Ministry of Testing

This week's interview comes courtesy of Michele Playfair, discussing some of the ideas which form the foundation of her forthcoming TestBash Australia talk, "A Tester's Guide To Changing Hearts And Minds". In an episode themed around trust, communication and collaboration, we talk about how testing overlaps with programming, teaching and marketing; how introverts can get outside their comfort zone; and whether Michele is secretly trying to start a war. Along the way, we pay tribute to the work of Jerry Weinberg, and play Michele's song selections which each have a geographic significance. If you'd like to get in touch with Michele, she can be found on Twitter (and all of the other usual places) @MichelePlayfair. Michele's Links: YOW! Conferences & Workshops TestBash Australia 2018 Gov.UK: Get Into Teaching First Avenue, Minneapolis Dan Ashby tweet which I falsely attributed to Stephen Janaway! Leanpub: Gerald Weinberg - Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method Leanpub: Gerald Weinberg - Tester's Library Problem Solving Leadership Wikipedia: Hearts and minds (Iraq) Instituto Cervantes of Chicago YouTube: CukeUp AU 2016 - Amigos Apart (Michele Playfair & Donella Fardoulis) Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This week's interview comes courtesy of Michele Playfair, discussing some of the ideas which form the foundation of her forthcoming TestBash Australia talk, "A Tester's Guide To Changing Hearts And Minds". In an episode themed around trust, communication and collaboration, we talk about how testing overlaps with programming, teaching and marketing; how introverts can get outside their comfort zone; and whether Michele is secretly trying to start a war. Along the way, we pay tribute to the work of Jerry Weinberg, and play Michele's song selections which each have a geographic significance. If you'd like to get in touch with Michele, she can be found on Twitter (and all of the other usual places) @MichelePlayfair. Michele's Links: YOW! Conferences & Workshops TestBash Australia 2018 Gov.UK: Get Into Teaching First Avenue, Minneapolis Dan Ashby tweet which I falsely attributed to Stephen Janaway! Leanpub: Gerald Weinberg - Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method Leanpub: Gerald Weinberg - Tester's Library Problem Solving Leadership Wikipedia: Hearts and minds (Iraq) Instituto Cervantes of Chicago YouTube: CukeUp AU 2016 - Amigos Apart (Michele Playfair & Donella Fardoulis) Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

Our latest castaway is Matthew Bretten, joining us to discuss his upcoming adventure in presenting a talk titled "You Can Become A Toolsmith Too" at the inaugural Test.bash(); Manchester. Continuing the discussion from the previous episode about toolsmiths, Matt shares examples of how testers can break into creating valuable tooling, finding developer allies, and there's some meta-discussion about preparing and running technical workshops. Matt's song selections are linked to different pivotal moments of his life, touching upon his favourite live artists, the films that he watched growing up, video games, and the Manchester musician with a connection to Matt's grandmother. If you'd like to catch up with Matt, you can find him on Twitter @matthewbretten. Matthew's Links: Let's Talk About Tests, Baby Screen Testing - Hackers Test.bash(); Manchester 2018 Football Manager YouTube: Frank Klepacki - Hell March Let's Talk About Tests: Episode 94 (TestBash Manchester 2017 retrospective) Twitter: Marton Hipszki Twitter: Liz Keogh Twitter: Swarnim Kumari Ministry of Testing: Tester Types e-book IFTTT (If This Then That) Ministry of Testing: How To Use Python To Automate Almost Anything Twitter: Kristoffer Nordström Wikipedia: Music of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

Our latest castaway is Matthew Bretten, joining us to discuss his upcoming adventure in presenting a talk titled "You Can Become A Toolsmith Too" at the inaugural Test.bash(); Manchester. Continuing the discussion from the previous episode about toolsmiths, Matt shares examples of how testers can break into creating valuable tooling, finding developer allies, and there's some meta-discussion about preparing and running technical workshops. Matt's song selections are linked to different pivotal moments of his life, touching upon his favourite live artists, the films that he watched growing up, video games, and the Manchester musician with a connection to Matt's grandmother. If you'd like to catch up with Matt, you can find him on Twitter @matthewbretten. Matthew's Links: Let's Talk About Tests, Baby Screen Testing - Hackers Test.bash(); Manchester 2018 Football Manager YouTube: Frank Klepacki - Hell March Let's Talk About Tests: Episode 94 (TestBash Manchester 2017 retrospective) Twitter: Marton Hipszki Twitter: Liz Keogh Twitter: Swarnim Kumari Ministry of Testing: Tester Types e-book IFTTT (If This Then That) Ministry of Testing: How To Use Python To Automate Almost Anything Twitter: Kristoffer Nordström Wikipedia: Music of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This week we're joined by Mark Winteringham, co-creator of both the Software Testing Clinic and Automation in Testing, for a conversation about the aforementioned initiatives and much more besides. On an epically hot day, Neil and Mark talk about building pathways for learning, optimising delivery for classroom and online training, supporting worldwide franchises, and how to get testing talked about more within universities. Between the discussion are songs which have inspired Mark in the fields of songwriting, experimentation, work-life balance, the Internet of Things, and we get our first a cappella selection. Mark can be reached on Twitter @2bittester. Mark's Links: Software Testing Clinic Automation in Testing Ministry of Testing Dojo course: Introduction To HTTP (by Mark Winteringham) Ministry of Testing Dojo course: Let's Build an API Checking Framework (by Mark Winteringham) Ministry of Testing Dojo course: The Building Blocks of the Internet (by Mark Winteringham) Screen Testing Ep6: Swordfish (featuring Mark Winteringham) Bandcamp: Biases Bandcamp: The Wub Mind Twitter: Simon Prior Meetup.com: Ministry of Testing Aylesbury Meetup.com: South West Test #12 with Neil Studd Twitter: Abby Bangser Ministry of Testing Dojo: TestBash 2018: Emily Webber - Communities of Practice, The Missing Piece of Your Agile Organisation Amazon: John Timpson - Upside Down Management Software Testing Clinic: Becoming a Host mi.mu Gloves YouTube: Richard Bradshaw - Automation in Testing (SoftwareTestPro podcast) Satisfice.com: Rapid Software Testing Ministry of Testing Dojo: TestBash 2015: Automation in Testing TestBash Manchester 2018 MW Test Consultancy Hindsight Software Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This week we're joined by Mark Winteringham, co-creator of both the Software Testing Clinic and Automation in Testing, for a conversation about the aforementioned initiatives and much more besides. On an epically hot day, Neil and Mark talk about building pathways for learning, optimising delivery for classroom and online training, supporting worldwide franchises, and how to get testing talked about more within universities. Between the discussion are songs which have inspired Mark in the fields of songwriting, experimentation, work-life balance, the Internet of Things, and we get our first a cappella selection. Mark can be reached on Twitter @2bittester. Mark's Links: Software Testing Clinic Automation in Testing Ministry of Testing Dojo course: Introduction To HTTP (by Mark Winteringham) Ministry of Testing Dojo course: Let's Build an API Checking Framework (by Mark Winteringham) Ministry of Testing Dojo course: The Building Blocks of the Internet (by Mark Winteringham) Screen Testing Ep6: Swordfish (featuring Mark Winteringham) Bandcamp: Biases Bandcamp: The Wub Mind Twitter: Simon Prior Meetup.com: Ministry of Testing Aylesbury Meetup.com: South West Test #12 with Neil Studd Twitter: Abby Bangser Ministry of Testing Dojo: TestBash 2018: Emily Webber - Communities of Practice, The Missing Piece of Your Agile Organisation Amazon: John Timpson - Upside Down Management Software Testing Clinic: Becoming a Host mi.mu Gloves YouTube: Richard Bradshaw - Automation in Testing (SoftwareTestPro podcast) Satisfice.com: Rapid Software Testing Ministry of Testing Dojo: TestBash 2015: Automation in Testing TestBash Manchester 2018 MW Test Consultancy Hindsight Software Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

The Super Testing Bros talk to Paul and Lee about Neurodiversity within testing in the July edition of our monthly MoT podcast, 2018. Ministry of Testing and Super Testing Bros are partnering up for 2018 to bring you regular pods on the last Monday of the month. You can listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud! Plus follow what The Super Testing Bros are up to on Twitter.

The Super Testing Bros talk to Paul and Lee about Neurodiversity within testing in the July edition of our monthly MoT podcast, 2018. Ministry of Testing and Super Testing Bros are partnering up for 2018 to bring you regular pods on the last Monday of the month. You can listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud! Plus follow what The Super Testing Bros are up to on Twitter.

This episode of Testers' Island Discs was supported by TestRail, the test management tool that makes testing simpler - it works the way you test. Learn more and try it for free at www.gurock.com/testrail. Our latest special guest is Maaike Brinkhof, one of our most musically adept castaways so far, for some discussion about the connections between learning to play an instrument and striving for self-improvement as a tester. We discuss human biases (part of Maaike's upcoming talk at TestBash Manchester), the joy of mob programming, helping teams to uncover unknown unknowns, and the benefits of utilising "analog time" to recover from the madness of the world. On the music front, Maaike's selections are a mixture of metal and classical, with some interesting symphonic and folk-infused subgenres between the grunting! For those who'd like to explore metal some more, Maaike has created a communal playlist "Testers Metal top songs" on Spotify. If you'd like to get in touch with Maaike, her Twitter account is @Maaikees. Maaike's Links: Journey Into Quality (Maaike's blog) Sensibly TestBash Manchester 2018 Bluedot Festival 2018 YouTube: ATD2017 - Maaret Pyhäjärvi: Learning through Osmosis (Mob Programming) MoT Dojo - Maaret Pyhäjärvi: Mob Testing: An Introduction & Experience Report Maaike's mob programming slide deck for her team Neil's mob programming slide deck Woody Zuill: Mob Programming Hanselminutes podcast: Mob Programming with Woody Zuill Rich Rogers: Q&A with Neil Studd Wikipedia: Thinking, Fast and Slow Maaike's blog series: Mapping Biases to Testing David McRaney: You Are Not So Smart (website) You Are Not So Smart podcast Wikipedia: Confirmation bias Wikipedia: Cognitive dissonance Wikipedia: Loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy Wikipedia: Hindsight bias Dutch Exploratory Workshop on Testing (DEWT) Agile Testing Days 2018: Maaike Brinkhof & Göran Kero: Mind Busters - Test Your Mind Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This episode of Testers' Island Discs was supported by TestRail, the test management tool that makes testing simpler - it works the way you test. Learn more and try it for free at www.gurock.com/testrail. Our latest special guest is Maaike Brinkhof, one of our most musically adept castaways so far, for some discussion about the connections between learning to play an instrument and striving for self-improvement as a tester. We discuss human biases (part of Maaike's upcoming talk at TestBash Manchester), the joy of mob programming, helping teams to uncover unknown unknowns, and the benefits of utilising "analog time" to recover from the madness of the world. On the music front, Maaike's selections are a mixture of metal and classical, with some interesting symphonic and folk-infused subgenres between the grunting! For those who'd like to explore metal some more, Maaike has created a communal playlist "Testers Metal top songs" on Spotify. If you'd like to get in touch with Maaike, her Twitter account is @Maaikees. Maaike's Links: Journey Into Quality (Maaike's blog) Sensibly TestBash Manchester 2018 Bluedot Festival 2018 YouTube: ATD2017 - Maaret Pyhäjärvi: Learning through Osmosis (Mob Programming) MoT Dojo - Maaret Pyhäjärvi: Mob Testing: An Introduction & Experience Report Maaike's mob programming slide deck for her team Neil's mob programming slide deck Woody Zuill: Mob Programming Hanselminutes podcast: Mob Programming with Woody Zuill Rich Rogers: Q&A with Neil Studd Wikipedia: Thinking, Fast and Slow Maaike's blog series: Mapping Biases to Testing David McRaney: You Are Not So Smart (website) You Are Not So Smart podcast Wikipedia: Confirmation bias Wikipedia: Cognitive dissonance Wikipedia: Loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy Wikipedia: Hindsight bias Dutch Exploratory Workshop on Testing (DEWT) Agile Testing Days 2018: Maaike Brinkhof & Göran Kero: Mind Busters - Test Your Mind Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This episode of Testers' Island Discs was supported by TestRail, the test management tool that makes testing simpler - it works the way you test. Learn more and try it for free at www.gurock.com/testrail. Our latest castaway is Paul Maxwell-Walters, joining us from Down Under to compare and contrast England and Australia, and discuss his upcoming talk at TestBash Australia, "Avoid Sleepwalking to Failure! On Abstractions and Keeping it Real in Software Teams". We get into a bunch of philosophical and real-world political discussions, drawing parallels to our experiences in the world of software testing, sharing tales of teams who may have fallen foul of "sleepwalking" through their processes and discussing tips on how to help teams to negotiate these everyday pitfalls, and how to speak up within harsh working environments. If you'd like to chat to Paul, you can reach him on Twitter @TestingRants, and learn more about the Sydney Testers meetup group @SydneyTesters. Paul's Links: Paul's Testing Rants blog TestBash Australia 2018 Meetup.com: Sydney Testers Group Twitter: Troy Hunt Wikipedia: Huntsman spider Australian Government: Temporary Work (Skilled) visa #457 Australian Government: Current visa programs WeTest Conference, New Zealand BBC iPlayer: HyperNormalisation YouTube: HyperNormalisation (for those who can't access iPlayer) Testing Rants: On Simulations, HyperNormalisation and Distorted Reality in Software Teams (Part 1) Wikipedia: Jean Baudrillard: Simulacra and Simulation BBC Sport: World Cup 2018: Sweden 0-2 England YouTube: Bitter Lake Wikipedia: Death march (project management) Wikipedia: Korean Air Flight 801 Gerald Weinberg: Agile and the Definition of Quality YouTube: Sydney Testers Official Australian Testing Days Twitch: TestingRants live streams YouTube: Paul Maxwell-Walters (Twitch stream archive) The Guilty Tester podcast: Episode 2 - Neil Studd - Bugs Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

This episode of Testers' Island Discs was supported by TestRail, the test management tool that makes testing simpler - it works the way you test. Learn more and try it for free at www.gurock.com/testrail. Our latest castaway is Paul Maxwell-Walters, joining us from Down Under to compare and contrast England and Australia, and discuss his upcoming talk at TestBash Australia, "Avoid Sleepwalking to Failure! On Abstractions and Keeping it Real in Software Teams". We get into a bunch of philosophical and real-world political discussions, drawing parallels to our experiences in the world of software testing, sharing tales of teams who may have fallen foul of "sleepwalking" through their processes and discussing tips on how to help teams to negotiate these everyday pitfalls, and how to speak up within harsh working environments. If you'd like to chat to Paul, you can reach him on Twitter @TestingRants, and learn more about the Sydney Testers meetup group @SydneyTesters. Paul's Links: Paul's Testing Rants blog TestBash Australia 2018 Meetup.com: Sydney Testers Group Twitter: Troy Hunt Wikipedia: Huntsman spider Australian Government: Temporary Work (Skilled) visa #457 Australian Government: Current visa programs WeTest Conference, New Zealand BBC iPlayer: HyperNormalisation YouTube: HyperNormalisation (for those who can't access iPlayer) Testing Rants: On Simulations, HyperNormalisation and Distorted Reality in Software Teams (Part 1) Wikipedia: Jean Baudrillard: Simulacra and Simulation BBC Sport: World Cup 2018: Sweden 0-2 England YouTube: Bitter Lake Wikipedia: Death march (project management) Wikipedia: Korean Air Flight 801 Gerald Weinberg: Agile and the Definition of Quality YouTube: Sydney Testers Official Australian Testing Days Twitch: TestingRants live streams YouTube: Paul Maxwell-Walters (Twitch stream archive) The Guilty Tester podcast: Episode 2 - Neil Studd - Bugs Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter

The Super Testing Bros talk to Paul and Toria about Alan Page and Brent Jensen’s Modern Testing Principles in the June edition of our monthly MoT podcast 2018. Ministry of Testing and Super Testing Bros are partnering up for 2018 to bring you regular pods on the last Monday of the month. You can listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud! Plus follow what The Super Testing Bros are up to on Twitter.

The Super Testing Bros talk to Paul and Toria about Alan Page and Brent Jensen’s Modern Testing Principles in the June edition of our monthly MoT podcast 2018. Ministry of Testing and Super Testing Bros are partnering up for 2018 to bring you regular pods on the last Monday of the month. You can listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud! Plus follow what The Super Testing Bros are up to on Twitter.

This episode of Testers' Island Discs was supported by TestRail, the test management tool that makes testing simpler - it works the way you test. Learn more and try it for free at www.gurock.com/testrail. It's a warm Northern welcome to the island for Claire Reckless, who comes ashore to talk about the Manchester tech scene, her recent ventures into conference speaking and hosting the Software Testing Clinic, and how these play into her ongoing battles with impostor syndrome. In amongst the discussions about getting out of your comfort zone and overcoming your inner fears, Claire shares the path that she has taken to become more comfortable, and earns brownie points for picking a song by one of Neil's all-time favourite bands. You can find Claire on Twitter at @clairereckless! Claire's Links: MoneySuperMarket Software Testing Clinic Nordic Testing Days YouTube: Nordic Testing Days 2018 presentations Manchester Evening News: BBC's Salford move key to Northern Powerhouse MediaCityUK NWEWT (North West Exploratory Workshop on Testing) Liverpool Tester Gathering Twitter: Jit Gosai (@JitGo) MoT Dojo: TestBash Manchester 2017 - Claire Reckless: The Fraud Squad Let's Talk About Tests, Baby: Episode 94 - Sound Effects and Overdramatics: The retrospective (featuring Claire) Cambridge Folk Festival Agile Manchester 2018 Daily Mail: Female doctor locked out of gym after computer assumed she was a man Agile Testing Days Aylesbury Tester Gathering - August Meetup TestBash Manchester 2018 London Tester Gathering Workshops 2018 Regular Links: Listen to and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud Sign up to be a guest on the show Testers' Island Discs playlist on Spotify Testers' Island Discs reading list on Goodreads Follow us on Twitter