I’m quite convinced that the next ideas that revolutionize testing will not come from the relatively insulated world of testing itself. Instead, they will come from likely unrelated fields and be ported to testing. The biggest example of this right now is likely the notion of testing as a big-c Craft with the notions of Apprenticeship, Journeymen and Masters.

Following up on this theory I strolled over to some adjacent conferences while and Star East and picked up what loot I could from them, including…

The Journal for Civil Aviation Training

  • There are three types of training: initial, transition, recurring
  • Although [air traffic] controllers do not need a college degree to be hired; it helps. – Ah ha! Another industry that is confused about the value of formal education.
  • Fatigue Science and defect rates is a post-graduate paper waiting to be written
  • Leadership in the cockpit (by the Captain) is a top issue for regulators currently. I think part of the testing world is in good shape from a leadership perspective, but it needs to keep spreading.
  • There is a spooky reliance on ‘intelligent automation’ in the next batch of planes. Where is today’s test automation [in general] on the intelligent / dumb-as-rocks scale?
  • Training for the Embraer Phenom series jet is tailored to the pilots current experience, skills and deficiencies emphasizing certain parts over others depending. Nice! Tailored training is what will separate the next wave of coaches from the rest of the pack.
  • The laughable ‘security theatre’ that one goes through at airports is recognized as such by people in the industry. And yet it persists. When does ‘testing theatre’ or ‘quality theatre’ enter the lexicon?
  • Powerpoint training lacks context, interactivity, instructional design and graphic design. Hear hear! Powerpoint should support the training, not be the training.
  • Four steps to alter attitude through training: motivate the learner, help the learner diagnose their challenges, empower the learner with knowledge to overcome challenges, reinforce the learning
  • In a show report from the ‘Aerospace & Defence Training Show’ in Dubai, the following bullets are identified as challenges.
    • Out-of-date checks, which do not address the threats of modern aircraft operations
    • Training and checking for events, which are extremely rare
    • Making best use of limited and expensive training resources to ensure quality training is delivered at affordable prices
    • Combatting increased dependence on automation
    • Incorporating meaning CRM training into training programs
  • In the same keynote were some solutions being implemented to address these, including
    • Using evidence based training via recognized programmes, which address legacy training and checking issues
    • Use the considerable data available worldwide to enhance training and make it relevant and appropriate for individual airlines
    • Review possible solutions to address the degradation of manual handling skills – The what?!?!
    • Acknowledging the fact that the 21st century does not mean training has to be wholly technologically driven – we can and must learn from the past

Low-Fare & Regional Airlines

  • The proposed legislation … may be a solution in search of a problem
  • Hours [of flight time] is no longer a predictor of competence. It is true that to go through all of the things you need to become a proficient pilot, it does add p to a certain number of hours. But what the industry has to get its arms around is having the right kind of training in the right environment to produce a highly proficient, skilled, safe pilot – Ummm, certifications and boot-camps anyone?
  • It is going to become ever more important to tailor the training for the environment in which the pilot will operate – Hey, again with the tailored training. A trend from another industry that could be borrowed?
  • Same article – Effectively, what we did was mould our training around the student, instead of making the student fit into our training programmes

Divorce Magazine

  • So the url on the magazine is http://www.divorcemagazine.com but it redirects to http://www.divorcemag.com/. Dead-tree hand not know what the electronic one is doing?
  • This is actually a consumer magazine rather than lawyer-focused which is where the interesting bits would be

There was also The Essential Marketing Guide For Family Lawyers, but its big and has lots of content — just like this post, so it will have to wait.

And with that, your mission from now on fellow conference goers is to crash the other conferences that are going on in the same facility as your conference and get their niche publications. They are the mine from which the next gold nugget will be found.