Ilari’s Spectacular Testing Circus

What is testing?

Yes, what exactly is software testing? What is the value of our work as software testers? This most fundamental question has produced many misguided answers. We will reflect on our activity and our “product”.

We reflect on a bug being anything that threatens the value of a product

Effective bug reporting is a skill that needs practice and thought. We will explore questions around bug reporting: What elements make a bug report most useful to stakeholders? Should I report a bug or not? What exactly is a bug anyway? You’ll see bugs from many different perspectives and grow your skills in an area that is as much about mediation as it is about troubleshooting.

Strengths and limitations of automation in testing

An important semantic distinction. We will explore explicit confirmatory checking and implicit experimentation and discuss the value of technical and non-technical testing in depth.

How we come up with ideas for test design and the value of checklists

Where do our ideas come from, how can we expand the space, and what can we use to become more effective testers? In this module, we will apply the insights and test something.

Why most software testing metrics are not helpful, and what to do instead

Not everything that can be measured makes sense. On the contrary, many of the usual testing metrics convey a false image of the state of a project. We’ll look at the most commonly (ab)used metrics and discuss the intricacies of surrogate measurements, goal displacement and construct validity.

Applying the Cynefin model of complexity to software testing

As much as we’d like software development to fit into the neat boxes we create for it, it never does. How do you handle the complexities and unexpected curve balls you face as your project progresses? The Cynefin sense-making framework is an adaptive lens through which to make sense of ‘now’. We’ll introduce Cynefin and talk about techniques to adapt to the unpredictable.

The value of testing communities

Learning rarely happens right at the workshop, but in applying ideas in the real world. To expand on that, testing communities with like-minded people can help. I will introduce a couple of valuable communities and encourage people to start engaging with people outside of your company context.

We dive deep into the neurophysiology of how our brain makes observations

We have five senses we can use to observe the outside world. Touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. These senses act as entry points into our brains. As the amount of information we perceive is far too large, powerful filter mechanisms are in place. Sometimes the obvious remains unnoticed. Now, how do you improve your observation capabilities? What does brilliant observation mean? Can you deliberately exercise it?

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