Notes: Day One of Agile Testing Days USA - Tues. June 26, 2018

I had such a wonderful time at Agile Testing Days USA, a European-based software testing conference that came to the United States for the first time this June, held up north of Boston, up in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Ever since I became a Meetup Organizer of a local Boston area software testing group, I have been having the most fun running many a social media campaign on LinkedIn and Twitter, reaching out to the software testing community to recruit speakers, hosts, sponsors, and members.

With Agile Testing Days, Tuesday June 26th - Wednesday June 27th, 2018, I managed to meet many of my favorite text-based life forms face-to-face!

It’s @AgileTDUSA in Danvers, MA! pic.twitter.com/wW6t7KCPDv

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

My experience started out on a very high note: I met Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory face-to-face!





VIDEO: What We´ve Learned Since Agile Testing -- Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin

https://youtu.be/FIJQPHNS5Jc

Lean Coffee With Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory

I have been a fan of Lisa & Janet's book Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams ever since I came across it in grad school, studying for a Masters of Software Engineering at Brandeis. I refer the book to every developer I meet who is QA-curious, wondering how to interact with testers. When I heard that they both would be there at the conference, I packed my copy of their book hoping they would sign it.

Agile Testing Days started off with a Lean Coffee, a coffee-and-conversation session kicking off each day. Tending towards social awkwardness, I made sure to show up early, grabbing the first table that opened up so I could get enough time to warm up to the event. When the moderator of the table introduced herself as "Janet", I did a double take. Could it be?? Yes! She was Janet Gregory, and Lisa Crispin was moderating the conversation at the other table. Although I had been chit-chatting with Lisa about being a possible speaker for my Meetup group, it was intimidating meeting her face to face.

I still managed to get an autograph from the both of them!

I had my grad school copy of Agile Testing signed here at @AgileTDUSA by @lisacrispin and @janetgregoryca! #AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/M4r5GSIa3v

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Selena Delesie: Evoke The Soul of Agile

The first keynote was presented by Selena Delesie, an agile coach and trainer. Selena talked about, in her keynote, about "Evoke the Soul of Agile".

At #AgileTDUSA @SelenaDelesie delivers the keynote, describing the soul of Agile. pic.twitter.com/38ikoWTB2h

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Q: When you come to an organization, you can feel very alone. How do you avoid that emotional baggage affecting you as a coach?
To not take on other people's emotional baggage - empathic & being present in *your* space #agile
@SelenaDelesie #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

Get out of your own way - don't let your old experiences run your personal operating system. Get really *present*
@SelenaDelesie #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA #agile

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

When we treat human beings like machines we lose their greatness. @SelenaDelesie at #agileTDUSA. pic.twitter.com/XRcAefhXpy

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

"Stop doing Agile; stop treating it as a process. Start being Agile." @SelenaDelesie @AgileTDUSA #AgileTDUSA

— Alexandra McPeak (@almcpeak) June 26, 2018

Evoke the Soul of Agile from Selena Delesie

API Testing FUNdementals with Dan Gilkerson & JoEllen Carter

After the keynote, I took a workshop in API testing with Postman, using it as an exploratory testing tool. I need to convert my notes into a blog article one of these days.

Workshop in API testing at #AgileTDUSA. pic.twitter.com/zSO5JGMgh9

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Lunch With Angie Jones

I've written many a blog entry about Angie Jones, a Senior SDET at Twitter who is a powerhouse in the field of automation. She was a guest speaker at a Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup back in June of 2017. She has been a mentor to me as I have tried to navigate the world of automation.

And I managed to finally meet her face-to-face!

Wandering around #AgileTDUSA, looking for a place to sit down in the lunch room, @techgirl1908 flagged me down! Thank you so much for all you do for the software testing community! pic.twitter.com/MYVhROMS9V

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Angie Jones: Owning Our Narrative

Angie's keynote, relating the history of the turn-of-the-century musician to software testing cannot be described. It must be experienced.

Keynote: @techgirl1908 killing it at #AgileTDUSA. pic.twitter.com/D1sU7m43jd

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Until I can find an Agile Testing Days USA recording, this version given to KWSQA has to do:

TQ2017 Keynote - Angie Jones - Owning Our Narrative https://youtu.be/kK_TgsjYqJ4

Break the rules, do your own thing! Find a way to own your narrative! Great advice. - @techgirl1908 #AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/MmQqxBYeMW

— AgileTestingDays USA (@AgileTDUSA) June 26, 2018

Challenging your role the we you challenge software as tester. @techgirl1908 damn that’s deep #AgileTDUSA

— Brendan Connolly (@theBConnolly) June 26, 2018

#AgileTDUSA “our glory does not reside in never falling, but in how we rise after falling” Confucius quoted by @techgirl1908

— Oana Juncu (@ojuncu) June 26, 2018

OH: “Yesterday was the first time I heard @techgirl1908 give a talk in person. I loved her talk! She has a good rhythm!” #agileTDUSA

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 27, 2018

The thing that stunned me, most of all, is that Angie, after meeting-and-greeting people all day, she came to a Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup to run a killer workshop.

Ash Coleman: Defining Heuristics In An Agile Environment

Since I spent most of my time being riveted by Ash's talk, this section of the blog is brought to you by Angie Jones, and Claire Moss, Live Tweeter, extraordinaire!

Great talk on heuristics by @AshColeman30 at #AgileTDUSA. And her skirt has pockets! 😯 pic.twitter.com/DpgVfFHYGm

— Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) June 26, 2018

Live Tweeter extrordinaire, @aclairefication, hard at work at @AshColeman30’s #AgileTDUSA talk. pic.twitter.com/mnE9q0vAWu

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Developing #heuristics in an #agile environment with @AshColeman30 (but no cat slides today!) #experimentation #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA #testing

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

Story time! Working with an offshore team comes with struggles. The team set us up for success and we were working well together in an #agile environment. @AshColeman30 #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA #testing #heuristics

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

Testing as being the driver of #agile is usually something that happens from the bottom up #grassroots @AshColeman30 #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA #testing #heuristics

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

Continually let people know what you're up to - visibility! Over communicate when part of the whole team is offshore and part is onshore @AshColeman30 #AgileTDUSA @AgileTDUSA #agile #testing #heuristics

— Claire Moss (@aclairefication) June 26, 2018

Other Scenes from Day One! 

Agile Testing Days was an amazing experience. I must go again next year!

#AgileTDUSA: @PaulSBruce talks about Performance Testing. pic.twitter.com/kJIMCxCRFa

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

#AgileTDUSA: @paulsbruce talks about performance testing. pic.twitter.com/lm5Q7r0TZU

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Saw @theBConnolly, loved his shirt from w00t! Bug Hunt. https://t.co/5Dsv9u4MmH pic.twitter.com/ebdxaadEYI

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

Bumped into Justin Ison from @ApplitoolsEyes at #AgileTDUSA. I have attended many a webinar of his! pic.twitter.com/wpuqrBULBF

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

You can read more about Justin on this blog in:

• Exploring Applitools, a visual testing tool for web, mobile and Mac / Windows desktop applications
• Webinar Notes: Justin Ison, "Automated Exploratory Testing": Crawlers and Data Gatherers.

View my Notes on Day 2!

• http://www.tjmaher.com/2018/07/notes-day-two-of-agile-testing-days-usa.html

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

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