How Do You Solve RoadTest "RoadBlock" ?

I've often sat down away from the keyboard with a pen and paper and written a word or two about what features that I need to convey.

Often that triggers more words, but it does give a map or plan of the key points and allows you to fill in the bits inbetween.

The note sometimes includes reference to a picture I need to take or find.

We've seen people solicite what members want in particular, while they wait for the equipment to arrive.

This may lead to some tests they hadn't thought of, or a paticular use that wasn't on the glossy brochure.

Mark

This is where the number of hours are spent even before I apply. I read as much as I can or watch informational videos about the product, get a good basic understanding what the product is, what features are they trying to sell the product on etc. Once I have these details I will look for how is it used and what support structure is there. Are there forums, email addresses I have for FAEs (field application engineers) from that company or is it a product I feel comfortable with before I even start.

Generally speaking if there is no support I can utilize or I am not comfortable with the product I will shy away, I need a good review and I need to know I can deliver what is being asked. That being said I have gotten stuck once or twice (road test or blog). If I get stuck I hit the support forums hard, it's their product they want a good review so help me write that good review (my reviews often include links to questions asked in support forums so others can see my issues and how they were or were not resolved). If I still can't get help then I ask for help here. If I still can't get through it, one road test in particular a lot of people had a hard time (I see now it's not 100% complete) I do my best. Review the product for what I can do and what was lacking.

One thing I do like to do also before I write the actual blog is outline the topics I want to cover. Unboxing, First Impressions, Demo software, etc. Just having these headings means my page is not blank when I start, this means I'm not staring at a blank page, I've already have something down to work with.

Anyhow this is my long 2c worth

Kas

At my point, I think the difficult thing is to write with fully English. Most time I use google to check my English.  If someone can help translate it maybe help.

It's pretty much the same as a writers block, which can be overcome by just starting somewhere, anywhere. Write a few lines. Say anything. Add photo's of the unboxing and see what happens. Don’t think about it too much or make any fancy announcements. Just write. It doesn’t need to be eloquent or presentable; it just needs to be written.

Save all as draft version. Then start playing around with the kit and write down everything you encounter. Next plan your test and carry it out, while taking pictures or graphs from the computerscreen or oscilloscope. Add everything to your draft review. When finished, structure your draft review and publish it.

Done!

Sounds simple, and I realise there is more to say. As a non native speaker I also uses google translate a lot for finding proper translations. I also realise that my text are not written in beautiful english, but hopefully they are understandable by the general public.

And yes I also once had big plans for making a nice SDR from a PSoC kit, where as it derived I found out that this was impossible to do so since the kit didn't have the features needed. ( CY8CKIT-044 PSoC 4 M-Series Pioneer Kit - Review ) This can happen and I trust writing this information in the review also helps the community.

I tried google translate on your Music Tech Challenge blog, it seemed to produce a good result. So I'd suggest you can go with that and mention in your application that you would be using the auto-translator. Perhaps if you offer to do both a Chinese and English review that might give you a competitive edge for your applications.

I like this term Fortunately I'm quite used to write articles at work (though its usual specifications and documentation), although I still sometimes struggle with the language.

As kas.lewis wrote, the review starts with the application (or even when writing it). There you define what you want to do, which is the basis for your review. You start collecting documentation and create ideas. For each of the road tests I apply I start with a folder where I collect these documents,

When I get selected as tester, and receive the item, I create a text file where I write down my first impressions and anything I notice. When I further work with it, this file grows with even more notes. Test results (when I do lab tests and measurements) go into separate spreadsheets, but anything I notice also goes to the file.

When I start with writing the review itself, I can go back to my notes and sort them into a meaningful order. Most times I start with writing a rough outline of the review (just the headlines) and sort the notes into the chapters. That's the state my 'RasperryPi DIN rail enclosure" review is in currently. From there its just changing the notes into complete sentences Sometimes I have evenings where I don't want to write, or just struggle for words - then I just postpone it to the next day. It helps when you don't start the review late but have some days left.

It happens quite often that you come up with a project idea to test a product, and then find out it won't be possible (maybe because you missed something during preparation, or something else gets higher priority). In such cases I try to do at least do a thorough review of the product, and describe how it would be used (even though I did not really do a complete project). Try to be helpful and think of other potential users - what might be interesting to them? Is there anything you want to give as feedback to the manufacturer?

I think in the road test application you can specify your language. You could also ask whether you can write the review in another language - maybe the supplier would like that. (I remember that for one particular road test + design challenge I was specifically asked to write all my stuff in German)

Before I even submit my application I like to brainstorm what I would do with it, usually fun things and a bit out of the ordinary. The results of this would then typically form part of my application, as the application does ask you to provide an outline of how you would review the product. for instance, look here 33622A arbitrary waveform generator helps Batman with a new "Bat Signal"  or t33622A used to measure Capacitors and Inductors - Curve method , if you want to see something simpler then how about this U1461A Insulation Resistance Meter - Torture Test to test some IP67 ratings ok... maybe I go a bit overboard but the point is, make it interesting and fun rather than just repeat marketing blurb.

Your reviews dont always have to be positive either, if you think the product needs improvement then say so, this is not a bought endorsement, we want you honest opinion. Here is one that did not get a good review from me and in fact I fed back how the manufacturer should fix it TI Fuel Tank BoosterPack & MSP430F5529 Launchpad - Review

This then is an easy start to the review process, do what you promised in the application, then go on to add more things as you think of them. I will typically think of these while I am doing the easy wins (The things from the application). I am not a person who like to write a lot so my chosen media is typically Video and most of the time I dont mind being in the video but this is not always for everyone's comfort level so you need to also consider how you want to present your review.

If you have a fairly modern cell phone or tablet then that's all you need, that is how I started, though now I have an HD Camcorder but this is not necessary (Just check out these two youtube channels, they're both done on cell phones or tablets if you dont believe me  bigclivedotcom     Julian Ilett  )

The biggest hurdle is getting started but once you do, things will start to flow.

This all starts BEFORE you apply for the road test. If you can't think of how you're going to review the product or dont have the capacity to do so (Some products do need other test equipment to be able to review them, and some can be quite specialized) then DON'T apply, you're just taking a review away from someone who does have a plan and can do it justice. This way when it comes time to deliver, you just need to do what you said in the application. This will keep you on the road test Favorites list if you get my point. Then if you want to add other supporting posts about the product you can, but dont need to worry so much about meeting the requirements of the review itself. You will see this in many of the reviews I have done in the past. For the more expensive products I will often post more than a few 30min to 1Hr videos, while this is not a strict requirement, I personally feel it is the least I can do as I get to keep the product and I can help other members based on my experience with it. Oh and it does not hurt your rep when it comes to the next road test

Anyway, enough ranting from me, I have videos to make 

When in doubt, I just go through the categories for the test and post my experience with each item.

It is quick, easy to follow and everyone can put down a sentence or two about what they encountered.

You can also go to your test plan and blog about what you wanted to do and identify if there were issues involved with your implementation of the plan.

Every bit of information about the product and the experience is valuable.

DAB

There are some great suggestions so far.

My RoadTest RoadBlock is attributed to one or more underlying root causes such as:

• Fear of failure and showing the world this failure
• Fear of writing or saying something incorrect and looking foolish or incompetent
• Fear of not having anything interesting or impressive to say
• Fear that another road test is going to make mine look anemic
• Fear that I won't understand the material well enough to get it working
• Fear that the project is just too big for me to handle
• Procrastination - always finding something "more interesting" to do.... like day-dreaming

Once I have identified a roadblock, I work out little strategies to overcome it. These may be different for each person. For example I don't know anyone that overcomes procrastination the way I do. My mind is always wandering off-topic when faced with a boring task like writing (I find thinking interesting, but writing down what I thought about is boring)

I have a one-track mind, it can bounce around quickly, but I can only think about one thing at a time. I know lots of other people have polyphasic thought capabilities, but I can't even listen to music while I am driving, I have to ignore the music and focus on driving. People with headphones on at work just mystify me.

I have found that the best way for me to write long reports is to be so tired, my mind doesn't bounce off on so many tangents. By the way, this free-association thing is excellent for intuiting new relationships and coming up with unique ideas, so I don't discourage it. I just think about whatever comes to mind until I am really tired, then I start writing. Surprisingly,  the text comes out a lot more fluid and articulate. When I am highly energetic, my writing tends to be a bit more like disjointed snippets that are hard to follow.

For most of the other fears and issues I tend to apply engineering methods to solve - break the problem down into smaller problems until the answer becomes obvious.

Another great trick is to remember you can always spin a failure into a feature. People love to hear about how your circuit exploded and they will respect you for having the courage to blog about it.

Everybody here understands that great lessons are learned from mistakes and to penalize mistakes cripples creativity.