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Lesson #4: Getting to Know the Software - Reading Through End User Tutorials

Julie Myers

• 2 min read
Lesson #4: Getting to Know the Software - Reading Through End User Tutorials

Just about every software app has end user tutorials that help people learn how to use the software. These tutorials typically cover individual tasks that a user can do such as how to change a password, how to send billing statements, or how to manage your account. Reading through these is a great way to get familiar with the parts of the software that are already live.

End user tutorials can typically be written in any of the following four forms:

  • Text only.
  • Text and screenshots.
  • Video.
  • Text, screenshots, and video.

Which form(s) the tutorials are written in will vary per company.

This tutorial gives tips on how to go about using end user tutorials to learn the software. Along with a video showing how I do so.

How to Use This Method

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How much you learn will depend upon how varied and good the tutorials are.

Here are a few techniques to get you started:

  • Scan through the titles. This will give you a quick look at many of the features and tasks the software is built to do.
  • Start reading through some of the tutorials. You can start with features and tasks you are not familiar with.
  • Play along as you read. If you have access to the software, do the task(s) as you are going through the tutorial.

The main point of this method is to help you get a feel for what the software is designed to do, some of the rules of how features work, what the task flows are, and how complex it is.

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Every task flow that you learn about, is a task flow that you're probably going to have to test.

Example

Video: Techsmith Tutorial Library
Techsmith is the maker of products such as Camtasia (screen recording software) and SnagIt (screenshot software). In this video, we will take a look at the SnagIt tutorials too see what we can learn about the software.

Give It a Try

Go to a website that will have end user tutorials. Using the techniques shown in this article, see what you can learn about the software.

Here is a quick list of websites that have an end user tutorial library:

Final Thoughts

Going through end user tutorials is meant for when you need to learn existing features that are already live. In contrast, most testing jobs also require learning new features before they go live. Which means the new features probably don't have any tutorials written for them yet, thus you won't be able to use this method.

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To me, the only big drawback to this method is how time consuming it is. In a real world situation, you will need to limit the time you spend going through tutorials.

If you have any questions or wish to share any thoughts, write them in the comments below.

Up Next

[Coming Soon] Lesson #5: Getting to Know the Software - Requirements Documentation