We first heard the phrase “The Chicken Test” when talking to one of our favourite clients and all around good guy C.M. from AB, CA. We were describing an iterative user and unit testing approach for our project and C.M. said that sounds like a chicken test. We were all like, “What the heck is a chicken test?” Especially me since I am a chicken. He started to tell this tale of Rolls Royce developing a new jet engine (the RB.211) in the mid-1960s, how they built this engine, spent millions on the prototype and waited too long in the development cycle to test it. So one fateful day they tested the engine by firing a chicken into the engine at high-speed (this part made me uncomfortable) and the engine shattered into pieces. The massive development costs of the RB.211 sent Rolls Royce into bankruptcy.
The story really hit home. It sounded like a lot of projects that I have been involved in: Being fired in late in the game and at the end of the project and all that is left is pieces.
So the big guy and I decided (after a lot of pressure from people) to spend less time working on projects and spend a little time talking about the experiences we have had and hopefully imparting some of the knowledge we have gained, but mostly we are hoping to crack some funny jokes.
W.R. Johnson
Born in the heart of Toronto, at the Riverdale farm, W.R. has always been interested in and opinionated about software development, specifically web information and interaction applications. After many years of lurking on lists and helping his buddy Bryce with his work (and the aforementioned pressure) W.R. has decided it is time to make a name for himself.
W.R.’s Myspace Site
ofthewalk (at) thechickentest.com
Bryce Johnson
Besides being W.R.’s conduit to professional development, Bryce is a member of the User Experience Team at Microsoft Dynamics in Redmond Washington.
In the past Bryce was the Director of User Experience Design for Navantis Inc. an award-winning IT professional services firm in Toronto, ON. He has been architecting online presences and internal software applications for corporations, government and charities since 1996. Organizations like: CIBC, Honda Canada, MSN Sympatico, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the Canadian Olympic Commission.
Bryce WAS an active member of the Toronto technology community and an event organizer for BarCamp Toronto. Some of the events Bryce has been involved with include BarCampToronto TechWeek, EnterpriseCamp , InteractionCamp (as organizer) and TransitCampToronto (as Design Slam facilitator).
Bryce hopes to be just as involved in the Seattle community.
Production Philosophy
Bryce and I both agree that if making this videoblog is more work then it is fun then we don’t want to do it. That is why you will rarely see me in a clip that is shot with more then one take and It is also why when Bryce is editing that there are occasional ;-) shall we call them sloppy cuts. If he can’t edit, encode and upload before bedtime then it doesn’t go up.
We’re not trying to make excuses… oh wait, that is exactly what we are trying to do. So don’t be all Statler and Waldorf on our asses and just enjoy the show.
