The majority of the RST classes are taught privately for companies and are tied to our consulting work. When we do a private class for your organization, we can fine-tune the class to your needs. Many companies hire us to consult with them for a few sessions before or afterwards about their unique issues. Others like to work with us for several days to observe the development and testing and to focus the agenda for the class.
In more normal circumstances, we visit the company and work on-site. During the current pandemic, we do this work online, enabled by Zoom or other video-conferencing and screen-sharing technology. See below for more details.
For a private online class, the most significant benefit is scheduling: you get to decide the start time each day, and you get to negotiate the days on which the class will happen. This flexibility comes at a slightly higher price than for public online classes, with a few more added benefits.
- We typically present private online classes as 90-minute webinars, three sessions per day, with half-hour breaks in between. This is negotiable.
- We typically deliver private classes on consecutive days. This is also negotiable. Since travel is not an issue, online classes can be distributed over non-consecutive days (for instance, two days one week, two days the next).
- Unlike public online classes, you can negotiate the times at which webinars and breaks occur, making it possible to tailor the schedule for your people and your time zone.
- Exercises and curriculum can be tailored to your organization’s context and needs. We may also be able to adapt some of the exercises to target your organization’s own products or services.
- Your organization may opt to have work reviewed for the group or for individual students.
- When the class is taught to a private group, participants can bring up topics without fear of divulging confidential information to outsiders. (Instructors are of course willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.)
- The class is normally delivered via passworded secure Zoom sessions. We are willing to consider other platforms; we have delivered the class via GoToMeeting, for instance. For us, though, Zoom affords features that bring us a little closer to face-to-face interaction with the participants.
Whether live or online, the maximum number of students per class is usually 25, although there may be flexibility about that in some cases. Note that up to the negotiated limits, classes are designed for anyone who tests or evaluates software—including testers, programmers, development and network support people, documentation folk, technical support representatives, even salespeople and marketers—or for anyone who manages testing work.
If you want to inquire about an RST class for your organization, the first step is to decide whether you want Michael Bolton or James Bach to teach it. Pick one of them and email him for a quote. Our prices vary depending on where and when you want the class, and if you want any extra services.
In certain regions we work through agents. If you’re in such a region, we will connect you with our agent.
Note that Michael and James are business partners. They do not compete and will not bid against each other.