> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.workroom-productions.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Getting Stuck for Explorers - URL: https://www.workroom-productions.com/getting-stuck-for-explorers/ - Published: 2026-04-15T22:38:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-30T13:16:09.000Z - Description: We can get stuck when exploratory testing. What does that mean? - Author: James Lyndsay - Tags: Exercises How do you get *stuck* when exploring? More to the point, what does that tell use about getting *unstuck*? Exploration needs iteration: if you stay in one place you’ll run out of new things to explore. If stuckness is important to explorers, perhaps it’s important to exploratory testers. For Workroom PlayTime 054 – a [Miro board](https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVHaUn7Ac=/?share%5Flink%5Fid=925395031451) ## **Exercise** *5 minutes – prime your mind* Write down as many synonyms for being stuck as you can. See what metaphors they live in. *5 minutes – refine and aim* Think of ways that software exploration *doesn’t* match those metaphors. How does stuck feel there? Think of more synonyms and phrases that better suit. *10 minutes – get specific, share and find useful stuff* Share and classify metaphors around what’s happening when you explore. Share ways that you have used to get un-stuck. ## **Frameworks** #### ****example metaphors** (if you're stuck...) - stuck in the mud / in a rut, mired, gridlocked, dead end, hit a wall - lost, wandering, down a rabbit hole, sidetracked, can’t see the forest for the trees - in too deep, stuck in quicksand, drowning in details - tangled up, boxed in, trapped - brain fog, overthinking, analysis paralysis, fixated - gummed up, seized, rusty, - stunted, ossified, stagnant, ossified - burnt out, out of fuel, out of steam, sluggish ### **Inverting Motivators** In [Drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive:%5FThe%5FSurprising%5FTruth%5FAbout%5FWhat%5FMotivates%5FUs), Dan Pink identifies the families of motivators: mastery, autonomy and purpose. This is taken from [Deci and Ryan’s Self-determination Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination%5Ftheory), which had autonomy, competence and relatedness. Matching demotivators might be incompetence / confusion / overwhem / futility, dependency / prescribed methods / powerlessness, meaninglessness / disconnection / absurdity. ### **Setbacks** [Amabile / Kamer’s Progress Principle](https://progressprinciple.com/progress-principle/) supposes that small setbacks can have a large effect when under pressure – and conversely, tiny steady achievements make an outsized difference when stuck. ### **Cognitive load** Sweller’s [theory of cognitive load](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive%5Fload) tells us that we have a limited capacity, and get stuck when we have too much on our minds. A given situation has a certain *intrinsic* cognitive load, we bring an individual *germane* load to processing it, and there is an *extraneous* load in how it is presented. If we’re stuck but can adjust how we’re interacting with the artefact, we might get unstuck. ### **My Patterns of Stuckness** I get stuck when: - I’ve not found *enough* weidnesses – and when I’ve found *too much*. Typically I can’t decide what to do next, maybe becuase in the first instance I don’t have enough signal, and in the second I have too much noise. - it’s too long between weirdnesses. Typically I question my process and try to think of something different. - the weirdnesses show no hint of determinism, or when it’s not clear what the weirdnesses might mean. Seeing noise, not pattern, is a demotivator. - I can’t decide which weirdnesses is weirdest. - I can’t get my tools to work, and realise I’ve spent more time exploring my buggy tools than I have exploring the subject. ### Getting unstuck For me: - notes are a key to unlock stuckness – I can put information into notes for review and as a memory, use them to trigger new approaches, switch from a linear narrative to a growing picture and more. - I think of process goals (taking regular technical action / putting one foot in front of the other) rather than progress goals (getting to an endpoint / winning a race). - Accepting uncertainty is a reliable way to innovation. - Recognising my triggers (finding too few problems, feeling unqualified to judge) helps me move past. ### **Stopping Heuristics for Exploratory Testing** Let’s distinguish being stuck from stopping. Stuck is when you can’t move despite (something). Stopping is when you’ve run out of resource. A great way to run out is when you’ve set yourself a small budget – a timebox, a stack of discoveries: running out means it’s time to move on and switch to a different location or approach. Here’s my non-exhaustive list of situations to stop, and here’s a better [list from Michael Bolton and James Bach](https://developsense.com/blog/2009/09/when-do-we-stop-test): - out of resource: time / money / licenses - found enough (by number) - found enough (a big-enough problem) - found nothing of note after some time (before out of resource?) - answered all the outstanding questions (you did *have* questions?)