Testing Peers

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, join Chris, David, Vernon and Russell as they discuss the topic of 'being not doing', the theme for the Testing Peers Conference #PeersCon, on March 14th 2024.

 https://testingpeerscon.com/ 

After breaks the ice asking us 'where is your favourite place to be?' we jump into what we mean with being not doing.

The conversation opens with Chris talking about 'being agile, rather than just doing agile', 'being a tester, rather than just doing testing'.

The Peers delve further into the topic with many questions to better define it covering intrinsic motivations, what defines you, what is transactional.

We look at how tiring it can to 'be all in' very often, the challenges in leadership around this area.

How this may be represented in our day to day and how can we move from doing to being? Is it more conscious?

Take a listen and let us know what you think. What does being mean to you? Do you have an idea around this theme to answer the call to contribute to #PeersCon? Would you like to be a 'VolunPeer'?

Check out the site and get involved: https://testingpeerscon.com/programme/

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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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. The Awesome foursome back together again with the topic of fighting fires and some of the additional effort that is needed when it is all hitting the fan.

Chris starts off the banter with asking us about memes we may use in the workplace, we have everything from Homer Simpson, Bryan Danielson, Barney Stinson and Mr Bean.

We then dive into the main topic and Chris kicks us off with an story of his time testing games with the bugs not being prioritised and issues being left unfixed. Russell talks about a time when the release date was before the time testing was due to finish. Simon then covers examples of defects found in production and the varying ways in which these can be approached. David mentions an example when a Senior leader highlighted a bug which immediately caused a panic even though it ends up being human error.

The Peers then go on to talk about how to work through the fires without causing panic and getting better collaboration at all times. 

Russell refers to Heather Reid's Testbash 2023 talk - https://www.ministryoftesting.com/testbash-talks/9a60cbd8 

What fires have you had to put out recently? How did you do it? Get in touch and tell us your stories.

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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

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Welcome to the latest edition of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, David and Chris are joined by Dermot and also brand new host Sanne. The peers are talking about first impressions and how reputations can sometimes proceed you.

Sanne starts the conversation off with a great question of "what do you friends know you best for?", for any of you that know the peers, what do you think of when you think of them?

Once on to the main topic, the conversation starts with Sanne's thoughts on first impressions when joining a project/team looking at reputation that proceeds you, whether that be from external opinion based on social media presence or internal good work. Sometimes the reputation from external factors can impact expectations from day one, so it can sometimes be key to ensure people aren't making unrealistic assumptions.

What experience have you had with others first impression of you? And have you any stories of where you have got first impressions wrong of someone?

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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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers, this week David, Beth, Chris and Russell. This week we focus on flow work

Russell is on banter duty this week and we start with what gets us singing along to songs, it seems it doesn't take much to get us singing.

How do you get into a flow state?

Beth introduces the topic and David starts us off with a mention of the Pomodoro Technique. Chris talks about the different parts of focus with the book Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying by Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski.

We then move on to talk about habit and finding the time to flow and tips and tricks. We look at writing notes, journaling and splurge journals so you can focus and put thoughts aside for later. Discussions move on to managing time and the variety of ways individuals find flow and how it depends on many factors.

If you have any tips, tricks, ideas or thoughts on flow, please let us know by getting in touch.

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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

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers and in what is fast becoming a rare event, the band are back together, with Russell, Chris, David and Simon all present at the same time for a recording. We decided to talk about something which has been touched upon in previous episodes, the misconceptions of the testing world and what we can do to prove they are myths.

Chris starts us off with the banter, he asks the peers to remember scenarios when we had used something for a purpose it was not meant for. We mention, keyrings being used to unlock doors, books for monitors stands, adhesive page markers, stickers and a few other scenarios are covered too.

First misconception discussed is that testing is all about requirement acceptance and correctness, purely writing tests and executing them. We then move onto testing just being for websites and testing only happening at the end.

We talk about the age old misconception of zero defects and our role only being about finding bugs/finding issues in the developers work. Including a rant at the vast amount of memes going around social media about this.

The misconceptions continue and what becomes clear is that context is key, as every scenario being worked through is about showing value and while these misconceptions clearly are still prevalent, it is also clear that in those scenarios, they may not be misconceptions, but reality for that context.

If you have any misconceptions not mentioned, which you would like to suggest, please let us know by getting in touch.

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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

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris and Simon are absent again so David and Russell are joined by 2 new guest hosts in Dermot Canniffe and Beren van Daele.

Dermot asks the peers about what they have recently committed to and enjoyed regarding TV and film. A variety of answers from the latest Mission Impossible to German TV shows.

Beren starts the main conversation by talking about RiskStorming, giving some detail on the workshops and discussions he has been having. Then asking the question, why are we not having as many discussions about risk? 

The peers share their thoughts on this and how we can do more to ensure we can discuss risk in the way we need to. We discuss aspects of Risk reviews, Risk Based Testing and other ways to articulate and talk more openly about risks and how we can help mitigate through testing.

We could clearly talk about Risk forever because there is so much to chew over. What is your experience of dealing with Risk?

 Thanks hugely to Beren and Dermot for joining the peers for this great discussion, we hope you enjoyed it too! 

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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

Support the show

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

This time, join Chris, David, Tara and Callum as we discuss the topic of feedback.

Before diving into the main topic, Callum asks what type of adventurer we would be. Both Callum and Tara have a background producing content around Dungeons & Dragons from a quality perspective.

Links to these will be at the bottom of these show notes.

The Peers then move onto the main topic of feedback, talking about what they find valuable - such as storytelling, actionable feedback relevant to the audience.

We then discuss examples both positive and negative from the context of a stand-up, talking about quantitative and qualitative feedback.

Culture is often informed by baggage and a feeling of lacking safety to report openly, the group chat about rejection sensitivity and how we attempt to frame challenging feedback with positivity and possibility.

The conversation moves to the concept of testers as a trusted advisor, always considering context, consistency, and integrity.

We talk about the art of delivering feedback with appropriate feedback with context.

The topic of anonymous feedback is the addressed, the difficulties in that area and damage that it can do.

Toxic positivity without specificity also comes up.

The podcast draws to a close with Chris and Callum drilling down to what a trusted advisor looks like, what it means and how it is relevant.

As promised, here are the links to Callum and Tara's DnD content:

• How Dungeons and Dragons helped me to become a better agile team member - Callum Akehurst-Ryan
• Pre-TestBash UK 2023 Meetup | Ministry of Testing - Callum Akehurst-Ryan

We hope you found the discussion useful and would love to hear your feedback.

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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

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week join Russell, David, Chris and first-time host, Beth Clarke, as the Peers discuss careers in software testing.

After a cuddly toy-themed opening, the group talk about paths into software testing, with the group's academic paths coming from biology, astrophysics, architecture, humanities & politics.

We have talked before about #MakeATester and the clearly defined entry points into a career in testing is once again debated.

The Peers talk about the attributes that can make for a successful career in testing, as well as looking at career paths, and what roles are our there for us to move into as we progress.

We also look at what the benefit to an organisation there is to hiring a tester and discuss how we can best represent that in a CV.

Gareth Waterhouse's post, discussing dispelling myths about testing is mentioned - you can find it here.

The Peers close off by talking about what they love about having a career in testing.

We hope you found the discussion useful and would love to hear your feedback.

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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

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

Tara Walton and Vernon Richards join Chris on this week's episode as we talk about content creation.

Before diving into the main topic, Vernon introduces the banter topic of travelling pet peeves - familiar topics covered included comfort, fear, other people, hidden costs and more.

Then we dive into the main topic of content creation.

We cover what motivates us to create content?

To vent, respond, share, build a personal brand, share skills & knowledge, reframe topics to your context, sharpen your thoughts, and gain feedback.

The Peers talk about changes and challenges they've been through in their content creation journey.

Ever thought 'what about all these other people who have already written about this topic?'

We also discuss audience, building on a seed of an idea, seeking feedback and more.

The art of telling an appropriate story relevant to the audience and how useful that is to us as a tester.

Some useful links that we mention:

• Leading Quality by Ronald Cummings John and Owais Peer
• Part-Time YouTuber Academy by Ali Abdaal
• Start With Why by Simon Sinek
• Ship 30 for 30 by Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole
• Tara on medium.com
• Vernon on typeshare.co

We hope you found the discussion useful and would love to hear your feedback.

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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

Support the show

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, join David, Chris, Simon and guest-host, Steve Watson, as we talk about red flags.

Before diving into the main subject, the Peers discuss if they've ever been told that they're a lookalike for anyone famous.

Diving into the topic of red flags, the Peers cover all manner of red flags that they look for, have experienced and any advice that they might have for dealing with these things.

From culture, to processes, micromanagement, intimidation, interviews, lack of context and more.

What are the red flags for you for an employer, an interview process, tooling choices, or approaches to testing?

We hope you found the discussion useful and would love to hear your feedback.

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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

Support the show