# Workroom Productions
> Exercises, toys, ideas and consultancy from James Lyndsay / Workroom Productions / @workroomprds
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [All About Everything](https://www.workroom-productions.com/about.md) - Background, biography, aims, awards and endorsements.
- [Consultancy](https://www.workroom-productions.com/consultancy.md) - You need someone to advise, analyse, advocate and act. I can do that.
- [Stuff to Take In](https://www.workroom-productions.com/consumables.md) - Got a moment? Want to absorb ideas? Here are blog posts, articles, videos and papers.
- [Stuff to Do Together](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises.md) - Work with colleagues to think about testing. Open-source exercises used from workshops, TestLabs, talks and tutorials.
- [Exploratory Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory_testing_older.md) - Older articles on Exploratory Testing by James Lyndsay
- [Hiring](https://www.workroom-productions.com/hiring.md) - Workroom Productions is a one-man company, so you'll always be dealing with me, James Lyndsay. When you book me, you get me. Speaking and teaching engagements tend to be booked several months in advance, and are often outside the UK. In some circumstances, I can extend trips - tell me where you are…
- [home](https://www.workroom-productions.com/home.md) - You'll find plenty of activities here to help you get better at software testing. It's all free to use. Subscribe for more depth, and select a paid subscription for more interaction. Scroll down if you want me to help you directly with testing.
- [In-House Workshop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/in-house-workshop.md) - Insights into Exploratory Testing Help your team to find useful information more swiftly Set a date [jdl@workroom-productions.com?subject=In-house%20Exploratory%20Testing%20workshop] * or read on for more details Hands-on workshop to enthuse and teach your testers Your team will explore custom-buil…
- [LEWT](https://www.workroom-productions.com/lewt.md) - The London Exploratory Workshop in Testing LEWT is an exploratory peer workshop. We take the view that discussions are more interesting than lectures. We enjoy diverse ideas, and limit some activities in order to work with more ideas. Currently, the workshop is structured as a series of short talks…
- [Mentoring](https://www.workroom-productions.com/mentoring.md) - You need someone to guide your testers and test managers. I can help.
- [My Papers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/papers-page.md) - Most of these papers were written as an integral part of a conference presentation, to help the audience get some value after the talk was over, and to give greater depth to my own thinking. They're generally around 8000 words. -----------------------------------------------------------------------…
- [Test Strategy](https://www.workroom-productions.com/strategy.md) - To be rationalised... What is a strategy? Why does testing need one? A strategy outlines what to plan, and how to plan it. A successful strategy is your guide through change, and provides a firm foundation for ongoing improvement. Unlike a plan, which is obsolete from the point of creation, a strat…
- [Talks](https://www.workroom-productions.com/talks.md) - You can bring some of the following talks to your own team. Each has been delivered at a major testing event, and most are supported with substantial papers. Use these talks to motivate your team, to give them a special event, and to stimulate debate. Testing in an Agile Environment [https://workro…
- [Teaching](https://www.workroom-productions.com/teaching.md) - Online interactive workshops to inform and inspire. Book a lunchtime, a series or traditional all-day training.
- [Team Mentoring](https://www.workroom-productions.com/team-mentoring.md) - Long term improvement and widened perspective for your team, grown over months and built around their work
- [TLP1](https://www.workroom-productions.com/tlp1.md) - TPL1 content Here's a Link [https://www.workroom-productions.com/home/]
- [Stuff to Play With](https://www.workroom-productions.com/toys.md) - Toys to help you explore testing ideas. Go here for BlackBox Puzzles, Questions For Testers, Bring me a Letter and more.
- [Example Workshop Materials](https://www.workroom-productions.com/two_hour_exploratory_interactive.md)
- [Welcome, Subscriber](https://www.workroom-productions.com/welcome-free-subscriber.md) - Thank you for subscribing to the site! You'll now be able to see deeper content on many posts.
- [Welcome!](https://www.workroom-productions.com/welcome-paid-subscriber.md) - Thank you for subscribing to the site and to the interactive sessions! You'll now be able to see deeper content, and you'll receive weekly invites to my workshops.

## Posts
- [Workroom PlayTime 063: Spot the Difference](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-063-spot-the-difference.md) - Playing with a pair of puzzles
- [Spot the Difference (Puzzle 40)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/spot-the-difference-puzzle-40.md) - Compare two versions of BlackBox Puzzle 40.
- [Puzzle 40b](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-040b.md) - Variant of Puzzle 40. Spot the difference?
- [Puzzle 40](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-040.md) - Puzzle 40 – eight buttons, eight lamps
- [Workroom PlayTime 062: Explore Puzzle 039](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-062-explore-puzzle-039.md) - Let's explore BlackBox Puzzle 039
- [Puzzle 39](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-039.md) - Puzzle 39 – swift to explore. Probably.
- [Workroom PlayTime 061: DeepWiki as a Tester](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-061-deepwiki-as-a-tester.md) - Understanding a repo with a tool that generates docs from code.
- [Exercise: DeepWiki – as a tester](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-deepwiki-as-a-tester.md) - Try the tool together
- [Recent eye-catching testing articles](https://www.workroom-productions.com/recent-eye-catching-testing-articles.md)
- [Using DeepWiki as a Tester](https://www.workroom-productions.com/using-deepwiki-as-a-tester.md) - Can an inhuman codebase intelligence tool make a human tester clevererer?
- [Support your Testing with Local LLMs](https://www.workroom-productions.com/support-your-testing-with-local-llms.md) - Workshop at Agile Testing Days 2026
- [Local LLM Tooling: Code Queries with `graphify`](https://www.workroom-productions.com/local-llm-tooling-code-queries-with-graphify.md) - Supporting my local LLM with a code-graphing tool
- [Workroom PlayTime 060: Sitegeist as an Exploratory Interface](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-060-sitegeist-as-an-exploratory-interface.md) - Playing with Sitegeist as an Exploratory Interface.
- [Workroom PlayTime 059: Play with Tenfold](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-059-play-with-tenfold.md) - Playing with Ink and Switch's lovely toy Tenfold.
- [Play with 'Tenfold' by Ink and Switch](https://www.workroom-productions.com/play-with-tenfold-by-ink-and-switch.md) - Spend time with a lovely software toy
- [Workroom PlayTime 058](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-058.md) - An Exercise about Testing, Systems Analysis and Time
- [Exercises about Testing and Systems Analysis](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises-about-testing-and-systems-analysis.md) - Exercises that are about thinking as systems analysts while testing.
- [Workroom PlayTime 057: Disaster Story](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-057.md) - Doing Disaster Story – one of the Playful Exercises About Testing
- [No Workroom PlayTime 28 May](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-28-may.md) - Hi all – there's no Workroom PlayTime this Thursday. Unexpected family commitments mean that I no longer have the slot on the Thursday, there's no time to spare on the Friday, and I'm too late in the week to usefully pull it sooner. We'll do Sitegeist as an Exploratory Interface, and will focus on…
- [Workroom PlayTime 056: Switching for Explorers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-056-switching-for-explorers.md) - Noticing what prompts us to switch approach as we explore.
- [Sitegeist as an Exploratory Interface](https://www.workroom-productions.com/sitegeist-as-an-exploratory-interface.md) - Using a browser extension as an exploratory interface
- [Workroom PlayTime 055: Iterating for Exploratory Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-055-iterating-for-exploratory-testers.md) - Making sense of how we can move across a software surface.
- [Switching for Exploratory Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/switching-for-exploratory-testers.md) - We can get stuck when exploratory testing. What does that mean?
- [Workroom PlayTime 054: Getting Stuck for Explorers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-054-getting-stuck-for-explorers.md) - Thinking about being stuck, while exploring.
- [Iterating for Exploratory Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/iteration-exercises-for-exploratory-testers.md) - Exercises around systematically moving through what we've built to find out about it.
- [Software Testing Live 07](https://www.workroom-productions.com/mot-testing-live-07.md) - Come test with Ben Dowen and I
- [Workroom PlayTime 053: Play Styles and Exploratory Work](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-053-play-styles-and-exploratory-work.md) - What exploratory work suits a particular play style?
- [Play Styles and Exploratory Work](https://www.workroom-productions.com/play-styles-and-exploratory-work.md) - What exploratory work suits particular players?
- [Getting Stuck for Explorers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/getting-stuck-for-explorers.md) - We can get stuck when exploratory testing. What does that mean?
- [How do LLM Makers Assess their Models?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/how-do-llm-makers-assess-their-models.md) - What do the makers of LLMs tell us about their testing and assessment?
- [Workroom PlayTime 052: Exploring Play Styles](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-052-exploring-play-styles.md) - Thinking about how our play style influences our exploratory testing
- [Exploring Play Styles](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-play-styles.md) - Play influences exploratory testing. What does that mean for us?
- [Workroom PlayTime 051: Exploring Bloom Filters](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-051-exploring-bloom-filters.md) - Exploring and experimenting with an algorithm. 2 April, 5pm London time.
- [Exploring Bloom Filters](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-bloom-filters.md) - What has worked for for other people, and for us in the audience.
- [Workroom PlayTime 050: Power of Variety](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-050-power-of-variety.md) - The Power of Variety. 5 March, 2:30pm GMT.
- [Workroom PlayTime 049: What Makes a Great Talk?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-049-what-makes-a-great-talk.md) - Sharing what worked for us as an audience. 26 Feb, 2:30pm London time.
- [What Makes a Great Talk?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/what-makes-a-great-talk.md) - What has worked for for other people, and for us in the audience.
- [Workroom PlayTime this week](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-20260219.md) - None this week – but consider the Longplayer on interesting testing.
- [WP 048: Cutting to the Core](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-048-cutting-to-the-core.md) - Thursday 12 Feb, 2:30pm London time. Bring an abstract!
- [Cutting to the Core](https://www.workroom-productions.com/cutting-to-the-core.md) - Find the fundamentals of your message.
- [Workroom Playtime 047: Getting to a Great Abstract](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-047-getting-to-a-great-abstract.md) - Thursday 5 Feb, 2:30pm London time. Bring an abstract!
- [Speaker Prep Sessions for Workroom Playtime](https://www.workroom-productions.com/speaker-prep-sessions-for-workroom-playtime.md) - Lots of interactive activities around speaking and communicating in Feb '26.
- [Workroom PlayTime Longplayer: Interesting Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-longplayer-interesting-testing.md) - 90-minutes online interactive workshop on Interesting Testing.
- [Getting to a Great Abstract 2](https://www.workroom-productions.com/getting-to-a-great-abstract-2.md) - Improve your own abstract, read other people's.
- [Workroom Playtime 046: The Ralph Loop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-046-the-ralph-loop.md) - Thursday 29 Jan, 2:30pm London time.
- [Exercise: The Ralph Loop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-the-ralph-loop.md) - Trying an LLM in a loop, and not a lot else.
- [Workroom Playtime 045: ARC Foundation tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-045-arc-foundation-tests-2.md) - Thursday 22 Jan, 2:30pm London time.
- [Playing with ARC-AGI tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playing-with-arc-agi-tests.md) - Play with ARC Prize's tests for reasoning systems
- [Workroom PlayTime in 2026](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-in-2026.md) - Plans, awaiting contact with reality
- [Workroom PlayTime 044 (and onwards into 2026)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-044-2.md) - Thursday 15 January, 2pm London time
- [A Library with no Code](https://www.workroom-productions.com/a-library-with-no-code.md) - A thought experiment made real
- [Interesting Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/interesting-testing.md) - There are as many ways to test as there are testers.
- [No Workroom PlayTime on 8 Jan](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-on-8-jan.md) - Apologies. I can't get my ducks in a row. See you next week. James
- [Happy 2026](https://www.workroom-productions.com/happy-2026.md) - We're all in 2026 together.
- [Workroom Playtime 043: Building Short Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-043-building-short-exercises.md) - Thursday 18 December, 3pm London time.
- [Building Short Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/building-short-exercises.md) - A meta-exercise for exercise builders
- [Workroom Playtime 042: Exploratory Interfaces 4 – Tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-042-exploratory-interfaces-4-tests.md) - Thursday 11 December, 4:30pm London time.
- [Exploratory Interfaces 4: Tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory-interfaces-4-tests.md) - Explore the passing tests of a built product to explore the product.
- [Puzzle 38](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-38.md) - Puzzle 38 – swift to explore. Probably.
- [Workroom Playtime 041: Ah, um...](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-041-ah-um.md) - Thursday 4 December, 4pm London time.
- [Add Commas](https://www.workroom-productions.com/add-commas.md) - A bookmarklet to add commas to every line in your clipboard.
- [Workroom PlayTime 040: Explore Generated Code II](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-040-explore-generated-code-ii.md) - 27 Nov, 14:30 London time, at ATD and on Zoom.
- [Testing Transparently](https://www.workroom-productions.com/testing-transparently.md) - 😁 Collaborating is fun 👀 Show your work 🤝 New paths: new people
- [Workroom Playtime 039: Stuck Overflow](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-039-stuck-overflow.md) - Thursday 20 November, 3pm London time, playful exercise 'Stuck Overflow'
- [Quick Trick Automation](https://www.workroom-productions.com/quick-trick-automation.md) - A 25-minute session at Agile Testing Days Promise * How to use combinations of simple (OS) tools to make you life easier * Disposable tools can make a difference in efficiency and productivity * Automating tedious tasks can be so much more fun than the tasks themselves. Automate away your tediousne…
- [Crafting Custom Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/crafting-custom-tools.md) - Materials for ATD 2025 tutorial "Crafting your Custom Tools"
- [Parts for Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/parts-for-tools.md) - Tool making from what you find
- [Environments: Cert work](https://www.workroom-productions.com/environments-cert-work.md) - Ansible to get a certificate by leveraging CloudFlare with LetsEncrypt
- [Workroom Playtime 038: Parts for Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-038-parts-for-tools.md) - Thursday 13 November, 5pm London time, selecting and joining for purpose.
- [Exercise: Parts for Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-parts-for-tools.md) - Purposefully picking parts for tools.
- [Workroom Playtime 037: xargs tool for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-037-xargs-tool-for-testers.md) - Thursday 6 November, 4pm London time
- [xargs For Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/xargs-for-testers.md) - xargs to automate test tasks
- [Custom Asserts – what and why](https://www.workroom-productions.com/custom-asserts.md) - What they are, why they're handy, how to start
- [Secrets at my Fingertips](https://www.workroom-productions.com/secrets-at-my-fingertips.md) - Tap it, unwrap it – how I send secrets with biometrics
- [Workroom Playtime 036: Custom Asserts](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-036-custom-asserts.md) - Thursday 30 October, 4pm London time
- [Exercise: Custom Asserts](https://www.workroom-productions.com/custom-asserts-exercise.md) - Play with building custom asserts
- [Load Time in One Line](https://www.workroom-productions.com/load-time-in-one-line.md) - Use curl -w, or time another command.
- [Workroom Playtime 035: build 3 throwaway tools in 15 minutes](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-035-build-3-throwaway-tools-in-15-minutes.md) - Thursday 23 October, 3pm London time
- [Exercise: Build Throwaway Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-build-throwaway-tools.md) - Experience building ephemeral tools
- [Recent Events](https://www.workroom-productions.com/recent-events.md) - Shows me changes to recently-changed logs
- [Tiny Tool: file types in a directory](https://www.workroom-productions.com/file-types-in-a-directory.md) - A one-liner to see the most-common file types in a directory
- [Workroom Playtime 034: `jq` for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-034-jq-for-testers.md) - Thursday 16 October, 3pm London time
- [Exercise: jq for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-jq-for-testers.md) - Testing-related exercises for `jq`
- [Workroom Playtime 033: Exploratory Interfaces 2](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-033.md) - Thursday 9 October, 3pm London time
- [Exploratory Interfaces alongside  unit tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory-interfaces-alongside-unit-tests.md) - Looking inside the code to see what it offers, then playing with it.
- [Workroom Playtime 032: Redirection Operators for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-032.md) - Thursday 2 October, 3pm London time, use | > < and more...
- [Exercise: Redirection Operators](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-redirection-operators.md) - Testing-related exercises for `|`, `>`, `<`, `>>` and more.
- [Redirection Operators for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/redirection-operators-for-testers.md) - use `|`, `>`, `>>`, `<` to string commands and data together on a unix commandline
- [No Workroom PlayTime on Thursday 25 Sept](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-on-thursday-25-sept.md) - Apologies – we'll go next week. Also: Two longer things are incoming (hint: prep for Agile Testing Days and more) ...mentioning ATD – I have a 'personal speaker discount code' 25-150-JamLyn that gives you €150 off the ticket price. I hear that it's a stackable discount – so if you're hovering over…
- [Workroom Playtime 031: Puzzle 17](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-031.md) - Thursday 18 September, 3pm London time. Puzzle 17.
- [Workroom Playtime 030: Completeness](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-030-completeness.md) - Thursday 11 September, 4pm London time. Completeness (is a wicked problem)
- [Completeness (is a wicked problem)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/completeness-is-a-wicked-problem.md) - "Completeness" is a core problem in test work. Let's play with it.
- [Workroom Playtime 029: Imagined | Real](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-029-imagined-real.md) - Thursday 4 September at 3pm London time.
- [Imagined | Real](https://www.workroom-productions.com/imagined-real.md) - A practical exercise thinking about real things. And things we imagine to be real.
- [Workroom Playtime 028: My Story Chart](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-028-my-story-chart.md) - Thursday 28 August at 4pm London time. Telling a story with a picture.
- [My Story Chart](https://www.workroom-productions.com/my-story-chart.md) - Tell a story with words (having already drawn a chart)
- [Workroom PlayTime 027: Being Random](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-027.md) - Randomness is hard. Let's play without making patterns.
- [Exercise: Being Random](https://www.workroom-productions.com/being-random.md) - Patterns emerge. Being random is hard.
- [Workroom PlayTime 026: Shared Inspiration](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-026-shared-inspiration.md) - Let's exchange ideas about something that has inspired us, as testers. 4pm 14 Aug 25
- [No Workroom PlayTime until 14 August](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-until-14-august.md) - I've stepped away to be with family, and to sing. Tomorrow I'm travelling all day. You'll know that I had hopes of doing Workroom PlayTime 26 at a different time this week – hasn't happened, and now can't happen. Cheers, all. May your tests fail delightfully. Thank you for reading! James
- [Workroom PlayTime 025: curl](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-025-curl.md) - Let's play with cURL, in ways that we might use it during testing
- [cURL Exercises for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/curl-exercises-for-testers.md) - placeholder Information about an endpoint Try curl -I "https://www.workroom-productions.com/curl-exercises-for-testers/" compare with curl -I "https://agiletestingdays.com/2025/session/the-art-of-crafting-your-custom-tools/" Using with other tools curl uses different output streams: * stdout: HTTP…
- [Clear up your LinkedIn feed](https://www.workroom-productions.com/clear-up-your-linkedin-feed.md) - A bookmarklet to afford me some control over my LinkedIn feed.
- [Workroom PlayTime 024: Puzzle 11 (is an awful toy)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-024-puzzle-11.md) - We'll (attempt) to play with Puzzle 11. An exercise in what makes an exercise not work.
- [Tiny Tool: Summarise History Prompt](https://www.workroom-productions.com/summarise-history-prompt.md) - A tiny tool to remind me what I've been doing in the terminal
- [Tiny Tool: checkRefs.sh](https://www.workroom-productions.com/tiny-tool-checkrefs-sh.md) - A tiny tool to see which files include one or more of a set of strings.
- [Workroom PlayTime 024 – not this week](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-024-not-this-week.md) - ...not this week. Apologies.
- [Monday 7/7 Workshop on Test-driven Generation.](https://www.workroom-productions.com/monday-7-7-workshop-on-test-driven-generation.md) - Play with tests, code and LLMs on Monday 7 July.
- [Workroom PlayTime 023: LLM comparison I](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-023.md) - We'll compare LLM output, in areas where we already have reliable judgement.
- [Workroom PlayTime 022: Testing Story](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-022.md) - Let's play with testing-related stories
- [Online Ephemeral Environment workgroup](https://www.workroom-productions.com/ephemeral-environment-workgroup.md) - Online workgroup where we play with environments for teaching testing without downloads / installs.
- [Online Test-Driven Generation workshop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/online-test-driven-generation-workshop.md) - 7 July: Online workshop where we play with code generated from tests.
- [LLM comparison – local knowledge](https://www.workroom-productions.com/llm-comparison-local-knowledge.md) - Compare LLM output – something obscure that you know well.
- [Exercises for cat, head and tail](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises-for-cat-head-and-tail.md) - Get on the commandline and play with these tools
- [cat, head and tail for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/cat-head-and-tail-for-testers.md) - Line processors, file slicers, used everywhere, hidden powers.
- [Workroom PlayTime 021: cat, head and tail](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-021.md) - Let's play with testing-related things
- [PlayTime 019: Puzzle36](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-019-puzzle36.md) - Play together with a testing puzzle
- [Ephemeral Environments](https://www.workroom-productions.com/ephemeral-environments.md) - I've been working on something for people who teach testing in public. I want to share this, as I think it's useful. Shortly, I'll clean it up to make it open-source, and I'll teach people how to use it and set it up. In order to provide these environments, you'll need: A DigitalOcean account (for…
- [Weird Word 2](https://www.workroom-productions.com/weird-word-2.md) - What do you mean, you didn't get my messages?
- [Different LLMs do Different Things](https://www.workroom-productions.com/different-llms-do-different-things.md) - Can I substitute GPT-4, 4o-mini or Qwen3 for Claude3.5Sonnet? tl;dr: Nope.
- [Workshop Costs](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workshop-costs.md) - Delivery costs for running a large tech workshop
- [PlayTime 020: Code is Cheap: Tests are Valuable (at EuroSTAR25)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-020-code-is-cheap-tests-are-valuable-at-eurostar25.md) - How does it feel when a model turns up? Join us to play with that feeling!
- [PlayTime 018: Raster Reveal](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-018-raster-reveal.md) - How does it feel when a model turns up? Join us to play with that feeling!
- [PlayTime 017: Whatever Next? 2](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-017-whatever-next-2.md) - Join us to play with testing ideas
- [PlayTime 016: Whatever Next?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-016-whatever-next.md) - Join us to play with testing ideas
- [Playful Exercises about Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playful-exercises-about-testing.md) - Exercises that are about playing together as testers. Avoiding hunt-the-thingy
- [PlayTime 015: Bring me a Letter](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-015-bring-me-a-letter.md) - Thursday 8 May 3pm London time:
- [Bring Me a Letter](https://www.workroom-productions.com/bring-me-a-letter.md) - Interactive exercise on feedback.
- [PlayTime 014: Puzzle 33](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-014-puzzle-33.md) - Thursday 1 May 2:30 London time: Play with Puzzle 33
- [Clearing Cloudflare's Cache](https://www.workroom-productions.com/clearing-cloudflares-cache.md) - Diagnosing and acting on a cacheing problem
- [PlayTime 013: Three Things](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-013-three-things.md) - Three things pass the same tests – let's explore how they differ
- [Exercise: Three Things](https://www.workroom-productions.com/three-things.md) - Explore the differences between several things which pass the same tests.
- [PlayTime 012: Testing Decisions – Cost of Trouble](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-012-testing-decisions-cost-of-trouble.md) - Learning from playing with the Cost of Trouble
- [Exercise – Cost of Trouble](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-cost-of-trouble.md) - Exploring how we shape decisions about testing in the light what we imagine we might find.
- [No Workroom Playtime on 10 April](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-on-10-april.md) - New toy to play with, but no exercises this week.
- [PlayTime 011 – Playing with Sort](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-011-playing-with-sort.md) - Workroom PlayTime011 is Playing with Sort.
- [`sort` Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playing-with-sort.md) - Play with `sort` to discover its capabilities
- [PlayTime 010](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-010-2.md) - Workroom PlayTime010 is Testing Decisions – Power of Variety
- [Exercise – Power of Variety](https://www.workroom-productions.com/power-of-variety.md) - Exploring testing decisions, thinking about the influence of our possible approaches.
- [No Workroom Playtime this week (21 March) either](https://www.workroom-productions.com/no-workroom-playtime-this-week-21-march-either.md) - .. this week I'm full of headcold. So there's a second gap. I'm heading back to bed. Sorry all. As a bonus, though, I'm working towards a practical exercise on building custom exploratory interfaces for functions under test. It will be longer – 40-60 minutes – and I'll offer that to subscribers fir…
- [PlayTime 009](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-009.md) - Workroom PlayTime009 is Notation for Puzzle 15
- [Exercise: Notation for Puzzle15](https://www.workroom-productions.com/notation-for-puzzle15.md) - Exploring Puzzle 15, while watching how we keep track of what we see and do.
- [Weird Word 1](https://www.workroom-productions.com/weird-word-1.md) - Something odd and oddly-consistent in search and dictionaries
- [Function is easier than Fit](https://www.workroom-productions.com/function-is-easier-than-fit.md) - Comparative experiments in LLM coding and editing (p.s. we cheated).
- [Thinking in Client](https://www.workroom-productions.com/thinking-in-client.md) - Local terminology takes priority
- [Submit!](https://www.workroom-productions.com/submit.md) - Who, me?
- [An Example Exploratory Interface](https://www.workroom-productions.com/an-example-exploratory-interface.md) - Here it is: exploratory interface for Timer_v2.js The systems we make and test have all sorts of ways that we can explore them. Each way of exploring will reveal different problems. If we want to explore a unit of a system, we might start with unit tests, and write a few more to explore. I tend to…
- [PlayTime 008 – Imagining Questions](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-008-2.md) - Imagining Questions Exercise, 3:00pm 28 Feb 2025
- [Imagining Questions](https://www.workroom-productions.com/imagining-questions.md) - Examine your patterns of questions
- [Ephemeral Tooling](https://www.workroom-productions.com/ephemeral-tooling.md) - Tools you throw away? Scandalous.
- [PlayTime 007 – Sloganise for all subscribers!](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-007-sloganise.md) - Sloganise Exercise, 3:30pm 21 Feb 2025
- [Sloganise](https://www.workroom-productions.com/sloganise.md) - Memorable messages
- [Exercise: Abstract Judgement](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-2.md) - Judging an abstract, and thinking about judgement
- [Judging by Content, Delivery, and Bravery](https://www.workroom-productions.com/judging-by-content-delivery-and-bravery.md) - How I Judge Talks
- [PlayTime 006 – Explorable Interfaces II](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-006-explorable-interfaces-ii.md) - Interactive session with grep, 4pm 7 Feb 2025
- [Exercise: Exploring Fixed Input](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-exploring-fixed-input.md) - Fixed at build time, still explorable
- [Browser-based VSCode for Workshops](https://www.workroom-productions.com/browser-based-vscode-for-workshops.md) - Putting a cloud server and IDE into workshop participants' browsers.
- [Making Logs for Teaching](https://www.workroom-productions.com/making-logs-for-teaching.md) - Pointer to a github repo of tools that make logs
- [PlayTime 005 – `grep`](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-005-grep.md) - Interactive session with grep, 4pm 7 Feb 2025
- [Grep Tool Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/grep-tool-exercises.md) - Play with `grep` – solutions available.
- [`grep` for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/grep-for-testers.md) - Using grep to find matching patterns in streams and files.
- [PlayTime 004 – Puzzle31](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-004-blackbox-puzzle031.md) - Open to all subscribers, 4pm on Friday 31 January 2025, Puzzle 31
- [Workroom PlayTime this week is "Following Up" (from SpeakerPrep)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-003-subscribers-newsletter.md) - Workroomprds newsletter: Friday 5:30 London time for "Following up with your audience exercise".
- [PlayTime 003 – SpeakerPrep – Following Up](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-003-speakerprep-following-up.md) - Interactive session with Diff, 1pm 10 Jan 2025
- [What to Follow Up after a Talk](https://www.workroom-productions.com/what-to-follow-up-after-a-talk.md) - Building connections that last
- [Workroom PlayTime 002: Exploratory Interfaces I](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-002-2.md) - This week's Workroom PlayTime is on Friday at 3pm London time. We'll dig into ideas around Exploratory Interfaces, and will play with the exercise Changing Input Mechanisms. Those links will take you to new pages on the site. The pages are for everyone – having subscribers encourages me to make the…
- ['Test-driven Generation: A Hands-on Experience' at EuroSTAR 2025](https://www.workroom-productions.com/test-driven-generation-a-hands-on-experience-at-eurostar-2025-2.md) - I'm delighted and astonished to be doing a big interactive at EuroSTAR in Edinburgh this summer. In my session, you’ll write tests that fail, and your AI will hand back code which passes those tests. You’ll go round this magic loop several times; building more tests and generating more code. We'll…
- [Exercise: Changing Input Mechanisms](https://www.workroom-productions.com/changing-input-mechanisms.md) - Play with one field and several input mechanisms.
- [Exercise: You vs the Machine](https://www.workroom-productions.com/you-vs-the-machine.md) - Find your own exploration
- [Exercise: How do *You* Explore a System?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-how-do-you-explore-what-a-system-does-2.md) - A swift thinking exercise – 15 minutes
- [Exploratory Interfaces](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory-interfaces.md) - Finding good ways to explore a system
- [Exploration Without Interaction](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploration-without-interaction-2.md) - Exploring by observing and thinking.
- [PlayTime 002 – Exploratory Interfaces I](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-002-exploratory-interfaces-i.md) - Interactive session with Diff, 1pm 10 Jan 2025
- [PlayTime 001 – Diff](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-001-diff.md) - Interactive session with Diff, 1pm 10 Jan 2025
- [Diff Tool Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/diff-tool-exercises.md) - Play with `diff` – solutions available.
- [`diff` for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/diff-for-testers.md) - Compare two similar texts with diff
- [Unix Tools for Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/unix-tools-for-testers.md) - How commandline tools help testers. Mostly a list leading to a series.
- [Claude's BlackBox Puzzle](https://www.workroom-productions.com/claudes-blackbox-puzzle.md) - 15 minutes playing with an LLM-generated BlackBox puzzle
- [Workroom PlayTime](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime.md) - Regular, short, interactive sessions for subscribers.
- [Online AI vs TDD workshop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/ai-vs-tdd-online-20241210.md) - Free online AI vs TDD workshop on 10 Dec 2024.
- [Getting to a Great Abstract](https://www.workroom-productions.com/getting-to-a-great-abstract.md) - Take your idea to a better place
- [Dealing with Disaster](https://www.workroom-productions.com/dealing-with-disaster.md) - Thinking through what can go wrong, and practicing one's attitude and response.
- [Current LLM tech stack](https://www.workroom-productions.com/current-llm-tech-stack.md) - Stuff I use to generate stuff
- [Learning with an LLM](https://www.workroom-productions.com/learning-with-an-llm.md) - An LLM is a powerful, flawed and delightful study tool.
- [Taming 2000 Safari Tabs](https://www.workroom-productions.com/taming-safari-tabs.md) - whipping up a tiny tool, and the joy of burndown
- [Guiding Hands-off AI using Hands-on TDD](https://www.workroom-productions.com/guiding-ai-code-with-tests-workshop.md) - All sorts of stuff around our upcoming workshop at Agile Testing Days.
- [Making a Record of your Exploratory Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/making-a-record-of-your-exploratory-testing.md) - A mashup of sources, for whittling later. Here's what I mean about the whittling. I'm aware that LambdaTest featured this post, and I'll sort it out shortly. Most of the time, exploratory testing records are kept privately for the tester who tested. Plenty of testers rely on their memory. Testers w…
- [How I'm writing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/how-i-am-writing.md) - Enabling experiences, exploration and change, rather than publication or narrative.
- [Limiting Testing With A Timebox](https://www.workroom-productions.com/limiting-testing-with-a-timebox.md) - placeholder – needs to be re-written, expanded with my usual stuff and properly integrated. Timeboxes help you limit and focus your exploratory work. They tend to be talked about by testers as an integral part of Session-Based Testing. Timeboxing When entering a session, the tester chooses their ap…
- [Shaping Testing With Charters](https://www.workroom-productions.com/shaping-testing-with-charters.md) - placeholder – needs the exercise extracted, and needs to be properly integrated. Charters are one way of giving purpose to your exploration and exploratory testing. They tend to be talked about by testers as an integral part of Session-Based Testing. Charters are Work, Sessions are Time A charter i…
- [Session-Based Exploratory Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/session-based-exploratory-testing.md) - placeholder, basewd on course materials / Needs more stuff, and needslinks Exploration is: Open-endedCentred on learning One way to manage the work is with Session-based Testing. SBT tries to: 1) Limit scope and time by prioritising via a list of sessions, focussing with a charter timeboxing 2) Ena…
- [Exploratory Testing as Exploration with Judgement](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory-testing-as-exploration-with-judgement.md) - rather unfinished, saved to allow me to move on, re-published because @SimonTomes saw it while it was briefly up! I'll get back to work on it ... soon? Let's dive briefly into: Testing requires comparison, and using our judgement to value that difference. For a comparison, we need to hold two thing…
- [Exploration as Purposeful Play](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploration-as-purposeful-play.md) - Let's think of exploration as :purposeful play A purpose both shapes and limits our play. We'll want to be clear about those shapes and limits as we work on exploratory testing. We might shape our exploration by setting out how we'll explore or what we're looking for. Example: we'll look for our fr…
- [Discovery](https://www.workroom-productions.com/discovery-and-revelation.md) - Noticing things is ôdd. You may see something several times, before you notice it. You may need to gather plenty of information and push it around, for a while, before an underlying explaining pattern reveals itself to you. You may need a sleep, or a walk. As exploratory testers, we have the pleasu…
- [Looking for Trouble](https://www.workroom-productions.com/looking-for-trouble.md) - If you're not looking for trouble, you're asking for trouble.
- [Imperfect Requirements](https://www.workroom-productions.com/imperfect-requirements.md) - Requirements are a map, not the territory. Requirements are written by people, not by gods. Those people wite at different times, for different reasons, with different skills. They're are written by committees, in a hurry, without the information needed. They get stuck, and stay stuck while the wor…
- [Handholds Framework](https://www.workroom-productions.com/handholds-framework.md) - A Mnemonic Heuristic! After so many years!
- [Making Sense with Exploratory Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/making-sense-with-exploratory-testing-workshop.md) - Bring structure and focus to your exploratory testing.
- [TestCoast Gothenburg 2023](https://www.workroom-productions.com/testcoast-gothenburg-2023-workshops.md) - Half-day workshop and talk on 21 September 2023
- [Exchanges With SourceGraph's Cody about cURL.](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exchanges-with-sourcegraphs-cody-about-curl.md) - Here's a rough transcript of my interaction with Cody while looking at the repo for cURL. It's supporting material to Week 5 of Testing and AI Series 1. What do I mean by rough? Plenty, but mot importantly it's missing some necessary nouns – where I used backticks to indicate that a word was to be…
- [Testing and AI – Series 1](https://www.workroom-productions.com/testing-and-ai-series-1.md) - Access the Testing and AI Series 1 workshop page
- [BlackBox Puzzles – Series 1](https://www.workroom-productions.com/blackboxpuzzles_series1.md) - Access the BlackBox Puzzles Series 1 workshop page
- [Workshops with @workroomprds – signing up](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workshops-with-workroomprds-signing-up.md) - Here's the plan... I’ll run a 6-week series of BlackBox Puzzle workshops on Fridays, 12 noon London time (13:00 CET). July 7, 14, 21, 28, August 4 and 11. That’s this Friday. Ulp. We'll learn about exploring, about building models of what we find, and about checking those models. I’ll run another 6…
- [Workshops with @Workroomprds](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workshops-with-workroomprds-202306.md) - Inviting you to a series of workshops
- [Sign Up for Online Workshops](https://www.workroom-productions.com/online-workshop-series-202306.md) - Weekly workshops on the BlackBox Puzzles, AI and Testing, more
- [Building a Bart](https://www.workroom-productions.com/building-a-bart.md) - Building an avatar generator, as a tester.
- [New Year Wishes](https://www.workroom-productions.com/christmas-2022-stochastic-santa.md) - I've been using StableDifusion to make New Year's cards. I used StableDiffusionWeb, which is currently free and requires no login. If you want to make some of your own, you should. You'll need a 'prompt'; a text description to guide the way that the tool organises its randomness. Most of these were…
- [A Framework for Judgement In Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/framework-for-judgement-in-testing.md) - While exploring, I use this framework to guide the way that I judge something that has bothered me. * inconsistency * external (vs an external authority i.e. a spec) * internal (vs another similar thing) * cultural (vs my own expectations) * absence: something is surprising by its absence * extra:…
- [This Post is to look into Nutshell](https://www.workroom-productions.com/this-post-is-to-look-into-nutshell.md)
- [Publishing a Directory with Flask](https://www.workroom-productions.com/serving-a-directory-with-flask.md) - How to serve python coverage metrics as an html page within replit.com
- [Odin Conference](https://www.workroom-productions.com/odin_2022.md) - Workshop and Keynote at Odin in Oslo on 21 and 22 September 2022.
- [Wrangling, Debugging and Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/wrangling-debugging-and-testing.md) - Do we spend months getting our systems to a point where we can test? We do. Here's why, and what we can do about it.
- [Hands-on, Tooled-up Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/hands-on-tooled-up-testing.md) - A full day workshop on exploring systems with data
- [Working with Answers to Open Questions](https://www.workroom-productions.com/working-with-answers-to-open-questions.md) - Complicated answers are harder to work with. Here's how I cope.
- [Question Chaining](https://www.workroom-productions.com/question-chaining.md) - How I chain questions together, building, refining and sometimes wrecking) a model
- [Question Transformation 2 - Refocus](https://www.workroom-productions.com/question-transformation-2-refocus.md) - Refocus your Questions to match your purpose
- [Writing Tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/writing-tools.md) - My handwrting and paper filing system gets worse, and most of what I write beyond jotting now goes via a keyboard. An MX Keys [https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/products/keyboards/mx-keys-wireless-keyboard.html] , generally. Here's my current set of tools, and their purposes: OmmWriter [https://ommwri…
- [April stuff at Workroom Productions](https://www.workroom-productions.com/april-stuff-at-workroom-productions.md) - Stuff on exploratory testing, new exercises, offers, peer conferences, and more
- [Run your «Questions, Questions» workshop for me!](https://www.workroom-productions.com/run-questions-questions.md) - Free trial run of my EuroSTAR tute, to run in short bursts in May.
- [Exploring With Bulk Data – run your workshop for me!](https://www.workroom-productions.com/run-exploring-with-bulk-data.md) - Online workshop on exploring with bulk data
- [Question Transformation 1 – Changing the Question Word](https://www.workroom-productions.com/question-transformation-1-changing-the-question-word.md) - Unpicking a question to reveal some moving parts
- [Questions about Metrics](https://www.workroom-productions.com/questions-about-metrics.md) - Query your metrics before you trust them
- [Exercise: Becoming Coverage](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercise-becoming-coverage.md) - A game to play with colleagues to understand coverage more deeply.
- [Exploration without Tools is Weak and Slow](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploration-without-tools-is-weak-and-slow.md) - An overdue rant: The days of hand-cranked exploration are done.
- [Teaching Exploratory Testing with Code](https://www.workroom-productions.com/teaching-exploratory-testing-with-code.md) - Concentrate on data rather than tooling and syntax
- [Range Inputs for Puzzles and Machines](https://www.workroom-productions.com/range-inputs-for-puzzles-and-machines.md) - My flash stuff used loads of sliders, for input and output. My CSS stuff doesn't – there's a browser-native slider, and I want to ue as much as possible, but it's not straightforward. Different browsers work differently, vertical/angled sliders are hard, slider annotations (ticks and numbers) are h…
- [Ukraine CSS Heading Gradient](https://www.workroom-productions.com/ukraine-css-heading-gradient.md) - CSS to put the Ukrainian flag behind your headings. Do more than this.
- [Supporting Ukraine](https://www.workroom-productions.com/supporting-ukraine.md) - Help the people of Ukraine
- [LEWT: The London Exploratory Workshop in Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/lewt-the-london-exploratory-workshop-in-testing.md) - Rules of LEWT
- [Acid Test](https://www.workroom-productions.com/acid-test.md) - Peer conference. Not safe. Exciting though, and full of lessons.
- [Why are Backlinks important to me?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/why-are-backlinks-important-to-me.md) - Polished once As I build this site from new ideas and old content, I realise that I don't really know how you might use it. I expect that the themes of this site will become pretty clear. However, lots of that content has underlying links, and I want to be able to draw links between (for instance)…
- [Backlinks](https://www.workroom-productions.com/backlinks.md) - I wrote a dinky thing for this site. We're on Ghost, here. Ghost serves content. In this page of content. served by Ghost, there's a button. hit the button to see all the pages which link here. What's happening? The button runs some JavaScript. That code flips open Ghost's public API (with a public…
- [New Exploration Exercise](https://www.workroom-productions.com/new-exploration-exercise-raster-reveal.md) - Email announcement of new Raster Reveal Exercise, and an invitation to a short workshop.
- [Making the RasterReveal Exercise](https://www.workroom-productions.com/making-the-raster-reveal-exercise.md) - Building an exercise involves much wrangling and working around unexpected behaviours.
- [Raster Reveal](https://www.workroom-productions.com/raster-reveal.md) - Reveal pictures to see what is in them, as an exercise in exploration.
- [Teeny Tiny Test Harness](https://www.workroom-productions.com/teeny-tiny-test-harness.md) - console.assert is my go-to teeny tiny test harness for JavaScript
- [Testing Without Requirements](https://www.workroom-productions.com/testing-without-requirements-3.md) - Just a placeholder, for now
- [Exploring without Requirements](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-without-requirements.md) - Requirements are helpful rather than crucial
- [Testing Reveals Requirements](https://www.workroom-productions.com/testing-reveals-requirements.md) - The closer you look, the better you see.
- [Exploring the BlackBox Puzzles](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-the-blackbox-puzzles.md) - BlackBox Puzzles help you explore the ways that you build and test models.
- [Exploratory Testing: Lessons from Fact Checking](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploration-and-fact-checking.md) - Check familiarity. Look for causes. Look around the cause. Return to what you know.
- [Puzzle 36](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-036.md) - New Black Box Puzzle
- [Use Your Imagination (1)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/use-your-imagination-1.md) - Feed your imagination with notes, pictures and probes
- [Questions Workshop at EuroSTAR 2022](https://www.workroom-productions.com/questions-workshop-at-eurostar-2022.md) - Half-day workshop at EuroSTAR 2022, in Copenhagen.

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