personal improvement

Interviews

Mike Faulise Ideal Qualities to Look for in Modern Testers: An Interview with Mike Faulise
Video

In this interview, Mike Faulise, the founder and managing partner at tap|QA, explains what you should be looking for when you’re hiring new testers. He also tells people looking to be hired in the QA field what to focus on, and how a music background can really help you in the world of software.

Jennifer Bonine's picture Jennifer Bonine
STAREAST 2018 Leave Behind Us vs. Them: Transforming a Product Team
Slideshow

For most of his career in test/QA, Jason Wick found the prevailing sentiment to be us vs. them—testers vs. developers or the project team vs. the business. And this mindset does not work on a cross-functional product team where everyone must share goals and be willing to put the team goals ahead of all other agendas. During his past year of leading a product delivery team, Jason Wick has discovered that establishing this team goals mindset is no easy task. However, with hard work—and, yes, some setbacks—his team members have indeed transformed from a group of people doing work into a cohesive team that shares goals, does what is necessary to break down walls, and celebrates success when they achieve team goals. This transformation took place slowly but almost exclusively via non-technical means.

Jason Wick
STAREAST 2018 Test Management in Agile—What Happened to All My Testers?
Slideshow

Substantial confusion exists about the roles and responsibilities of test management when using an agile software development process. Agile seeks to streamline project management and leadership under the role of a ScrumMaster. But what does this mean for test managers? How do they stay involved in the process? What role do they fill? Is it possible that test managers are no longer needed? Join Jeffery Payne for a collaborative dialog to discuss the pros and cons of a variety of test management models he has seen used by companies who have adopted agile. Learn how to best position yourself within the agile model to add value and continue to support your test teams. Take home practical knowledge on how test management is done successfully within agile projects.

Jeffery Payne
STAREAST 2018 IT Poetry: Distilled Learning from Our Experiences
Slideshow

What Sue Uyetake calls IT Poetry—or distilled learning—is a great communications approach. A way of distilling “What Is” statements as a troubleshooting tool and a way to lighten the moment, IT Poetry has resonated with Sue and her teams. See how you can use IT Poetry to diffuse charged situations with no blame attached, get to the root cause of issues in a retrospective, or help resolve many of the little problems that crop up and can ruin your day. Join Sue as she sheds a new light on some highly charged and negative workplace situations. With examples from her own experience and those shared by participants, Sue shows you how to tweak situations to empower the future by ridiculing the past. See for yourself and walk out with the ability to compose a line or two that allows you to chuckle to yourself in any project situation—while learning from it!

Sue Uyetake
BSE Testing The Five Common Unconscious Biases Affecting Your Team
Slideshow

Are you having a difficult time finding female engineers to join your teams? Are you currently working on a project which seems to be going nowhere? Have you ever engaged in what you thought was customer-driven work only to later discover it was stakeholder-driven? When it comes to...

Catherine Louis
BSE Development Individuals, Interactions, and Improvisation
Slideshow

As agile practitioners, we constantly strive to better ourselves, our team, and our delivery. A great way to achieve this is simply being open to learning new ideas from other disciplines—including improvisation. Jessie Shternshus shares her story of realizing the uncanny similarities...

Jessie Shternshus
STAREAST 2018 The Next Big Thing: Testing AI and Machine Learning Applications
Slideshow

Our world is changing. Artificial intelligence is being employed in many walks of life—from virtual assistants and robots to self-driving cars. How does this new way of life impact software testing? What is our role … and will we have one in the future? Of course! And it’s a very exciting time to be in testing because there’s not enough known about how to systematically test these AI- and ML-driven applications. Angie Jones gives an overview of why it’s extremely important that we comprehensively test these applications and how today’s tester can prepare and build the skillset for this new realm of software. While the future of artificial intelligence is mostly a mystery, one of testers’ strongest and most valuable assets is the ability to discover and report the unknown.

Angie Jones
Janet Gregory Key Skills Modern Testers Need: An Interview with Janet Gregory

In this interview, Janet Gregory, an agile testing coach and process consultant with DragonFire, explains what skills testers need to succeed in today's industry. She talks about how the testing role has changed, what communication skills testers need, and the importance of trying new things.

Josiah Renaudin's picture Josiah Renaudin
Alison Wade Software Diversity and the Women Who Test: An Interview with Alison Wade
Video

In this interview, Women Who Test founder Alison Wade details the lineup for the Women Who Test event at STAREAST 2017 and explains why software diversity is important. She discusses how women can move up the ladder in the software industry.

Jennifer Bonine's picture Jennifer Bonine
tolerate You Get What You Tolerate

We’ve all worked with a talented developer who can be a frustrating challenge to manage. First-time managers may unknowingly encourage bad behavior. There are several innovative ways to resolve the situation.

Andy Kaufman's picture Andy Kaufman

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