada thing is like, but it’s hard.

I can’t explain how the conversation can flow so fast and funny over water and pizza. (And to think that other people drink alcohol to relax their inhibitions.)

In-jokes that still haven’t grown old, after all these years. New jokes and references. Politically incorrect humor mixed in with ideas and initiatives. Serious thoughts mixed in with crazy antics.

There’s something about critical mass and quick retorts that’s part of the magic of being in person.

It’s amazing being part of a group like this.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

A night with the barkada

It’s not like a trip home to the Philippines means stocking up on cheap export overruns or taking advantage of pricing differences. Gadgets are more expensive here. Clothes are about the same price and I’m shifting towards sewing my own anyway, so I only buy comfortable styles that I’ve not been able to find in Canada. (Jockey V-neck shirts for ~CAD 5, yay.)

Instead, I make time for massages, facials, and movies watched from a La-Z-Boy. I drink all the mango shakes and fresh coconut juices I can get, enjoying the sweet coconut flesh for dessert. I fill up on riotous laughter with my barkada and stock up on memories with my family.

Globalization is funny when you’re here and there regularly. Stuff becomes less important, and experiences matter more.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

La-Z-Boy cinemas, massages, and seafood

I fed her a few bananas from the safety of the viewing area. Then my dad gestured for me to walk across the rickety plank and into the new enclosure.

Right. Umm. Okay. So I got up close and personal with Maali.

“She’s a really big elephant,” I said. I’d never seen her that close. I held a banana out. Maali took it with her trunk and plopped it in her mouth.

“Look at the camera,” my dad said. I smiled at the camera nervously. Yes, I know my dad was watching Maali, and he’d keep me safe if something happened. But a 4-ton elephant can’t help but get respect.

More bananas. Happy elephant.

When we finished the bananas, I went back over the plank and behind the viewing bars.

My dad turned on the water compressor and directed a spray of water into Maali’s outstretched trunk. She stored water, then drank it. Then he passed the hose to me and told me to direct the water into Maali’s mouth so that the elephant could drink.

Maali raised her foot. My dad showed me how to use the spray to wash the caked dirt from the elephant’s feet. Then my dad gave Maali a shower.

What did I do during my Christmas vacation? I treated an elephant to a foot spa.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Sketch: Elephant love

Hand-made notebooks are so awesome. Charo not only gave me a wonderful little notebook, she taught me how to make my own. I’ve got a feeling that this will be a lifelong craft. And it complements my interest in sewing, too. Now I can make notebooks that match my quirks and my clothes!

She got interested in bookbinding because she couldn’t find the kinds of journals she wanted, so she decided to make her own. I’m so glad that she shared that interest with me!

Whee!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

I’ll never buy a Moleskine again

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Sketch: Getting past the tyranny of the blank page

Here are my notes from the Top Talent call on informed judgment, one of IBM’s leadership competencies. Click on the image to see it full-size.

The speaker recommended checking out Blink. Blink is a good read, but compared to Gladwell’s other books, it doesn’t have as much meat as, say, “The Tipping Point.” One of my favourite problem-solving books is Ken Watanabe’s Problem Solving 101, which was written for schoolkids and is therefore very practical and easy to read.

My key take-away from this talk was to improve the traceability for my decisions by documenting the assumptions, data, experiences, and previous decisions I am basing new decisions on.

Hope this helps!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Informed Judgment, Terrence Hickey

Click on the image to view a larger version.

Next actions:

• Post notes
• Practice with podcasts, webcasts, books, and teleconferences
• Collect symbols
• Develop a visual vocabulary

Three hours summarized on one page!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Notes from VizThink video on Visual Notetaking 101

We had circled the ice twice. Hadn’t fallen yet, just wobbled about in the way beginners do.

Mel stopped. She flopped down. “Might as well get it over with,” she said.

Sounded like a great idea, so I did.

Skating got a lot easier after that.

Fall down intentionally. Get your fear out, then go.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Fall down intentionally

Key take-aways: Passion and patience are everything. Hustle. Out-care others. Offer good stuff. Pay attention to everything. How do you scale? By trying.

Notes from the demos and the pub, before I broke my fountain pen:

Explanations for scribbles upon request, or when I can make time for it! =)

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Visual notes – Gary Vaynerchuk and Democamp Toronto 24

I’ve written about changing the world before, and it becomes more real every day. I do more and more of the things that make me happy in life and at work. This is what my current diagram looks like:

There are more skills I can include in these, though, but these are the most important ones.

I love what I do, I get better and better at it, and I create value by doing what I do. How did I get to be so lucky? =)

If you look at the posts I’ve shared on my blog through the years, you’ll notice that I frequently think about what I love doing and how I can do those things even better. Interests blossom into passions through practice and experience. The more I learn about something, the deeper I appreciate it. I share what I’ve learned at work, too. That almost always results in people finding some way to take advantage of my skills and passions, which is how I end up getting paid for all these things I love to do. If the company ever decided to phase out my group, I can see myself creating a business around these core skills.

How did I get to this point? One idea led to another. It started with coding. I taught myself how to program in grade school. I joined competitions throughout high school and college, and I learned a lot in the process. My interest in programming led to open source software, which got me interested in Emacs and personal information management. That led me to blog, which resulted in a new interest in writing. I’d never enjoyed writing essays for English class, but I loved writing about what I was learning. This turned into public speaking when I found out that the things I was learning also interested other people. The more I learned, the more I could help people brainstorm new ideas. The more I wrote, the more I found myself connecting with others, which also helped me brainstorm. The more I wrote and connected, the more people asked me to coach them on how to do the same. I started playing around with drawing when a friend asked me to explain something, and that kicked off yet another interest. I picked up other hobbies like photography, sewing, and cooking along the way. Then I was asked to facilitate sessions on emerging technologies, and here I am. And paperwork, well, everyone has to do that. =)

Where do I go from here? With a strong foundation like this, I can see opportunities to grow almost everywhere. I’m looking forward to improving my facilitation skills. I’m not bad at facilitation. I’m not consistently good yet, and someday, I might be. I love working on my core skills and adding new ones. I can’t wait to figure out what I’ll learn how to do next, and how I can share that with everyone!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Living in the sweet spot

Visual notes from the women’s leadership session I helped facilitate. =) The ice-breaker was “What superpower would you like to have?”, hence the icons along the top.

It was fun taking visual notes during  the discussion of my Remote Presentations That Rock session!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Visual notes from Remote Presentations That Rock

Text:

Drawing by Seeing (John Torreano) made me think about drawing in a completely different way.

Instead of starting with a line that gets distorted because you can’t see properly and that makes you run out of space because you hadn’t planned for the big picture, start with a shape that you gradually grow until it’s just right, then develop your drawing with marks, so that the entirety of it emerges gradually, instead of piece by piece.

And I thought: This is life. Instead of building  it piece by piece, distorting our drawings because we can’t see properly, start with the rough shape of everything, then fill it in so that all parts develop gradually, and you remember to make room for everything.

Drawing by Seeing (Abrams Studio) John Torreano

(Disclosure: The link above is an Amazon affiliate link. That said, I recommend checking out your local library. I got this book from the Toronto Public Library, yay!)

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Drawing by Seeing, and some reflections on life

Text:

I want to write better so that I can learn and share even more. I outsourced editing so that I could get an idea of what “better” looked like. The first editor couldn’t think of how to significantly improve what I sent her. Maybe I’ve hit the “good enough” gap. But improvement isn’t just about polishing something until it shines.

I can write more. If my instincts are good, then I’ll get better the more I write.

I can learn more. The more I experience, the more I can share.

I can draw more, so I can make stories even richer.

Looking forward to sharing the adventure!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Learning how to write

I helped facilitate a client workshop last week. During one of the exercises, the lead facilitator took notes on an easel. I needed to make a copy of the notes so that we could build on the results in a breakout session. I thought I’d experiment with visual note-taking on another easel, as I’d been having fun taking personal visual notes throughout the workshop.

The lead facilitator filled seven pages with phrases and keywords. I used icons and keywords to take notes, filling two and a half sheets. This was great because we were running out of wall space! <laugh> It was also easier for me to move the sheets to the next room—bonus!

I seem to be developing a quick visual vocabulary: trophies and gold stars for rewards, fire for enthusiasm or passion, and so on. That made it easier to keep up with the discussion.

Working with drawings made it easier to connect related ideas, too, because I could draw circles and connect them with lines in different colours.

Four people came up to me individually to compliment me on the drawings. Yay! =)

Next step: Instead of just using a grid of images+words (which is like using bullet points on slides! ), I’d love to explore other ways to organize the information. Visual metaphors will be fun to try.

No public pictures of the session, but I’ll see if I can take visual notes for something public!

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Trying out visual notetaking at a workshop

Looking at this, I can see that I’m really not keen on sitting in classes (especially for things I’ve mostly taught myself off the Internet). I learn the most from getting in there and playing around with things. I read a lot about Web 2.0, presentation skills, personal finance, productivity, drawing, and leadership, but I haven’t found many good blogs or resources for delegation. When it comes to technical topics like Drupal or Emacs, I learn the most by getting into the source code and by helping the community solve problems. I mostly turn to mentors for help in navigating IBM and understanding the organization, although we also talk about life, Web 2.0, and communication and leadership skills.

That made me think about what I primarily read about, what I talk to lots of people about, and what I talk to specific mentors about.

That makes me think of things I might want to move to different parts of the Venn diagram, like productivity… Hmm.

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Thinking about my personal learning environment

Post from: sacha chua :: enterprise 2.0 consultant, storyteller, geek. Check out my blog for tips on managing virtual assistants, Drupal, and other topics!

Drawing is about seeing the magic in everyday things