NLP for Testers

– a short introduction

Alan Richardson
Compendium Developments

http://compendiumdev.co.uk/nlp
(Supporting Paper and Web Links)

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 What NLP Have you
Experienced?
• Trainings
• Books
• Anything at all?

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What is NLP?

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 How is NLP advertised?
• Improve your relationships,
• master rapport with anyone in moments,
• sell anything to anyone, and do it ethically,
• gain more flexibility,
• cure any phobia in seconds,
• get more of what you really want,
• Create instant motivation and confidence
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What is it really?

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 Neuro Linguistic Programming
Neuro
Nervous system through
which experience is
received and processed “…the study
through the five senses. of the
structure of
subjective
experience.”
www.richardbandler.tv

Linguistic Programming
Language and nonverbal The ability to organize our
communication systems communication and
through which neural neurological systems to
representations are coded, achieve specific desired
ordered, and given meaning. goals and results.
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http://www.purenlp.com/nlpis1.htm
 No,
What is it really?

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 Gestalt Therapy
Context
Fritz Perls Roots of NLP
Family Therapy
Congruence
Virginia Satir
Groups
Deep structure Change
Surface Structure Transformational
Deletion Grammar
Distortion
Generalization Roots of NLP
Hypnosis

Milton Erickson Ambiguity

Provocative Therapy Conversational Change

Attitude
Humour
Frank Farrelly George Miller
Challenge
Gregory Bateson
Explore limits Others Alfred Korzybski
Honesty
Edward Sapir
[NLP is a Synthesis] Mathematical Logic

“The Structure of Magic” volume 1,

Richard Bandler & John Grinder 8
Most techniques
and tools of NLP
have been derived Modelling
by…

“The NLP modeling process involves finding out

about how the brain (“Neuro”) is operating by
analyzing language patterns (“Linguistic”) and non-
verbal communication. The results of this analysis
are then put into step-by-step strategies or programs
(“Programming”) that may be used to transfer the
skill to other people and areas of application.”

Modeling with NLP,

Robert Dilts
Meta Publishing, 1998
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 Presuppositions of NLP

• The Map is not the Territory

• Life and Mind are systemic processes

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 NLP and Testing are related
• Questioning • Literalism
• Modelling • Identify Ambiguity
• Communication • Honesty
• Effectiveness
• Attitude
• Synthesis Knowledge Systems

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 Exercise: Attributes of a tester

• Identify…
• Attributes or Qualities of a tester
• Descriptions of a tester

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 Results
• Adjectives? Phrases?
• Were the attributes positive?
– Any useful negative attributes?
• How many apply to you?

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 Attributes vs States
Attributes States
• Person ‘has’ • Person ‘feels’
• Context? • Context State
• “IS” of identity • Behaviour

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 Exercise: Convert attributes
into states
• Can you generate and feel those states in
yourself?
• Can you say things to other people to
generate those states? (Elicitation)
• When would those states be appropriate?
• Can you identify a time when you used
those states positively? Negatively?
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 Meta-Model
• Identify Ambiguity Early
• Apply to the communication we give
• Apply to the system
• A Model of Analysis (Req, Spec, etc.)
• Apply to our beliefs and values about
testing

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 Deep Surface
• Meta-Model based on transformational grammar model
• Words affect experience

Surface
Deep Structure Structure
Surface
Primary Secondary
Experience Experience Structure
Transformation
Sensory & Linguistic Surface
Emotional Derivation
Structure
Surface
Structure
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 Nominalization
Simple Deletion
Cause and Effect
Comparative Deletion
Mind Reading Distortion Deletion
Lack of Referential Index
Complex Equivalence
Unspecified Verb
Lost Performative

Meta Model

Universal Quantifier
Modal Operators Generalization
Presuppositions

• Transformations (Distortion, Deletion,

Generalization) can create ambiguity
• Ambiguous statement:
– “The daily trade file must be processed in under
5 seconds when the system starts up.”
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 LP
CE
Effect Cause
"The daily trade file must be processed in under 5 seconds when the system starts up"
SD (1) MO UV (1) SD (2) SD (3) SD (4) UV (2)

• Processed by what? How?

• Daily trade file – contains what? From
where?
• 5 seconds – based on what?
• Starts up? How, When, How often?

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 Rules A Limiting Counter, challenge
Challenge and get more for Generalisation
limits Identify exception
information on the
limits Modal Universal "I develop and
"I can't run Operators Quantifier I don't hate you"
these tests" "All developers
"What stops you?" hate testers" "*ALL* developers?"
"Microsoft have 2 testers
"I shouldn't
"What would for every developer,
test this."
happen if you did?" that must be hate city"
Generalization

What is unstated
and has to be true
Presuppositions for the statement to
be true Challenge, test

•Universal Quantifier: The system will always process the daily

trade file at start up. Even if the system is restarted in the middle of
the day?

•Modal Operator: The system might ask the user to save the file.

•Presuppositions: Daily trade file exists. What if it doesn’t? The

daily trade file can be processed. What if it is corrupt? 20
 Identify Generalizations
• “Only admin users can delete records”
• “All records must be validated by the front
end when they are amended”
• “All test cases must be scripted”

Modal Operators,
Universal Quantifiers
Presuppositions

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 Missing
Reference Element
Identify Point missing from
Comparison Comparative surface Recover
Deletion Simple structure Deleted
"This system
is rubbish" Deletion Information
"Compared "The system is "fail how?"
to What?" going to fail" "Which
system?"

Missing Deletion
Recover Process
Details Unspecified
Missing Lack of Recover
Noun
Process Unspecified Referential Noun
"How are Verb Index "They have a
you testing?" poor process"
"What kind of "I'm testing"
"Who are
testing are you they?"
doing?"

• Deletion can cause special cases not to be

identified
• Deep Structure deletions identified through
presupposition analysis & model building
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 Identify Deletions
• “This system must be the fastest on the
market”
• “The admin user will amend user details”

Simple,
Comparative,
Verb,
Noun (referential index)

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 Stimulus X
Causes Process
& Response Convert noun
Y as noun
More information Cause to process
about the causality and Nominalization
"I'm going
Effect to test"
"What kind of
"Bad specifications testing are you
make me angry" going to do?"
"How specifically
does a bad
specification make
you angry?" A Value Identify Source
Judgement
Lost Identify Criteria
Performative
2 unrelated Distortion "It is wrong
to test without
statements
writing test
Check represented scripts" "According to
validity as equivalent Whom?"
of
equivalence
Complex
"They don't know how to
develop software,
Equivalence Claim to
the requirements are never knowledge Identify source
signed off."
Mind of claim
"If the requirements Reading
were signed off "They hate
does that mean they testers" "How do you
would know how to Know?"
develop software?"

• Distortions can taint beliefs and attitudes

• Good source of resistance in communication
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 Identify Distortions
• “Obviously, developers deliver code late
because they don’t give the testers any
respect.”
• “When developers don’t do any unit testing
it makes testers really annoyed”
Cause Effect
Complex Equivalence
Lost Performative
Mind Reading
Nominalization 25
 Meta-Model Questioning
•
Exercise
Work in 3s
• Person 1 ask Person 2 to describe something e.g.:
– their testing project,
– their application under test,
– what testing is
• Person 2 responds, Person 1 listens, Person 1 analyses
response based on the Meta-Model and asks a follow
on question based on the Meta-Model analysis, repeat
• Person 3 takes a meta position for later review

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 Meta-Model for Influence
• Embedded Commands
• Presuppositions
• Conversational Postulates
• Deliberate use of ambiguity
– use their deep structure

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 Meta-Model usage Guidelines
• Rapport
• What do you want to know?
• Stop at some point

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 Meta-Model Repeated
• Identify Ambiguity Early
• Apply to the communication we give
• Apply to the system
• A Model of Analysis (Req, Spec, etc.)
• Apply to our beliefs and values about
testing

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Learning NLP

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 What is left to learn?
– Strategies, – Ambiguity,
– Meta Programs, – Metaphor,
– Accessing Cues, – Isomorphic
– Anchoring, – Homomorphic
– Belief Systems, – Sleight of Mouth,
– Submodalities, – Logical Levels,
– Hypnosis, – And more …

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 How to learn
– On the web (later slide)
– Books (Bandler, Dilts) (pto) Purchases Visit:
– CDs www.ebay.co.uk
Transcribe www.abebooks.co.uk
– Videos
– Practise groups www.nlp-london.com
– Study roots of NLP
– Training

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 Recommended Books
• Structure of magic vols 1 & 2
– (Bandler and Grinder)
• Persuasion Engineering
– (Bandler & LaValle)
• Modeling with NLP
– (Robert Dilts)

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 On The Web
• www.purenlp.com
• www.richardbandler.tv
• www.paulmckenna.com
• www.saladltd.co.uk
• www.nlp.biz/NLP
• www.compendiumdev.co.uk/nlp
• www.23nlpeople.com/NLP_links.htm
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 IT Related
– Gerald Weinberg:
• Are your lights on?
• (More) Secrets of consulting.

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 NLP is…
ATTITUDE
…sense of curiosity and
adventure … desire to learn
the skills to be able to find
out what kinds of
communication influences
somebody and the kinds of
things worth knowing ... to
look at life as a rare and
unprecedented opportunity to
learn
http://www.purenlp.com/nlpis2.htm
TECHNOLOGY enabling the
practitioner to organize information
and perceptions in ways that allow
them to achieve results that were
once inconceivable
METHODOLOGY … all
behavior has a structure . . . and
that structure can be modeled,
learned, taught, and changed (re-
Programmed). The way to know
what will be useful and effective
are the perceptual skills
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Playtime

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