Let's Talk About Tests, Baby

Ep 61: It Takes Two

6Octoberletstalktests2 CommentsUncategorized

This week I talk to Maaret Pyhäjärvi about pair testing. But this is an interview with a twist: we did an hour of strong style pair testing (http://visible-quality.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/a-course-on-testing-pairing-and-mobbing.html) first, and recorded our thoughts and experiences regarding that. I cannot recommend pair testing enough! It’s hard work, but totally worth it – you have to think

Ep 60: Go Soft or Go Home

22SeptemberletstalktestsUncategorized

This week I talk to Matt Bretten about Humans vs. Tools. Matt’s gonna be a voice you’ll be hearing more of moving forward. Stay tuned for more news! This is an unfairly stacked deck, I admit. You can’t really take the position that tools are more important/better than the human side of testing. However, we

Ep 59: Hit Record (and play)

8Septemberletstalktests1 CommentUncategorized

Quick news: I am going to be at Leeds Testing Atelier on 20th September, which is a free one day testing conference, and I’m very excited to be there1., there’s going to be some amazing talks and some people I’m excited about meeting IRL at last. Obviously I am also going to be at TestBash

Ep 58: Hot tub time machine

1SeptemberletstalktestsUncategorized

Or: The future of testing! This super bonus episode is the second of my iterviews with Leigh Rathbone! We make several references to the previous episode (see here), so you may want to catch up on that episode first. In this episode we discuss: James Whitaker and the Hot Tub being the future of the

Ep 57: Don’t go chasing waterfalls

25Augustletstalktests1 CommentUncategorized

This week is a guest episode! While I was in Liverpool for Liverpool Tester Gathering (http://www.meetup.com/Liverpool-Tester-Gathering/), I managed to grab some of Leigh Rathbone’s time for a couple of episodes! This is the first one and is about transitioning from Waterfall to Agile, with a focus on testers and test teams. We cover the pros

Ep 56: And our survey says

11AugustletstalktestsShow NotesInterview, podcast, shownotes, survey, where do testers come from?

An interview with Rosie Hamilton! This year Rosie did a large survey of software testers and then did the number crunching to produce a snapshot of testers in 2016. All the data and the scripts she used are up on GitHub for transparency, and for others to do their own analysis if they wish. Rosie

Ep 55: FOMO

28Julyletstalktests2 CommentsShow Notescommunity, mental health, podcast, shownotes, software testing

Or, fear of missing out. Quick news: I’m at Liverpool Tester Gathering on Thursday 5th August. Come say hi if you’re there! Next week I’m interviewing Rosie Hamilton! The google form for telling me your origin story will be closed on Monday 1st August, so get going if you’ve not filled it in already! This

Ep 54: Origin Stories

14JulyletstalktestsShow Notesaudience participation, origin stories, podcast, shownotes, software testing

A series of unconnected things: I’ll be at the Liverpool Tester Meetup on 4th August! Come say hi! I’ve got more interviews coming up and that is my plan for August – start reaching out for interviews. 30 days of testing! This is a thing that Ministry of Test is doing, and though I got

Ep 53: You have no control who lives who dies who tells your story

30Juneletstalktests5 CommentsShow Notesbug reports, communication, podcast, shownotes, storytelling

Thiiings: I have 3 potential interviews coming up for the podcast and I am excited! More details when I get them. I am panicking about Testbash Manchester as I said I’d do a practice talk at the local Drupal User group in August and lols I’ve not even written the thing yet. Ministry of Test is

Ep 52: And I say, Zangief you are bad guy, but this does not mean you are bad guy

16JuneletstalktestsShow Notesdoubt, mental health, Mindfulness, podcast, QA, shownotes

Okay, I want to talk about something that rips me up when my mental health is being particularly hard, and when deadlines are looming. I want to talk about being the bad guy. This was mentioned in Nicola Sedwick’s fantastic TestBash talk on testers being human; a talk that is well worth the watch if