Kayaking - A Metaphor For Testing?

Posted By Duncs ~ 3rd September 2012

I’ve been thinking about testing a lot recently. I’ve also been thinking about kayaking (as always) & it got my grey matter working:

Slalom canoeing / kayaking can likened to scripted tested & freestyle canoeing / kayaking is the equivalent of exploratory testing.

Me getting a facefull of river

Watching the canoe & kayak slalom in the Olympics really helped to cement this idea. Don’t the difference between canoeing & kayaking? Don’t concentrate too much on the differences between canoeing & kayaking just yet, the point of this post focuses more on the different ways of getting down the river. I prefer kayaking over canoeing, so this post conveniently forgets the 1 bladed paddle…

The slalom events were held at a relatively new artificial white water course in Lee Valley Park.

The paddling discipline you saw was slalom - a paddler (or pair of paddlers) set off down the river through a course of a series of gates which they have to paddle through before they reach the bottom of the course, as well as negotiating the natural river obstacles / features. Green gates you go through in a downstream direction, red gates you go through in an upstream direction.

I see the slalom discipline as similar to scripted testing - the river is the software, the river features are, well, the software features & the gates define the route down the river, like a script guiding a tester through the software.

The discipline you were unlikely to see in the coverage of the Olympics was Freestyle Kayaking (aka playboating) (I’m not talking about flatwater freestyle canoeing in this post, but that is definitely an art form also requiring ‘boatloads’ of skill).

Freestyle is where the paddler is not judged on speed through a course, but more subjectively (if they’re judged at all) on how they perform in the river features. They don’t necessarily have to follow a set route, they’re free to explore the river.

A freestyle paddler navigates the river in a route they choose - for example, blasting straight through all the features or stopping to play on all / some of the features on the way down.

Here are some videos of different ways of getting down the same river:

Lee Valley (Olympic & Legacy)
Slalom (in a canoe, but you get the point)
Freestyle (& here)

Tryweryn (Graveyard rapid)
Slalom
Freestyle

If you watched the slalom kayaking in the Olympics, it may of appeared that you were watching the same footage over & over again as each of the paddlers completed the course. There are very different techniques to going through each gate that a paddler can choose from, but the overall goal is to go through all the gates in the course.

Did you notice the different shape kayaks? long & pointy for the slalomists, short & stubby for the freestyle.

Different disciplines need different tools - long & pointy boats aren’t great for going vertical (river too shallow for example) whilst short & stubby boats aren’t great for going fast (think speedboat vs inflatable dingy).

And as for the paddlers? Slalom paddlers often make great freestyle paddlers. I don’t have an answer for if this part of the metaphor carries into testing - do you?

And finally - how many of the slalom paddlers did you see getting vertical or getting their head wet?

  • Phil

    I’ll be the devils advocate here, yeh the analogy works but so what ? Can we discuss testing rather than things that are like testing ? Can we get away from explaining the diff between scripted and xploratory ? Testing is like cooking/jazz/detective/DrHouse

    Now pardon me, I’m off for a paddle…

    • DuncanNisbet

      It works for me to help describe the differences using examples.

      I failed to mention that both disciplines still learn the river…

      Did you throw the “testing is like cooking” comment to throw me off the scent? It goes against your devils advocacy doesn’t it?

      Yeah, this was never meant to be a profound post.

      Cheers for stopping by Phil, enjoy your paddle, im not jealous. Really im not!

    • The Terminator strikes again… you forgot to mention that you’ll be back. ;0)

      Analogies are king in my world (generally speaking of course). They do help me understand certain things that I would otherwise struggle with.

      So instead of stopping it, can we go deeper with it? What if the aim of the slalom was slightly different? Your goal is to still go through the gates, but along the way you have to determine the best path for minimal strokes (or whatever they are called). Your gates through the ‘software’ are the same, however your choice to get there is different.

      Exploring within scripted… which we all do anyway, no matter what debates there may be against that.

      This reminds me of a time where I was following a recipe while cooking………..

      Only kidding T man. :0)

      • pkirkham

        Question to both you and Duncs - who are these metaphors/analogies helping understand ? You or stakeholders you are explaining testing to ? Or both ? Why the need for one, doesn’t testing stand on its own ?

        • DuncanNisbet

          For me, they help me to frame the different approaches to anyone who asks what the difference is - be that a new starter, business stakeholder or a member of my family.

          For some folks (generally outside of IT) testing is a bizarre concept which can be quite hard to grasp - take my dad for example; I’ve been testing for over 11 years & he still refers to my job as “working with computers” when talking to his friends & distant relatives (love you dad!)

          Haven’t you come across that scenario Phil?

          • pkirkham

            Yeh, hence the ‘explaining testing to your mum’ thread I started on the STC a while ago 🙂
            ( does a new starter or a business stakeholder really know - or care - about the difference between scripted/exploratory ? )

            As for analogies, I dug out the old thread on STC from a few years ago when I had another grumpfest about it

            http://www.softwaretestingclub.com/forum/topics/testing-is-like-nothing-else

          • Duncs

            They do if they’re new to testing or don’t understand why they haven’t got a step-by-step test script (from my experience)

            Cheers for the link Phil - I’ll dive into that later.

            Boating works for me as I’m passionate about it & I’m told that comes across in my description of testing.

        • If they help only one person, then they are valuable. Whether that be me, or my mum, or my daughter, or my dog! Ok, my dog isn’t a person…

          I agree and disagree with comments on the STC thread you’ve provided. If you’re using the analogy to help someone else understand then you need to be careful and put boundaries on it. Catering communication to your selected audience… part of communication 101 I believe.

          Take Duncs’ analogy for example. I know extremely little about this sport, but I do know a bit about scripted versus exploratory testing and I think that helped me to understand his post. If I knew little about either subject, then I would know little more after reading it. However, I think that Duncs would have written this post mainly for himself, with the hope that even one other person finds it useful (Duncs - correct me if I’m wrong here). Now I’m back to my first point in the comment.

          I say “fly, be free” to all analogies… if they help even one person understand out craft a little better.

          I will also say this T man… you best not read my book when it’s released… ;0)

          • Duncs

            Thats right David - Most of what I write in this effort of a blog is a record for my future self. My passion for boating comes through into my /talking about/ testing via these kind of metaphors / analogies.

            Thats a great point about content & audience, I hadn’t thought of that. In the context of this blog, I think I’v got away with it, but when I’m talking to others they might fully understand either topic so the metaphor / analogy might be wasted! Definitely something I need to consider, thanks for that David.

            Book? got any details..?

          • DuncanNisbet

            Thats right David – Most of what I write in this effort of a blog is a record for my future self. My passion for boating comes through into my /talking about/ testing via these kind of metaphors / analogies.Thats a great point about content & audience, I hadn’t thought of that. In the context of this blog, I think I’v got away with it, but when I’m talking to others they might fully understand either topic so the metaphor / analogy might be wasted! Definitely something I need to consider, thanks for that David.Book? got any details..?

      • DuncanNisbet

        Cheers David - I like where you’re going with this, I went on the same journey - I had to reign myself in as I was getting carried away!

        You’re right - even within slalom, different paddlers use different techniques to ensure they get through the gates (& strokes is a great word!). This might not be obvious to the untrained eye.

  • Lisa Crispin

    I love the metaphor! And in my mind, freestyle is the most difficult and requires the most experience and creativity, just like exploratory testing. You must have mastered the technical skills, but you must have the artistic approach that will provide the most rewarding experience for yourself and your audience.

    • Duncs

      Thanks for stopping by Lisa - I really appreciate your comment!

      I didn’t know you were into boating - probably for the best I didn’t know last week as I would have trapped you in a corner to talk paddling!

      I like where you’ve taken that metaphor - even in the full blown version I wrote previously I hadn’t considered the aesthetics of paddling.

    • DuncanNisbet

      Thanks for stopping by Lisa – I really appreciate your comment!I didn’t know you were into boating – probably for the best I didn’t know last week as I would have trapped you in a corner to talk paddling!I like where you’ve taken that metaphor – even in the full blown version I wrote previously I hadn’t considered the aesthetics of paddling.

      • Lisa Crispin

        I just like watching the kayaking and canoeing, the Olympic events were so much fun! But I do dressage, and freestyle is the pinnacle of dressage performance. I think there are some similarities.

        • Duncs

          I believe the GB team did pretty well with the dressage at the Olympics?

          I didn’t realise just what was involved until someone talked me through what was actually going on - fair play to you if you’re doing all that!