Something just happened that I think is worthy of note. On LinkedIn, a young tester asked to connect, and I accepted his request. (He actually has six years of experience, but from my perspective, almost all testers are young these days.)
He presented me with a list of things that he’s done, focused on tools and technologies he’s applied. He told me he was planning to learn AI testing, and politely asked me for guidance or suggestions.
I’m disinclined to respond immediately to requests like that without knowing more context, so I asked him a question. Part his reply seemed naïve to me, so I challenged him with a deeper question.
He didn’t provide an answer, but his reply impressed me. He asked “Can I get some time to think about that and answer later? I think it’s better to thing more about it rather than just answer randomly. Can I please answer this tomorrow?”
In doing this, he exhibited a hugely important skill for testers AND for anyone else in knowledge work (like developers, or designers, or managers…): don’t feel obliged to answer a question immediately. Be ready and willing to ask for the time you need to wrap your mind around a problem.
I can certainly wait a day for a reply to the question I asked him, and that will give him time to ruminate on his answer more deeply.
Good for him! Far too much mischief in our world comes from people not pausing to think and reflect. There are fast answers, and there are good answers, and they’re not by any means the same.