The Adventure of the Recurring Analogy

The keyboard at 221B Baker Street fell quiet.

"What is the matter, Holmes ?" I asked "I told you to keep away from those Linked In forums with their endless discussions of best practices for sleuths. It's worse for your blood pressure than one of Mrs Hudsons fry-ups"

"I haven't visited that damned site for months" replied Holmes "but I've just made a very important discovery.

"You know when I do that vanity search on Google, I always find those software testers reference me ? I refer you to Testing Lessons Learned from Sherlock Holmes!, More on software testing detectives... and Skilled Bug Investigation and Sherlock Holmes --- SeniorQA analyst "


"That's quite some list, Holmes. If only you'd been able to copyright the analogy we'd be able to retire"


"What I have found, Watson, is that it's not just testers that are taking me as a role model. Designers are doing so as well. Come look at this"

I walked over and peered at the monitor. And indeed it was there:

What user researchers can learn from Sherlock Holmes
The parallels between good research and good detective work are striking. In this article we take a close look at what user experience researchers can learn from the investigative methods used by detectives. And, in the spirit of all the best detective stories, we draw an important conclusion: if you want to become a better researcher you should learn to think like a detective

"Read further, Watson - look, they like to ask questions
'Which do you find most interesting, questions or answers? It’s no contest — the question always wins'
They collect the facts. And they use one of my favourite quotes as their conclusion
'Never, ever, ever, act on assumptions. Search out the facts and act on those.' "

"Funnily enough, Holmes" I replied "but I also did some vanity Googling and found that UX designers think that Holmes needs a Watson"

"Remarkable, Watson. I think there's more to these designer chaps than meets the eye. Time to start a new chapter in that book of yours"

To Be Continued...