Quote by James Clear
“Practice is the price you pay today to be better tomorrow.”
First, I’ll talk about what I mean by deliberate practice, and then I’ll share ideas about how to use it for some of day-to-day skills you may want to improve.
What I mean by deliberate practice
People tend to think about practice as repetition, sometimes mindless repetition. Deliberate practice is different. It requires focused attention and is conducted with a specific goal in mind. You can use delilberate practice when you want to improve or change the way you do something.
I first understood what deliberate practice meant when I watched my granddaughter in her chosen sport of acrobatics gymnastics. Her team would do the same skill repeatedly until it was perfect. One thing to note is that they always started from a place of safety. For them, this is using a “belt” or having spotters. Perhaps doing her double somersault into a foam pit.
Like my granddaughter, as professionals, we need to practice – deliberately. We also need to start in a place of safety, of trust. We need to be able to make mistakes when we first try something new without severe repercussions to learn and to grow. In a sport, athletes have coaches to give them innovative ideas to try, and then they practice those new techniques.
What do you do to stretch in new directions? If it’s hard, do you do something different? If you’re not given time, then what do you do? Do you make time? Do you see what else is out there that you could learn to expand? Do you practice those new techniques.
Let’s look at some specific areas that you could try deliberate practice to improve.
Exploratory testing
I’ll use exploratory testing as my first example. User journeys may be your favorite approach, and you take detours from the main path, but you know there must be other ways to explore. By reading a blog post, you heard about a new technique using personas.
Deliberate practice means you would read more, and then try it yourself. You could define different personas and think of actions for different situations. You might even pair with others to get their perspectives. You would experiment until you felt you understood the technique and could apply it when necessary.
You could also practice debriefing to learn to articulate what you did and what you found. Talk about why it was powerful and what you found that you may not have otherwise. Practice can take many forms.
Observation skills
Observation skills are essential for testers but are often hard to get better at. For example, I am often oblivious to what goes on around me so sometimes I walk down the street looking and watching and paying attention to what is around me – deliberate practice for observation skills. Observation skills are important for my coaching and teaching.
I also play games that help me practice. For example, I play Hidden Objects on my tablet. When I first started, I thought of it as a good time passer when I was sitting in airports, but I soon realized that it was a great way for practicing observability. At the beginning of each new scene, the items are visible and what you expect. But as you move up levels, it gets trickier. It gets harder and the objects change – they change places and they change shapes. Sometimes you see an actual cat, sometimes it’s a statue, sometimes it’s a picture or a cloud shape. It makes you keep an open mind
How do you practice observation skills? Perhaps try sitting back in a team meeting one day – instead of participating. Watch what happens? Did the dynamic change because you are not participating? Or did you observe something you’d like to address?
Collaboration skills
A quote from Sharon Robson
“Collaboration does not happen by accident.
Make it a deliberate practice, a skill you nurture and grow.”
We don’t think of practicing collaboration, but it is a skill. Be intentional. Some things to do is create a shared goal and practice your language – It’s not about “you/me”, it’s about “us/we”. Count the number of times you need to change “you” to “we”, and try to correct yourself each time.
Build a shared language and relationships to understand how you fit together as a team. Practice being brief – Say it once, say it clearly, say it briefly. Listen with the intent to learn – I find I cannot create anything new if I am not open to learning from others. If you don’t know, say so – be open and transparent. Let go of your ego and help to ensure everyone gets a chance to contribute. Practice that… asking for contributions from others.
Don’t assume that collaboration will just happen. Spend the time working with your team to build a deliberate and considered collaboration approach. These skills are just as important, maybe more so, than detailed technical skills.
Coaching skills
We use sports metaphors because it’s easier to explain. But we work in an abstract world so many times, it’s not quite so easy. How can we apply deliberate practice to our coaching skills?
Start with something simple that you know how to do well – it may not be work related.
For example, try a simple game to become aware of your personal responses and to practice coaching skills. Find a friend and try a hand clapping game. First, show them how and then have them do it. How did they do? Can you help them to understand better? Think about what you say to the other person. Check to see if it was effective. Are you telling them exactly what you do, or are you adapting to their needs? Are you helping them to learn and grow. Practice with something else – be intentional.
Writing
One way to practice your writing skills is by reviewing others’ writing. One time focus on content, another time on flow, another time on their grammar. Part of the practice is the focus so think about how well you do. Do you think you are a good writer? Read others with intent – using a single focus, then read your own writing with the same focus. Try reading it out loud to yourself. Does it sound the same as when you read it silently? It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog post or a book or an abstract to apply for speaking at a conference.
When someone else reviews your work, do you just make the changes, or do you think about why they suggested it and try to understand how you could have done it differently. Deliberate practice makes you better.
Summary
I have so many examples of how you can practice deliberately, but I won’t bore them with them all. Lately, I have taken that approach to my art – my painting and drawing.
Deliberate practice is something many people forget to do! Choose one thing you’d like to get better at and then ….
- Start with the basics.
- Practice
- Experiment – learn and adapt.