Ministry of Testing Meetups in Cambridge 2018

2018 was a fantastic and incredibly busy year for the Ministry of Testing Cambridge group. We saw a total of 25 Meetups organised via three types of events: the traditional morning Lean Coffee gatherings, the evening Meetups with speakers, workshops or the occasional chat down the pub, and the monthly Software Testing Clinic session which started its first season in Cambridge in 2018!

I know it’s February already, but I think it’s never too late to say thanks to all who made this possible and to have a look back at what happened last year:

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Diversity Matters

The latest Cambridge Exploratory Workshop on Testing (CEWT) came along, asking “What Makes Good Testers and/or Testing?“. It made me think: Isn’t it rather nice that I can learn something new about testing everyday, so why try to define based on my knowledge of days past? Would I rather limit myself with a definition? And from looking through job adverts, talks, discussions – it seems we’re circling round the same core skills of testers for some time anyways, is there a need for me to re-iterate – regardless of how valid they might be? Maybe not. So in the end, this is the pitch I’ve handed in:

It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a good tester must have attention to detail, is of a curious nature, thinks outside the box, likes to break things (sic!) and is a fiendish asker of questions. Admirable qualities. Must haves. At least that’s what the job adverts, our colleagues, social media and the internet tells us. But is this really it? And is this necessarily helpful?

Twitter Timeline Q1/18

#March

Hey you, wake up! pic.twitter.com/0fiIEdMOaf

— In Otter News (@Otter_News) March 2, 2018

Testers’ Island Discs

If you want to hear me “knocking it out of the park“, you can now head over to the Testers Island Disc Podcast, where I had the great pleasure of being guest on the 11th Episode.

Awesome host Neil Studd and me talk about my experiences in Cambridge, the growth of the Software Testing Clinic, and an unavoidable discussion about Brexit. We get into discussions about creating safe environments for learning, generating test ideas and avoiding cognitive biases in our testing, whilst also finding time to hear a range of song selections which span TV themes, 90s rock, and the first non-English-language offering. So if you fancy hearing a brilliant ep with my kind voice talking in dulcet tones you might find me knowledgeable, calm and collected – or in other words, you might have been fooled :D

On: What is Testing?

A place for me to capture resources, definitions, thoughts on a specific topic, here:

“What is testing?”

By nature an ongoing list, used as a starting point (for me). Often done while I research a topic; out of interest, to fill a knowledge gap, to prepare for a talk or workshop, for fun. Any comments or tips on further reading welcome :)

Learning Pairing

The last year was a bit of a journey into pairing for me. Not that I hadn’t paired before and didn’t appreciate and enjoy it. But pairing got amplified in the last year as a more conscious effort and an initiative in the groups I was working with. It took place in different forms, but often would mean (two) people working on something together, as a dedicated session, potentially time boxed (to an hour), where we set ourselves a goal or a mission, did the thing, and debriefed. 

Ministry of Testing Meetups in Cambridge 2017

Tis the season! Let’s have a look back at another year of excellent evening events at the Ministry of Testing Meetup in Cambridge. I’m really pleased that we again managed to have events happening pretty regularly each month – a very warm shout out to all our speakers, hosts and sponsors who helped me make this possible.