Testing Peers

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Simon Show Testing Peers Podcast.

In this episode, the Peers talk about dream jobs. 

Before we dive into the main topic, we talk about when we have treated ourselves to dream gifts.

From Back to the Future Lego, PlayStations, greenhouses, AC Cobras and coffee machines!

 We begin talking about what our dream jobs were as children and then move on to what our dream jobs might be today. 

The Peers even play with ideas down the line of a Testing Peers consultancy, or even our own conference "PeersCon".

The discussion moves on to cover our favourite parts of our current roles, we discuss key motivators and how the pandemic has changed things.

We mention Cassandra Leung's blog post 'The George Foreman Heuristic for Quality'.

The shape of what makes a dream job, it transpires, is more about people, culture, the product, the ability to have an impact and the aligning of the company's values to yours.

Side note – two of the Peers have recently moved into new houses and have had a few issues with their setups, we apologise for any audio issues that may have arisen in this episode.

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Hello and welcome back for another episode of the Testing Peers podcast!

In this episode, the Peers will be discussing coaching testing.

We take a look at coaching credentials outside of our work lives and then dive into defining what coaching is and what it isn't.

Chris mentions a sketchnote made at TestBash 2017, in a coaching workshop with Toby Sinclair and Amy Phillips - read more here.

We explore the following the questions: 

• do you need to have experience at the craft to coach it?
• who is responsible for coaching?
• does it always have to be a leader or manager that is the coach?
• is quality coaching the future in our craft?

The Peers then share ideas of where we can go to learn coaching skills and we share some tips.

Special shoutouts made to:

• Aspire Leadership
• Agile Coaching by Rachel Davies & Liz Sedley
• Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations by Michael K Simpson
• Barefoot Coaching

Side note - two of the Peers have recently moved into new houses and have had a few issues with their setups, we apologise for any audio issues that may have arisen in this episode.

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Thank you for joining as this time we share our views and ideas on performance and goal setting.

Chris starts us off by taking us into the archive of his brain and on to PE - so we share stories of sporting prowess or lack of. 

We move on to talk about why we do performance and goal setting along with some approaches including SMART and CLEAR for goal setting. We share our views about linking goals to bonuses and pay and talk about the complexities of things to consider.

The Peers then talk about judging performance and we touch on how to deal with giving bad reviews and feedback. 

I'm sure you all have your own stories and ideas around performance and goals and we'd love to hear them so, please feel free to share with us!

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• We're also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Thank you for joining us again. On this episode, we discuss our experience with onboarding new members to our teams. We spend time talking about the good and bad things that have happened and suggest ideas to make the onboarding processes as smooth as possible.

Before diving into the main topic, David asks us to think back to times we have onboarded to travel somewhere. The peers all mention different holidays they have been on.

With onboarding, the peers start by discussing the importance of giving the new starter a buddy or the manager clearing their calendar to ensure they are available for the first few days. We also mention the importance of not setting too much of an expectation for work to be completed in the first few weeks.

Everyone has different needs for their onboarding and it's crucial we adapt as best as possible to give the new starter what they need.

The Peers share some of their own stories of onboarding experiences, both good and bad, showing the importance of getting off on the right foot when starting a new role.

I'm sure you all have your own stories of onboarding experiences, please feel free to share with us!

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• We're also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Welcome to episode 40 of the Testing Peers! Episode 40??? How did that happen? Pleased to know people are still listening and supporting us! Thank you so much for this.

In this episode, the peers discuss why we would want to have testing/quality activities happening earlier in a project cycle. The benefits of doing this and what happens if this doesn’t happen.

Before this, Russell asks the peers about their proudest achievements which is a good trip down memory lane for everyone.

A lot of the conversations come back to the benefits to communications and building a collaborative environment, whether this is in a waterfall or an agile environment, it can be seen to benefit the whole team for testing activities and testability discussions to be done at the very beginning.

We’re sure you all have tales to share on this topic, please feel free to get in touch with us to let us know your thoughts.

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Our gloves are off this week and we don’t have a specific topic to discuss. Instead we allowed the conversation to flow wherever it took us, with the only point being that this was a chance for us to vent about any frustrations we may have within the testing world.

Before diving into the therapy session, we discussed non-testing frustrations during the pandemic (without getting political). We discussed things such as masks on public transport, gatherings in open spaces and scaremongering in the media. Can you feel the anger amongst us??

In the main discussions, we covered everything and anything that came to mind including:

• Hearing other peoples frustrations in the office
• Social Media Trolling
• Business perception of testing
• Job Titles
• Tools
• Cold emails from Tool Vendors and Recruiters

I think we all needed a lie down after this but we enjoyed getting it all off our chests 

We’d love to know what you thought of this as an episode. Do you agree with any of our thoughts? Any other rants you wish to share?

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast!!

This time the Peers are talking accountability, which is actually the foundational reason for the wider Testing Peers group.

After initially discussing the accountability of keeping your camera on in meetings, and what you may have ended up doing with the camera off, such as gardening, making tea or playing Mario Kart Tour on our phones.

We then dive into the main topic, what is accountability? Why is accountability important?

After defining what it is, we discuss what that looks like for us, diving deeper with a lot of probing questions (we are all testers, after all).

Further on, we discuss different dynamics and scenarios, as well as giving a shout out to people and organisations who build in the open.

We really value accountability and your feedback, as we look to continuously improve this podcast. Thank you for your time and for listening.

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Thank you for joining the Testing Peers as we talk nurturing. 

We all are passionate about nurturing people and teams. The Peers find we actually we nurture each other quite a bit. We talk about creating a safe spaces, where people are supported, encouraged and act as critical friends. 

Russell shares a acronym to summaries some key aspects FLOW

F eedback and appreciation

L ead by example

O pportunities

W orking together

Our discussion move on to talking about a lot of different ideas as one size doesn't fit all, you need to adapt to to the context. We also share things that have hindered nurturing and using some great plant based metaphor along the way. 

Have a listen and let us know your ideas for nurturing, what has worked or hindered you? 

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. With this podcast, we have matched the age of our youngest Peer as the ripe old age of 36 (Can you guess who?) :) In this episode we talk about a topic which all the peers are passionate about, and that is defining and creating a "Culture of Quality".

Before starting the main topic, Russell asks the peers about Culture they may have experienced on holidays. Beaches, Hurricanes, whiskey and Planes which don't smell too pleasant all got a mention...

We start the main topic by talking about what we mean by a Quality Culture and how everyone is invested in the outcomes around quality. We then talk about how we can go about helping to create that culture through given everyone something to focus on and aim towards, empowering everyone to have a voice regarding Quality.

Simon touches on the model he defined to help grow a culture of quality to show it is an iterative process from starting small and incrementing to more and more areas of the business.

We talk through some of our own experiences and offer some tips on how you could make a start to drive that culture change.

Let us know what you think and get in touch.

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week the Peers are talking around the perennial topic of quality.

The Peers dive into what quality might mean, but in classic testers' style, we talk about the importance of context:

Jerry Weinberg: Quality Software Management: Volume 1, Systems Thinking, 1992

The conversation moves onto talking about how we can even measure quality, be it via coverage, confidence, or other.

We also touch on Dan Ashby's definitions

https://danashby.co.uk/2019/09/30/adapting-crosbys-4-absolutes-of-quality-into-a-software-context/

Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch if you would like to know more or would like to give us feedback to help us improve and grow.

• [email protected]
• Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
• If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

You can find out more at https://saffronqa.co.uk/  or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

We’ve found Ben from Saffron QA to be a great partner who has signed up to the vision and values that we have set out in our Testing Peers charter and we hope that you will take the time to visit and connect with him.

Support the show