Some books
effect a less dramatic change, they shift your view of the world and yourself a
more subtle way. Perhaps the authors and titles of these books are harder to
remember, though likely you will recall some idea or concept you took from the
book.
I can recall
many books that I've read, relating to varied subjects that at one time or
other have been of interest to me. As a youngster I had a small illustrated,
pocket book on Trees. It was the first time I experienced the power of books to
enlighten and reveal the world around me. I'd always done hiking and camping
and so knew some of the plants and trees I encountered. But I remember thinking
that trees were at best just a wall of green, different shapes and heights,
different forms of leaves and flowers but beyond that they were
indistinguishable.
After
learning more from my book on trees the world became a more meaningful place. I
could recognise trees as adults and as seedlings, spot the male and female
versions and understand the soil and environment they preferred. I even began
to know what type of tree a twig came from due to the shape the missing leaf
had left on the twig. It's hard to explain how enlightening the experience was.
Years later
I'd pick up a book on rocks and had the same enriching experience. To look at
rocks and stones and know what they are made of, how they formed, recognise
their crystalline structures, and have insight into the history they had
experienced.
Another more
recent book that literally changed my life was Buddhism Plain and Simple by
Steve Hagen. I read it with fascination and closed it with a sense of having
had my eyes opened and my way of thinking shifted forever. I've given away
probably 10 copies of that book to date.
More
recently still I changed my professional perspective fundamentally after
reading Gojko Adzic's, Specification by Example. As some of you will know I did
a little road-tour of presentations about how I'd used it. I remain convinced
this work represents a paradigm shift in how we can think about what we do,
like Context Driven was for testing. It may need refining but it's a pivotal
moment in the progressive growth of our profession.
Just the
other day, in a manner of speaking, I read Jerry's book on the Fieldstone
method of writing. I've always liked writing but like most people I struggled
with two concerns. Firstly, that I was not very good at writing, in that what I
write is not very entertaining, instructive, well structured, etc. Secondly,
that am somehow lacking in the required intellect and ability needed to
recognise, capture and write-up appropriate material.
Right now, I
have 12 unfinished writing projects. They range from essays and papers to a
huge project that's been on the go for over 2 years and is about 30% complete.
I spoke to a testing friend on email the other day and he recounted his own set
of in-progress writing work.
Before I
read Jerry's book I saw this as a problem, proof of my limited intellect and
ability. After all, if I was really 'that clever' I'd breeze through the
writing and publish material en masse, right? Well, no because it doesn't work
that way. A real gem of a revelation was Jerry talking about his own mass of
unfinished projects. Not sure why but I was surprised by this. He mentioned how
he doesn't just sit and write a piece of work but builds it up, one energy
stimulating field stone idea at a time. What's more, he collects these field
stones gradually for a range of projects.
It seems
like such a simple idea and yet consider how utterly contrary this is to what
we were taught in school. Again, as mentioned in his book, the usual way is to
conceive a topic to write about, build an outline, ensure a start-middle-end
and then get writing. Just merrily writing away until it's finished. This might
work for some forms of writing, say for help file, guidebook type writing. But
for what I'll call creative technical writing it's a hinderence.
In creative
technical writing you of course want to provide instructive material, so the
reader can grasp the topic, but you also want to provide insight that connects
subjects, topics, ideas and experience in ways that mean your writing provides
unique value to the reader. To do this you need to have the insights in the
first place, you need to have the aha moments that make the connections and
then wire them together into your writing. If you don't you can't share them
and your work will lack a certain unique value.
Is writing
an outline and then writing out the words against that outline or Field stoning
a the better way to write something that’s technical but creative too? In my
view writing from an outline is like testing from a test script. You plod
through each heading / test condition and prescriptively fill in the blanks. It’s
OK for getting words on paper, but it’s not the best process for sparking
creativity, for prompting aha moments of sudden, valuable insight and going
beyond the scope of the (test) plan. Actually, just thinking about that, is
getting words on paper really what we want to do when writing? I imagine like
me you aspire to something more meaningful and valuable. To achieve that, Field
stoning is the way.
Field
stoning is like ad-hoc exploratory testing. You initiate an ad-hoc session of
Field stone collection when the appropriate moment arises. That moment may be
because you have some time and sit down to write or better still you’ve been
journeying through your day and encountered something that connects with the
writing project you’re working on. It’s like exploratory testing when you observe
something interesting along the testing path you were taking, then head off to
investigate. What you uncover in this way, what you end up writing about and
how you write about it, is usually far more interesting and valuable than the
planned items you had to guide you.
So, what
more about Jerry’s technique? Well for one I no longer feel guilty about having
many projects on the go at once, in fact it’s the best way. I now gather up
fieldstones at apace, they’re literally everywhere and writing them down is no
harder than taking notes. Fieldstones come in all shapes and sizes. Some are
200 word paragraphs, others 20 word ideas that need to be found a little nook
to fit into. My writing projects are not all technical either. Some like The
Human Empire, Aranath Awakes, First Weavings and Mines of Ar’tir are some of
the more creative works I’m gathering a very different bag of stones for.
So if you’re
struggling to write but want to get better at it and write more, take heart.
Get a copy of Jerry’s book and read it through a couple of times.
Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method
Then set out your mixed array of field stone collection bags and start gathering stones as you go about your day. Importantly, get writing and reading and keep writing and reading. Write, write, write then publish, publish, publish. Create, Read, Update, but don’t Delete, instead Publish.
Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method
Then set out your mixed array of field stone collection bags and start gathering stones as you go about your day. Importantly, get writing and reading and keep writing and reading. Write, write, write then publish, publish, publish. Create, Read, Update, but don’t Delete, instead Publish.
It’s not
about being the best writer or winning prizes. It’s about the wonderful process
of writing - the time spent in gathering, analysis, thinking, reshaping,
writing and sharing. Don’t worry about what others will think. Some of my first
writing many years ago I now consider pretty weak but I’m still proud of them
as works. If you want to write, you will, one field stone at a time.
Thoughts? Leave a message!
Mark.
Thoughts? Leave a message!
Mark.