A tester explains how GraphQL schemas and clever test data make dashboard testing tractable.

Mike Harris, tester at Geckoboard and BCS SIGiST program chair, describes testing a data-visualization dashboard product where controlling input data and validating outputs is the core challenge. He praises GraphQL's schema as a natural coverage reference, pairing boundary-value research with a colleague's random-data generator to explore the API early, then hardening useful cases into a CircleCI regression pack. He shares creative test-data sourcing (NASA planetary data plus invented 'Klingon planets' for extreme numbers), exploratory testing at the API level per Elisabeth Hendrickson, and continuous deployment practices. He also reflects on remote working, community events going virtual, and blending work with home life.

**In this episode:**

**Guest:** Mike Harris — Tester / QA, Geckoboard  

> “I love the schema in GraphQL because I could use that as a reference point... it was all in the one place, rather than having to wade through different code. It was a dream as a tester.”

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