Keyword Based Reading...what's that again?

I am republishing this post which already appeared on one of my other blogs. I think as Business Analyst's we have to think on our toes and many a times we have to be able to grasp a new domain or knowledge base in a short span of time...so the below technique might be helpful to many of the BAs out there...I hope! :-)

You must have all heard about ‘Keyword based Searching’, ‘Keyword based Testing’ etc. ‘Keyword based Reading’ is a new phrase coined by Moi…This is a technique which will help you to read up on stuff and get specialized in a orderly way and also harnesses the power of the Internet as you all know we are not living in the age where we just had to depend on the neighborhood library for our daily dose of knowledge. You can use this technique if you are currently working on building your skill-set for the job market or even if you just want to build up your knowledge in a particular field. This technique uses the power of the Internet to sharpen your skills. It is something which everybody already does but I am just putting it in a package...and this is something which works for me…atleast… J


So the process goes like this. Say you want to learn more about the field of Testing.


So as a first step do a research on the set of all the keywords related to the field...in this case System Testing, Unit Testing, Black-box testing, Functional Testing, Regression Testing...etc. So once you have gathered a good set to start from proceed to the next step. Keep this set at a high level and do not have words which are very specific to a sub-field within…


The next step would be to take each keyword and research on the Internet. So document each keyword and the relevant links associated to each of them. It is always good to have a mix of the below for each keyword:


- General info sites like wikis

- Sites with people who have blogged/discussed on the topics

- Sites with podcasts, videos on topics like Youtube, ...

- Sites with white papers

- Sites with online books (good to have a subscription with sites like 24 X 7, Safari)


As a third step, if you are parts of some networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook you might also get additional information related to these topics like webinars, discussion topics etc. Go ahead and attend and be part of these. You can also post questions at different forums to get answers from the expert community. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds of the topic that interests you.


Also to top-off read off-beat things related to the topic like jokes, cartoons etc...if there are any available


So once you have gathered this information go ahead and read and gather as much information as you can. It would be good to first read at a high level and then go deeper in whichever topic appeals to you.


Then finally to ensure that you remember all that you have read, blog about the main points on your personal blog and share with all. If it is something related to a tool or programming language go ahead and download the free trial of the tool if one is available or start cooking…ahem..I meant coding!

Enjoy building your skill-set!

UGKV2PV9RG45