What does testing look like in 2026?

In this episode, Tara Walton, Chris Armstrong, Russell Craxford and Dan Billing reflect on the current state of testing, quality engineering and software delivery in a rapidly changing industry.

From the continued rise of AI and changing organisational priorities to evolving job titles, shifting responsibilities and the importance of context, the conversation explores both the opportunities and challenges facing quality professionals today.

Despite ongoing disruption, many of the themes feel familiar. Communication, critical thinking, collaboration, adaptability and understanding customer value remain at the heart of effective testing. The panel discusses how quality professionals can continue to influence decisions, contribute earlier in the development process and help organisations navigate an increasingly complex technology landscape.

Topics discussed

The impact of AI on software development and testing
Why quality engineering remains about more than automation
Communication, influence and stakeholder engagement
Changing roles and career paths within testing
Legacy systems, modernisation and organisational change
The importance of context, adaptability and human judgement
What the future may hold for testing and quality engineering

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until later in the year.

The Call for Papers is open until July 31st, 2026: https://testingpeerscon.com/collaboration/

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 3 years, get in touch if interested

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In this episode, Russell, Tara, Ben Dowen, and Al Goodall explore end-to-end testing.

Starting with some light-hearted banter on coffee, triggered by Ben.

From what start to what end?

A recurring theme is being clear with what we mean when we say end-to-end

The group reflect on:

Using a term alongside terms like user journey and which user
Being clear about what 'flow' is being tested
Not to test everything
Is it a sign of low testability and a smell of something

Integrations

Often, these tests cross architecture and boundaries, and check some form of integration

Use the smallest unit of test to validate your goal
End-to-End tests are expensive - time, effort, fragility, environments
Help reduce risk as ownership crosses teams in modern systems
They find important failures

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In this episode, Chris, Russell, David and Vernon try something a little different. Instead of ranting about the state of the industry, the conversation focuses on optimism, momentum, and the things they are genuinely excited about in 2026.

Reasons to be cheerful

The team reflect on what is giving them energy right now, from community and conference season to new projects, new teammates, and rediscovering enthusiasm after a difficult year.

Growth, curiosity, and intentionality

The conversation explores decisive humility, cautious optimism, and the importance of being intentional in how we work, learn, and grow. There is also discussion around revisiting testing fundamentals, pushing beyond comfort zones, and embracing opportunities to learn in unfamiliar spaces.

Community and connection

The group talk about the importance of conferences, shared experiences, and meeting people through the testing community. They also reflect on the continued growth of the Testing Peers podcast, rotating co-hosts, and the excitement around PeersCon.

Looking ahead

The episode closes with personal goals, side projects, travel plans, theme parks, cars, and the simple joy of having things to look forward to.

This episode explores

Optimism in testing and tech
Community, conferences, and connection
New teammates and fresh energy
Decisive humility and cautious optimism
Intentionality and testing fundamentals
Personal goals, projects, and things to look forward to

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until November 30th 2027.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 3 years, get in touch if interested

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In this episode, hosts Chris Armstrong and Russell Craxford are joined by #PeersCon27 Programme Chairs, Veerle Verhagen and Callum Akehurst-Ryan, to launch the Call for Collaboration.

The conversation introduces the 2027 theme, explores what “quality on the boundaries” means in practice, and sets clear expectations for submissions. It also reinforces what makes #PeersCon different: real experiences over theory, diverse voices, and a community-first approach to shaping the programme.

Theme

Quality on the Boundaries: Where does quality begin and end, are there lines in testing that we won’t cross?

What does this mean in practice

The theme isn’t meant to be interpreted one way.

For some, it’s about the boundaries of the work itself. The systems, the domains, the tooling, the edges where things get unclear or uncomfortable.

For others, it’s about people. The boundaries between roles, between experience levels, between perspectives. Who owns quality, and where that ownership starts to blur.

It might be about pushing forward. Exploring new spaces, new ideas, new ways of working in a landscape that is changing quickly.

Or it might be about limits. The moments where things don’t work, where something shouldn’t be done, or where you’ve had to draw a line.

There isn’t a single “right” interpretation. That’s the point.

What matters is the experience behind it, and what others can learn from it.

What to do next

If you’re listening to this and thinking “I’ve got something there”… you probably do.

This isn’t about having the perfect abstract or the most polished idea. It’s about the things you’ve actually lived through. The messy bits, the decisions you made, the times it worked, and the times it didn’t.

Maybe you’ve pushed into a new space. Maybe you’ve been working at the edges of your role. Maybe you’ve hit a boundary and had to stop. Maybe you’ve crossed one and learned something the hard way.

That’s what we want.

And it doesn’t need to fit neatly into a box. Talks, workshops, or something a bit different, if you’ve got an idea that doesn’t quite fit, submit it anyway.

If you’re not a “tester”, that’s fine too. Quality doesn’t belong to one role, and neither does this conference.

If you’ve never spoken before, that’s not a blocker. Support is there to help shape your idea and your abstract.

And if you’re thinking “this might be a bit niche”, that’s okay. Not every talk needs to be for everyone.

So submit. Share your experience. Bring your perspective.

The programme itself is being shaped by a deliberately diverse committee, alongside Veerle and Callum, including Jacob Urantowka, Lisa Crispin, Parveen Khan and Jitesh Gosai.

And if you’re planning to attend, bring someone with you. A colleague, a friend, someone outside your usual circle.

Why #PeersCon exists (and why it matters)

Testing Peers exists because folks were working in isolation, and knew we weren't the only ones.

It grew from a small group of peers looking for connection into something much bigger, but the intent hasn’t changed. It’s still about creating a space where people can share honestly, challenge each other, and learn from real experiences.

It’s also intentionally accessible. Low cost, community-driven, and designed so people can attend without needing large budgets or corporate backing.

And in a world that is becoming more automated, more distributed, and in some ways more isolating, spaces like this matter more.

Not just for the talks, but for the conversations. The challenges. The different perspectives you don’t get day to day.

That only works if people show up.

If you want spaces like this to exist, support them. Submit. Attend. Bring others with you. Be part of it.

Part of that support is partnership.

PeersCon is run by the community, for the community, but it does

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In this episode, Russell, Chris, Tara, and David explore what a testing consultancy could look like if you stripped it back and built it around values, experience, and honest reflection.

Starting with some light-hearted conference banter, the conversation quickly turns to consultancy models, what works, what does not, and what they would do differently.

Outcomes over outputs

A recurring theme throughout the discussion is the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs.

The group reflect on:

Delivering meaningful change, not just activity
Avoiding long-term dependency on consultants
Measuring success by what happens after you leave

Enablement and sustainability

Rather than doing the work for clients, the conversation leans towards:

Setting up repeatable processes
Enabling teams to continue without support
Leaving organisations self-sufficient

The idea of making yourself redundant comes up as a sign of success.

Working with context

The discussion explores how consultants engage with existing client environments:

When to adapt to existing processes
When to challenge and improve them
The importance of pragmatic, context-informed decisions

There is no single answer, but a strong emphasis on informed choice and transparency.

Thought leadership vs “bums on seats”

The group question traditional consultancy models, particularly:

Staff augmentation
Long-running placements
Value tied to time rather than impact

Instead, they explore a model centred around:

Short-term, high-impact engagements
Strategic and cultural change
Supporting teams rather than filling roles

Follow-ups, iteration, and lasting change

A key challenge raised is what happens after consultants leave.

The group discuss:

Returning at later checkpoints
Supporting incremental change
Preventing regression to old habits

The idea is less one-off transformation, more ongoing iteration.

Consultancy as connection

An alternative model emerges during the conversation:

Acting as a connector of people and expertise
Matching specialists to specific problems
Leveraging community rather than a fixed bench

Blurring the line between consultancy, partnership, and network.

Who would this be for?

The group gravitate towards:

Startups and scale-ups
Organisations open to change
Teams looking for guidance, not just delivery

With less interest in:

Large-scale augmentation
Traditional long-term consultancy models

This episode explores

What good consultancy looks like in practice
Outcomes vs outputs in client engagements
Enablement and making change stick
Navigating client context and constraints
Thought leadership vs staff augmentation
Alternative consultancy models and community-led approaches

Referenced in this episode

Fiona Charles – 10 Commandments for Ethical Testers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQHt4Pao2Vs

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until November 30th 2027.

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This episode of Testing Peers is published in recognition of International Women’s Day (8 March).

International Women’s Day is a global moment to recognise the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, while also highlighting the continued work needed to achieve gender equality. It is also a call to action to accelerate progress and support women’s advancement around the world.

You can learn more about the campaign and its initiatives at
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Episode Overview

To mark International Women’s Day, this episode brings together Linda van de Vooren, Rachel Kibler, Tara Walton, and Christine Pinto for a conversation about their experiences working in software testing and technology.

The discussion ranges from workplace dynamics and technical credibility to confidence, identity, and the importance of supportive communities in tech. Drawing on experiences across different countries, organisations, and career stages, the panel reflect on the challenges and opportunities of working in the industry today. International Women's Day

Episode Highlights

Theme songs for the moment

The episode begins with a bit of Testing Peers banter as the hosts share the song that best represents their current stage of life. From Eye of the Tiger to Crowded Table and even a song from Frozen 2, the choices reflect everything from startup survival mode to building strong personal support networks.

Being a woman in tech

The panel discuss how experiences can vary depending on company culture, geography, and team dynamics. Several hosts reflect on the need to prove technical credibility, particularly in environments where testing already sits in tension with development.

Finding allies

Support within teams can make a real difference. The group share how allies often emerge through one-to-one conversations and how a single supportive voice in a meeting can change how concerns about quality or risk are received.

Competition and the “crab bucket” effect

The conversation touches on the crab bucket effect: situations where people unintentionally hold each other back in competitive or unhealthy environments. The group reflect on how workplace pressure and culture can contribute to this dynamic.

Glue work and invisible labour

The panel discuss glue work, the essential tasks that keep teams functioning but often go unnoticed. From meeting notes to coordination, these responsibilities can disproportionately fall to certain people unless teams actively share them.

Identity and personal expression

From purple hair and tiaras to red suits and owl dungarees, the hosts reflect on how personal expression can influence confidence and help people show up authentically at work.

Safety and confidence

The discussion acknowledges that confidence and self-expression depend on feeling safe at work. Moments of inappropriate behaviour or boundary crossing can quickly undermine that safety and require time and support to rebuild.

Continuing the conversation at Agile Testing Days

Towards the end of the discussion, Rachel Kibler highlights an opportunity to continue conversations like these at Agile Testing Days.

[Placeholder: add Rachel’s exact forum/session name and wording here once confirmed.]

The value of community

The episode closes by reflecting on the strength of the testing community and spaces like Testing Peers, where people can share experiences, offer support, and remind each other they are not alone.

This episode explores

Women’s experiences in software testing and technology
Building allies and support within teams
Navigating bias and workplace expectations
The “crab bucket effect” in compe

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

In this episode, Veerle, Chris, Russell and Tara explore how hobbies influence the way we learn, collaborate and grow within testing and quality engineering.

Before getting into the main topic, the Peers open with some classic banter, covering unusual fruit sizes, strange dreams and the small details that spark curiosity.

The idea for this episode comes from talks and experiences shared within the community, where hobbies such as gaming, storytelling, crafting and sport have inspired lessons that translate into professional practice.

From Vikings and Dungeons & Dragons to pro wrestling, knitting, baking and gym routines, the group reflects on how skills learned outside of work can shape communication, experimentation and continuous improvement. Bring your hobbies to work

In this episode, the Peers discuss

How hobbies help develop storytelling and teamwork skills
Seeing testing opportunities in everyday life
Different personal paths into testing and quality engineering
Learning through experimentation, failure and iteration
The role of data, metrics and context in decision making
Growth mindsets inspired by fitness, crafting and gaming
Bringing personality and individuality into technical spaces

Key reflections

This episode highlights how hobbies create spaces to experiment, adapt and learn without pressure. Whether journaling gym progress, inventing house rules in games or developing creative skills, these experiences mirror the iterative nature of testing itself.

The Peers also explore how progress is not always visible in the moment. As skills evolve, expectations rise, which can make growth harder to recognise even when it is happening. Bring your hobbies to work

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, join Chris Armstrong, Rachel Kibler, Tara Walton, and Russell Craxford discussing what it means to create change in teams that are worn down, frustrated, or stuck in longstanding patterns.

In this episode, the Peers talk frame the discussion around practical reflections on joining difficult team contexts, building agency, identifying friction, and shaping improvements that matter without creating burnout.

The group focuses on the difference between technical problems and people or adaptive challenges, the value of curiosity and influence, and the power of small, intentional actions that reduce unnecessary friction and build momentum toward better ways of working.

Key themes and ideas

Teams with history and fatigue

Teams carry context, history, and stories long before new people arrive. What looks like dysfunction to a newcomer may be normalised pain to those who have lived with it. Past failed efforts at change often create deep scepticism.

The “WTF list”

Rachel introduces the idea of keeping a personal “WTF list” when joining a new team. This is a record of things that confuse, frustrate, or cause unnecessary pain. It is a tool for reflection, learning what to ask about, and identifying areas for low effort improvements while separating technical fixes from people or adaptive challenges. Some items are best kept for private reflection or manager conversations rather than shared openly.

Technical problems versus people problems

Technical problems usually have known solutions and can be addressed with the right expertise. People problems require influence, trust, and time. Effective change begins by asking why things are done the way they are before assuming what should be done.

The risk of bonding over complaints

Shared frustration can bond people quickly, "trauma bonding", but venting without action often leads to stagnation. Reflection and curiosity help teams ask what could realistically be done differently next time.

Context before action

Change attempts fail when history, constraints, or social dynamics are ignored. Newcomers often see pain points that existing teams have normalised. Without understanding the background, even good ideas can trigger resistance.

Agency, choice, and acceptance

Sometimes, change is not possible in the short term. Actively choosing to accept a situation can be more empowering than feeling trapped by it. Doing nothing can be valid when it is a conscious decision rather than passive resignation.

Small wins and incremental change

Not every improvement has to be dramatic. Small changes that remove friction can build trust and momentum over time. Cultural shifts often start with fixing minor but irritating problems rather than attempting wholesale transformation.

Positivity and recognising progress

Testing roles are often framed negatively, both by others and by the people doing the work. Creating space to acknowledge progress and success helps rebalance that narrative and improves team morale.

Leadership and advocacy

Leadership involves passing feedback upwards and advocating for change even when the leader cannot fix the problem directly. Choosing where to invest influence is an important leadership skill.

Takeaways

You cannot change everything from every position.
Context and history matter more than frameworks.
Influence is more effective than instruction in people-related challenges.
Small, deliberate improvements build momentum for bigger shifts.
Conscious acceptance is still a form of agency.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are live for just

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Happy New Year, Peers!!

Welcome to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast, this time panel explores how testers and quality professionals can make the most of their training budgets, whether that budget is zero, modest, or stretches into several thousand pounds.

Hosts this week: Russell Craxford, David Maynard, Chris Armstrong, and Tara Walton.

The discussion is grounded in real experience and looks at how learning choices change depending on constraints, priorities, and organisational context.

Starting from Zero: Learning Without a Budget

The episode begins by challenging the assumption that learning requires money. The hosts highlight the breadth and quality of free resources available, including:

Blogs, podcasts, and community-driven content
Free learning platforms such as Test Automation University, freeCodeCamp, and edX
Vendor-provided learning resources from tooling and platform providers

A key recommendation is the free “Learning How to Learn” course by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski, which helps people understand how they learn best before deciding where to invest time or money.

Spending Around £100: Small Budgets, Real Value

With a budget of around £100, the focus shifts to intentional, value-led choices:

Books as a focused, low-distraction way to learn:
Subscriptions to learning platforms rather than single courses
Prioritising practical outcomes over certificates
Using community recommendations to avoid low-quality content
TestSphere and RiskStorming cards
Obviously, the Testing Peers Conference, March 12th 2026

Books such as Explore It, The Phoenix Project, The Culture Codeand other systems thinking titles are highlighted as high-value, low-cost investments.

Around £500: Community, Conferences, and Exposure

At the £500 level, learning opportunities expand:

Attending local conferences, meetups, or community events
- Leeds Test Atelier (Free to attend)
- SIGiST
- ShipItCon
Covering travel, accommodation, and tickets for nearby events
Investing in leadership, communication, and presentation skills
Subscriptions such as Ministry of Testing Pro (including a ticket to their #MoTaCon event) and similar learning communities
LeanPub

The hosts discuss the value of human connection, being exposed to new perspectives, and coming away from events with renewed ideas and motivation.

Certifications and Career Signals

The conversation takes a balanced view on certifications, including ISTQB:

Not a definition of quality or capability
Potentially useful for people entering the industry
Helpful as a signal when experience is limited
More valuable as a foundation than an end goal

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The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

Explore It!: Reduce Risk and Increase Confidence with Exploratory Testing

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. In this episode, Simon, David, Chris and returning host, Dan Ashby explore what makes a high-performing team and how leaders can intentionally create the right environment for teams to thrive. The conversation builds on both shared experience and real-world examples of navigating complex team dynamics.

Topics Discussed

• Psychological safety
How teams understand it, how fragile it can be and the different forms it takes, including inclusion, learning, contributor and challenger safety.

• Purpose and direction
Why clarity of mission anchors decision making and helps individuals see their contribution to collective outcomes.

• Skills, proficiency and growth
Understanding a team’s starting point, enabling learning opportunities and how building capability strengthens trust and accountability. Dan also introduces his High-Performing Teams Framework, which provides a structured model for these elements:
https://evolvingleadership.uk/the-hpt-framework/

• Trust and ownership
The importance of follow-through, transparency and what Chris refers to as decisive humility when leading in uncertain or inherited contexts.

• Joy and community
How internal communities, shared testing sessions, social connection and small rituals can support morale and cohesion, especially in remote environments.

• Real-world leadership experiences
Chris shares an example of challenging expectations from leadership by gathering context, sense-checking with peers and approaching difficult conversations with evidence and respect.

Also in this episode

Burnout, remote working dynamics, and the role of workplace friendships in supporting sustainable performance.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 139 of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, the Peers dive into the sequel to episode 39, for Testing Rants part 2. Hosting this episode is Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Tara Walton, Chris Armstrong and David Maynard.

After a brief ranter moment (terrible rant banter portmanteau, sorry), the team move onto the main topic.

Topics covered in this episode:
Documentation Issues

Single Points of Failure: Documentation saved locally or only in one place.
Poor Comments: Insufficient or missing code/system comments.
Clarity over Volume: The need for context and value to avoid "death by documentation."

The Problem with Assumptions

"Termites of Relationships": Assumptions damage team relationships and project outcomes (citing Henry Winkler).
Contextual Blind Spots: Discussing unchecked assumptions in daily work.

Value and Motivation

Missing the WHY: Lack of communication around the ultimate VALUE of the work.
Purpose Drives Motivation: Knowing why tasks matter increases engagement.

Cognitive Load and Flow

Spoon Theory: Managing limited mental energy and cognitive load.
Flow Disruptors: Identifying Slack/notifications as excessive noise that breaks focus.

Time Off and Workplace Safety

Managing Return: Setting healthy expectations for those returning after time off.
Psychological Safety: The foundational requirement for taking necessary breaks.
"Always On" Pressure: Ranting against the pressure for a digital detox and constant online presence.

Community and Celebration

Lisa Crispin Shoutout: Acknowledging her commitment to championing the community.

Shining a Light: The importance of celebrating and elevating others.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 138 of the Testing Peers Podcast

In this episode, Chris, Rachel, David and Russell discuss how people begin their careers in testing and software quality today.

After a light-hearted round of “Two Truths and a Lie (But All Lies)”, the conversation turns to the different ways people enter the field, and how those paths have changed over time. The Peers share their own experiences and reflect on what helps new testers succeed.

Topics include:

Apprenticeships, graduate schemes and internal career changes
The importance of curiosity, communication and collaboration
Balancing technical skills with people skills
The impact of AI and automation on entry routes
Building inclusive teams and supporting diverse backgrounds
The difference between culture add and culture fit

The group explore what organisations can do to create better entry points into quality roles, and how experienced professionals can help the next generation of testers grow with confidence.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 137 of the Testing Peers podcast!

This time, join Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Russell Craxford, Chris Armstrong and David Maynard as we discuss Personal Branding and Social Media.

In this episode, the Peers discuss the importance of personal branding and the role social media plays in shaping professional identity within the testing community.

The conversation explores how each of the hosts approaches their own personal brand, the motivations behind building one, and the ways in which visibility and authenticity can influence employability, reputation and connection. The group also considers the evolution of social media platforms, how algorithms influence engagement, and how to use these platforms effectively while staying true to personal values.

Key discussion points include:

The link between personal branding and professional opportunities
Developing an identifiable and consistent online presence
Balancing authenticity, tone of voice and self-promotion
The impact of algorithms and how to navigate them
Choosing the right platforms for your goals, from LinkedIn and YouTube to community spaces such as the Ministry of Testing Club [https://club.ministryoftesting.com/]
The idea of defining your brand through a single theme or “word” [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-word-finding-perfectly-describes-you-career-dan-ashby-1sv2e/?trackingId=xoBbDkUiRfmqX6GsXR2U7g%3D%3D]

The hosts share their experiences of what has worked for them, the challenges of maintaining consistency, and the benefits of intentionality in developing a recognisable and trustworthy online identity.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
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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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 136 of the Testing Peers podcast.

In this episode, David, Chris, Russell and Tara dig into a question from #PeersCon25 speaker, Stuart Pates: what’s the difference between a test strategy and a quality engineering strategy?

The peers explore:

Whether strategies are rigid documents, living guides, or something in between
How context drives whether you need a test strategy, a quality strategy, or both
Why language and labels (“test” vs “quality”) can help or hinder collaboration
The role of purpose and value in defining strategies that actually work
Strategies as empowerment tools versus “one-way to do things” policies
How to avoid strategies becoming shelfware and instead keep them living and relevant

As always, there’s plenty of banter (including revelations about everyone’s oldest open browser tab!) before diving into the topic.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, what does strategy mean in your organisation, and how do you approach the balance between quality and testing?

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 135 of the Testing Peers Podcast. This time join Chris, Russell, David and the returning Jon Robinson as we talk all things AI in testing.

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we approach testing, QA and quality. But what happens when the pace of change accelerates? In this episode, the Peers explore what AI might mean for our profession, our skills and the value we bring.

We discuss:

The future of QA roles in the next 3–5 years and which functions may fade or evolve.
Why exploratory testing could become more important as AI takes on repetitive checking.
The risk of over-reliance on AI tools, from hallucinations to “blind hope” in outputs.
New skills testers may need: data literacy, training and validating models, and critical thinking about outputs.
Shifts in business mindsets: AI as a cost-cutting tool vs AI as an enabler.
The challenges of scalability, maintainability and sustainability when using AI.
Ethical and legal concerns around data sharing, intellectual property and training models.
How diverse skills and perspectives remain crucial for testing in an AI-driven future.

Along the way, we touch on topics from token debt and environmental impact, to healthcare examples, to why trust and human experience still matter.

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December, when they go up to £30.
And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do to support the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to Episode 134 of the Testing Peers podcast. This week, join Simon, David, Tara and Chris.

How do we explain testing and quality to people who are not testers, in a way that actually lands? In this episode, we talk about meeting stakeholders where they are, translating quality into the language of risk, cost and outcomes, and building trust through visible work and data. We also share practical ways to bring non-testers into the quality journey, from testathons to storytelling.

What we cover

Getting out of the testing echo chamber and speaking in terms others value, for example, risk, time, cost and customer impact.
Why “finish testing by Friday” and pass or fail dashboards miss the point, and how to reframe around confidence and acceptable quality.
Trusted advisor status is earned, not assumed, through consistent visibility and data that supports decisions.
Using risk as a shared language, tying quality work to concrete mitigations that matter to stakeholders.
The tension between flexibility and standards, and why some consistency helps credibility.
Startups versus enterprises, common perceptions of testing, and how to counter “devs can do it all” or “cheap offshore scripts are enough”.
Making the work visible: show outcomes, not just activities, and celebrate wins to build momentum.
AI in quality, cautious optimism, and the importance of getting involved early so we help shape how it is used and tested.

Practical ideas discussed

Run regular testathons and paired exploratory sessions that include developers, product, customer support and leaders. Let people experience the work and discover real issues together.
Tell relevant, audience-shaped stories. CFO cares about the cost of quality, product cares about customer outcomes, engineers care about feasibility and flow.
Start small, show value, then scale. Use data from pilots to make a compelling case.
Document enough to show standards and accountability, without losing agility.
Use tools like RiskStorming to surface risks early and align on mitigations.
Own the narrative. Be assertive, positive and specific about the value testing brings, not just the problems it finds.

Shout-outs and references

Callum Akehurst-Ryan on becoming trusted advisors.
Sophie Küster, The Impostor’s Guide to Tooting Your Own Horn.
RiskStorming and other collaborative risk techniques.
Exploratory testing and team testathons as ongoing practice, not a one-off event.

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December, when they go up to £30.
And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 133 of the Testing Peers podcast.

In this episode, the Peers (Chris, Callum, David and Russell) explore the complex and often subtle art of influencing quality within teams, organisations and wider cultures.

The team share stories from early careers to more recent consulting and coaching experiences. The conversation examines how influence operates in practice and what it truly means to be a voice for quality. This is a discussion about mindset shifts, not mandates. About patience, not prescriptions.

Topics covered include:

What influence looks like in quality-focused roles
The difference between being responsible for quality and being a voice of quality
Building credibility and rapport in complex environments
How time, language and context influence
Coaching versus prescribing solutions
Making invisible work visible to gain traction
Overcoming cynicism and staying curious
How influence can ripple beyond the testing team

Whether you are coaching, testing or leading, this episode is packed with practical insights and thoughtful discussion on how to support quality in meaningful, lasting ways.

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December, when they go up to £30.
And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 132 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This time, joining David and Chris are the returning Rachel Kibler and first-time host Vanessa Zettler, with the Peers discussing Software That Cares.

Key Quote “There is no average user.” – A reminder that designing for the “average” often excludes everyone.

Accessibility as a Civil Rights Issue
Digital access is essential in modern life. The team explore why accessibility is about equity and inclusion, not just regulations.

Temporary vs. Permanent Disability
The group reflects on how anyone can join the disabled community at any time—making accessibility everyone's responsibility.

Legal Landscape

Landmark US cases: Robles v. Domino’s and Access Now v. Blue Apron
Growth of lawsuits in e-commerce
UK legislation: Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations

Beyond the Checklist

WCAG 2.1 AA as the global standard
The limitations of automated tools and “accessibility widgets”
Importance of manual validation, especially with screen readers

The Role of Testers & Quality Engineers
Testers often become accessibility advocates by default: identifying, championing, and embedding inclusive practices across teams.

Inclusive Design from the Start
Accessibility must be considered from the beginning, not just at testing, bringing in copywriters, designers, and developers early.

Emotional Sensitivity in UX
Rachel highlights the need to consider emotional impact, particularly during difficult times, when crafting user-facing messages.

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December, when they go up to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)

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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

Thanks to our sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to a special episode of the Testing Peers to announce our Programme Committee and Theme for PeersCon 26, which is happening on 12th March 2026 in Nottingham, UK.

Join our Co-Chairs David and Simon as they introduce you to the rest of the committee:

Suman Bala
Dan Ashby
Beth Marshall
Rita Avota

More on the committee can be found here.

After the usual banter, the team dive into talking more about the theme for the conference, which is:

Context is Everything: Lessons from the Universality of Quality and Testing Across Different IndustriesQuality and testing principles may be universal, but their application varies dramatically across contexts. A quality engineer working on a highly regulated environment faces different challenges than a gaming quality engineer managing real-time multiplayer chaos, yet both share fundamental insights about risk, user impact, and systematic thinking.This theme focuses on the diversity of testing experiences across industries while uncovering the common challenges all of us can relate to. Whether you’re testing retail apps, financial systems, or manufacturing processes, your context shapes your testing approach.We’re looking for speakers from every industry and experience level to share their real-world challenges and lessons learned, hoping to provide knowledge that can be used in the audiences own context and raising the quality bar across our industry

With this now discussed and their thoughts around why this was chosen, it is now time to officially open the Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December, when they go up to £30.

And as always, we are looking for sponsors to make this event the success it has been for the last 2 years, get in touch if interested

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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to episode 130 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This time join David, Russell, Chris and Dermot as we talk Knowledge Resilience.

After an ice breaker where Russell poses the question to the Peers of what have we wanted to learn, but have not yet achieved.

Then Dermot sets up the main topic with the following question: "what would you do with the knowledge that you acquired? If you learned it, it's fine, but if you wanted to share that knowledge. How would you transmit that?

We talk about:

How people learn differently, and why a mix of formats matters
Creating living documentation that stays connected to real questions
What stops people from sharing, from fear and past experience to unspoken team dynamics
How consulting and leadership roles shift your perspective on giving away knowledge
Why rotating responsibilities and refreshing training helps surface hidden gaps
The role of psychological safety in building a culture where sharing is the norm

If you've ever struggled with stale docs, tribal knowledge, or a team that relies on “just ask Dave” then this one’s for you.

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast.
This time, join David, Chris, Sanne and Beth as we discuss Bad Quality By Design (a more SFW term for ensh!ttifcation).

Where products and services become deliberately less usable or joyful over time, often to drive monetisation. This isn’t accidental degradation, but intentional design choices aimed at nudging users towards subscriptions, upsells, or ad exposure.

Examples the Peers discuss include:

Getting a “premium” experience temporarily, then losing it unless you pay
Making it easy to sign up but frustratingly hard to cancel
Designing mobile apps that force you onto desktop for key actions like unsubscribing
Cookie banners and friction-heavy consent flows
UX patterns that prioritise business goals over user experience (e.g. CarPlay’s rigid UI rules)

The group reflect on how this gradual decline in delight has eroded pride in product quality. AI tools, for now, feel delightful by contrast because they’re still in the VC-funded honeymoon phase, but this too may fade. The group calls out the trade-off between "good enough" and genuinely caring about quality.

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. On this episode, Chris, Simon and David are joined by first time co-host Rachel Kibler. The Peers discuss the topic of making work visible.

David starts us off with the banter on the topic of fashion mistakes, everything from dress down fridays to bright shirts being used as a prank. David also hints at his 80's fashion challenges and his ties he wore as a teacher.

Rachel kicks off the main topic, giving the back story of where the topic came from. Having to create a coherent story on how to show when a project is good to go live and how the testing can be made visible. They all discuss the value and cost of testing and how to articulate this to PMs in projects.

The conversation goes on to different techniques to show value and how to help get everyone onto the same page. What techniques can you use to make it visible to stakeholders?

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. On this episode, Chris, Russell, David and Simon talk about how we can ensure Quality has a seat at the table of discussions, projects and all such scenarios where it should be there.

Before that, Mr Banter (Chris) leads us off down a wonderful trail of memories of social media when it all began, everything from MySpace, Bebo, Friends Reunited and MSN Messenger covered and of course, the old Twitter during the pandemic.

Simon leads us into a the topic, and mentions a comment Stephen Platten made on one of Chris's posts about a Culture of Quality on LinkedIn. Here is Stephen's comment:

"How do you see us making sure we get our feet at the table so to speak? How do we get senior stakeholders to take notice?"

Of course it depends on the context, and what influence is needed. It's also about who needs to care? Depending on the context and the problem you are having. The best way to get started is to look at engaging your senior leaders or the leadership level that make decisions in the context. It may be a need to educate and showcase the value that can be provided by being involved.

The Peers dive into their own experiences and ways to help influence the decision makers to include a voice of quality.

What challenges have you had in this scenario?

contactUs@TestingPeers.com

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024 and 2025, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris, Russell and David are joined by the returning Sam to talk about a topic close to all testers hearts, the ability of storytelling.

Before diving into the main topic, Russell asks the Peers what their favourite cars are, lots of classics mentioned including the almost predictable choice from Russell of the AC Cobra (which he may have mentioned before).

Part of the testers role includes storytelling, whether this is in bug reports, presentations, or just discussions with team members, it is key that the right story is told to bring everyone along the journey.

Sam tells of his adventures at Agile Testing Days where a musical was performed to tell a story, possibly taking story telling to a new level (for testers anyway)

The key with story telling is making it relevant to it's audience, which will enable them to invest effectively.

What are your tips for good storytelling?

contactUs@TestingPeers.com

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

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Hello and welcome to episode 125 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, joining Chris, Russell and David is the returning guest host, Al Goodall.

Before diving into the main topic, Al asks the group to think about book collections, a nice mix of techno-thrillers and classic prose on offer.

Russell kicks off the main discussion around testability, what is it in which context?

The Peers talk through implementation, pitches, prompts, value, maintainability and more.

Chris also brings out the TestSphere card deck to look at the Testability Quality Aspect card.

What does Testability look like in your context? Have we mastered it? What can we do better?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

If you wish to Sponsor the conference: https://testingpeerscon.com/partners/

If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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

This week join Chris, David, Shey and Russell as the Peers talk about transformations.

The banter for this week's episode comes from Shey, asking the group which sport they would have love to have been a professional in.

Then the Peers dived into the main topic, introduced by Shey. We talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of our experiences with transformations.

What role do we, as testers, play in transformations? We are by very nature, change agents.

The group discuss the somewhat forced transformational change that the Covid pandemic had on workplaces, and how organisations have diverged a lot in the new normal.

What are your experiences with transformations?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

If you wish to Sponsor the conference: https://testingpeerscon.com/partners/

If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

contactUs@TestingPeers.com

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. David, Russell and Chris are joined by Sergio Friere to talk about all things Professional Development.

Sergio leads the banter and asks the peers what their oldest memories are, everything from canal boat parties to visiting a zulu hut are mentioned, with ages ranging from age 3-6ish between the peers.

As we start the main topic, Sergio shares his journey of going into teaching now to educate students on testing (win for #MakeATester). He shares how he made the decision to jump into this and his learnings once taking on the role.

The peers share their own journeys of professional development and offer tips to the listeners to focus on their own development to grow their careers.

What have been your key learnings on your professional development journey?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

If you wish to Sponsor the conference: https://testingpeerscon.com/partners/

If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors - NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They've been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they've now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Seasons Greetings! Thank you for joining us for our fifth annual podcast at Christmastime, this year's festive cheers with the Testing Peers brings Russell, Simon, David, Tara, Beth & Chris together to refine the holiday season backlog [see the footnote after the sponsor message for more details].

Who doesn't feel the festive warm & fuzzies over a refinement session?

Before we jump in, Russell warms us all up with an ice breaker based on Christmas drink preferences.

The we all dive in.

Chris (the business - in this case) has populated a series of epics for the team of Peers to commit to delegating Christmas on time.

Christmas Tree Size Estimation Framework: From desk-sized (1) to forest-worthy (6).

Epics:
- Festive Décor: Lights, trees, & cosy vibes (no tinsel, for the pets!).
- Festive Events: Baking nights, light tours & Secret Santa.
- Gift-Giving: Thoughtful presents, no gimmicks.
- Holiday Self-Care: Quiet evenings & avoiding burnout.
- Traditions: Advent calendars, holiday movies, & music playlists.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from us all here at Peers HQ

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing & fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers & they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk & info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

Holiday Season Backlog

The Peers embraced their festive spirit by creating a "Holiday Season Backlog," blending testing concepts with holiday preparation! Here's the breakdown:

Christmas Tree Size Framework

6: Forest
5: Town Square
4: Shopping Centre
3: Fancy House
2: Modest House
1: Desk

Definition of Ready (DoR): 3 Peers agree it’s ready
Definition of Done (DoD): Santa’s approval! 🎅

Epics and User Stories

1. Festive Décor - Town Square

Goal: Transform spaces into magical holiday settings.

Tasks: Fairy lights, tree decorations, wreaths, and cushions.
Requirements: Keep it cosy and avoid tinsel (pets say no!).

2. Festive Events - Town Square

Goal: Spread holiday cheer through activities.

Tasks: Tree-lighting ceremony, film marathons, Secret Santa, baking nights, and light tours.
Risks: Festive fatigue from over-scheduling.

3. Gift-Giving - Fancy House

Goal: Thoughtful gifts for smiles and joy.

Tasks: Draft gift lists, set postage reminders, donate to charity, and avoid gimmicky gadgets.

4. Holiday Self-Care - Modest House

Goal: Maintain mental well-being during the holidays.

Tasks: Relaxing evenings, “no obligation” days, acts of kindness, and avoiding burnout.

5. Festive Traditions - Forest

Goal: Celebrate beloved seasonal traditions.

Tasks: Advent calendars, holiday movies, music playlists, theatre shows, and family games.
Notes: Self-care wins over endless activities.

Highlights:

Peer collaboration: Everything was

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Thank you for joining us for episode 121 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This time, join Chris, Tara, Russell and David as we discuss tools for testers.

Before diving into the main topic, to mark the festive period, Tara poses the ice-breaker question of the Peers' favourite Holiday movie.
It's a Wonderful Life, Die Hard, Home Alone, Spirited, The Grinch and Violent Night are included.

Then we move on to the main event.....tools for testers.

The Peers discuss screen readers and recorders, AI, computers, phones, tablets, post-it notes, to-do lists, whiteboarding tools, dictating tools and more.

As testers, we all use tools everyday. What's in your toolkit?

Are there any tools that you couldn't live without?

What are you looking for in a tool? How do you navigate the sales pitches?

Can there be one tool to rule them all?

Do we listen to music while we work?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

If you wish to Sponsor the conference: https://testingpeerscon.com/partners/

If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors – NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They’ve been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they’ve now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touc

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Welcome to another Testing Peers podcast episode.

This time, join Chris, David, Richard Bradshaw and Al Goodall (whose surname Chris had some real issues remembering, sorry Al!)

In this episode, the Peers talk about the role of the SDET. Is it SDEad?

To break the ice, Al leads the group into a discussion about the best live albums, in our humble opinions. Shout-outs to Linkin Park, Sky, Raye, Live Aid, Iron Maiden, U2, Seal and Hoobastank!

The main topic dives into the main topic - the role of the SDET.

What does it mean? Is it a synonym for a test automation engineer? Are you a tester if you're an SDET? What does the role of an SDET look like where you work?

Chris asks his favourite AI tool for a definition to stimulate the conversation.

"The main difference between a software development engineer in test and a test automation engineer is focus and responsibility.
An SDET focuses on bridging the gap between development and testing processes. And a test automation engineer focuses on designing and implementing automated tests."

The Peers talk about context, focus, tooling, frameworks, responsibility, problem-solving and quality!

What do you think the future for the SDET is?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

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If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors - NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They've been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they've now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, Chris is joined by Vernon Richards, Heather Carter and Richard Hinton to talk about career journeys and making that decision around next steps.

Before that, Heather kicks off the banter by asking for 2 Truths and 1 Lie from each of the hosts. You'll need to listen to work out which ones are which.

Chris starts the conversation about what is next for our careers, and the topic moves toward Personal Brand/Professional Reputation and the importance of being able to stand out. The key aspect discussed is channelling your passion and shouting about it. Heather also talks about setting her own company and the branding related to that. Discussion moves to looking into going out on your own and Richard talks about the challenges of contracting while also setting up your own business.

Heather's business page here: https://wearetether.com/

Chris talks about his job searching experiences and how he started with his values, key quotes and some of his challenges.

There's a lot of power in sharing knowledge and continuously learning and this is a key theme in the discussion.

What are your next career steps?

The Testing Peers Conference is happening on the 13th March 2025.

Tickets available here: https://testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

If you wish to Sponsor the conference: https://testingpeerscon.com/partners/

If you wish to volunteer for the event: https://testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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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

Thanks to our brand new sponsors - NFocus Testing.

nFocus are a UK based software testing company. They've been supporting businesses for 24 years by providing services that include burst resource, accelerated test automation, performance testing and fully managed testing services. In 2021, they launched a Test Automation Academy to create amazing testers and they've now created jobs for 48 people in our industry in just under three years!

nFocus were a big part of PeersCon in 2024, really grateful for all they do supporting the Testing Peers.

www.nfocus.co.uk and info@nfocus.co.uk for anyone wanting to get in touch.

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

This time, join Chris, David, Simon and first-time host, Butch Mayhew.

Ahead of the main topic, Butch asks the group about their ideal superpower. We discuss controlling time, teleportation, flying, awareness (we'll come back to that later in the episode) and Butch's idea to have mustard and ketchup fly out of his fingers, because why not?

The Peers then dive in the topic of authenticity - inspired as a topic by Simon's post on LinkedIn.

What does being authentic at work mean to you?

Values, where I stand, hills that I will die on, credibility, ethics, boundaries.

What does that look like in terms of safety at work? Boundaries? Respect? With different audiences?

Naturally, this can all be influenced by context (it's a Peers pod, of course context comes into it).

We discuss accountability and feedback, as well as mental health, privacy and more.

The Testing Peers Conference 2025 has now launched the CFP open until November 2nd: https://testingpeerscon.com/collaboration-2025/

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Welcome to episode 117 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, join Chris, David, Russell and Heather as we discuss closure and letting go!

Heather kicks us off with a discussion around last-minute travel decisions and we think Russell probably wins!

The Peers then jump into a discussion about letting go.

Changing roles. What is your identity? Who am I (professionally)?
What am I good at? What do I enjoy? What will I do when I retire?
Is it out of your control?
What can we do as leaders? How can we ensure our teams are heard?

The Peers talk about adaptability and agility. The toll and fatigue that can be associated with letting go.

Russell spins the conversation around more positivity so what are the group proud to have let go of?

Heather mentions ShipItCon, specifically the talk by Charity Majors you can find a link to watch it here.

The Testing Peers Conference 2025 has now launched the CFP: https://testingpeerscon.com/collaboration-2025/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, Jesper Ottosen joins Russell, David and Chris as we discuss single points of failure.

As ever, we begin with our first email handles - as it turns out ours weren't so embarrassing and have persisted, but at least we break the ice!

Diving into the main topic, the group quickly talk about the single points of failure as people.

"what if they go on holiday?" " what if so and so wins the lottery?" and so on.

Are there robust handover processes in place?

Russell then moves the thinking to systems and processes that affect. Thinking about HR or payment systems.

The Peers discuss what mitigation looks like, continuous processes iterating as we go along, as well as validating these systems - think fire and safety drills.

We talk also about business continuity and disaster recovery.

How do you identify these in your workplace? How do you prepare?

The Testing Peers Conference 2025 has now launched the CFP: https://testingpeerscon.com/collaboration-2025/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, join Chris, Russell, Callum Akehurst-Ryan & Leigh Rathbone as we talk on the topic of "No Testers, No Problem".

Before the main topic, Callum asks the group for their favourite fictional AI. From GLaDOS, I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., the Terminator and Max Headroom.

What's your favourite fictional AI?

Leigh then introduces the topics of trends in the industry, touching on his #PeersCon24 talk, are we moving towards or away from organisations hiring testers or building quality functions, as is that ok?

The Peers discuss perception, reputation, the hows and whys?

Responsibilities, expectations, the costs and historical rationale.

We cover discussions on culture, context, copy & paste models and the requirement to make informed decisions on quality & risk.

What do you think?

The Testing Peers Conference 2025 has now launched the CFP: https://testingpeerscon.com/collaboration-2025/

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Thanks for joining us for episode 114 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, Ben Dowen joins Russell, David and Chris as we dive into the topic of learning fast (as a different take on failing fast).

For this episode's banter, Ben asks the group about what their reasons to be cheerful are. A lot of learning, project closing and summer time activities (or lack of activities) ahead!

The Peers then dive into the main topic. Russell explains the power of the language and cognitive biases around failure, and why he therefore opts for learning fast rather than failing fast.

Russell quotes Thomas Edison:

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Ben talks about the joys as a tester of exploration and the Peers talk about how things look and feel for those of us who naturally work well in environments where everything is not and cannot be known up front.

Shorter feedback loops, humility, recognition, collaboration and exploration are further pressed into.

But what do you do with that learning? Can you change, react, be resilient, agile? How can that information work within constraints, contracts and various contexts? What are the causes and effects?

We talk about documentation, comments and the value they also provide.

Russell mentions the game Testing Jenga.

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Thank you for joining us for episode 113 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, Sanne Visser & Vernon Richards join Chris & David to discuss Emotional Intelligence.

By the way, if you haven't already heard - Vernon hosts the Vernon Richard show: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVernonRichardShow

After Vernon's hot drinks ice-breaker we dive into the main topic.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, and adjust emotions to adapt to environments.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you. There are five key elements to EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

https://mhanational.org/what-emotional-intelligence-and-how-does-it-apply-workplace

The Peers discuss what we view as emotional intelligence and EQ means to us in various contexts.

From awareness, experimentation, exploration, motivation, constraints, awareness, cause & affect, prediction and volatility.

We talk about what that looks like in the introvert/extrovert spectrum.

Sanne also speaks to her passion in stoicism and emotional regulation.

What does emotional intelligence look like to you?

How would you approach starting a testing team from scratch?

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Thank you for joining us for episode 112 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time around we are talking on the topic of building testing teams, with Simon, Russell, David & Chris.

The banter focuses in on favourite or memorable plot twists.

Then Simon poses this hypothetical scenario - If you landed in a role and you were the first person there who has been given the task to build a [test] team, what would you do?

Russell wins the 'it depends on the context' prize, but of course he is right.

Questions like:
Who are you employed by?
What are their expectations?
What is your budget?
What are the constraints?
What are the dependencies?
Who already is working there?
What is the risk appetite?
Who are the customers?
What does the tech stack look like?
and more….

The Peers dive into biases, measures, agility and more in this episode.

How would you approach starting a testing team from scratch?

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Thank you for joining episode 111 of the Testing Peers podcast. This time Chris, David, Dermot & Sanne talk on the theme of 'This is the way', otherwise known perhaps as the gospel according to....

Before the main discussion, Sanne asks the group about any new to the Peers recipes or restaurants, so now I'm a little hungry.

good time to pause for a snack

Chris then introduces the Mandalorian theme. What are those absolute truths that we see some follow.

Is it testing/checking? The testing pyramid? Given, when then?

A couple of blog posts referenced from 2016:
Dan Ashby: https://danashby.co.uk/2016/10/19/continuous-testing-in-devops/
Del Dewar: https://findingdeefex.com/2016/05/20/the-testing-checking-synergy/

Should models be rigidly and explicitly followed or are they useful tools to achieve a common understanding.

As ever, we discuss not only the value of context, but also of pragmatism as well as the appreciation of the etymology.

We speak to experience bias and theory vs reality.

The conversation closes with Chris referencing Leigh Rathbone's 10 leadership lessons from Ted Lasso talk.
https://prezi.com/p/ja_fnx4qvujy/ted-lasso/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. Chris, David, Russell and Simon talk about one of the big buzzwords in the industry at present being the term of Quality Engineering, what it means, how it differentiates from "Testing" and what it means for the future.

For the banter, Russell asks us all what our favourite pizza toppings are, unsurprisingly there is talk of "it depends", and pretty much every topping is mentioned from the peers.

We start by talking about what Quality Engineering is and whether there is such a role of a Quality Engineer. This takes us on a slight rabbit hole around job titles.

Is there more to Quality Engineering than just Testing being re-branded? Does it offer more around holistic quality?

A couple of mentions were made during the episode.

The Quality Engineering Charter which has been launched in 2024
Jit Gosai's Quality Engineering Newsletter

Where do you sit on the discipline of Quality Engineering?

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Hello friends, thank you for joining us for the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, join Russell, David, Chris & Dermot as we discuss Presentations.

Before diving into the main event, Chris asks the group to go back in time to when they first travelled for work. Our thoughts and experiences of that, and how that will have changed over our careers.

As the Peers move on, we discuss different presentation styles, contexts, tools and 'weapons of choice' - hello PowerPoint my old friend.

Talking about slides, we discuss context, notes, ALL OF THE TEXT, PowerPoint as documentation and more.

Dermot talks about the value of audience consideration and the concept of multi-sensory learning [https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/multisensory-learning#:~:text=Multisensory%20learning%20is%20all%20about,gustatory%2C%20olfactory%2C%20proprioceptiveorvestibular%20senses.]

The Peers talk about changing styles over time, thinking on our feet and preparing for the worst.

The team discuss the value of setting expectations for interactivity and engagement, the power of good facilitation, allies and such.

Finally, what is the purpose of the presentation? Has that come across? Did we receive feedback?

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Welcome to episode 108 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time, join Russell, David, Callum & Dermot as they talk requirements, emergent ones at that!

Before diving into the main event, Dermot kicks the Peers off with a conversation around fandom and eras, initially with Dr. Who.

Moving on, the group discuss what emergent requirements are.

Undocumented, not (yet) asked for, potential unknown complexity, not refined, just an idea.

The team talk about maturity, the need to sometimes be comfortable with not knowing all up-front.

What does testing look like in this world?

Are there trends we have seen, traps, lessons learned?

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris, David and Russell are joined by Bruce for this one to discuss the topic of "Square Peg, Round Hole" and how we sometimes may not always feel like we or some tools fit and how we can address those challenges.

Bruce starts with the banter and asks everyone what gets them up in the morning, everything from running, coffee and children are mentioned as things that get us started every day.

Chris starts off the topic by asking about using the wrong tools for the job, the peers dive into looking at overengineering or under-engineering, automation tools, traceability matrices and also how our systems can sometimes be used in a way that wasn't intended.

Where have you experienced Square Pegs in Round Holes?

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, Simon, Chris, David and Russell look back at the huge success that was the first Testing Peers Conference held in Nottingham on 14th March.

Before diving into it, David leads the banter and asks the peers about the most retro thing we all own and the Peers all reminisce with all things tech, cars and movies.

With the main retrospective, the Peers divide the conversation into 4 main sections using our MetroRetro board - including the topics of "what should we start doing", "What should we stop doing", "What should we keep doing?" and the "hopes for the future".

So many people and organisations to thank that helped make PeersCon happen such as the venue, the Trent Conference Centre. Our sponsors, NTT Data, nFocus Testing, IntelliQA, Medtronic and Cambridge Consultants. Our speakers, our VolunPeers and our audience for attending. It really means a lot to us all.

The good news is we will be back next year, book the date of 13th March at the same place in Nottingham in 2025. More details to come but you can get tickets here: https://testingpeerscon.com

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. Simon, David, Chris and Sam spend some time discussing the topic of linguistic gatekeeping and how sometimes our language can exclude people from conversations

Chris starts us off with the banter topic of our experiences of "I Told You So" moments, after discussing several scenarios from our childhood, with everything from beach balls in the sea to broken bones as the outcome, it seems we have definitely learned the hard way.

The key to this discussion is certainly that language and how we use it can be power. Within the world of software, there are lots of examples where we have used language as a way to block progress in the conversation, whether this is down to deliberately trying to exclude others by going into too lower level of detail or using politics to prove a point.

Where have you come across this kind of gatekeeping and how did you overcome it?

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Welcome to episode 104 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time around we have a special trio of Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Russell Craxford & Ben Dowen, as the Peers talk about owning your career.

Callum starts us off with important banter on snackage, before we head into sharing our own career stories and discussing what owning your career means along with our own challenges and some words of wisdom.

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. Beth Marshall joins Chris, David and Russell to discuss the topic of saying no.

Chris starts with the banter, asking the peers which films they have turned off or left the cinema because they were rubbish, various films mentioned, although the northerners on the recording seem to never walk out on anything.

On the main topic, the discussion around what we've said no to in the work/community environment, from not doing talks or taking on too much extra curricular activities and putting yourself first. Getting overwhelmed is never a good thing to allow happen too often and knowing your limits should be seen as a positive.

The key message here is that it is OK to not say yes to everything asked of you. What can you say no to, to protect your mental health or wellbeing?

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Welcome to episode 102 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This time around join Tara Walton, Chris Armstrong, Russell Craxford & David Maynard, as the Peers talk about measuring.

On the week of our first #PeersCon event, Tara breaks the ice, asking us our favourite and least favourite parts of conferences.

Then we dive in.

The team discussed the traps of bad metrics, gamification, toxic culture and talk about the importance of value and relevancy in what we report on with a few tales from Chris (as per usual).

We do share other tips and tricks, Russell mentions DORA metrics.

What struggles have you had with metrics? Better yet, what success stories have you had?

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In this episode Rich Bradshaw, Simon, David and Chris talk all things automation.

Banter this week is brought to by Rich as we discover TK Maxx is the perfect way to explain exploratory testing.

We dive into our first experiences of automation, going back a while, talking about different tools, tech debt and the frustration. We talk about the joys of source control.

We talk about going full circles from automation to aid us to focusing on the UI automation then end to end testing then back to using automation to help make life easier again. We ponder is automation about making testing more effective, and quality better or saving money?

Discussions move on to talk about creating automation tests and understanding the risks to decide what to test and how both are now common requirements in testers.

We would love for you to join us and be a part of our first-ever conference, Testing Peers Conference #PeersCon - we are looking for "VolunPeers" to help make this event a success if you want to help, please apply here: testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

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Testing Peers podcast has reached 100 episodes!

Beth Marshall (10 episodes), chairs this special look back and forward episode, joined by Simon Prior (78 episodes), Russell Craxford (88), Chris Armstrong (93) and David Maynard (96).

Beth skillfully guides the conversation to talk about the podcast and beyond, what are we most proud of?

A few little peeks behind the curtain, including some insight into how long the editors typically take per episode. Many thanks to you David and Russell <3

The Peers talk about successes and failures, which leads to us discussing tips for those who want to create their content.

The group then close by looking forward to March 14th 2024, with the inaugural Testing Peers Conference.

Thank you for joining us on this journey so far, please continue to provide feedback, we only improve thanks to you.

Finally, to all our co-hosts and episode contributors......in addition to the five in this episode, we have another 21 wonderful humans joining us to date:

Dave Shorter, Bruce Hughes, Shey Crompton, Steve Watson, Ugne Livinaite, Dan Ashby, Steven Warburton, Emna Ayadi, Neil Studd, Heather Reid, Vernon Richards, Sam Nitsche, Tara Walton, Beth Clarke, Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Dermot Canniffe, Beren van Daele, Sanne Visser, Lena Nyström, Ben Dowen & Jon Richardson.

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One away from the big 100, what better way to celebrate than talking about our experience with failures? Simon, Chris, Russell and David share stories of failures from their careers and what they have learned from them.

Before diving into the main topic, Chris leads the banter and asks the Peers about their failures when it comes to computer games, which ones did they really suck at? :) Sports games seems to be the main theme here.

The peers cover a lot of ground on the topic of failures, but the biggest common ground is definitely the need to learn from them and not repeat the same failures again.

What failures have you learned most from in your career?

Flipping that and looking at future successes, we would love for you to join us and be a part of our first-ever conference, Testing Peers Conference #PeersCon - we are looking for "VolunPeers" to help make this event a success if you want to help, please apply here: testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

We would love to partner with companies for sponsorship of the conference too: testingpeerscon.com/partners

Tickets are available here: testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. On this episode, Chris, Russell and David are joined by a new guest, Jon Robinson. The topic they all discussed was the wonders (or lack of wonder) around Meetings.

Jon leads the banter and asked everyone for their weirdest/craziest meetings, this covers everything from awkward situations, to lack of context, to managers taking over and sending meetings in different directions.

Russell asks the peers for their favourite meetings, this covers everything from the casual manager meeting who puts the "quick chat" type meeting into the calendar to the productive meetings that have the clearest agenda and a definite outcome.

General meeting etiquette and how we improve a meeting culture going forward and tips for discussions that aren't right for meetings (and an email or a quick message would suffice).

What are your thoughts on meetings? Do you have a favourite type? let us know!

In the spirit of collaboration, we would love for you to join us and be a part of our first-ever conference, Testing Peers Conference #PeersCon - we are looking for "VolunPeers" to help make this event a success if you want to help, please apply here: testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

We would love to partner with companies for sponsorship of the conference too: testingpeerscon.com/partners

Tickets are available here: testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

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Happy New Year from the Testing Peers!

In this episode, the FullSnackTester, Ben Dowen joins Russell, David and Chris as we talk collaboration.

Before the main event, Ben asks the group about resolutions, where the group talk about reading, fitness, cooking, answering conference calls for papers and our own conference #PeersCon, coming March 14th 2024 in Nottingham, more information can be found at testingpeerscon.com

Ben starts the group off by talking about collaboration at work, from pairing to ensembling. Working in small and big groups, on something at the same time.

We discuss the myth of inefficiency around collaboration, tips for creating safe spaces, routines, accountability and more.

The value of including cross-functional colleagues in collaboration activities, the aim of a shared purpose and learning together is touched upon.

The Peers discuss how collaboration enables responsibility, empowers and enables ownership.

We also discuss what can get in the way of successful collaboration, from conflicting priorities and office politics to individual goals getting in the way.

There is an understanding that we all make mistakes, but we can learn from them, iterate and always look for ways to continuously improve. We talk about training and awareness, and how to sell upwards.

We talk about how collaboration can give a voice and more inclusion to functions in teams that are often marginalised in a culture that is often built around development efficiency.

It was a really fun discussion, we hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear how you collaborate at work.

In the spirit of collaboration, we would love for you to join us and be a part of our first-ever conference, Testing Peers Conference #PeersCon - we are looking for "VolunPeers" to help make this event a success if you want to help, please apply here: testingpeerscon.com/volunpeer/

Tickets are available here: testingpeerscon.com/ticket/

We wish you the happiest of new years, from all of us here at Peers HQ.

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Merry Christmas, season's greetings and happy holidays from the Testing Peers!

Welcome to our fourth annual festive episode.

Steve Watson, Tara Walton, Lena Nyström & Dermot Canniffe join Chris, Russell, David and (eventually) Simon as we engage in Would Heu-risk it? at this time of the year.

Before we dive into the main event, Russell asks the Peers our favourite thing at Christmastime:- anything from food, family, old movies, presents and time off.

We then kick-off with Would Heu-Risk it? a card deck and book, born from gamifying risk workshops.

The group bring their festive problems to Lena, she then draws three WHRI cards (a la fortune teller / tarot) and we discuss what the cards can tell us.

The group bring problems from exploratory testing, organising a conference (hello #PeersCon), team availability, budgets, communication, annual reviews, change and WIP limits.

The pod closes out with the group giving a little end of year festive message to you all.

Thank you for listening!

The Testing Peers Conference will happen on 14th March 2024 in Nottingham, if you want to be part of it, check out the site and we are looking for speakers, sponsors and VolunPeers.

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

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Thank you for joining the Testing Peers for another episode. On this one, Chris, David, Simon and Russell discuss the role of the manager and whether we still need them.

Before jumping in, David asks the peers what things they can't live without, we have answers from people, the internet, books and coffee machines.

Simon starts the main conversation of whether we could live without managers. Of course, context is key here, every company is different and the needs for a Test Manager or manager in general can be varied. Has the role evolved? Have companies and people evolved with it?

Simon mentions a blog post he wrote a few years ago and that a lot of what was written then, is still relevant now.

Has the role changed? What do you think?

The Testing Peers Conference will happen on 14th March 2024 in Nottingham, if you want to be part of it, check out the site and we are looking for speakers, sponsors and VolunPeers.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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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Welcome to episode 84 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week, Sam Nitsche joins regular hosts David, Russell and Chris as we discuss deadlines.

After initially covering our relationships with deadlines while in school, we jump into the main topic, deadlines that impact, or are impacted by testing.

The conversation touches deadlines as a tool, agility, cadence, quality and risk.

Are deadlines fixed, negotiable, a chance for a conversation?

Are deadlines a necessary evil?

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. A fully stacked panel for this episode with Simon, Russell and David being joined by Shey and Beth (shows the hole that Chris leaves when he's not around that we need to replace him with 2!). The topic for this episode was to focus on the leadership activity of delegation, looking at it from both the leader who is delegating and the team being delegated to. How to do this effectively and any stories from our experience over the years.

Russell kicks us off with the banter, and asks us all what our comfort foods are, between the five of us we cover everything from BBQ meat, noodles, cheese, chocolate, pizza and cake. Beth links us back to Mashed Potato Gate from one of our previous episodes.

We then go on to talk about why delegation is important, speaking from experience of not delegating anything to anyone and then being completely overloaded. David mentions delegating and then micro-managing for tasks to get done in the way you would have done yourself. The challenge with delegation is being able to give a task to someone and allow them to do it in the way they choose as long as the task gets done.

There was a lot to unpick with how, why, and who we should delegate to, the Peers try to give detail on all of this, which the challenges if you don't delegate in the right way or to the right person.

What are your experiences of delegating? Have you mastered it?

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

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Welcome, this week, join Russell, David, Chris and special guest host, Vernon Richards as we discuss healthy workplace expectations and if we're normal!

Before diving in, the Peers discuss annoying software from ITV player to MsTeams and banks software, a lot of software seems to annoy us.

Russell introduces the topic, how we balance the pressures we put on on ourselves and other put on us for doing our work.

We talk about increased flexible and multinational companies changing the simple 9-5 now, how we can set expectations and use tools to schedule and work with others. We talk about how we can balance transparency and manage expectations and try to be conscientious of those around us.

Our thanks again to Vernon for joining us, you can find check out his site

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

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Welcome back for another episode of the Testing Peers. We are releasing this on the back of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, which has the theme of Anxiety, so the Peers will dive into their experiences with Anxiety and how they have combatted it in the past.

Before going into the main topic, Simon brings up the topic of "Peers Con" which the Peers have aspirations to run this year, but has hit a stumbling block around finding a venue which will then allow us to get a date, call for papers up and running and put on a good event. If anyone listening or reading this feels like they would like to help, please get in touch through the links below.

Simon opens the floor for the peers to share their experiences with anxiety, Russell starts off talking about his anxiety of being late to meetings/events. David talks about the cost of living and the anxiety that can cause for people, chris then discusses some of the issues with the small things you can and can't control and the levels of anxiety that someone not responding to a message can sometimes cause. Simon then explains the feeling of catastrophising which can come from experiencing anxiety and the paralysis that can cause.

Everyone can be impacted by anxiety and as with many mental health issues, there are always people there to listen and support. Talking to someone can often be a huge help to alleviate the anxiety and help provide some level of calm to the scenario.

If you want to read more about Mental Health Awareness Week, there is more information here: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week

Thank you for listening, we hope this episode goes a small way to helping some of you understanding you are not alone if you suffer from anxiety.

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast, and this release falls almost three years after episode one. Thank you for joining us on this journey.

This week, regulars David and Chris are joined by Steve Watson and our first American, Tara Walton.

In Peers tradition, we kick off with some banter, and Tara gets the ball rolling by asking the group about our most recent board gaming experiences.

A couple of standouts there are Hue and Blokus.

Steve then leads the discussion, asking what testers do, and how we frame it for different audiences.

As ever, the Peers are at the cutting edge of technological advances, and David engages ChatGPT

Software testers are responsible for ensuring that software applications or products are functioning as intended and meeting the needs of the end-users. Some of the key responsibilities of software testers include: * Designing and developing test cases: Testers create and execute test cases to ensure that the software product is working as expected and meets the requirements of the user. * Identifying defects: Testers detect and report defects or issues in the software to developers or stakeholders, helping to improve the quality of the software. * Collaborating with developers: Testers work closely with developers to identify and resolve issues and to ensure that the software product is delivered on time. * Analyzing test results: Testers analyze test results and provide feedback to the development team, including recommendations for improving the software product. * Providing feedback to stakeholders: Testers communicate the status of testing and the quality of the software product to stakeholders, including project managers and business analysts. * Ensuring compliance: Testers ensure that the software product complies with all relevant standards and regulations, such as accessibility and security requirements.

Overall, software testers play a critical role in ensuring the quality of software products and helping to deliver a better user experience

Our thanks to Tara and Steve for joining us this week.

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Regular hosts Chris, David and Russell are joined by the Semi-Regular host Shey to discuss all about Quality Shift moments, where our understanding or perspective around aspects of testing/quality may have changed forever.

Before diving into this, Chris starts the banter with looking at "aha moments" and without doing it intentionally, anchors the discussion into computer games, before David breaks the mould and talks about when his swimming improved through suddenly understanding how to do Breast Stroke.

Shey offers the first Quality Shift moment, which was around him finding the London Tester Gathering and the impact it had on his career. David talks about some crossroads he found himself at when he was made redundant before moving onto a management aha moment too. Chris discusses how he realised the power of sharing ideas and getting feedback and how beneficial that could be. Russell mentions a story when he broke production and how that helped him realise the right and wrong ways to do something.

The conversation then moves on to other examples and how things snowball and would we be even doing this podcast if some of these a-ha moments hadn't happened?

Thanks for listening in, what have been your Quality Shift moments?

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week, join Russell, David, Simon and special guest host, Dan Ashby as we discuss growth as testers.

Before diving in, the Peers discuss things that they have grown and taken pride in, from careers, to children, to plants.

The topic is introduced by Dan, speaking to the current climate in our industry, discussing personal growth, motivators and helping others in their growth, as leaders.

The conversation covers both formal and informal career growth. The Peers reflect on some of their own experiences, successes and failures, highlighting the importance of learning styles, motivators, impact, cost and value.

Dan highlights Bloom's Taxonomy (evaluation, synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension & knowledge) as a potential overlay for a growth framework.

Our thanks again to Dan for joining us, you can find a lot of his thoughts at danashby.co.uk/

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers!

This week, join Simon, David, Russell and (semi-regular) Shey as they talk about leadership in testing.

The episode kicks off with a discussion about leadership icons outside of testing, before diving into leadership in testing.

Shey shares his journey into leadership, and how he discovered unhelpful leadership traits from his first lead.

The Peers discuss what makes a good leader, words like passion, respect, confidence, humility and more come through.

They also discuss about imposter syndrome and how most leaders do have it, referencing Matthew Syed's work on alter-egos: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5bLKS1rRJjbQ8nzN0pwvdnC/why-we-all-need-an-alter-ego

There's some really useful advice in this episode, we hope you found it helpful.

Shey also mentions a video, which can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

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

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Welcome to the new episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, the peers talk about experience with moving onto new opportunities. For this we had a special extended panel, joining Chris, David and Simon were Beth Marshall and Samuel Nitsche.

For the banter, Chris asks us about any new equipment we've received when joining a new role which didn't work for us, we discuss everything from ergonomic mice for Left Handers, old monitors, CEOs cleaning our desks for us. This lead us onto leaving jobs too and stories around this.

The main discussion starts with Chris asking what makes us decide to leave a job. This covered reasons such as not feeling like providing value, having more bad days than good, changes of leadership, toxic environments and frustration of not doing what you were brought in to do.

Simon asks whether anyone has just been offered something so great that they have jumped ship, there is a general consensus that it isn't very often the case and that often all isn't what it seems. Beth then talks about her job hunting (and now securing) experience.

What are your experiences with the job hunt and also what are the reasons you have left companies in the past?

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Regulars Chris, Simon, Russell and David this week talk all things strategies.

Before diving into the main topic, we talk about strategies in our home life. We then try our best to describe what is a strategy, we all have slight different yet similar definitions.

We share how context impacts strategies and we mention Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin agile testing books and a few things they share to consider. The discussion moves on discuss about strategies transcend testing and shifting into quality and teams. Claire Reckless "One Page Test Plan" comes up as it sometimes feels like it's a strategy if you keep it high level, which highlights the blur between a strategy and a plan we often face.

Strategies can take people on journeys and it helps if you ensure the problem it's solving is clear, we mention Simon Sinekand "Start with why". We talk about motivation and seeing the results of the strategy empowering people and how 'why' helps us grasp and implement the strategy better.

We share a few examples of projects didn't go well and some that do go well. Chris quotes himself from a previous talk "make it our strategy not your strategy" as we elaborate on how to make strategies that work by engaging others.

What are your experiences with building strategies, what has worked or failed for you?

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris, Russell and David are joined by a special guest and artist of the amazing Testing Peers logo, Bruce (the Legend).

Before diving into the main topic, Bruce leads the peers into a discussion about their skincare routines, do the Peers wash their faces? Do they use moisturiser? How do they improve the resilience of their skin? This was certainly a curveball with the banter which we all learned something new about our heroes!

Russell and Bruce start the discussion talking about moving teams, Bruce had recently been given a choice to move team or stay on an existing team and enquired how the peers may have not made the same decisions as they did. This leads the discussion onto how information is stored and keeping documentation up to date for new people coming in later on.

Chris takes this onto leaving jobs/companies, especially where he had time to handover before he left and the challenges to ensure continuity for anyone new picking up from you when you're gone.

The peers talk about the scenario of working on a product where there is limited documentation or it's out of date and how to ensure the team can move forward successfully.

Bruce then brings the discussion onto team dynamics when a QA team is brought together with development, compared to the siloed scenario of the teams being kept separate. This leads to talking about the overall aim of making our teams more resilient.

What are your experiences with building resilient teams?

A huge thank you to Bruce for joining us for the discussion, more from Bruce can be found at https://undevelopedbruce.com/ or @BruceOnlyBruce on Twitter.

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

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Hello and welcome to episode 73 of the Testing Peers podcast, where this week we are talking about glue work.

This week, regulars Chris, David and Russell are joined by the brilliant Vernon Richards.

Before diving in, Vernon asks the Peers about their favourite non-work books.

Chris then introduces the main topic of glue work, shouting out to Cassandra Leung for bringing the brilliant talk 'Being Glue' by Tanya Reilly into their world.

You can find the talk here: https://noidea.dog/glue

The group draw comparisons to sports teams and housework, as well as the terrible precedent in the workplace of glue work often being handed to non-males. Often glue work is not recognised, used as a measure of success, but when the person who carries it out isn't present, then it all falls apart!

We discuss a tester's natural inclination to infiltrate the entire SDLC, identify problems in a process, documentation, ways of working, etc. to mitigate issues earlier in the lifecycle.

Vernon also brings up the concept of quiet quitting. Is how we're being measured at work a fair reflection of what we are doing and the value we bring?

We discuss the challenges with this in leadership, to recognise it and present a more balanced view.

A huge thank you to Vernon, for more of his thoughts, follow his social blog here: https://typeshare.co/vernonrichards

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

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elcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast, this time we have a slightly different show for you.

Regular host, Chris is joined by the wonderful Heather Reid, as we look back over the brilliant article Heather wrote back in 2017 - 30 Things Every New Software Tester Should Learn on the Ministry of Testing site.

Before we look back at Heather's article, we talk about anything from our past online that we might find a little cringey.

Then we review the article, written almost exactly six years ago, talking through all 30 tasks, and Heather provides some insight into each task, as well as where she would make changes, remove or replace any task.

We cover a lot of interesting topics, and below are links to some of the things we discuss.

QA In Your Job Titles? - Ministry of Testing (The Club)
Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects - Coursera
Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Workflow by Dominica Degrandis (Book via Amazon)
Ministry of Testing - Go Pro!
Team Guide to Software Testability: Better software through greater testability by Ash Winter and Rob Meaney (Book via Amazon)
Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your User Stories by Gojko Adzic and David Evans (Book via Amazon)
Starting Your Software Testing Career by Nicola Lindgren (Book via Leanpub)
How Can I Test This? by Nicola Lindgren, Mike Harris, Suman Bala, Philip Wong, and Shawn Shaligram (Book via Leanpub)
Testing Web APIs by Mark Winteringham (Book via Amazon)
Contemporary Exploratory Testing by Maaret Pyhäjärvi (Book via Leanpub)
Would Heu-Risk it? Tools, traps and weapons for Software Testing by Lena Wiberg (Book via Leanpub)
Understanding where quality starts as a tester - Vernon Richards (via LinkedIn)
Software Testing Heuristics: Mind The Gap! by Richard Bradshaw and Sarah Deery (via Ministry of Testing)
Workroom Productions - Get Better at Software Testing
Accessibility Testing 101 - Crystal Preston-Watson (Talk from TestBash San Francisco 2019, via Ministry of Testing PRO)
Introduction To Accessibility Testing - Deborah Reid (Course via Ministry of Testing)
The Big Test Theory - Ady Stokes

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Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow

Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your User Stories

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Happy new year! We hope all our listeners have a great 2023. Thank you for being with us on the journey, we hope you all continue to enjoy the podcasts we provide.

In relation to that, in this episode, we review what the Software Testing Market Trends are for 2023. Joining Simon, Chris and David for this episode is long time friend, fan of the podcast and all round testing superstar, Beth Marshall.

Before diving into the main topic, Mr Bantz himself, takes us on a trip down memory lane about brands which we grew up with which we never thought would disappear, from Blockbusters, Cadbury's Fuse, Woolworths, CDs, LoveFilm, Pop Tarts, Telephone Boxes and even Testing Twitter.

Beth then leads the discussion on the Testing Job market trends, discussing the factors that are impacting peoples decisions to move jobs and what they are looking for. Wellbeing, Hybrid working/WFH options, salary are all factors discussed on what causes people to move. We also touch on the global market now in place with the vast increase in amount of people who apply for roles.

We then talk about the Academies and consultancy options available and how they can change how companies hire and individuals looking for specifics in the roles.

What are your experiences with the market?

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Hello and welcome to episode 70 of the Testing Peers podcast.

As we're drawing toward Christmas this week we thought we'd do a special. Taking a leaf from 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens we do a little retrospective and take a look at Christmas past, present and future.

We're joined by the usual crew David, Simon, Chris and Russell and we have some festive messages from some of our testing friends Dan Ashby, Steven Warburton, Beth Marshall, Emna Ayadi and Neil Studd.

We share some terrible jokes, our memories of Christmas, some of what we're proud of this year and ideas for the future.

Whilst we have your attention, we all just want to say thank you for listening in 2022 and we hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. The original crew (Chris, David, Russell and Simon) are discussing how we can stay connected in the testing world, especially in the times of the social media landscape changing.

Before diving into the main topic, Russell takes us on a journey back to times in our lives where we had enjoyed successes as part of a team. We had stories of football team successes (well, almost), D of E expeditions, Military marching events and basketball successes.

Simon faces into the big issue of the staple of the testing community (twitter) changing with people leaving and splintering onto different platforms, this leaves questions of how does the community stay connected? Are we going back to LinkedIn, are we moving to Mastodon or something else?

How do we all keep in touch? We talk about what kind of connections we are looking for, what value are we getting? What value can we provide? The peers chew the fat on these questions and look at how we can get those needs met through other mediums.

How are you finding the shift? What are you doing to keep connections? Please get in touch to let us know your thoughts.

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

Join David, Simon, Russell and Chris as we talk about planning and estimation.

But, before we dive into the topic we take a brief look into the approaches the Peers take towards researching personal purchases and we discover Simon likes a good review!

This week's topic was inspired by Jo Richards and her tweet about story points.

https://twitter.com/iamjorichards/status/1583146372873990144?s=20&t=YFF4jtmXM8bRgskwTS6icA

In true Peers tradition, when talking about story points, their value and implementation, we mention that it depends on context. Hooray!

The discussion leads to estimation, value, audience, inclusion of testing effort and more.

Some useful articles referencing topics covered in the episode:

Why do we use Story Points for Estimating? by Derek Davidson
Practical Fibonacci: A Beginner's Guide to Relative Sizing by Julee Everett
T-shirt sizes aren’t what you think: How to use t-shirt sizing for project estimation by Julie Martins
Solving Software Industry Problems by Applying ‘Systems Thinking’ to Ourselves by Andrew Brown

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Hello and welcome to episode 67 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week we have special guests Beth Marshall and Steven Warburton who joins regulars, David and Russell, as we discuss Testing Conferences and what they mean to us and our teams.

Before we delve into the main subject Beth takes us down memory lane on funny stories at conferences.

We start discussing conference season and our bucket lists of conferences. We talk about DevOps conferences, RoboCon, not just testing and wanting to go to EuroStar, Agile Test Days and Russell confuses Agile on the Beach with yet-to-be-created Testing on the Beach conference (but it does sound fun!).

We talk about how to pick yourself or how to help your team pick where to go and use cases to help persuade people of the value of conferences and the value to a team. We share our thoughts on maximising the experience, the difference between online and offline events, and sharing what is learnt. and how you can get involved in conferences beyond just speaking.

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.

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Hello and welcome to episode 66 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week we have a special guest Ugne Litvinaite who joins, David, Russell and Chris as we discuss Testing debt.

Before we delve into the main subject we first explore our favourite Dinosaurs.

Chris explains what we mean by debt and references back to a blog he wrote in 2020 "It's all just a little bit of history repeating..." and the different types of debt: culture, document, shortcut, later, and process debt. He also quotes from Abraham Lincon "Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most"

The Peers move on to discuss intentional vs unintentional debt, discipline, good habits, biases and predisposition to new shiny things before we move to talk about Ugne's gut.

We go on to talk about the debt we've seen and dealt with sharing some of our past experiences.

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.

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Hello and welcome to episode 65 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week, join Simon, David, Russell and Chris as we discuss Switching Off.

Prior to the main topic, Simon introduces the topic of switching off in meeting horror stories.

We discover how triggered the Peers get over shared screens and talk about a few awkward situations.

Moving on, Russell introduces the main topic. Starting off by defining what we mean by switching off from work and if we have any mechanisms that we use.

David still gets his Windsor knot out with his shirt each day, almost as a work uniform, even when working from home.

Russell leaves his work at the office (or at least he tries to).

The Peers move on to discuss bad habits, guilt, boundaries, distractions and lament the hold our phones have on us.

Even when we know there are solutions, like notifications being switched off, alternate accounts on social media, and scheduling messages.....they all just seem to be more work.

Chris speaks to his struggles with screen time recently and seeking ways around that.

There are, of course, lots of different contexts to consider, especially with internationally distributed teams, but there are expectations and precedents that we can set, and hopefully a well established communication culture within our orgs.

It's called a work-life balance for a reason - balance - not one thing taking over the other.

We discuss motivations and identities, the dangers of burnout, guilt and pressure.

Some coping mechanisms include to-do lists, saying no and speaking about struggles.

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

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast - and sorry this one is a little late.

This week, join Simon, Russell, David and Chris as we discuss the topic of test cases.

Before we dive in, David asks us to fill our suitcases (see what he did there?) and we see another cheeky mention of the PeersCon idea that we've been playing around with.

After the banter, we introduce the topic and ask are test cases valuable, are they still important?

We talk through our experiences, touch on different contexts, audiences, requirements and more.

The key points drawn out are around value, cost, tooling and most importantly the why.

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast.

Join Shey, David, Russell and Chris as we discuss hybrid working.

We begin with Russell asking the Peers about favourite festivals and live music we've experienced.

Then we dive straight into the topic.

What does hybrid working even mean?

How the pandemic has swung the pendulum from office-first focus to home-first focus toward hybrid working for many of us.

The Peers then talk about the value of time spent together in person and how we can plan our time accordingly.

We discuss some of the challenges, from mental health to communication, trust to burnout.

What about back-to-back meetings and Zoom fatigue? We talk through it all.

As we look to the next generation coming up in the industry, we talk about what a hybrid working model might look like for them, what will be missed from our introduction - we discuss opportunities to create environments that are valuable and where we can create paths to absorb information in this new way of working.

Virtual coffees, buddys, hands-on team work (such as pairing) and more.

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast.

In this episode we're joined by two special guests, Shey Crompton and Steven Warburton in lieu of Simon and Russell.

We discuss the best and worst ways we find to communicate in this modern era of remote/distant working.

Naturally the Testing Peers are drawn to discuss context but this time from the view of meeting invites - do you tell people what your meetings are about?

Do you use a meeting when a message is good enough or message when a meeting makes sense, or perhaps just a call rather than a meeting or message? It's sometimes hard to work out what makes sense and this week we discuss communicating better to the right audience. We don't just talk about meetings but also, messaging tools, presentations and listening skills.

We mention a useful book.

'Don't make me think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability' by Steve Krug

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast.

Before diving into the topic of complacency, the newly crowned 'Mr. Bantz' asks the Peers to dive into their memory vaults to reveal which computer games consumed their adolescent years.

Chris introduces the definition of complacency that will be used for this episode:

a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or situation that prevents you from trying harder

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/complacency

Seeing as it's the Testing Peers, we talk about context from the off, including levels of confidence and experience and how it influences what complacency may even look like.

The Peers look at if complacency, by this definition, is a bad thing. If it is something that could damage your career.

It's not like words such as comfort, impact, content or enough are negative!

We discuss the pendulum effect between complacency and imposter syndrome.

On an important note, we remember to recognise that there is more to life than our work and talk about what is healthy. Let's face it, a calm and content place in an unstable world isn't a bad thing.

We look at our own personal experiences of complacency and discuss hypothetical scenarios, including what to do when we find ourselves in a state of complacency, and how sometimes it creeps up on us.

A couple of interesting talks are mentioned in our discussions:

Leigh Rathbone's TestBash Dublin 2018 talk - Take The Blue Pill Or The Red Pill, You Decide If You Want To Change

Sanne Visser's talk - Good Enough Testing: Finding the Goldilocks Zone - Slides here

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris, Simon, David and Shey are here to discuss another great topic. This time it is one that was suggested by a friend and podcast listener, Mr Stuart Crocker (@StooCrock)

Shey starts off the session with the banter around which fantasy world would we like to visit. Lots of great answers, most in places where we may be in some form of potential danger

On the main topic, we discuss the benefits of aligning testing to business goals and how it can add real value to a business direction when it is aligned. We discuss how there is always a level of Testing being a safety net, to enable the business to do more risky things.

We share stories where Testing needs to be that critical friend for the business and also work on changing the perception of the value delivered by testing. Moving it away from a cost and more to an enabler for business value.

The comparison is made to parenting and how we show the value of the good work we have done with our children. It’s similar in that there may be no tangible output for the work done and it sometimes comes down to the gut feel of whether you feel you are doing a good job and how this fits with the business values.

This is a topic it is clear the peers are very passionate about and one which we are hopeful we can help others in changing the perception of testing in their companies.

Let us know your thoughts on this topic and share ways you have aligned testing to the business value

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

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers.

Chris and Russell have returned from their EuroSTAR adventures, to join the other regulars to talk toxicity in testing.

Before diving in, Simon leads the banter around what three apps would you keep on your phone, if you were allowed only three.

Thankfully, no toxicity there!

Onto the main discussion, the Peers discuss everything from behaviours, misunderstanding, misappropriation, unrealistic expectations to politics and more!

On the note of knowledge gatekeeping:

“If I have seen further,” Isaac Newton wrote in a 1675 letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

We move on to talking about the issues of explaining what we do in testing, the biases there are in and around the craft, and the toils in educating.

What about feedback, optics, how are we all communicating with each other? Plus our responsibilities as leaders, working in this space, who the audience and what the benefit is.

We do touch on social media and indeed some of that is what inspired this thread by Chris.

https://twitter.com/christovskia/status/1542498791928090626?s=20&t=rpVrgUYyti74x0nFrH9GDg

Closing out the conversation, we talking about what we can do, being respectful, considering context are important and with whom can we talk about these things?
How can we challenge things or call out toxic behaviours?

Thank you for listening. We appreciate all your feedback.

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. With Chris and Russell galavanting off at EuroStar 2022 in Copenhagen, Simon and David drafted in some equally awesome replacements in Shey and Beth from the Testing Peers bench and with that, two who have been involved in our #MakeATester endeavours. So we thought it made sense to provide an update on what we have been up to.

We started with "Banter with Beth" and she asked us all about how we make Testing fun. A lot of the collaborative activities we have discussed on previous episodes were mentioned such as internal COPs, collaboration and engagement and getting to try new things.

If you're unfamiliar with the #MakeATester concept, go back to Podcast Episode 18 – #MakeATester and listen to that first.

Simon then talked through the progress we have made so far with contacting universities. Around 60% (68 out of 112) of the UK universities have now been contacted, but out of that, only 12 have any kind of dedicated module.

We then talk about the session we have recently run at the University of Plymouth and the positive outcomes with that. And also touch on our upcoming session at Aston University too.

We know we have more to do, but we are making progress and it's great that with the wider Testing Peers group, we have people who are passionate about making a difference.

We'd love to progress this further, so if anyone wishes to support/sponsor the MakeATester efforts, then please get in touch.

Thank you for listening. We appreciate all your feedback.

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, we talk about our experience with models for testing. This takes us down the journey of identifying the models we have found most useful during our testing careers.

Before diving into the main topic, David asks us what our first model of car we owned was, which was a fun trip down memory lane, particularly for our resident petrol head (Russell!). Chris certainly wins the award for the biggest death trap out of the 4 of us.

Chris introduces the main discussion, and mentions how models sometimes come across as a way to sell a solution which may not fit in everyone’s context. The original Spotify Model gets a mention for scenarios where others have tried to prove it works in their context.

Simon gives the obligatory mention to his “Culture of Quality” model and David talks about the key to using models is to use the best bits and evolve it into your own solution.

We do discuss some of the models in the testing world from the Automation Pyramid to the catalogue of models created by Dan Ashby. Dan has created models which we have all used and have made our testing better! Thanks Dan!

We discuss our experience with creating models and how they work better when created to solve a problem, and evolve it as its being used.

What models have been helpful for you? How do you go about creating models for your own use?

Thank you for listening. We appreciate all your feedback.

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

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, we will discuss our experiences around Public Speaking. This covers everything from our own talks to any tips and suggestions we have to help people get into performing public speaking.

Chris starts us off with asking us about our experiences during our youth with public performances and any horror stories. We had everything from drill commands in the Air Cadets, school performances and Christmas shows.

We dived into why we felt we wanted to partake in public speaking which had a variety of reasons, from giving back to the community, sharing our stories and also possibly being able to talk about a topic better than one we'd already heard on the topic.

We offer advice on preparation/practice and show that we all have different ways to be ready for our talks and finally, we go into offering tips for anyone wanting to start their public speaking journey.

What are your experiences with Public Speaking? How did you get started? What is your motivation now?

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

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Welcome to episode 55 of the Testing Peers podcast.

This episode falls on the same date as the start of Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, and this year's theme is Loneliness and our mental health. We greatly value all the discourse around mental health and see great value in continuing the conversation and so we have dedicated this episode to the topic of loneliness from our experiences and perspectives in our testing lives.

Russell kicks us off with a conversation about renovation and DIY stresses, before we dive into the main topic.

Chris opens up with the formation of the Testing Peers group and how it was born out of a sense of loneliness, isolation and lack of accountability in his context.

The Peers then talk about the impact of the pandemic. How many interactions became stripped of humanity and were only status update related. We talk about starting new roles remotely and the struggles we have found with that.

Some other challenges we touch on are guilt, self-care, routine, dependencies, collaboration and communication.

The conversation does move on to the importance of talking about things, finding people you can trust and share with, asking for help and offering help.

Ultimately, agreeing that is really is ok to not be ok.

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

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. Today we talk Agile and our experiences around it

This week Simon banter borrows his banter ideas from the More Than Work Podcast. Once we move on from our banter we move on to talk about agile/Agile and what it isn't. We talk about the mindset that is needed and how transformations go badly or well. We talk about short cuts and bad implantations along with the good.

We also share a quote from Vince Lombardi around chasing perfection 'Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence'.

After talking agile we share a few useful resources - 'Agile Testing', 'More Agile Testing' and 'Condensed Agile Testing' from Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, Agile Manifesto. Mike Cohen - Mountain Goat Software. Alsatian blogs.

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

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

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Welcome to episode 53 of the Testing Peers podcast!

In this episode, the Peers are talking about Experience – what it means to us in the workplace, how we approach working with people of differing experience, as leaders – and much more.

Before diving into the main topic, David asks the Peers to look back at experiences in our lives when we realised we couldn’t do something, or made a mistake.

Moving on, we look at a lot of questions around experience.

Does time served make you ‘better’? Should that give you seniority?

Is the importance of XX years experience in job specs misplaced?

What about competence, expertise and knowledge? Is there a direct correlation?

Is experience relevant to the context?

What about promotions and pay reviews?

We moved on to discuss times in our careers when maybe we have felt wronged within the context of experience.

Self-reflection, self-awareness, compassion, empathy and crucially communication are areas that we highlight as key when discussing around experience and how it affects a team and individuals.

We also touch on being in a position where we may have been manager to those with more experience, how we dealt with that and any tips we have.

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

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

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. On this episode, we discuss the important and often talked about topic of Job Titles within the Testing/Quality space.

Before diving into the main topic, Chris leads with the banter and gets us thinking what our Superhero alter-ego's may be. You're in for a treat, but think it's safe to say, we won't be getting our own Marvel or DC comic/film with these... But maybe there is a new SWAG opportunity here if we can find someone to help us with designing some new images

To start the main topic, the peers all share what their very first testing job titles were. Every thing from Software QA Engineer to QA Technician (Temp) to Test Analyst and Test Engineer, so what's clear is even with all being in similar roles, there is always some randomness with the job titles. Being a gatekeeper was a big part of all of our roles and looking back now, we can all see the damage it could do to the reputation of Testing.

We then talk about what the importance is for job titles, both internally within one company and also across the industry. There is a lot of ambiguity in job titles, partly because it's not possible to describe exactly what the role entails.

The obvious topic comes up which is the whole debate between QA and Tester and Quality Engineer and what suits our role best.

Do we need an industry standardised set of job titles? Are there better ways to share what we do so everyone understands what we do?

What titles have you had, do the titles fit what you do?

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 at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saffron-qa/

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. On this episode, the peers discussion the topic and the ‘art’ of persuasion. Covering what we mean by persuasion, some examples of when we have used it and also discussed it from the angle of being an ally for those trying to pursuade someone.

Before we dived into the main topic, Russell took us on a crucially important tangent by asking us what our ideal breakfasts would be. Safe to say, all our choices could be covered by a buffet breakfast at a half-decent hotel, but it’s always nice to learn a little bit more about each other.

Russell and Simon start off the main conversation by asking about context and the characteristics of persuasion. Chris then shares different variables depending on the situation

Some of the top messages from the discussion include the importance of adapting your style depending on your audience and the fact that persuasion can be more effective when you have confidence and belief in your message.

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

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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/

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Thank you for joining us once again, especially this special episode as the Testing Peers podcast reaches the milestone of 50 episodes published!

This time around the Peers are talking about the testing community.

After an intro, where we talk about other communities that we have been a part of - from sports clubs, Dad's groups and churches.

We dive into the testing community, where it all began for us - conferences, news subscriptions, meetups with special mention to EuroSTAR, Ministry of Testing and BCS SIGiST.

The Peers share what different access points we have to community and talk about what keeps us in a community.

We talk about the value of giving back to the community and the practice of feedback, the importance of safety, respect and codes of conduct in these places.

Thank you for listening and we’d love your feedback on what we’re doing here.

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We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores

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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/

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Hello and thank you for joining us for another episode of the Testing Peers podcast.

This episode, the Peers are exploring the oft-spoken testing mindset.

Before we get into the main section, David asks the team of any examples of where their mindset has motivated them to successfully complete something.

Then we dive in.

Does the testing mindset even exist?

What is our interpretation of the testing mindset?

Can only people with the testing mindset test?

Can you teach the testing mindset?

Can anyone test?

We recap from previous episodes some of the characteristics of testing, and ask if they really are unique to testers.

Do we confuse characteristics with mindset?

A mindset can also be seen as arising out of a person's world view or philosophy of life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindset

We look at what motivates us, what our values are, and in a moment of reflection ask if talking about testing means you're good at testing?

The Modern Testing Principles are once again referenced:

TWO - We accelerate the team, and use models like Lean Thinking and the Theory of Constraints to help identify, prioritize and mitigate bottlenecks from the system.
Testers do less testing. Drive more quality. Developers do more testing. Testers teach and coach developers to write the smaller tests. Testers take on the larger initiatives around testing. Pairing experiences over solo work allow teams to find more in the code and bake quality in faster.

https://www.ministryoftesting.com/dojo/lessons/modern-testing-principles

And much much more.

Thank you for listening and we'd love your feedback on what we're doing here.

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We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores

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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/

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Welcome to the Testing Peers this episode we discuss the term manual testing.

Does the term simplify our craft? Is manual testing writing step by step test cases, is it using your hands, is it a low skilled job? How do we talk about testing and how does that impact perceptions? Is code just another tool to get testing done?

We discus our thoughts over a wide range angles looking at manual testing, but what are your thoughts? What does the term manual testing mean to you? Why not get in touch and let us know what the term conjures up to 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.

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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.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. In a show of our busyness recently, we chose our topic right before recording and it was decided on "Outside Influences to our Testing".

Before diving into the main topic, Russell asks us what our goals are for 2022 and we share everything from making a new role a success to reading more to even doing a handstand. "Peers Con" is mentioned too which is our conference we would love to find a way of running.

On the main topic, we discuss some of the things we experience outside of work which could provide an influence on our testing, Russell starts by talking about woodwork and this leads to a conversation about destructive testing which links to kids playing with toys for the first time. Parenting becomes a topic of discussion and how generally, kids will not do things in the way expected and will try things differently, this can link back to how users may do things in ways we don't expect. It then moves to talking about what happens if you give the user everything they request, does it actually meet the needs when they get the final product?

The peers cover several other topics such as scientific experiments, houses/architecture, Chinese whispers, apps we use regularly and more. What other topics do you find impact your testing? We'd love to hear from 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.

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We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
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Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.

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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.

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Happy New Year!

2022 (not 2023, David) kicks-off with the Testing Peers talking about motivation.

The Peers chat about what it is that wakes them up in the morning, is it duty or a drive to live our best life?

What’s the point of never knowing at all? When every step I take is always too small. Maybe it’s just something I can’t admit, But lately I feel like I don’t give a shit. Motivation such an aggravation Accusations don’t know how to take them Inspiration getting hard to fake it Concentration never hard to break it Situation never what you want it to be What’s the point of never making mistakes Self-indulgence’s such a hard habit to break It’s all just a waste of time in the end Don’t care, so why should I even pretend?

Motivation from All Killer No Filler (2001), Sum41, written by Deryck Whibley, Greig Nori

We talk about how, as ever, motivation is very much down to the individual, but capture lots that motivates us

Word cloud comprised of the following: enjoy, purpose, making a difference, variety, challenge, people, building, growing, goal, autonomy, collaborating, money, work/life balance, caring, flexibility, environment, space, interaction, heard, supported, opportunity, & drive

We also touch on demotivators, such as monotony with meetings, environment, isolation and so on, as well as change and toxic environments.

Russell points us toward Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink

Thank you for joining us in 2021, here's to a better year in 2022!

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.

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We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Season's greetings from the Testing Peers!

As with last year we tapped into our 'great' creative minds to find a Christmas-themed episode that somehow is loosely associated with software quality.

The Christmas Dinner.

Can six friends reach a consensus to create a Christmas Dinner MVP (minimum viable product)?

For this year's episode, the four regular Peers are joined once more by our good friends Shey Crompton & Beth Marshall.

As with last year, we asked our guests to nominate a charity for us to donate to this Christmas. Both Shey and Beth nominated the great Ady Stokes' Movember.

Beth breaks the ice, introducing the topic of Christmas comedy specials, before Simon leads us to the MetroRetro board he created for the main event.

The rules of the event are that we are planning Christmas dinner, as the six of us.

The MetroRetro board has five sections to it: Setting, Starter, Main Course, Puddings & Drinks

Join us as we progress through the episode we greatly model the art of collaboration and good humour, while whiteboarding together.

Once again a great thanks to Beth & Shey for their willing participation.

An extra special thanks to all of you lovely listeners, we thank you for your feedback and interaction, and we wish you a wonderful festive time, we hope that you are safe and well.

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.

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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 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

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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 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

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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 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations

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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.

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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 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

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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 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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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:

Quality is value to some person

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

Quality is defined as “correctness” and “goodness” in relation to stakeholder value. The system for causing quality is prevention and detection, and subsequent action. One performance standard is “zero known defects”, and others are “risk discovery” and “risk mitigation”. The measurement of quality is subjective, relative and personal, and therefore relates to confidence in perceived quality.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thanks for joining us again for another episode of the Testing Peers. In this episode we talk about a phrase and scenario which fills us all with dread and frustration - "How Did QA miss this?".

Before we dived into the main topic, Chris asked us all to think about things we currently miss that we either used to do or have... The peers responses ranged from outreach activities to playing computer games and everything in between.

With the main topic, this originally came from one of our awesome followers Mr Colin Nee with his tweet.

This triggered lots of discussion with the Peers talking about their own experiences and looking into ways to improve the cultural situation which causes this finger pointing to happen. Communication is key and improving the way testing is viewed is one way to help improve this situation.

Have a listen to our discussion and let us know what you think!

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. This week we talk about interview tests for Testers. We will also take a trip down memory lane and revisit how we passed or struggled to pass our driving tests.

We'll move on from our terrible driving to talk about tests given pre interview and tests given to candidates during the face to face interviews. We share some of our experiences of giving and receiving testing tests ourselves. We'll also cover some of the risks and benefits of testing candidates and give some useful tips and tricks to help 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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This week join the Peers, as we discuss Communities of Practice.

After a brief cake disagreement, the Peers dive into the topic.

We define what we define a CoP as, including what the name is, what it means, as well as what other names we feel this falls under. Ultimately, we lean into the most important word in the name, community.

We also share our experiences in starting them, working in them successes and failures.

We reference Leigh Rathbone's article on LinkedIn: Communities of Practice, the why, the what, the how, and the who.

While we didn't touch on it in the recording, we highly recommend Lee Marshall's Testing Ask Me Anything - Communities of Practice.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. This week we talk about why we automate but we start with what automation is and its value.

Automation to us is a valuable tool that should focus on enhancing testing, this doesn't always mean automating test cases but can also mean automating tasks and activities. Automation isn't a silver bullet, it has both an initial investment and on going investment cost that shouldn't be ignored.

We mention Richard Bradshaw's Ministry of Testing - TestBash 2015 "Automation in testing" talk. You can find the talk in the Ministry of Testing Dojo here if you're a Pro member.

We hope you enjoyed this conversation we'll certainly be covering different areas of automation over the coming months so please do you share your feedback and an particular questions.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to the final episode of our first anniversary month.

As mentioned in episode 28, the Peers don’t really do brevity, so we had to record an additional episode to cover some more questions that you, the listeners, kindly submitted.

And even still, we didn’t get through them all, so we may need to revisit them again sometime, or perhaps with a blooper reel on our Patreon.

This episode kicks off with the Peers discussing questions that we hate, before moving on to questions that we love, kindly submitted this time by:

Melissa Fisher
Ben Dowen
Chris Armstrong
Stephen Denman
Mirza Sisic
Sadee Akhtar

Some of the topics covered include:

Career options for testers
Automation
Snacks
Hobbies
DDD
DEI

A great deal of thanks to all our listeners who have supported us over this last year. We hope that we continue to improve and we really welcome your feedback.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. On this weeks, we talk about all things certification. We discuss the value of testing certifications, what role they play in our hiring practices and any alternatives that may be worth considering.

Russell took us on a journey into our pasts to look at what we may of overachieved in during our younger days before diving into the main topic.

When discussing the certifications, the peers touch on the difference between the knowledge learned and the value of the multiple choice examinations. The real value is that certifications can often give you a foot in the door and a glossary of terms to go and learn more.

We touch on whether we should have it in our CVs for jobs and what benefits that may give candidates to have it in there. But the key concern raised is around it being held as a Badge of Honour. We do agree that it is worth encouraging people to complete the ISTQB foundation as it can solidify knowledge, but it is by no means a mandatory part of the requirements for a testing role.

We do mention other courses such as the more advanced ISTQB courses and also the Black Box Software Testing courses, Rapid Software Testing, Scrum Master and the Ministry of Testing Essentials too.

Collaborative learning is also touched upon, doing the courses as a team can sometimes help the learning across the team to ensure all are on the same page.

Let us know your experiences of certifications and your thoughts on the value.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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This episode has perhaps the best intro ever?

One year into the Testing Peers Podcast project, and we are coming to you with an AMA.

For today's episode, we asked you, our listeners for some questions.

Special thanks for the question for this episode to:

Beth Marshall
Peet Michielsen
Claire Reckless
Lewis Prescott
Bruce (the Legend)
Melissa Fisher
Ben Dowen

Now, the Peers and brevity aren't two things that go hand in hand, so we have split this AMA into two episodes, the second of which will be released in two weeks.

Here are a couple of useful links that we mentioned in the episode:

30 Things Every New Software Tester Should Learn
RiskStorming online
Tester of the Day - nominate here

A great deal of thanks to all our listeners who have supported us over this last year. We hope that we continue to improve and we really welcome your feedback.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. This episode is special to us for two reasons. Firstly, this is being released exactly a year since we released our first episode and it is humbling to see how far we have come in that year and how many of you have listened.

Secondly, and more importantly for this episode, it’s Mental Health Awareness Week from 10th-14th May which means it felt like a good time to release an episode about our own experiences around Mental Health, specifically Burnout. This is something we have all experienced in recent years and we talk about the characteristics of what burnout can manifest like.

Before we dived into the main topic, Chris lead us into a discussion of our favourite video game franchises, tenuously linked to the topic by Chris’ love of the game “Burnout”.

Burnout is a very real thing and as we discussed, it can present itself in very different ways. You can become disengaged, overworked, lethargic, emotional and many other feelings. What is important is that once you recognise it, or lucky enough to have people around to help you identify it, is that you find someone to talk to and help change things to alleviate the feelings.

There are lots of resources out there which can help you, below are some links to some of these which were mentioned in the episode:

mind.org
Simon’s Baptism of Fire talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC9Koh71Ols
Chris’s mental health Blog posts – Here and here
Another resource, although not mentioned in the episode would be this talk by Maryam Umar

Don’t struggle in silence, reach out to family, friends or someone online, you’ll be surprised how many people would be willing to talk over zoom/teams/hangout etc and support you. The Testers hangout is a great place to find people to chat to, whether about your struggles or just someone to socialise with, sometimes, that can really help.

Any of the Peers would take time to support too, feel free to contact us via the usual channels.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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/

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thank you for joining us for another episode. On this episode, we are talking about our experiences of leading upwards and allowing our teams to lead us. This topic came from our good friend Beth Marshall who sent us a tweet asking for our thoughts on tips with leading our managers and other senior stakeholders.

Before diving into the topic, Simon asks the peers what apps or technology has changed the way they all do things. Honourable mentions here for Last.Fm, Timehop, Strava, Apple Watches (Simon has finally got one), and how could we not mention Chris and Russell’s epic Poke war on Facebook.

To start the main discussion, the peers all mention their experiences with reporting into a test leader or wider engineering/technology leaders and the differences between them.

A key theme with this whole episode is ensuring the communication channels with your leaders is open consistently, this builds a positive relationship, trust and accountability in both directions.

Experiences (both positive/negative) with leading upwards are discussed including how they have dealt with micro-management and providing dashboards to help their bosses and other senior stakeholders.

The peers the discuss how they get their teams to lead them, all sharing tips on how to build those relationships and enable them to grow.

We hope you enjoyed this conversation and as always, we would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to the 25th episode of the Testing Peers Podcast.

Join Russell, David and Chris as we discuss the unexpected.

After talking about unexpected or anti-climactic events in our lives, specifically food and movies, we look at how it applies to us in the workplace.

Whether it is a colleague leaving unexpectedly (or even if it isn't a surprise), or being blindsided by surprising appraisals, changes to project scope, or team dynamic shift - we all have to deal with the unexpected.

We share what we can do to prepare or mitigate, taking perspective and ensuring that we communicate and empathise.

The five stages of grief are brought up, and that is something that applies well.

Leaders have an obligation to communicate, empathise, and minimise the unexpected nature. Big things require the personal touch, we need to consider the optics of what has happened, as well as the feelings of the people. Treating people as individuals, trusting our guts, communicating.

We discuss what dealing with the unexpected events in life means to us, as we progress. Do we gain wisdom, do they shape us, help us to appreciate the better things?

No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.

Julius Caesar

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this one, we are discussing how companies can attract the best talent to their testing roles.

Before we dived into the main topic, David asked us to think of occasions where we had taken a punt (much like sometimes companies do with their hiring) and whether it paid off or not. It's fair to say, most of the scenarios covered by the peers ended in failure, including Simon's attempt to be the ultimate romantic, but we are saved by David's culinary expertise and Chris reminds us of the punt we took with this podcast and it isn't doing too badly is it?

When they dived into the main topic, the Peers talk about how companies can stand out to attract the right kind of candidates and discuss many of their own anecdotes along the way. Is it just about the roles or can the company stand out by the benefits they offer and the working environment?

Russell also asks what a great tester is, which of course is subjective for all the peers, although that "P" word is mentioned again.

What do you think makes a company stand out and how do they attract the best talent for their testing roles?

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 23 of the Testing Peers. This time we talk about reputation and brand. We cover what it is, why it matters and some tips to help you.

This week we start off discussing Beth Marhshall's reputation audit template. A great tool for self reflection on your reputation.

We move on to discuss how reputations can be a double edged sword that can help and hinder you. This leads us to share some of our experiences on our own reputation and our wider thoughts on brand.

We conclude by sharing our top tips and advice on building your reputation which apply no matter what your role or seniority is.

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.

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 22 of the Testing Peers podcast. This week the Peers tackle exploratory testing.

After the important check-in on David’s potato harvest, Simon asks us if our curiosity has ever led to us breaking anything – which eventually leads us to the main event.

What do we mean by exploratory testing?

How does it differ from ad-hoc testing?

What skills are required?

How can we tackle the KPI/Metrics conversation?

Have we been exploratory testing without explicitly calling it that?

The Peers mention a lot of really useful resources as well:

Explore It!: Reduce Risk and Increase Confidence with Exploratory Testing – Elisabeth Hendrickson
Exploratory Software Testing: Tips, Tricks, Tours, and Techniques to Guide Test Design – James Whittaker
Exploratory Testing with the Team, a Journey Worth Taking – Maaike Brinkhof
Five Years of Mob Testing, Hello to Ensemble Testing – Maaret Pyhäjärvi
TestBuddy – Simon Tomes
A new model for test strategies… (An update to the Heuristic Test Strategy Model) – Dan Ashby

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

Exploratory Software Testing: Tips, Tricks, Tours, and Techniques to Guide Test Design

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Welcome to episode 21 of the Testing Peers and thank you for sticking with us. What better topic to discuss for our Valentines Day release than our experiences of dealing with conflict?

We are a three again for this episode with David's dulcet tones missing from the recording. So Simon, Russell and Chris do their best to fill the void.

The peers start by discussing how they deal with arguments/disagreements generally in everyday life (and it seems like Russell and Simon deal in similar ways) before diving into their experience with conflicts they have had in the workplace.

We conclude by discussing ways in which we as leaders need to behave during conflict.

Did Simon and Russell actually disagree on something?? Surely not!

Hope you enjoy this episode and as always, please feel free to get in touch and tell us what you think.

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 20 of the Testing Peers podcast.

In this episode, the Peers discuss something that we all are confronted with in life - imposter syndrome.

The Peers open by defining what we see imposter syndrome is and is not.

Terms like 'feeling out of depth', 'shame', 'new pupil at school' are used and we can all resonate with them.

We talk about our own experiences, both in starting new jobs and as attendees, or even speakers at conferences and meetups.

The conversation moves on to how we, as leaders, can help those new to our teams - be that documents, time spent with them, expectations etc.

The Peers then talk about that which we have imposter syndrome about, and ask each other and you, our listeners to help us be not only held accountable, but also encouraged and supported.

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to Testing Peers! Each New Year, many of us reflect on the year we've had and think about the year ahead of us. We make resolution for the items we want keep doing or change we want to make. It seems quite timely to be talking about retrospectives and sharing our thoughts and experience in this episode.

There are many different contexts that a retrospective can be useful to not just for Scrum but agile, projects and life in general. At Testing Peers (virtual) HQ we love retrospectives. We've held two for our podcast so far and have another planned. It's a way to reflect and to come up with ideas and actions for things to keep, change or to provide kudos to people or yourself.

In the episode we share our ideas around facilitating, creating a safe space to reflect, taking actions and mention a tool we find useful - https://metroretro.io/

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Happy new year and welcome to the first Testing Peers episode of 2021. Hopefully, you have all managed to enjoy the holiday season given the restrictions.

In this episode, the Peers discuss one of Simon’s pet projects. We discuss the lack of testing being taught in Universities and how we as an industry can help to attract more people into testing roles. We also talk about what skills we should look for when hiring people into first testing roles.

This leads us onto discussing a syllabus which Russell had previously put together for new aspiring testers which he shared at the Testing Folks meet-up.

If you have any thoughts on this subject and how we as an industry could do more to attract others into testing, get in touch and let us know your thoughts.

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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In this the last episode of the Testing Peers podcast of 2020, join Festive Cheers with the Testing Peers for our special Christmas episode.

In this special edition of the podcast, the Peers are joined by four friends of the podcast who kindly agreed to give up some of their time to join us for our recording.

We were joined by Shey Crompton, Bruce, Beth Marshall and Dave Shorter.

After we get to know each other discussing Christmas songs that we skip we get into the main event.

RiskStorming Santa's 2020.

We use the wonderful RiskStorming Online tool to identify the key quality aspects for Santa this year and identify the various risks around this. We have a great time debating the risks Santa faces this year and below is the outcome of our hard graft. Apologies for the terrible spelling and grammar.

RiskStorming-Santas-2020Download

We have all had such a wonderful time making this podcast this year, and we are so grateful to each and every one of you who has taken the time to not only listen to the podcast, but to feedback to us, engage and even share your thoughts on the pod online, we really appreciate it so much. Thank you!

The thanks doesn't end there though.....

We asked our friends joining us for the recording to nominate a charity for us to donate to, as a thanks. If you are looking for worthy charities then please consider these nominated below:

Dave Shorter - Jimmy’s Cambridge - “They do great work supporting the homeless around Cambridge. More than ever at this time of year it’s important no one feels alone or unsupported.”

Beth Marshall and Bruce - OffTheRecordBristol - “OTR Bristol run an lgbt+ youth group called Freedom, which was the first place I [Bruce] felt safe openly talking about my gender and sexuality. They keep an excellent tea selection."

Shey Crompton - Mind - "In a world that is full of anxiety and uncertainty, more than ever having experts to help us with our mental health is important."

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thank you for joining us again! We had the great pleasure of being asked to do a live recording of our podcast at the EuroSTAR conference this year. Due to the kind of world we are living in at present where everyone is working remotely, conferences are virtual and we are all socially distancing, we thought we would discuss the topic of this remote world we now find our selves in.

Unfortunately, Simon and family had the unfortunate pleasure of a stomach bug on the day of recording, but the remaining Peers have a good discussion, and Dembe (Russell's dog) certainly steps in well as the 4th Peer!

Chris asks the question of what it would have been like for them to start their careers again, but from a perspective they were working from home.

From there the discussion meanders onto experiences with meetings virtually and onto the differences with conferences, are they creating the same buzz? Or at least some buzz anyway!

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
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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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 15 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

After getting over the initial disappointment of Russell not making this episode, the Peers talk about dealing with wider disappointments. We start with the disappointment of old films in retrospect, but eventually move on disappointments within testing.

There are various forms of disappointment we face in our day-to-day roles. Sometimes we fear we've disappointed our customers, colleagues, our teams, our partner or our own leaders. As testers we often place a high expectation on the quality of our work, on few bugs escaping, and on customers being happy. It's sometimes hard to live up to our own expectations of ourselves.

We share our insight into how we've coped or haven't. What we did to help ourselves and what we look for in others. Perhaps our musings will help you too.

As people and as leaders we know we have disappointment at times. Sometimes it's little things and sometimes it's life changing to us or others. We all have our own coping strategies and it will vary on the problem and person but personally I'd always advise taking perspective. Walk away, talk to someone, rubber duck it, write it down and above all look at it from different angles - micro or macro.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Martin Luther King, Jr

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
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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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 14 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This week, the Peers have new mics and are a trio for the first time. We will be working out in the coming weeks how to best configure these, any feedback on this is always welcome. Great thanks again to our sponsor Saffron QA for enabling us to work on these audio improvements - more details about Saffron QA can be found in the footer of this post.

We tackle the age old baggage that is, defect management, or perhaps bugs or issues, or whatever you want to call them!

After initially setting the scene discussing bugs in the wild - hello COVID track and trace apps! - we discuss when to raise defects, what processes work and in which tools.

We share stories of various frustrations and how metrics can ultimately be gamed - please don't use bugs as metrics in development!

From technical debt to triage boards, the discussion takes us on a journey that ultimately ends with the need for pragmatism and clear communication, no matter whether you are working in V-model, Agile, Waterfall or other.

Thank you for continuing to support our podcast by tuning in.

We really appreciate all the feedback that we have received and invite you to get in touch with us:

ContactUs@TestingPeers.com
Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
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Instagram (https://www.instagram.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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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In this episode, the Peers talk about their journey of personal development. We all come from varied backgrounds into testing so as you can imagine, the learnings paths we take to get where we are today are just as different.

When talking about how we developed, it became clear the importance of having people around to aid us, support us and guide us to where we want to be. Russell discusses how his learning was impacted by reporting to a DBA and Simon talks about needing that mentor to help him channel his learning. The testing community is mentioned several times and without amazing resources such as the Ministry of Testing, meet-ups and conferences, our development may have been very different. Simon shares how he used his blog to develop himself and that it hit him hard when an early blog was criticised on Twitter.

Chris asks the Peers about their motivation to learn and grow and the answers discussed vary from getting the roles you desire, simply being the best you can and challenging yourself to prove the value of the role.

We also discussed things we learned in earlier life that we couldn’t get enough of and tried to share with people who may not be as interested. Everything from football, Marvel, AC Cobras and DNA are mentioned and David gives us some insights into his teaching life too.

Let us know of your learning journeys, what motivated you? Are there things you wish you’d learned earlier?

We welcome feedback, please reach out to us Twitter, LinkedIn or email ContactUs@TestingPeers.com

Also, feel free to support us onPatreon at https://patreon.com/testingpeers

As we announced on our previous podcast we are now sponsored by Saffron QA.

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 have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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.

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

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 12 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This time the Peers are using a Donna Summer reference for all you music fans to discus when is enough testing enough. The question that drives many a test discussion be it with a stakeholder or amongst testers, when is enough testing enough?

As we meander to our discussions you'll find out a little insight into the Peers competitiveness at family games. Are we all win at all costs people or more meh whatever. You'll have to listen to find out!

The Peers share a little on their experience on helping guide enough is enough in the world of testing. We'll cover some of the key leavers that help you plot a path though the fog and varies depending on what your doing and where your doing it.

We end on mentioning 'The One Page Test Plan' by Claire Reckless which is a great tool and as promised on the podcast it can found on the Ministry of Testing Dojo here.

Hopefully you wont' have had enough of us after this episode and keep on listening a new episode will be with you in 2 weeks. Until then feel free to listen back to our previous episodes.

We welcome feedback, please reach out to us Twitter, LinkedIn or email ContactUs@TestingPeers.com

Also feel free to support us onPatreon at https://patreon.com/testingpeers

As we announce on our last podcast we are now sponsored by Saffron QA.

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/

Our initial goal with this sponsorship is to improve the quality of the audio equipment which were hoping to source next week, fingers crossed.

We have found Ben from Saffron QA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 11 of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This time the Peers are following on from episodes 6 and 8, where we covered CVs and preparing for interviews with our Patreon voted topic of Telephone Interviews.

Patreon you say?

Why yes, we have a Patreon available at https://patreon.com/testingpeers

If you like what we do and want to support us, then please do visit and consider becoming a Testing Peers Patron.

Anyway, back to the episode at hand.

The Peers touch on experiences as interviewers and as candidates.

We cover preparations, accessibility, considerations, questions, timings, distinguishing the difference between a phone interview and an in-person interview.

Multi-staged interviews aren’t going anywhere. Ultimately, we really see the future of initial ‘screening’ interviews taking place more on the likes of Zoom and Google Meet.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast. If you have any feedback, please reach out on Twitter, LinkedIn or email ContactUs@TestingPeers.com

We are pleased to announce that we now sponsored by SaffronQA.

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/

Our initial goal with this sponsorship is to improve the quality of the audio equipment. We have found Ben from SaffronQA to be a partner who 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 (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 10. We’ve made it to double figures! Thank you to everyone who has downloaded one or more of our earlier episodes and given us the encouragement to keep this going.

In this episode, the Peers talk about our thoughts on what testing may be like in 10 years time. What will the tech world look like? How will testers have evolved? Will we still be debating whether manual testing is needed?

We also cover what we as leaders will need to do to enable our teams to progress and stay relevant as technology advances.

Chris tells us about the ketchup competition he entered and this triggers the peers discussing their successes (or lack of) with competitions. Including Simon winning a “Pontins Prince” competition which he has added a pic to our Twitter.

No puppy update this week but Simon has now got his puppies and Russell’s is arriving in a week or so. Check out #PeersPaws on twitter for more pics. David will also be adding some pics of his beloved Digby.

We thank you once again for taking the time to listen to our podcast and would love more of your feedback. Please reach out on Twitter @testingpeers or via email: contactus@testingpeers.com

If you like what we are doing and want to support us as we strive to create more content, please consider becoming a Testing Peers patron at https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 9 of the Testing Peers podcast.

In this episode, we talk about passion.

This is a topic that was inspired by a post by Philip Wong in the Podcasters Club in Ministry of Testing’s The Club: https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/introduce-your-podcast/40932/5?u=christovskia

“Passion was a big word that was mentioned in the episode. For a tester like me who doesn’t know where they are headed yet, what if you don’t know your ‘passion’? Can it be ‘built’ up? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the word ‘passion’ because it brings up the image of people ‘either have it or not’. It’s probably a whole episode itself but I just wanted to put that out there as a listener.”

We are conscious that the word passion can mean quite different things depending on the context.

In this episode, we talk about how we might define passion, how we have experienced it and also how we perceive it. We talk about how people display their passion in person and also in written form, and we joke about our own use of the word in our CVs, social media etc.

We discuss some of the pitfalls of passion, as well as the benefits.

The Peers also touch on childhood passions, before it obviously became all about quality!

We thank you once again for taking the time to listen to our podcast and would love more of your feedback. Please reach out on Twitter @testingpeers or via email: contactus@testingpeers.com

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode eight of the Testing Peers podcast.

This week, the Peers are following on from our CV episode (Podcast Episode 6 – CVs) with a discussion around interviews. Tips, techniques, pet peeves and of course, David's potato harvest.

We discuss how to prepare for an interview as both an interviewer and an interviewee, how we use CVs and research the company.

Bias and objectivity are covered, and the struggles around that.

Peeves covered include salary conversations and communication of next steps.

We hope you enjoy the episode, and we look forward to hearing any of your feedback.

Thank you!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode 7 of the Testing Peers Podcast. Yes, we made it to 7 episodes!

This week the peers are going to reflect a little on who initially inspired our testing journeys and also give you an insight into some of the books that have helped us on our way.

As a group of peers, we can all say it was a talk or an event that inspired us to be more engaged in testing. Hearing someone passionate about a subject talk and share their knowledge ignited a desire in us to learn more. Right now more and more events are online and many are free. Check out @TestConferences on twitter, meetup.com or Mot Meetups, MoT events, testingconferences.org to name a few places to get ideas.

Events aren't the only way to find inspiration, everyone finds inspiration in different ways. If you're reading this you'll already be looking at blogs or podcasts they're also a great way to find inspiration. You can also read articles, newsletters and twitter is home to many testers. In this episode, we also mention a few of the books that we found useful but we'd love to know your suggestions so feel free to comment on our blog, twitter @testingpeers, or email us contactus@testingpeers.com.

Finally thank you for supporting us, we've had over 1200 downloads in our first 90 days which is amazing! If you've liked what you've heard and want to support us improve its quality (we really could do with some microphones) we'd really appreciate you becoming a patron or reach out to us if you'd like to sponsor an episode.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode six of the Testing Peers Podcast. This week the peers are talking CVs.

In a time where lots of people are finding themselves looking for new roles, we thought it might be a great time to discuss CVs.

We summarised our tops tips on our blog - testingpeers.com

Let us know your thoughts on CVs, what works or doesn't work when your sifting CV's. Send us your feedback via email to contactus@testingpeers.com or @TestingPeers on Twitter.

NOTE: After Chris so boldly claimed that he had never found a job through a recruiter, he only went and found a job via a recruiter. Thank you to all the recruiters out there!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode five of the Testing Peers Podcast, we're practically old hat at this podcasting malarky now. Hope you are still enjoying our random wittering with each other.

In this episode, we dive into the topic of reporting your testing, the various forms that may exist in, corporate or regulatory demands on how you should report your results, and what benefits these reports provide to you as a test leader and also to the wider business. In many respects, articulating your testing results is an art and it really depends on the audience you need to report your results to.

The discussion does morph (as all our conversations do) into also talking about the end to end process and especially around Change Control getting changes live in production

Let us know your thoughts on this episode, maybe you have unique ways in which you reported your results which worked for you. Send your feedback to us either via email (contactus@testingpeers.com) or @TestingPeers on Twitter.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Welcome to episode four of the Testing Peers Podcast.

This week we the peers are talking Cognitive Bias.

We find cognitive bias everywhere, the awareness of our own biases and challenging ourselves on those biases are really important.

We discuss cognitive biases that we have encountered in the testing world, biases that we have and the power of influential language projecting biases.

This is a topic close to our hearts, and one that is so important to continue to discuss and challenge each other about.

We touch upon areas of bias, such as anchoring, decision making, mirroring, confirmation and many more.

Further areas of reading: Lisa Crispin - https://lisacrispin.com/2018/01/24/telling-stories-together-practicing-critical-thinking-vts/

We hope you enjoy this episode and encourage you to get in touch with any feedback that you have, either @testingpeers on Twitter or contactus@testingpeers.com

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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For episode three, the Peers talk about their experiences around empowering teams, what has worked and what didn't.

We'd love you to get in touch, so email us at contactus@testingpeers.com or reach out to us on Twitter @testingpeers

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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This time around the Peers talk about out positive and negative experiences on 1 to 1s and what has shaped the way we do them as leaders. As you’ll hear from the discussion, we all have different experiences.

We also discuss Simon's shirt choice. Is it Pink or Brown? Check the image out on our twitter!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

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Thursday July 18th 2019 is a significant date in the short history of the Testing Peers.

Simon had finally convinced Russell, David and Chris to explore the possibility of podcasting together, and this was when the #testinpeerspodcast channel started in our Slack group.

We were more than half a year into our joined-up adventure and our output had so far provided us with a supportive and accountable peer group, but no output that would be visible to many.

There was a hunger to do more, my initial pitch to the others that I had invited to join me included the possibility of a blog or a conference paper, but I hadn’t considered a podcast.

We started the blog site, but not all of us are bloggers.

I grabbed ahold of the @testingpeers Twitter handle.

What could we do to continue our project?

Simon is a relentless force for spreading his word, and he has been blogging for a decade, he has spoken at conferences and appeared on various webinars and podcasts. He saw a niche in the market for the four of us to go and make our own.

Eventually, we relented and started to talk about the idea of what a podcast could look like.

We transitioned our initial Trello board with ideas for blogs, to those that could become podcast themes.

So welcome to our inaugural episode is an introduction to the four of us. We have some other material already recorded and we hope that we will get better at doing this, it is new, but I already am finding our regular Thursday night beers with the Testing Peers a real highlight to my week!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers)

Testing Peers: Recent Episodes

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PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until later in the year.

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until later in the year.

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until November 30th 2027.

PeersCon is run by the community, for the community, but it does

PeersCon27 (March 11th, 2027) is now LIVE Tickets for the event are live for the Early Bird Price of £15 until November 30th 2027.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are live for just £30.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are live for just

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

PeersCon26 Tickets for the event are now live too, starting at £15 until December 2025, when they increase to £30.

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here

PeersCon26 Call for Collaborations for written and video submissions until September 30th 2025, and also for VolunPeers. More on all this can be found here