Augmented Testing: 26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup at Fiserv

This blog post is about the software testing meetup which resumed after 5 years.  It is ATA's 26th Bengaluru Meetup held on 28th February 2026.  

The last meetup [25th ATA Bengaluru Meetup] was on 29th February 2020.  Do you see the date and gap?  That was pre-COVID days meetup.

It is a good feel to experience the restart and resuming!  This is living the hope.  

I tell you what it takes to run one meetup; read here.  Now, imagine running the meetups month on month as a ritual.  Do you feel it?

26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup, 28th Feb 2026 at Fiserv office in Bengaluru

26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup

In excitement I registered for this edition of ATA meetup.  I read the agenda, venue and date.  I started to feel it.  

The meetup was scheduled to start at 3 PM IST -- unusual and it helped me to travel and be on time from my distant place.  I reached by 2:24 PM IST.

1.  Meetup Updates

• Team ATA gave regular update on the meetup with all details.
• I did not have any confusion.

2.  Venue and Hospitality

• Fiserv office in Bengaluru.
• The security and admin staff of Fiserv were highly cordial and professional.
• I did not face any problem with check-in and checkout.
• The admin staff helped us with information.
• Ankur Raj, Balaji Kanamanapalli Venkata and Moulya Charegowda of Fiserv hosted and spoke to each of us.
• The seating and accessories for workshop was well arranged and organized.
• We got high snacks to beat the stomach hunger along with space to network.
• Thanks, Fiserv!  You imprinted a cherishing memory in me.
• I will attend the meetups you host.

3.  Meetup's Panel Discussion and Workshop

• 26th Meetup's theme
• Augmented Testing: How AI Is Changing Quality?
• Panel Discussion
• Discussion on the questions from community.
• Panel members
• Ajay Balamurugadas, Balaji Kanamanapalli Venkata, and Deepthi K
• Moderated by Aditya Garg
• We meetup attendees were encouraged to share our thoughts during the panel  discussion.
• This made it lively and active participation.
• Such experiences and initiation can happen only in the meetups.
• The panel is of opinion
• AI is of help and way forward.
• AI is effective when we input the effective data.
• What to consider when evaluating the AI solutions and how it is not same as we evaluate any tool or language.
• Have human in place and use the AI to the best possible level in a context.
• AI speeds the execution.
• The efficacy of outcome is dependent on input.
• How to see and use the AI solutions.
• AI, jobs and impact.
• Test Engineer now as a orchestrator of AI solutions and testing.
• Ethical AI and practice.
• Guardrails around AI.
• Hands-on Workshop
• We were given laptops by Fiserv for this workshop.
• Ankur and Moulya led the workshop.
• The workshop was around how to write better and effective prompts to LLMs.
• Copilot was prompted with hands-on exercise.
• Explained how to use the heuristics AUTOMAT and CO-STAR to build the prompt.
• This workshop was useful to me.
• I saw a couple of attendees prompting for the first time.
• It helped them!
• The purpose of workshop is served.
• Moulya and Ankur gave me space to share my thoughts to the attendees during the hands-on workshop.
• I thank them for this.
• They were in good spirit and encouraged me to share.
• I conveyed this to them and expressed my gratitude.

4.  My Experience

• Wow!
• I'm happy, I was in 26th ATA meetup.
• I'm glad to experience the Fiserv's people, hospitality and spirit.
• I shared insights on,
• SLMs and its help in specific to a context in contrast to LLMs.
• Why it is not easy to stop using the AI going forward?
• Why the compliances around AI is a challenge?
• The factor of 'interest' along with cost vs value.
• Cost vs Value vs Interest
• Interest drives further though the cost is high and value is not experienced.
• In case of AI, the interest is driving irrespective of the value and cost for now.
• This is my experience, observation and learning for today.
• How we end up writing the prompts and miss what we actually want to test?
• Why it is important to know how the system is orchestrated, communicates and functions along with domain knowledge?
• I shared an example and walked through the incidents.
• I cannot end this section without thanking Moulya and Ankur for giving me the space to express and share my thoughts.
• Moulya you are a team and person with whom I wish to work.
• I feel how considerate you are in listening and facilitating the best to come for all us in meetup.  Thanks!
• Balaji you are a team and person with whom I wish to work.
• I could see how open you were to know and listened asking my bits and experiences.  Thanks!
• I met Manoj MV of PostQode after a decade.  Wow!  I conveyed, how thankful I'm to him.
• I met Aditya Garg in person.
• I wanted to discuss with him on few topics; it did not happen this time.
• I met Ajay.
• Though we did not converse, we knew we are in touch and could feel it.
• I had a long discussion with Sushmitha and Vimala.
• I had a discussion with Ram from Capgemini on performance testing models.
• Had a quick chat with Jwala and recalled our last meetup.
• A brief talk with Arjun, Balaji and  Penchaliaha.
• I had a good networking and connecting.
  

How Fiserv is integrating AI solutions with testing and engineering -- the impact and changes.  My request to ATA and Fiserv is to host one more edition and share their exploration and solving.

I cannot end without the mention of security staff of Fiserv.  The lady was smiling, professional and helped us through check-in and checkout with information.  Fiserv, please do convey our greetings and message to her.

The other staffs who helped us in the meetup area and cafeteria were smiling.  That smile and warm welcome gesture tell a lot about the office floor.  

I'm looking forward for the 27th ATA Bengaluru Meetup.

Thank you, ATA.  Thank you, Fiserv.  Thank you, community.

Volunteering Meetups: An Experience and a Recurring Ritual

 

I attend meetups consistently.  I observe, conferences give information; meetups give the transformation.  

I have discovered that the informal and interactive format of meetup helps me express myself, connect deeply with others, and build a stronger network than in conferences.

As someone who organizes and volunteers at meetup in Bengaluru, I have seen firsthand what it takes to make them thrive and succeed.  In this post, I will share a glimpse of behind the scenes and why these gatherings matter so much to our tech community.

What is a Meetup?

A meetup is an informal community-driven gathering where people with shared common interests come together to share, learn, collaborate, network and grow.  Unlike conferences, the meetups emphasize on openness and active participation.  

Usually the meetups are a regular happening -- often month after month and it is recurring.  The community drives, foster and sustains it with its energy.

Conversations here are not one way lecturing; they are dynamic exchanges where everyone's voice is valued.

Most meetups do not charge and are free to attend.  Yet, the meetup delivers amazing hospitality and hosting.

Once you attend a meetup which helps you to be aware and contemporary, you will start searching for more meetups in the community.  That's how the meetups function, work and hold you together in your growth journey.

Ravi as a Meetup Volunteer

As a meetup volunteer, I see myself less as a moderator and more as a community curator.  My role is not about control; it is about creating space.

I work on facilitation -- assisting so that knowledge, ideas and experience flow from community back into the community.  The people are already enabled; what they need is a platform, a spark, a rhythm and that's where I work.

I try my best for the communities of software testing and software engineering.

Meetup Volunteer's Priorities

Here are the first few priorities I work on.

1. Have I created an atmosphere and space where people can connect and collaborate with ease?
• How do I foster comfort, conversation, and the confidence to share?
• The real challenge is "tagging" connections -- quickly introducing individuals to help them find common ground.
• Initial facilitation creates a ripple effect -- once people are connected, they will network independently in future meetups.
2. How to surface the available knowledge within the community?
• My goal is not to find the speakers.
• If I did so, I will make the meetup a mini conferences; it fails the purpose of the meetups.
• Identifying the "Quiet Experts"
• I collaborate to know who can surface the knowledge and share.
• It is all about collaborating with members to assist them surface and share their unique insights.
• I work to build time and structure for the community to share the knowledge it already possesses.
3. It is okay when we do not have an answer. We will solve it in the upcoming meetups.
• As a volunteer, I do not work to give answers.
• Instead, we community work to solve problems.
• Sometimes, we do not get solution for questions in a meetup.
• But, we follow it up, get an approach and potential solutions in the upcoming meetups.
• This is not see in the conferences.
4. What if all registered people do not turn up to a meetup?
• In a meetup we do not take attendance.
• Instead, we work on connecting, networking, collaborating and sharing.
• Say 10 out of 40 people turned up the meetup.  
• The goal is how we 10 can deeply connect and partner to help self and the community.
• I facilitate here much deeper and stronger on purpose.
• This is an asset we build.
• In the meetup, number of people is not success; the connection we make is!
5. How should I function so that this meetup will recur?
• I will be planning for the next meetup sessions in the ongoing meetup.
• It is a ritual that recurs month on month.
• If I run meetup as a conference, people will feel disconnected.
• People do not enjoy the powerfulness of informality and knowledge packed meetup.
• I work on how to remember the names of people.  I talk to them by calling their names in next meetup.
• People feel connected and associated when I do so.
6. Leaving the meetup venue clean and organized.
• As a volunteer, it is me who will be last to leave the meetup.
• People would have spilled the coffee, tea and eateries.
• I pick it and move to trash bin.
• Erasing the white boards, moving the chairs, pens, duster, cables, turning off the lights and moving the cups to wash basin.
• I do this, if this is not done by the people.
• Look for any items which people have left in the venue.
• Collect it and hand over to them.
• Why I do this?
• It is a mark of respect and my duty to leave the venue clean and organized.
• That way, the venue sponsor will be happy to give us the space next month with hospitality.

Volunteer and Payment

I am not paid for doing all this by the community which organized the meetup.  Neither it is observed, recognized and appreciated.  But, the security and home staff of the venue got much closer to me to work as a team in running the meetup.  

Most times the meetup organizing community do not think of the efforts I put and travel to run a meetup.  Yet, I do it for the software testing community and my happiness!

Delivering a Meetup

As a volunteer, I'm more of a community curator than moderator and organizer.  

I facilitate [not enable] the sharing of knowledge, thoughts and work from the community to the community.

Running the meetup is a collaboration and team work together with the community.  This team work will have multiple challenges to solve. Some of the challenges mention are,

• Passion and commitment
• Funds
• Venue sponsor
• Surfacing the speakers to share the knowledge
• And, speakers who finally makes on the day
• The topics and how it is relevant for the today's need and audience
• Meetup campaign execution
• Attendees
• The audience reach
• Reaching the meetup's information to the right audience
• Registration
• Maintaining the data sanity
• Keeping the audience excited
• Pre-meetup engagement
• Getting the audience to the meetup on the day
• Engagement of the venue sponsor, speakers and audience during pre-meetup, in the meetup and post meetup
• Venue management
• Meeting the venue's administration expectation
• Arrangements and facilities
• Hospitality
• Leaving the venue clean and sane
• Agenda of the meetup
• Keeping it balanced so that it serves audience interest and time with a take back to their desk and apply it
• Volunteers available on the day to host and facilitate the meetup
• Travel of people to the meetup
• Promotions do happen in meetup
• Who is being promoted, why, how and when?
• This has to be evaluated by the volunteers and meetup organizers
• Too much of it, it leaves behind not a good impression in the audience
• Why?
• Meetup should not be a place for promotion by large and solely
• It is a happening where people of common shared interest gather and collaborate informally to learn, share and grow
• Finding the balance here is critical
• The volunteers have a role to play to keep the meetup organizer see the interest of community and not just the business branding 
• And, more as you add to it.

To end here,  I do not get why this phrase is used in announcements -- "last but not the least".

The meetup organizer and volunteers are not last and the least.  They are part of the meetup in each phase.  Without the commitment and passion of the volunteers and meetup organizers, the meetup is not ready to deliver.  

Yeah, finding that volunteer who is super charged and passionate is like spotting a wishing star!

In gist, this is how the meetups are delivered by a passionate and committed volunteers from the community.