Quality Bits

By Lina Zubyte

High-quality products and teams: what are those? In this podcast, Lina Zubyte takes you on a journey to understand better how to create more efficient and successful tech products with excellent quali... more

· Technology

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FAQs about Quality Bits:

How many episodes does Quality Bits have?

The podcast currently has 41 episodes available.

Quality Bits episodes:

January 09, 2023Best Bits from Quality Bits So Far
It's the 10th episode of Quality Bits! 🎉

That calls for a celebration, so here are four quality bits of... Quality Bits! Lina shares her favorite parts of conversations with four inspiring previous guests.

Starting off, you'll hear Finn Lorbeer sharing about his experimentation of removing a QA column (all while working as a QA himself). Then Maaret Pyhäjärvi's ideas on growth and the whole team quality approach. Followed by Amy Weidner's thoughts on creating inclusive workspaces. Lastly, Steve Upton will finish with a bang on why best practice is not a term he likes.

Full episodes:
Finn: Removing QA Column, Driving Change and Nurturing Fun in Teams with Finn Lorbeer
Maaret: Bandwidth to Grow: Supporting Growth and Change with Maaret Pyhäjärvi
Amy: Creating Inclusive Workspaces with Amy Weidner
Steve: Quality, Cynefin and bugs with Steve Upton
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Thank you for listening! Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.
...more
32min
December 27, 2022Cloud, Infrastructure as Code and Testing IaC with Daniel Mohacsi
Infrastructure as code - is it possible to test it? What opportunities are there in cloud? How can code standards support us in building high-quality products?

About all this and more listen to this episode of Quality Bits with Daniel Mohacsi, DevOps Lead at Lufthansa Systems Hungary.

Find Daniel on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-mohácsi-0604a652/

References:
Tools supporting testing of infrastructure:
Molecule for Ansible: https://molecule.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Open Policy Agent: https://www.openpolicyagent.org
Kyverno - Kubernetes Native Policy Management: https://kyverno.io
Hadolint - Docker file linter: https://github.com/hadolint/hadolint
Dive - explore Docker files and find duplicates: https://github.com/wagoodman/dive
Dependabot: https://github.com/dependabot
Other mentions:
On commit messages: https://github.blog/2022-06-30-write-better-commits-build-better-projects
Llewellyn Falco's talk which compares airplanes with software - Zero Day Bugs and the Business Risk of Long Deploy Cycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRP4BO8pA8M
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
36min
December 12, 2022 Game Testing, Machine Learning, and Quality Engineering with Stuart Crocker
What it's like to work in game industry? Is testing games just fun and games? In this episode of Quality Bits, you'll get a chance to learn the answers to these questions and so much more.

Lina talks to Stuart Crocker who is currently working as a Head of Quality Engineering with no... quality engineer roles, has plenty of stories to share about game testing, and even the use of machine learning in testing.

Find Stuart on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-crocker-a9a5233/
- His blog: https://dragonsforelevenses.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/StooCrock
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
39min
November 28, 2022Bandwidth to Grow: Supporting Growth and Change with Maaret Pyhäjärvi
In this episode, Lina talks to the feedback fairy, a well-known voice in the testing (and not only) community - Maaret Pyhäjärvi about the different readiness for changes in team and supporting the growth journeys.

Find Maaret on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maaret/
- Her website: https://maaretp.com
- Mastodon: https://mas.to/@maaretp
Book recommendations:
"Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity" by Kim Scott
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
40min
November 14, 2022Creating Inclusive Workspaces with Amy Weidner
"Companies have to have zero tolerance for racism. Zero tolerance for sexism. Zero tolerance for homophobia." - Amy Weidner

Amy is a DE&I Program Manager at Twitter with an extensive experience in recruitment. In this episode, Lina and Amy discuss privilege sharing, culture fit vs. culture add, and how we can improve our workspaces.

Find Amy on:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amweidner/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyweid

Mentioned articles and resources:
Avoiding the Culture Trap: https://designingforscale.com/avoiding-the-culture-trap/
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: https://hbr.org/2013/08/why-do-so-many-incompetent-men
Lina's Inclusion Matters article series: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/inclusion/
Rooney Rule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooney_Rule
Akala on Black on Black violence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soim1n4nFaQ&ab_channel=TheGuardian
Book recommendations:
"Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race" by Renni Eddo-Lodge
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
37min
October 31, 2022Managing with Empathy with Angela Riggs
Ever joined a new company? I bet. The start is always challenging, and as Angela Riggs says "you have to learn to learn".
In this episode of Quality Bits, Lina and Angela discuss the feelings you may face in a new workplace, the job of a QA manager, setting boundaries, and management practices which support the high-quality product building teams.

Find Angela on:
- Her website: https://angelariggs.github.io/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaRiggs_
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelariggs/

Resources:
Change management / people change management:
Lara Hogan's blog post on desk moves and human emotions: https://larahogan.me/blog/desk-moves/
Paloma Medina's BICEPS model: https://www.palomamedina.com/biceps
On the discomfort of change: https://kathkeating-cto.medium.com/becoming-comfortable-with-change-4a27526fa0a7
Communication and feedback:
Conditions for meaningful feedback: https://medium.com/@royrapoport/why-wont-you-talk-to-me-f30a01a1994c
Feedback equation: https://larahogan.me/blog/feedback-equation/
Platform teams:
Framing of knowing who your customers are: https://matt-schellhas.medium.com/how-to-run-a-department-that-people-mostly-dont-hate-e78c5ce22f59
Book recommendations:
"Resilient Management" by Laura Hogan
"The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change" by Camille Fournier
"Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well" by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
"Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager" by Michael Lopp
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
32min
October 17, 2022Removing QA Column, Driving Change and Nurturing Fun in Teams with Finn Lorbeer
In this episode of Quality Bits, Lina talks to a QA-turned-Director-of-Engineering Finn Lorbeer about his past days of ripping off the QA column as a QA, the differences in driving change when you're a team member versus in a leadership position, and why having fun in the team matters.

Find Finn on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/finnlorbeer
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorbeer/

Reading recommendations for some mentioned concepts:
Double Diamond design process model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Diamond_(design_process_model)
On quality specialists: https://finnlor.beer/2016/07/07/are-we-only-test-manager/
Finn's website with writings: https://finnlor.beer/author/finnvonfriesland/
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.

Thank you for listening!
...more
43min
October 04, 2022Perceived Quality & Trade-offs between Product and Engineering with Alaa Sarhan
In this episode of Quality Bits, Lina talks to Alaa Sarhan, the CTO at wundertax.
Alaa is not only a great engineer, but also someone who is passionate and caring when it comes to product. You'll hear about the idea of perceived quality, as well as how to balance off product and engineering when creating high-quality products.

Find Alaa on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlaaSarhan_WTX
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaas/

Alaa's reading recommendations:
Books:
"INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love" - Marty Cagan
"Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World" - Gen. Stanley McChrystal
"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable" by Patrick Lencioni
Alaa's blog posts:
Teams are important: https://alaasarhan.me/teams/2021/11/14/teams-are-important/
Product - draft definition: https://alaasarhan.me/product_developers/2019/04/28/product-developers-draft-definition/
Further reading recommendations for some mentioned concepts:
Lina's Quality Foundations series: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/quality-foundations/
"Building Evolutionary Architectures: Support Constant Change" by Neal Ford, Rebecca Parsons & Pat Kua
Rebecca Parsons' talk "Building Evolutionary Architectures: Principles and Practices" at Agile meets Architecture conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBlyAxPje0
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Thank you for listening! Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.
...more
41min
September 19, 2022Building the Right Product with Nadine Oldorf
In this episode of Quality Bits, you'll hear about so many aspects of building the right product. Lina's guest is Nadine Oldorf who shares her experience on stakeholder management, continuous discovery, working on writing user stories, or why there may be resistance from delivery teams when it comes to product feature building. You'll learn not only about building the right product, but also other topics like empowering each other.

Find Nadine on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nadineoldorf
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noldorf/

Book recommendations:
For product mindset:
"INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love" - Marty Cagan
"Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value" - Melissa Perry
Dig deeper into specific product topics:
"User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product" by Jeff Patton
"Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value" by Teresa Torres
Other book mentions:
"Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Books in German on how to talk about gender/race with kids:
"Mädchen, Junge, Kind: Geschlechtersensible Begleitung und Empowerment von klein auf" by Daniela Thörner
"Mädchen, Junge, Kind: Geschlechtersensible Begleitung und Empowerment von klein auf" by Josephine Apraku
"»Gib mir mal die Hautfarbe«: Mit Kindern über Rassismus sprechen" by Olaolu Fajembola
"Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Further reading recommendations for some mentioned concepts:
Lina's Quality Foundations series: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/quality-foundations/
"Requirement Analysis" in Quality Foundations: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/requirement-analysis
On continuous discovery and other gems: a blog by Teresa Torres
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Thank you for listening! Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.
...more
39min
September 05, 2022Quality, Cynefin and bugs with Steve Upton
In this initial episode of Quality Bits, Lina talks to Steve Upton about the definition of quality, Cynefin, deleting the bugs (?!!!), and so much more.

Find Steve on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/steve_upton?lang=en
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/stevejupton

Book recommendations:
"Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions" by Gary Klein
"Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System" by Alicia Juarrero
"Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World" by Dave Snowden & friends
"Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems" by Paul Cilliers
Links to books are to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Further reading recommendations for some mentioned concepts:
Lina's Quality Foundations series: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/quality-foundations/
"What is Quality?" in Quality Foundations: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/what-is-quality
Harvard Business Review original article on Cynefin:
"A Leader's Framework for Decision Making" by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
On famous quote and faster horses problem: https://hbr.org/2011/08/henry-ford-never-said-the-fast
Lina's review of "Accelerate" includes an explanation of 4 key metrics: https://qualitybits.tech/writing/book-impressions-accelerate#4-key-metrics
Follow Quality Bits host Lina Zubyte on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buggylina
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte
- Website: https://qualitybits.tech/

Thank you for listening! Follow Quality Bits on your favorite listening platform and Twitter: https://twitter.com/qualitybitstech to stay updated with future content.
...more
36min

FAQs about Quality Bits:

How many episodes does Quality Bits have?

The podcast currently has 41 episodes available.