Tests
What is on a test page?
Why it works this way
A test is under way once something is logged on it, not when you say so, and its question, people and clock sit together on one page.
A test has one home for every control, so you never hunt through a list, a conversation and a pop-up for one test's question, bar and clock.
What we gave up: marking a test as running before anything has happened. A test is under way once something is logged on it, so its state cannot get ahead of the facts.
What it is
A test is a place you go, not a card. Press a card on the Tests page and the test opens over it, with the question, the bar, the people and the clock on one page. Close it and you are back on your tests.
There are two shapes. Most of your tests test one idea against a bar you set. Some compare cards, such as two spaces, problems or opportunities. The differences are named below.
How to use it
The top bar. A breadcrumb: Tests, then the test's name and its place among your tests ("2 of 3"). Press the name to switch tests or rename this one. Then Guide, Stop (an outlined button that stops the test until you resume it), a three-dot menu (the deadline) and the close. A test that compares cards also has Call it now, the one filled button, right after Stop. While a test is stopped, that button is Resume, and on a stopped comparison the three-dot menu holds only Call it now. On a test that builds something, a button beside Guide hands you the build prompt. When you are ready to build, Discover Agents writes it from your own board, so you do not have to brief a coding tool from scratch.
Three chips under the title: the method, the people ("10 · Heads of product") and the time ("Due Oct 13"). Each opens a pop-up: how this kind of test is run and what it can show, who takes part, or the deadline.
The bar. A test of one idea shows True if and False if under the chips (see "How do I set the bar, and why can't I change it later?"). A test that compares cards has no bar.
The middle. An empty test says "Drop your interviews here". As conversations come in, the page shows what you brought back. A test of one idea ends with Read the results, where you mark each conversation against your bar and call it. A test that compares cards shows what came up about each card, with a count at the foot.
The guide. Guide opens a column on the right with two tabs. The first is named for the test's first move, such as Find people. Instructions holds the kit: Run it, your questions (Edit, then Done) and, for a customer interview, Ask everyone, five questions that stay the same every time so what people say can be compared. What real people wrote is marked "Real": it comes from your research and does not count toward the test.
What it will never do
- Close a test because its deadline passed. The chip says the date has gone by and lets you move it.
- Let a viewer on a shared board stop a test or move its deadline. They can read everything.
If something looks off
- "Nothing to call yet. Drop in your first conversation, then call it." On a test that compares cards, Call it now waits for the first conversation.
- "Set a deadline" on the time chip. Older tests have none.
- "The deadline has passed. Move it, or carry on." Move it from the time chip, or carry on.
- No three dots. A test already called, and a viewer, have nothing to put in the menu.