My Experience With HOTS For Smart QA

In this year [2025] apart from attending the meetups, I joined two programs. One is HyBIST and the other is HOTS.  These two programs helped me to pause and rethink on certain topics, my practices and approaching. 

• HyBIST -- Hypothesis-Based Immersive Session Testing
• HOTS for Smart QA -- Higher Order Thinking Skills

In this blog post, I'm sharing my experience with HOTS.  

I start by expressing my gratitude to Thiruvengadam Ashok and Keshava Murthy.  The efforts and time these two are investing to consistently update and build the HOTS has to be recognized and appreciated.

I was part of HOTS 5.  It is the fifth edition of this program with 30 topics.  We had around 40 hours of discussions.  This edition had 18 sessions.

Pic: On the last day of HOTS 5 Cohort Session

HOTS, Engineering and Thinking

In my opinion, HOTS is not just confined to software test engineers though the program title is HOTS for Smart QA.

• It is to anyone in the discipline of Software Engineering.  
• A software test engineer will have an edge as one can find at least one more test engineer in HOTS.

HOTS is a program where one is put to varying thinking orders and dimensions from different perspectives. 

• The topics and discussion in HOTS starts from the why the need of a software to what it takes to consistently deliver value from deployed software.

In a way, it is a kind of rewriting one's own experience and lessons learned from others experience.  

• On rewriting it, how will one go ahead to engineer the solution in her or his work -- is a gist of HOTS outcome.  

When one gets this gist, one will realize, the software engineering is not just coupled to programming, testing, DevOps and business.  

• Instead, it is social engineering which involves the awareness and skills of different disciplines.  
• I learn, it takes years of practice to become aware of this.
• By being part of the HOTS discussion, it opens up one to this awareness in the early days of one's career.

Programming, testing, product engineering, orchestration and business's service delivery is not just technology and code.  It is a  social engineering which demands skills beyond programming and testing is echoed implicitly after each cohort sessions.  

Hosts and HOTS

Ashok and Keshav are giving their time for HOTS outside of their work-life and family life.

• It is not easy, to do this, as a routine for the scheduled program as HOTS.  
• These two cannot bunk a class in HOTS.  
• Hope you get the picture of how committed this program is!

The hosts are punctual to the classes.  

• Keshav shares the information and any updates on time in the messaging group, so that, the attendees are aware of the topics and can prepare for it.  
• Ashok ensures to remind the attendees about the upcoming class on the previous day of the class.  

Apart from this, these two take care of administrative tasks to run the classes smoothly.  

• I did not have any trouble or problem during the online classes and in accessing the resources of HOTS.

The hosts are available and will respond in the messaging group for the queries posted.  

• I have seen, the hosts picking up the questions which were posted in the messaging group and discussing it in the class.  
• The hosts do not ignore; they make sure we get the clarity and interpretations with perspectives on the questions.

I have seen the attendees gently not agreeing to certain perspective in the discussions.  

• And, the hosts welcome it and appreciate it.  
• I did not see anyone being judged or labeled in the HOTS.  
• All are treated and considered equal.  
• We are given the opportunities to share, and we are asked to pick the opportunity to share our thoughts.  
• So well and effectively the HOTS classes are moderated and regulated by the two hosts.

On top of this, the experiences of Ashok and Keshav in the industry, engineering, software testing and engineering, and life bring vivid richness to the HOTS.

My Hands-On Experience of HOTS

• I was not aware of the word 'cohort'.  I got to know it from the HOTS.
• Each session is a cohort; I have no second thought in it.
• The attendees in HOTS come from different
• Organizations, roles, backgrounds, understandings, practices, thought process, problem-solving approaches, perspectives, experiences and awareness.
• I prepared for each cohort sessions.
• I read, analyzed and interpreted the topics and its details.
• I made my points and noted the questions to share.
• This gave me a space to interpret each peers thoughts and their points.
• I had my take back from each peers irrespective of their experiences and roles.
• I had take backs from each sessions. 
• I don't remember a session where I sat idle.  
• I was engaged completely in each sessions.
• Each sessions have put me into reflection, retrospective, regression, relaxing, critical and lateral analysis modes.
• I did not bunk any cohort sessions.  I made sure, I attended each sessions.
• When I was late by 15 minutes to a couple of sessions, I made sure to know what was discussed.
• It is that fresh each sessions are and the perspectives from it!
• There is no right or wrong in any thing shared -- this was told by hosts to all of us.
• It is how we are placed in the context makes it close or not close to what looks the solution or acceptable reasoning.
• We peers correlated and connected the different perspectives and learned from it.
• The disagreeing to anyone's thought happens professionally and it will be acknowledged.
• I observed, the disagreeing or agreeing was to the thought and not to a person. This is important to notice here!
• Each attendees welcomed the perspectives and awareness of other peers in the cohort.
• When I worked on the nudges and reflection questions,
• It helped me to recall my works.
• That way, it helped me to eliminate what I had to and start with a different mindset for today's needs.
• I could go deep into each of these exercises and think critically, or, figure out what I can do differently to solve the same problem.
• I also made use of HOTS 5 to exercise and improvise my communication skills.
• It helped me a lot here!
• These below fundamental skills of all disciplines were exercised in each sessions.
• Questioning, Interpreting, Hypothesis, Reasoning, Logical Analysis, Pattern Recognition, Communication and Presentation.
• Every area of Software Engineering was touched and discussed.
• For example, 
• How critical is the time analysis and drawing the analogy of Big O notations in software engineering.
• There is no randomness thought it has the word Random
• There is a definite defined and accepted boundaries in the said random.
• An example of Random Forest algorithm and how it works.
• And more such topics
• The hosts did not rush to complete the topics of the week.
• Instead, the hosts ensured, there was a value oriented discussion on each topic.
• At times, the cohort discussed just one topic for 2 hours.
• It was not an easy emotion for me on the last day of HOTS 5.
• I miss the Tuesday discussions which started sharp at 8:30 PM IST.
• My key take back from the HOTS 5 are,
• The perspectives each peer shared in how they attempted to understand the problem before solving it.
• The representation of tests in the layers to ease the communication.

I thank with gratitude to Ashok, Keshav and all other peers of HOTS 5.  Your time, presence and interpretation has helped me a lot!  I'm building upon it.

References:

1. https://smartqa.community/
2. https://smartqa.community/hots/
3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashokstag
4. https://linkedin.com/in/keshava-murthy-k-n-a623034