> ## 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.

# Workroom PlayTime
- URL: https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime/
- Published: 2025-01-02T12:08:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-19T20:57:15.000Z
- Description: Regular, short, interactive sessions for subscribers.
- Author: James Lyndsay
- Tags: Workshops and Talks, #online, #PlayTime

*Regular, short, online interactive sessions for subscribers and friends.*

Come to Workroom PlayTime to play with testing for 20 minutes.We'll test and talk: No lecture, no sales pitch.

We‘ll typically run on Thursdays, in Zoom / Miro, in the afternoons. I’ll keep the group sizes small so that we can talk. We will keep sessions short – 20 minutes — though the post-workshop chat may last longer. I’ll run sessions several times if I need to, depending on busy-ness and timezones.

Subscribers get an hour a month of testing-related playtime. Paying subscribers get priority seats, and access to the longer sessions where we re-run exercises and go deeper. [Subscribe](https://www.workroom-productions.com/#/portal/).

## 2026 – Themed sets 

Here's [more](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-in-2026/) about my plans – expect plan and reality to diverge...

### August – BlackBox Puzzles

- `062` Thur 30 July / Sat 1 August: Explore [Puzzle 39](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-062-explore-puzzle-039/)
- `063` Friday 14 July: [Spot The Difference (Puzzle 40/40b)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-063-spot-the-difference/)

### January: Interesting Testing I

- `044` 15 January: [A Software Library with no Code](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-044-2/)
- `045` 22 January: [The ARC prize](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-045-arc-foundation-tests-2/)
- `046` 29 January: [The Ralph Loop](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-046-the-ralph-loop/)

I'll re-run all these over a longer session in March – see [Longplayer: Interesting Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-longplayer-interesting-testing/). Here's an [Interesting Testing](https://www.workroom-productions.com/interesting-testing/) theme page as the series grows.

### February: Speaker Prep

- `047` 5 February: [Getting to a Great Abstract](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-047-getting-to-a-great-abstract/)
- `048` 19 February: [Cutting to the Core](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-048-cutting-to-the-core/)
- `049` 26 February: [What Makes a Great Talk?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-049-what-makes-a-great-talk/)

I'll run these together for a longer [Speaker Prep](https://www.workroom-productions.com/tag/speakerprep/) session in late-March.

### March: Managing Exploration

- `050` 5 March: [Power of Variety](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-050-power-of-variety/)

... and that was it for March. Stuff gets in the way. I'll get back to the series later in the year.

### April: 

- `051` 2 April: [Exploring Bloom Filters](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-bloom-filters/)
- `052` 9 April: [Exploring Play Styles](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploring-play-styles/)
- `053` 23 April: [Play Styles and Exploratory Work](https://www.workroom-productions.com/play-styles-and-exploratory-work/)
- `054` 30 April: [Getting Stuck For Explorers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-054-getting-stuck-for-explorers/)

### May

- `055` 7 May: [Iterating for Exploratory Testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-055-iterating-for-exploratory-testers/)
- `056` 14 May: [Switching for Explorers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-056-switching-for-explorers/)

### June

- `057` 11 June: [Disaster Story](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-057/)
- `058` 18 June: [Ever-Rolling Stream](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises-about-testing-and-systems-analysis/#ever-rolling-stream) from [Exercises about Testing and Systems Analysis](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises-about-testing-and-systems-analysis/).
- `059` 25 June: [Playing with Tenfold](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-059-play-with-tenfold/)

### July

- `060` 2 July: [Sitegeist as an Exploratory Interface](https://www.workroom-productions.com/sitegeist-as-an-exploratory-interface/)

---

## 2025

- `000` 3 January: [*Claude made a BlackBox Puzzle*](https://www.workroom-productions.com/claudes-blackbox-puzzle/)*.* Off we go!
- `001` 10 January: A [short *diff exercise*](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-001-diff/) from the archives.
- `002` 17 January: [*Exploratory Interfaces* I](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-002-exploratory-interfaces-i/)
- `003` 24 January: [*SpeakerPrep* 1](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-003-speakerprep-following-up/) – What to Follow Up After a Talk.
- `004` 31 January: [Exploring *BlackBox Puzzle 031*](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-004-blackbox-puzzle031/)!
- `005` 7 February: [Working with grep](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-005-grep/)
- `006` 14 February: [*Exploratory Interfaces II* – exploring fixed input](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-006-explorable-interfaces-ii/)
- `007` 21 February: [SpeakerPrep II – S*loganise*](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-007-sloganise/)
- `008` 28 February: [*Imagining Questions*](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-008-2/)
- `009` 7 March: [Notation and models (for *Puzzle 15*)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-009/)
- `010` 27 March: [Testing Decisions – Power of Variety](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-010-2/)
- `011` 3 April: [Using sort](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-011-playing-with-sort/)
- `012` 17 April: [Testing Decisions – Cost of Trouble](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-012-testing-decisions-cost-of-trouble/)
- `013` 24 April: [Three Things](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-013-three-things/)
- `014` 1 May: [Puzzle 33](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-014-puzzle-33/)
- `015` 8 May: [Bring me a Letter](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-015-bring-me-a-letter/)
- `016` 15 May: More playful: [Whatever Next?](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-016-whatever-next/)
- `017` 22 May: [Whatever Next? II](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-017-whatever-next-2/)
- `018` 29 May: [RasterReveal](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-018-raster-reveal/)
- `020` 5 June: [Live at EuroSTAR / Code is Cheap](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playtime-020-code-is-cheap-tests-are-valuable-at-eurostar25/)
- `019` 12 June: Let's explore [Puzzle 36](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-036/)
- `021` 19 June: [Exercises in cat, head and tail](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exercises-for-cat-head-and-tail/)
- `022` 26 June: [Testing Story](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playful-exercises-about-testing/)
- `023` 03 July: [Comparing LLMs](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-023/) to explore judgement
- `024` 17 July: [Puzzle 11 (is an awful toy)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-024-puzzle-11/)
- `025` 24 July: [curl exercises for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-025-curl/)
- `026` 14 August: [Shared Inspiration](https://www.workroom-productions.com/playful-exercises-about-testing/#shared-inspiration)
- `027` 21 August: [Being Random](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-027/)
- `028` 28 August: [My Story Chart](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-028-my-story-chart/)
- `029` 4 September: [Imagined | Real](https://www.workroom-productions.com/imagined-real/)
- `030` 11 September: [Completeness (is a wicked problem)](https://www.workroom-productions.com/completeness-is-a-wicked-problem/)
- `031` 18 September: [Puzzle 17](https://blackboxpuzzles.workroomprds.com/newtech/puzzle17.html)
- `032` 2 October: [Redirection operators ( | etc.) for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-032/)
- `033` 9 October: [Exploratory Interfaces II](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-033/)
- `034` 16 October: [jq for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-034-jq-for-testers/)
- `035` 23 October: [build 3 throwaway tools in 15 minutes](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-035-build-3-throwaway-tools-in-15-minutes/)
- `036` 30 October: [custom asserts](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-036-custom-asserts/)
- `037` 6 November: [xargs for testers](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-037-xargs-tool-for-testers/)
- `038` 13 November: [parts for tools](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-038-parts-for-tools/)
- `039` 20 November: [Stuck Overflow](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-039-stuck-overflow/)
- `040` 27 November: [Explore Generated Code II](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-040-explore-generated-code-ii/)
- `041` 4 December: [Puzzle 38](https://www.workroom-productions.com/puzzle-38/)
- `042` 11 December: [Exploratory Interfaces 4: Tests](https://www.workroom-productions.com/exploratory-interfaces-4-tests/)
- `043` 18 December: [Building Short Exercises](https://www.workroom-productions.com/workroom-playtime-043-building-short-exercises/)

#### In the future...

Here are some [exercises that are on their way ](https://www.workroom-productions.com/imminent-exercises/)

- Testing Decisions – **Cost and Opportunity* or **Non-Linear Consequences / When to Stop*.
- Building exploratory interfaces (longer session)
- Exploring Generated Code I