Self-education - Using learning matrix to plan and assess your progress

When you are learning something new and you are doing it by yourself, you may want to avoid the usual problems associated with learning, such as losing control and being unable to assess the results. I would like you to consider using learning matrix -- something I designed for myself when I need a really quick start with a new project at work.

In my experience, this approach may be useful when you cannot study full-time and have to do it alongside other activities. Or maybe you are creating a competency matrix or need an assessment tool.

The principle behind this learning matrix is simple. You list all the major areas vertically, and you put levels of qualification horizontally, and what you get is a 2D matrix that describes the area you would like to assess or master. The cells of this matrix contain criteria a learner should meet in order to be able to say, for instance, 'I have level A in functional programming' or 'I have level B in yoga'.

A word of advice. Do not try to make it too big, make sure it is feasible to learn everything you have planned. If you are not sure about some criterion, mark that criterion appropriately, to prevent it from mixing together with the clear ones. If possible, try to make your criteria SMART (simple/specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable, time-bound).

The example below is for starting with a project, but you can apply it to an academic subject or learning a skill as well. Please note that criteria add up (which means that you cannot get level B without successfully passing level A).

Some ideas to help you explain to your project manager why things just do not happen by themselves

You can't always get what you want


Result is not something guaranteed, not something you can count on, no matter what. Result is something you can get, if you are lucky and all the conditions are in your favor, and you can focus, and you are prepared to invest some extra effort, if you, despite all the desperate measures, run out of your resource.

I observed that planning is often done without even attempting to check if the goal or its parts are really feasible. The industry seems to be forming this habit of not questioning the task unless problems are too obvious. They pay you for doing something. And that means there's no way back, because some other people have already committed to do it, so now you have to provide a solution to support their commitment.

This way of doing things is not very helpful when it comes to planning, especially if area is not sufficiently familiar.

QA Venn Skillset Maps

I would like to share with you this little trick.

I use it every time when I need to find out, how hard it would be to learn something new. You can use it for yourself or for your team members. There are a lot of situations when you may need it, for instance:
-- you are building a matrix of competence, 

-- or calculating the team capacity,

-- you are thinking about taking a different a job, 

-- or starting a new project and not sure if you are up to it,

-- or maybe you are hiring someone and need to assess their skillset.

Average QA expertise can be represented as a Venn-like diagram. As you can see, it consists of three major parts:

• skills related to the test itself (QA): such as QA theory, certain cognitive skills, decision making skills, logic in a broader sense;
• tools-related skillset (Tools): knowing our tools, whatever they are, from test management systems to programming languages;
• knowledge of the domain (Domain): dark secrets of this particular trade, be it banking, telecommunication or IOT.

The major three - Health assessment for a test project

Let me start with some trivia. No project is the same. No project is dull. Every project is what you make of it. The interesting part is what you should do if you wanna make it.

Personally, I hate doctors. But in situations like this I have to act like one, which means, I start with collecting a medical history. And here are some hints regarding what to look for (as they say, including, but not limited to):