300: Tool investigation

This port is part of the mini-series How To Research Tools. Previously we have triaged now we start actual part. Investigation!

The Preparation

First, we need to have a place to experiment. And this is – for example for UI test automation, you will need some web site. If you want to check if tool deals with a specific problem – for instance in angular, you will need a place that has uses it. For a proofreading tool, you need a document with different types of errors. If you want to check programming language – IDE that supports it will be helpful.

The Question

Next, it is good to have some list with what you want to check.
Later I will try to provide some example list for few types of tools.
But to give you an idea. Here you have few for UI test automation

  • How long it takes to setup it?
  • How hard is to write the test?
  • How hard is it to change the test?
  • Are they easy to maintain?
  • What do I need to setup CI?
  • What is the recommended approach?
  • What is the unique trait of this tool?

The Investigation

Next, it is good to timebox your research you don’t want to master you want to get a basic understanding.
Now it is time to experiment. Here I will refer you to check Kolbe cycle so you can realise your preferred learning mode. Bellow Its mine you may need to switch some parts to suit yours.
Play A little with tools to see how user-friendly is on its own.
Find some introduction level tutorial and try to follow them step by step.
Read documentation.
Try to use it on the original problem.
Go through the list and try to answer point after point.

That all for now!

ext time we will try to make some decisions.
Later, we will revisit this to look at research for companies.

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