As a tester or developer you start very often on new projects. Here are 5 easy steps to create an overview in the chaos and overload of information.

Click at the image to open the large picture!!

The 5 steps

1. Gather information;
2. Make an overview of the information;
3. Read important information;
4. Make drawings, and flows;
5. Summarize.

Some interesting links
Most of the time I directly start a mindmap via Mindmister.com, it’s free and you can access it from everywhere 24/7. It even has a collaboration options and the great benefit of this is, that you can work together with several people to get an overview.

The second link is a link I use for new projects where a lot of suppliers are involved. At this portal you can find the common criteria for certain projects.

For a lot of background information you can use, for example Wikipedia, but also communities like the ICMCC for the health market, these are all very useful (thanks to @ICMCC for the great job he’s doing all day).

Don’t forget thing like the patent database; via this link you can find the international database. It’s a very useful source about products and services.

And don’t forget the Twitter search function, for useful for the first steps.

What is your approach? What steps do you follow to get the right information? Please feel free to share your tips!

1. Lodewijk Bos Says:
   June 21st, 2010 at 19:21

   Thank you, you are most kind!!

2. William Echlin Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 18:20

   I’d agree that software testers are subjected to a large degree of information overload. The biggest problem though is often finding the information in the first place, especially at the beginning of the project when specs and requirements are still fluid.

   William Echlin
   http://www.SoftwareTesting.net

3. admin Says:
   June 23rd, 2010 at 07:10

   @William, Sure finding the information is not easy, but an other thing is dat we have to look futher than only the documents you mentioned. To be a good tester you have to understand what the business really need. Information on corporate blogs for example can be useful to get a feeling with the business.

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   February 5th, 2012 at 22:56
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