STeP-IN Summit 2025 and My Experience

 

I start this blog post by expressing my gratitude.  My gratitude to STeP-IN and Vinay Baid.  I attended STeP-IN's 22nd International Conference on Software Testing, on 19th September 2025. 

This blog post is about my experience with STeP-IN Summit 2025.

I'm not paid or asked to write this.  I'm writing to document my experience and observations with STeP-IN Summit 2025.

The Conferences and Me

STeP-IN Summit 2008 is my first testing conference.

Since then, I'm seeing how the conferences around Software Testing & Engineering is shaping and continuing.  Together with the conferences and STeP-IN Summit, I'm shaping and continuing to grow.

For me, the conference[s] look as a timeline and the tree.

• It reflects the past, present and talks about tomorrow.
• In that, STeP-IN Summit shows the landscape of thoughts and drifts around the software testing practice for the last two decades.

I see the series of changes, transformations and trajectories in Software Testing as an industry.  I see the changes in conferences as well.

One of the conferences which is consistently attempting to capture it and get its gist to the test engineers is STeP-IN Summit.  Further, it emphasis on the practice of software testing.

Conference and Take Back

What do you take back from the conference?

Whatever you took back is what you tried to see.

If you want to experience and know the conference and your craft, you should walk in between the attendees in the conference, listen to them, and talk to them.

• You will know what's happening -- inside and outside.
• Inside and outside of what is said in the conference.
• Inside and outside of the one who is attending the conference.
• Inside and outside of you!

If you go to conference and meetup just to listen to the speakers and panel, may be you will not know about your craft, industry and what's happening.  

It is the attendees who carry the torch light. Talk to them.  Know what they are doing, why and how.  Network!

The speakers, panel, vendors booth and sponsors they attempt to show the drift, by calling it theme sometimes.  Is the drift being spoken is the actual drift? This is, uncertain.  Talk to the attendees.

To see the drift with current state, you need to find the torch light.

Find your torch light in your upcoming conferences and meetups.  Catch the drift and surf the waves.

I and STeP-IN Summit 2025

I thank the organizers and Vinay Baid for inviting me to STeP-IN Summit 2025.

This was my in-person software testing conference after 6 years.

I started at 6:30 AM to conference.

• I reached on time and collected my tag.
• The conference's reception was well organized.
• I moved to the conference hall; I see, it is full. I stood at the back.
• The conference's lamp lightened up and got a kick start!

I met my seniors in the conference.  They spotted me and gave a few minutes of their time to me.  I'm happy and grateful.  I see, people value for what you are and what you share.

I listened to talks and panel discussion.

Also, I was moving in between the people outside the hall and in the hall.

• I introduced myself and conversed on multiple subjects.
• I went to each booths outside the hall and learned what they are offering.
• I looked for TestAutothon participants and conversed about the problem statements, and how did they approach their solution to it.

Talks and Distance

After the conference, I took BMTC bus [Bengaluru city's public transport] back to home. It is a long way to home.  These talks replayed in my mind as I traveled the distance to home.

1.  Rahul Verma's Man, Machine & Mischief: How I Co-Wrote a Testing Satire with GenAI

• I see, this talk is a journey shared.

• The journey which shares about self, writing, learning, perspectives, technology, GenAI, co-authoring, book, raising the bar each time, not giving up, design, book publishing, emotions, and testing.  There should be more to it; I could see these.
• What I recalled from this talk is,
• His journey of writing book - The Last Book On Testing.
• How he used the GenAI, while learning how to use it better each time.
• Challenging the ChatGPT models and its responses.
• Not just functional. Beyond functional responses.
• Taking the help of ChatGPT models to co-author.
• Testing the responses and fine tuning the prompts by expressing the personalities.
• Not just the persona; it is personalities.
• He engineered the prompts.
• How he identified the gaps in this tech and learning how to use the GenAI.
• This talk helped me to learn the hindsight behind the book "The Last Book On Testing"
• Per my understanding, Rahul has tested and testing the idea of GenAI.
• In this practice, he has experimented with ChatGPT models to understand the internals and externals of GenAI ecosystem.
• He experimented using ChatGPT models to co-author his book
• Wow!

Meeting Rahul in-person after years is happiness!

Though, I did not converse about testing, automation, engineering, and GenAI, I spoke to him.

I'm happy and surprised to reflect that we both can talk non-tech and non-testing.  But, we understand and know testing is elemental and has its presence in each systems not just the software systems.

2.  Raveendra Chakrakodi's Staying Ahead of GenAI Humanoids

You do not forget some people to whom you listened and spoke in conferences and meetups.  JP is one such person to me.  Now, Raveendra is another such person.

• I will remember this talk of Raveendra Chakrakodi for years.
• It was a 15 minutes talk which reached almost everyone I hope.
• It requires courage to do such talks and share with the audience.
• The audience could connect and feel the connection to this talk.
• He said, he manifested to do this talk day before the conference.
• And it happened!
• The another talk that I remember for years is from Jayapradeep Jiothis [JP].
• This is also a talk in a STeP-IN Summit 2019.
• The audience got up from chair and gave their claps to JP's.
• I will remember this talk of JP for all time.
• These two talks are not completely tech.
• But, these talks are around the life of the people in the software engineering.
• I recalled,
• Jayapradeep's talk as I traveled back to home.
• And, I conversed with the thoughts shared by Raveendra.

3.  Rajarajeswari Rangasamy's Autonomous Testing: The Next Frontier in Quality Engineering

• What struck to me and probably to all others is her body language and voice modeling, when she started.
• I recalled,
• Her body language, short punches, eye contact, and stage presence
• And, Wagile :)
• Waterfall + Agile

When I come across her upcoming talks, I will listen to it.

4.  Ramit Manohar Kaul's Metaphors and Audience Engineering

Ramit co-hosted the summit.  

He conversed with audience.  I have hosted the conferences and meetups.  So I say confidently, he conversed with audience.  He made it look so easy while it is not.

I want to call his hosting as -- Audience Engineering and not Audience Engaging.  As a host, he just did not converse; he shared insights.  This cannot be experienced in all conferences and meetups.

He gave the metaphors to the audience.

• The metaphors of daily life to relate with the tech stacks around the Transformers and GenAI ecosystems. 
• This was a bang, to me!
• I could easily recall and connect to these metaphors and visualize the ecosystem of Transformers and GenAI.
• I wish he gives a talk with the metaphors and it gets recorded, and will be on social media.  I have requested him for this. :)

He engineered the attention of the audience with his wits, humor, messages and insights.  I admire this personality of Ramit too.

I recalled those metaphors and our conversations.

I met Ramit after years.

• I see, we both see the journeys, time and transformation, and embraced each other.
• I feel good!

Conversation with Shrinivas Kulkarni

I met Shrini, my senior.  I got to know there is something called blog by reading his blog in 2007.

I could ask what all I had in my mind at that point in time.

• He shared and explained his perspectives and thoughts on career, roles, industry, layoffs, job, and life.
• I'm happy that I could talk about this with him.

I recalled the insights he shared and the examples he gave, especially the one of manager mindset and individual contributor or engineer mindset.  This example helped me to simply my thoughts around the job roles.

Found The Preface For Book - The Last Book On Testing

When Rahul announced he is authoring a book, I saw the book title having the word "testing".  I pinged him saying, I will be happy to review his book and it is a privilege and honor for me to do so.

Later, reading the teaser he posted for the book, I realized, I could not have reviewed it.  Today, I'm not equipped and skilled to do so.

When he published the book, I read the sample on Amazon Kindle.  I said to myself -- I'm not yet ready to read this book!  

But, how and when to be ready?  I had no answer nor clue to it.  Hence, I did not buy one.  I did not want to buy the book and keep it untouched.

The talk of Rahul in STeP-IN Summit 2025 helped me to see the book.  If I had not listened to this talk of him, I would have said myself -- I'm not yet ready to read this book!

Each book has a preface.  I see, this talk of him is an excellent preface to the book.

• An excellent preface to tell about,
• The book -- The Last Book On Testing,
• GenAI, ChatGPT models,
• Conversation with models, and
• Rahul Verma's experiment in book writing using ChatGPT models and the experiences.

I understand, if one do not listen to this talk, one might not get the author's intent and its pitch voice.  

Is that fair?

• When co-authoring a book together with an assistance of a software technology, it is necessity.
• Why?
• That's how you will see the inner side of the author and what did he do with the technology.  How? Why?

And, for someone who is peeling the layers of GenAI and Transformers in her or his practice,

• The narration of this book will be intriguing.
• Because, it is the reviewed and fine tuned versions of dialogues,
• Between, 
• The probing engineered prompts of the author, and, 
• The responses [to the prompts] from the Transformers and its attention.

I could see the dots now.  I saw, maybe a 1% of what Rahul saw and he is seeing.  

This is enough for me to find other dots and connect for reading the book.  Now, I have the context to read the satire -- The Last Book On Testing.  I'm ready!

I moved to the counter and bought one with a discount.  I wanted to pay for the book, buy, and read it.  That is one of the ways I can show my respect to the book's author.

But, Rahul had said, he will give me one copy of his book.  His humbleness!  Thanks, Rahul. :)

I collected it from him and he signed it for me.  Here, you see it.

Picture: The book that I got from Rahul Verma. :)

This, the one I bought, I got it signed it as well.  I will be gifting to a test engineer who deserves it.  I am yet to find one, now. 

Picture: The book that I bought and got it signed to gift.

In short, this talk of Rahul Verma is an excellent preface to the book and for his experiences of co-authoring together with GenAI technology.  

I wish, this talk's video recording will be published on the social media.

When I get the essence of the book and can consume its perspectives, I will share my experience as a blog post.

Ah! I forgot to say this.  As I listened to Rahul's talk, I got an idea on how to see this book, read this book, and reflect.  I shared the same with him.  And, he did say one of the reader and reviewer did that.

To summarize,

• Thanks STeP-IN and Vinay Baid.
• Gratitude!
• Thanks Rahul, Ramit, Shrini, Vipul
• Thanks to my seniors who gave me their few minutes and a pat.
• Thanks to attendees who gave me their time as I moved between them and conversed.
• Thanks Raveendra Chakrakodi for standing up and speaking your soul.
• I will be travelling distance with the dots I have collected [and collecting] in STeP-IN Summit 2025.
• I got a much needed preface to read the book -- The Last Book On Testing
• One request that I have for STeP-IN is to publish the videos of talks.
• This is a long standing request. :)

STePIN Summit 2020 - Volunteering and My Experience

This blog post is about my experience report of STePIN Summit 2020.  I was one of the volunteers who did the tweeting of talks.  In a way, we all volunteers reached the essence of each speaker's presentation to people who could not attend the virtual conference.  It was two days virtual online conference organized by STePIN Forum on 03rd Sep 2020 and 04th Sep 2020.

Disclaimer

No one has paid me or asked to write this report.  I'm recording my experience of the conference here.

STePIN Summit 2020 and Registration

STePIN Forum has given me an invitee pass for the past STePIN Summits.  This time it was a virtual conference as we have a pandemic situation from COVID19.   I wrote to one of the organizers asking I'm available as a volunteer.   I got an immediate response acknowledging the request.

I joined a group of other volunteers.  Our volunteering task was to watch the Social Media for hashtag #STePInSummit2020 and tweet about the conference's talks.  Organizers briefed us and were available to contact for any clarifications before, during, and post conference.

I got a free pass this time as a volunteer for STePIN Summit 2020.  I'm glad I could be part of the conference.  If I were to buy the ticket, I could not have afforded it in my present financial situation.

I thank STePIN Forum and STePIN Summit 2020 organizers for the kind gesture.

STePIN Summit 2020 and Volunteering

I made sure that I will be on time with an infant around me.  I had to take care of an infant and do the tweet.  I liked this challenge in front of me; I dived into it.

Listening to each speaker, I made my notes in a format whose length fits to tweet and yet makes sense.  My kid stared at me to see how crazy I was talking to her, making my notes, tweeting, and reading.  While I did this, I was making sure that follow up consecutive tweets matched the context and stayed relevant with what was said by the speaker.

In between, the kid pulled the laptop and said, she will also work along with me.  I had to negotiate with her and continue my work.  I did it well; I was successful.

The platform used in this virtual conference had provision for sponsor booths, reception, and tables for attendees.  I have tried to capture a glimpse of it.

The #virtual handouts and reception in #stepinsummit2020@stepin_forum #testing #automation #conferences pic.twitter.com/6z1Er1zNJ1

— Ravisuriya (@testingGarage) September 4, 2020

The virtual lounge and booths in #stepinsummit2020 and ease of visiting it.@stepin_forum #conferences #testing #virtual pic.twitter.com/lykgQaOdqN

— Ravisuriya (@testingGarage) September 4, 2020

When the multiple session tracks kicked in, I decided to be in one session and cover it in my tweets.  The other volunteers were covering the other session tracks.

In one of the sessions, how Ramit and Vipul engaged the audience for a while is interesting.  When Ramit asked anyone of you want to share, I wanted to talk and share.  It was an opportunity for me.  I did not utilize it.  By the time I was ready, the discussion between Vipul and Ramit by answering the questions from attendees was engaging.  I continued listening to it.

My break time was the tea and lunch break. The volunteering occupied me to that extent. 

My Experience

I did my best to cover the speaker's presentation and thought.  I got direct messages (DM) to my tweet handle thanking from attendees who missed a few sessions and from people who could not attend the conference.  The DM's said they could see the presenter's talk in my tweets.

I feel that I have done good work in the assigned job as a volunteer.  I thank STePIN Forum for the opportunity and kind gesture.  I enjoyed this conference with my kid beside me.

TribalQonf 2020 - Volunteering and My Experience

This blog post is about my experience of volunteering for TribalQonf 2020, hosted by The Test Tribe community.  It was two days virtual conference on 27th Jun 2020 and 28th Jun 2020 with 600 attendees.  I volunteered for the conference along with other volunteers.

Disclaimer

No one has asked or paid me to write this blog post.  I'm writing it here to document my experience and learning from the TribalQonf 2020.

TribalQonf 2020 and Registration

I read about this conference on the Facebook group page of The Test Tribe.  I looked for submitting my talk.  I could not find a way to do it.  Later I learned, there was no public call for speakers.  The speakers were invited and chosen by the conference organizers.

The conference had a registration fee.  In the current financial situation of me, I could not afford it.  I did not wish to ask for a free pass or a discounted registration to attend this conference.

I had missed a few virtual testing conferences in the year 2020, as I could not afford to register.  I gave time for myself, so I let go of this as well.  But, I had this thought in my mind: "If I volunteer for TribalQonf 2020, probably I may get a free entry pass to this conference."   I wrote, "I'm available and wishing to volunteer."  to one of the organizers.  I received a positive note; I got added to the group of TribalQonf 2020 volunteers.  

Yet, I had a question should I register for attending this conference as there was no mentioning of a free pass to the volunteers.  I asked for one of the organizers should I register for the conference?  I got a volunteer pass.  I thank The Test Tribe community and its team for this kind gesture.

TribalQonf 2020 and Volunteering

The discussion of volunteering tasks had picked its momentum with volunteers and organizers.  The task list and status got updated consistently. 

I could not work on initial tasks in full dedication.  I stopped and did not interact much while I listened to it.  I had the feel what am I doing as a volunteer.  Then came a task to tweet about the talks on Twitter.  I picked it up.

I did well in this task.  Apart from the tweeting, I got another two responsibilities on the day of the conference.  I picked them and tried doing my best by communicating consistently to one of the organizers and conference host.    

I have a feeling of doing justice for the volunteer pass I got from The Test Tribe.

My Experience

I enjoyed the conference and listened to the speakers while I tweeted.  The feel of I did my part honestly being in each talk makes me glad.  Before taking up the tweeting, the tasks I was looking at helped me develop a fresh perspective on pitching and promotion.  I stopped brainstorming and working on the strategic planning of pitching as I could not participate actively in the discussion.  The insights I had while I brainstormed, I did not have it earlier; it is useful learning to me.

I'm glad that live-tweeting helped who were following the hashtag #tribalQonf.  I received thankyou messages in my DM and chat.  I was able to assist The Test Tribe in little possible ways for TribalQonf 2020.

I used an analysis platform to look at how the #TribalQonf is doing during the conference.  Here is the analysis for the first 500 tweets with hashtag #TribalQonf.

Test Leadership Congress 2020 - Vote of Thanks

With the permission of Anna Royzman, I wrote and shared the below Vote of Thanks note for Test Leadership Congress 2020 vote on 09th October 2020.

Hello All,


On behalf of Test Masters Academy, I express my vote of thanks with gratitude to the conference chair, organizers, sponsors, speakers, facilitators, and support. I thank @Anna Royzman and her team for giving us the engaging and educative conferencing hours. 

When I recollect the moments and calendar, it will not be a happy story without thanking the people who registered and eventually became the conference. The 47 days of the virtual conference having 179 hours of live streaming is not an ordinary conference story. 

Maybe none of us would have imagined that we will be attending a virtual conference from home for 179 hours or close to 7.5 days. It is a story to be said and embraced with celebration.  

I thank all the attendees, speakers, facilitators, and support for giving your time and making this conference happen and successful. I will remember this conference for all time! I have motivational, influencing, and happy stories to tell from this conference.

Today the Test Leadership Congress 2020 officially comes to an end, and I convey my regards to you all for being part of it. This conference has accomplished the purpose of it, and I happily share a few journey data with you all.

A quick briefing on the engaging and connected journey of TLC 2020:

1. 47 days virtual conference (pre-conference days, conference days, and tutorials days)
2. 60+ speakers from all geographical continents
3. 135 hours of pre-conference and conference sessions
4. 44 hours of tutorials
5. 179 hours in total live-streamed
6. Summer Leadership Season -- 20th July 2020 - 21st August 2020
7. Fall tutorials -- 01st September 2020 - 08th October 2020
8. Time Zones covered -- AEDT, IST, BST, EST
9. No downtime of conference streaming
10. Support available throughout the streaming time and offline
11. 10 members support team -- facilitating & tech support
12. Timely broadcast and announcement in Slack
13. Pre-conference and Conference session's live-tweeting
14. Following up with speakers, facilitator & support to make sure the scheduled slots are intact
15. Conference web and SwapCard consistently monitored and updated with details of speakers and topic
16. Backup plans in case of facilitator & support experience trouble during live streaming
17. And not to forget -- the conference design and program planning, communication with speakers, and following up

You all made TLC 2020 -- our conference.

Thank you all. Stay safe!

Ravisuriya

Support Team, TLC 2020

I, Stuttering, Support, Hosting and Test Leadership Congress 2020

 

The gratitude is what I sense in me at present as I write this post.  I thank my friend Ajay Balamurugadas for letting me know about Test Leadership Congress 2020 (TLC 2020) is looking for volunteers. I express my humble gratitude to Anna Royzman and Test Masters Academy.  

I was part of TLC 2020 in the host and support roles.  I received remuneration for it.  I could take care of my family for a couple of months with this remuneration when I did not have a job paying me a salary.

If Ajay had not discussed volunteering TLC 2020 conference, I would not have attempted hosting the virtual online conference so soon in my career.

Test Leadership Congress 2020

TLC 2020 was a virtual online conference.  The COVID19 pandemic has made the technology and software testing conferences to be online.  The good part is, I could attend it sitting from home.  If not, I could not have traveled to the USA for this conference bearing the conference ticket and travel expenses.

TLC 2020 was 47 days of the virtual conference having 179 (or close to 7.5 days) of live streaming, which is not an ordinary conference story.  I did not imagine that I will be attending a virtual conference from home for 179 hours.

Here is the gist of TLC 2020:

1. 47 days virtual conference (pre-conference days, conference days, and tutorial days)
2. 60+ speakers from all geographical continents
3. 135 hours of pre-conference and conference sessions
4. 44 hours of tutorials
5. 179 hours in total live-streamed
6. Summer Leadership Season -- 20th July 2020 - 21st August 2020
7. Fall tutorials -- 01st September 2020 - 08th October 2020
8. Time Zones covered -- AEDT, IST, BST, EST
9. No downtime of conference streaming
10. Support available throughout the streaming time and offline

Hosting and Volunteering the TLC 2020 sessions

I did not speak as a speaker. I hosted, supported, and shared by facilitating the in the below sessions slot:

1. Interactive APAC/South Asia/Europe -- Lean Coffee Session
2. Interactive South Asia/Americas/Europe -- Lean Coffee Session
3. Interactive Americas/Europe -- Lean Coffee Session
4. Interactive Americas/APAC -- Lean Coffee Session
5. Happy Hour
6. Pre-Conference Social: Game + Networking
7. Fireside Chats and Happy Hour APAC/South Asia/Europe
8. Fireside Chats and Happy Hour South Asia/Americas/Europe
9. Fireside Chats and Happy Hour Americas/Europe
10. Fireside Chats and Happy Hour Americas/APAC
11. Testing of New Technologies (and Fun Competitions!)
12. As a host/facilitator I spoke in slots of other speakers for the intro, follow up and closing

It all started on 23rd July 2020, where I saw an opportunity to grab the host role for the session -- Pre-Conference Social: Game + Networking at 1:30 PM IST.  I networked with participants by playing the game -- Questions For Testers (to trigger conversations and build connections). It is an engaging game compiled by James Lyndsay.

I hosted another two talks on the same day at 11:30 PM IST -- "The Art of Situational Leadership by Geosley Andaredes" and "Scale your automated tests using all in one automation tool - TestProject (demo)" by Sumeet Punjabi.

As part of Lean Coffee, Fireside Chats, and Happy Hours, I spoke (along with other participants in these sessions) on varied topics of Software Testing, Automation, Programming, Technology, non-technical, and more.  Importantly, I learned much better by listening to participants in these sessions. I could not have covered such topics in 30 minutes or 60 minutes talk if I had presented in TLC 2020. I shared by learning the context of participants; this helped me tailor what I share, how much I share, and how I shared my content with fellow participants. 

I and Stuttering

I have a speech disorder; I stammer while I talk. I have got control of my stammering today. It is not as bad as I experienced it in my childhood, school, and college days. People at the other end did not wait for me to complete my verbal communication, and some did not listen at all. Hardly I have one friend who listens to me patiently and waits for me to complete my part of converse in the discussion or chat.

Conversing was not a pleasing experience for me in childhood, school, and college days. When I had to buy a ticket on a public bus, I use to get verbally abused by conductors. I had written my destination on a piece of paper and show it to the conductor for having my ticket.

In 2009, I attended a walk-in drive for a Software Testing position. Those days 1000+ people would attend a walk-in drive in Bengaluru if announced publicly. I cleared the first round. It was a spacious hall where 300+ people were seated for the face-to-face interview. The interviewer asked, "What's the difference between verification and validation?" In 10 seconds, the interviewer said, "you may leave now." I explained to interviewers by writing that "I stammer, please listen to me." I remember the expression and tone of the interviewer when saying no. That day, I was disappointed!  When returning home, I said myself when I take an interview, I will listen to the candidate and I will converse.

When I had been to give my test for driving license, the person who was asking questions and reviewing my application forms threw it on the floor and said to get out of the hall. The girl behind me said to him he has difficulty speaking. I had to wait for others to finish their test. The other person came and took my test. I got my driving license. I think of this girl for the empathy she had when saying it. 

Inside my family, it was not easy for me. Except for my father, all others have spoken about how bad I'm when I talk. It made me not to open my mouth for conversing with anyone. I'm much better today; I stammer but not that bad as I did.

Now, when I had an opportunity to host a virtual conference, I said to myself. "it is an opportunity; I have to grab it." I have been waiting to spot such an opportunity for me; it came to me. I made use of the opportunity and worked honestly on it.

I have this thought in me. People have empathy for physically challenged people. But people make fun of people who have a challenge in speaking. Why? The movies I have watched make fun of people who stammer by showing it as a comedy scene or frame. Why? Though it is not a physical challenge, it is a challenge for a person who stutters. Stuttering is not my identity; it is part of me.

Above said are a few incidents from my experience with people while I'm stuttering.  It has impacted me and has its influence on me.  Today, I have control over it, and I'm trying to master it consistently.

I tried my best in TLC 2020 when I hosted and supported. I was aware there will be people from different geographical locations and who might not know my speaking challenges. I remained affirmative and confident while hosting; I believe I did it. I thank Test Masters Academy, speakers, support team, and conference attendees. You all made me better and helped me to see my strength!

In TLC 2020, I hosted/facilitated and volunteered as support for:

• 31 pre-conference and conference sessions as host/facilitator
• 36 pre-conference and conference sessions as support
• 20 tutorials session as host/facilitator and support

Closing Note

I feel the same sense of gratitude while I'm ending the writing of this post. 

I thank Test Masters Academy, Anna Royzman, and Ajay Balamurugadas for the opportunity.  I have used my time in a valuable way by being part of the Test Leadership Congress 2020.  Thanks to the Software Testing Community.

I can host.  I can engage.  I can speak.  I feel a sense of accomplishment!

My Learning from Agile Testing Alliance's 12th Bengaluru Meetup

I attended Agile Testing Alliance's 12th Bengaluru Meetup hosted at Moolya Software Testing Pvt. Ltd., office on 25th March 2017. I got to know about this meetup from the Facebook share by Moolya and made my mind to be there. The audience in the meetup were software testers, Agile trainer or coach, and technical lead.

Below listed presentation came in time between 9:40 am IST to 12:50 pm IST

• Welcome and introduction to Agile Testing Alliance, by Nishi Grover Garg
• Challenges of Agile for a Manger, by Preeth Pandalay, Techno Agilist, Agile Coach & Trainer
• Behavior Driven Development: What, Why & How - from a tester's perspective, by Vinay Krishna, Agile Technology Coach
• Problem Solving Techniques: An attempt to apply ideas across disciplines, by Ajay Balamurugadas, Tyto Software
• Creating 100 mindmaps in 1 minute, a demo by, Dharamalingam K, Moolya Software Testing Pvt. Ltd
• Concluding the meetup and vote of thanks, by Nishi Grover Garag

Brief lines on presentations from my notes

I'm listing few points here out of my notes. It was engaging sessions and I had to make sure that I will listen, I make notes and tweet to people if any who were curious to know what's happening in the meetup.

Nishi Grover Garg : Introduction to ATA and welcome note

• She introduced herself and shared about the Agile Testing Alliance and what it does
• Said about the recent testing conference that was held i.e. GTR Pune 2017
• Shared about the different certifications and the assistance from ATA

Preeth Pandalay : Challenges of Agile for a Manager

• Started with management structure, management hierarchy and bureaucracy
• Spoke about management in 21st century and in technology era
• Shared his views on traditional structure of management and Agile management structure
• From there, he spoke about traditional manager and Agile manager
• Mentioned about the network based management and said it as organization structure 2.0
• Then he said about Agile Team Cross Functional and mentioned Katrina Clokie's blog which speaks about this
• With that he said, Agile team is self organized
• He shared statistics of Agile helping to solve and deliver better
• With the statistics walk through, he says, Agile works
• Audience had question around -- "Management yet to getting adapted to Agile and teams are on Agile. How to solve this so team gets much more support?"

Vinay Krishna : BDD -- What, Why, How - a tester's perspective

• Started by asking do you know what is BDD and then said it is another buzz word and jargon
• Says, "in this era we all are programmers and need to write code; testing is a specialization now."
• He said about the surprises that software development brings and highlighted on "assumptions" what people make in team
• Started a group activity saying to draw start having 12 points and later he asked "why you did not ask questions but assumed?"
• Says, bug + feature = beature
• misunderstanding at all levels
• lack of effective communication
• difficulty in communication
• lots of assumptions
• Then he shared, BDD = shared understanding by discussing examples
• Continuing his talk, he said, for start have at least three amigos -- Business Analyst, Programmer and Tester
• Also says, it is useful if identified and used more than three amigos
• Shared about how important a scenario and use of Gherkins
• Mentioned on BDD framework saying,
• Feature File
• Step defintion (glue code) 
• Actual implementation
• Started another group activity and asked to identify the scenarios for a ATM transaction
• He said to avoid UI tests with BDD
• Shared few myths around BDD
• BDD is automation of functional testing
• Using Cucumber is BDD
• BDD is replacement of functional testing
• Took questions from audience around
• Difference between unit testing and BDD
• Around usefulness on BDD
• Deriving the benefits of BDD in performance and security testing
• Limitations of BDD

Ajay Balamurugadas : Problem Solving Techniques: An attempt to apply ideas across disciplines

• Starts by asking, "How do you solve problem? Take a minute and let me know."
• Audience started interacting
• There were no slide and it was a white board and interactive session througout
• Then he mentioned about a crisp definition for "what is problem?" of Jerry Weinberg
• difference between expectation and reality
• He mentioned about Problem Solving Leadership workshop by Jerry Weinberg
• He says, "focus on things which can be controlled"
• From here, he asked the audience to pick any one problem, so that he demonstrates how to solve it
• The audience picked -- why less number of attendees to the meetup
• He started to brainstorm around this problem while audience interactively shared their thoughts on how to solve it
• Nishi Grover Garg, said this is useful and it will be used from the next upcoming meetup
• Moving from here, he said about four techniques which can be used in solving the problem
1. Attributes and Improvement
• by, Robert P Crawford
• Further with examples he said
• identify the problem and list out the attributes of the problem
• work on the improvement of the problem
• If you miss out an imporant attribute, problem might not be solved
2. Six Thinking Hats
• by, Edwared de Bono
• Mentioned about 6 different thinking hats -- White, Black, Yellow, Green, Blue and Red
• Briefed what each hats means and what they signify
• He recommended to avoid using Black hat immediately after the use of Green hat
3. Questioning
• He said the importance of questioning
• Mentioned about Osborn Questioning
4. SCAMPER
• A mnemonic
• S - substitute
• C - combine
• A - adapt
• M - magnify
• P - put
• E - eliminate
• R - rearrange, reverse
• Later he shared one more mnemonic which he made while on the way to meetup
• PROBLEM
• P - perception
• R - reasoning
• O - opportunity
• B - beware of assumptions & problems caused by solving the problems
• L - lawfulness
• E - exploratory
• M - management
• He took the questions from audience on the techniques and applying it

Dharamalingam K : Creating 100 mindmaps in 1 minute, a demo

• Walked through swiftly on what is Mindmap and where it can be used
• He shared about the problem what he and his team encountered when wanting to build a mindmap for a product's feature
• Then, he said how he built the mindmap via Python program
• He ran a quick demo which showed creation of mindmaps
• He took the questions from audience
• On mindmap
• On the complexity and how to do this via programming

Nishi Grover Garg : Concluding the meetup and vote of thanks

• She thanked the audience who made for the meetup
• Said about the Agile Testing Alliance and benefits the people can get from ceritification

I took below to my desk from this meetup

• How to handle myself in teams which claims to run on Agile
• How to coordinate and deliver my best in the environment which claims to run on Agile
• How to focus on my work irrespective of Agile or not Agile and assist fellow testers and stakeholders
• Thoughts and questions around BDD apart from functional testing
• A mind which says to explore on this
• To focus on things which is in my control and where I can deliver
• Do not take responsibility without having the authority
• I repeated this to myself again
• To read and build skills from below resources shared by Ajay
• Attributes and Improve, by Robert P Crawford
• Game Storming, by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
• To explore and use what I can to learn in the web -- http://humansystemsinaction.com

Post meetup hours, was part of three interactive discussing sessions with Ajay and Pranav. I did learn discussing to Ajay and Pranav on fundamental topics of software testing, programming and practice.


Here is a pic from the meetup

Attendees of Agile Testing Alliance's 12th Bengaluru Meetup hosted at Moolya

My learning from Agile Testing Days Asia 2017

I had got an opportunity to attend Agile Testing Days Asia 2017 (ATDA-2017). I thank my friend Jyothi for sharing me this opportunity.  Before I happen to say much, I request the reader to go through this post.  I will share what I felt on being part of this conference and what did I take back to my desk so I can practice my testing better than before.

I'm a person who adapts to an environment of project and do what is needed for delivering the best. Whether I'm in a project which claims to work on Agile principles, manifesto and its various methodologies or in a project that claim to be on other methodology, principles and process, I work to see what best I can do there in context.

With that, I have no idea if Agile is successful always or not. I have an idea -- the teams working together to accomplish will get it when each assist each others to deliver.

I have worked with teams which claims to be on Agile. Still being on Agile, I have worked beyond office hours, in weekends, in pressure, and yet seeing the release delayed beyond timeline. There are all problems here as exists in projects which claim to be non-Agile i.e. before Agile got adopted to Software Development. Its all in understanding, solving and going forward is what I see irrespective of principles and methodology.

I don't say Agile is wrong or effective or not effective. I learn, it is we people who adapt it, will do it something else be Agile or non-Agile. Now, I will stop talking on process or Agile here as it not my area of interest for now.

ATDA-2017 conference was organized by STeP-IN Forum and I should be thankful to them. It is not an easy job to organize a conference. Getting people together by taking care of their presence, giving space for networking with the fellow testers of different organizations and helping to carry the thoughts back to work place is not an easy effort.  I thank you STeP-IN Forum, your people and the committee. Respects!

Coming back to conference, I attended Conference Day 1 and Conference Day 2.  The audience were from around India, Bangladesh, Canada, Romania, Spain and USA.


The day 1 had below talks

1. Evoke the Soul of Agile - Keys to Lasting Transformation, by Selena Delesie, Leadership & Innovation Coach, Speak & Soul Igniter, Delesie Soljtions Inc.
2. Leveraging Global Talent for Effective Agility, by Todd Little, Agile Leadership Consultant & Innovation Software Executive
3. Agile Testing of Microservices, by Praveen Kumar, Manager-Agile Practice and Manoj Kumar Nagaraj, Director, Capgemini
4. The Agile QTOPIA, by Rahul Verma, CTO & Founder, Test Mile
5. How to avoid Internet of Insecure Things, by Gaurav Maheshwari, Engg. Manager - Software and Prashant Jain, Project Manaager, TVS
6. Building Inner Trust - there is no agile without confidence, by Ginna Encache, Founder & President, CHOICE
7. Rev up to Agility, Apply Lean Six Sigma in Testing, by Ramesh BR, Sr. Director, OpenText
8. Agile Games -- to build a jeep

The day 2 had below talks

1. Divide and Conquer: Easier Continuous Delivery using Micro-Services, by Carlos Sanchez, Engineer at CloudBees, Member - Apache Software Foundation, Startup Technology Advisor
2. What New Approaches to Software Can Teach the Enterprises, by Puneet Gupta, Global CTO, Brillio
3. Agile and Startups - What can go wrong - A case study, by Vipin Jain, Director QA, Astegic Infosoft
4. All sprints are guilty unless proven innocent, by Deepak Chopra, VP, Genpact
5. Testing in a Responsive Enterprise, by Abhishek Johri, Agile Coach, TEK Systems and I remember other co-presenter was by name Mahesh, consultant.
6. Agility for The Last Mile, by Diwakar Menon, Founder, Last Mile Consultants
7. There is no such thing called Agile Testing - Debunking Rituals and Ceremonies, by Srinivas Kulkarni, VP, JP Morgan
8. The Big Fight - Cirque (Dangal) -- Agile - to be or not to be. Debaters -- Raj Netravati (moderator), Selena Delesie, Rahul Verma, Pradeep Soundararajan, Jayapradeep Jiothis, and Jayaprakash Prabhakar

Here is my experience of Day 1

• I understand, Agile practice is a culture. It is very much essential to have culture that helps an organization and team grow and deliver. In doing so, the process come in; how to make use of process and tailor it to accomplish, is the key. This was iterated probably in one or other way by every presenters giving an example of their work and process brought in to the project or work place. I did not see any thing about testing. Rather it was all about the process.
• Todd Little shared about domain knowledge importance in programming and testing from one of his project relating Petroleum Industry. Further he went ahead and shared how collaboration is important when working with teams situated in different geographical locations.
• A contrasting presentation was from Rahul Verma and to me is evident as I see him presenting in similar lines. I was not of surprise, however the audience had tickling and laughs as he expressed his thoughts. It was around the process, culture and mindset.
• About security in IoTs, it was more about the practice and guidelines. I expected to see testing here. It did not happen for me. I repeat it is for me. I'm not sure about others. And this was the only presentation which did not have the word 'Agile' in presenters talk.
• Gina Encache shared about importance of people relationship in project and working place. It was her first talk and glad that she made it in India.
• Ramesh, gave the case study of his work which had to with process and illustrated how it benefited team in saving time and deliver. Nice! He showed his team members photo to the audience and that is remarkable! But again I was disappointed as I did not see testing here. It is about process. 
• Game session was interesting. It had three teams and each were given stuffs to build a jeep. I enjoyed watching it.  The collaboration, communication, team efforts, and one goal to accomplish helped all to stick together. Interestingly, here team did not follow any process however it was time boxed activity and team members spoke what they have to do and in what order. This was an example probably which the conference should have highlighted having each team to talk on second day of conference. May be the organizers did not think about it. I enjoyed this activity.
• Atul Khatri presented his stand up comedy. He did say, that we will recollect his jokes after two or three days and it gives tickle and brings the laugh.
• Followed this, it was a announcement of winning team who designed the jeep in given design constraint and time. 

Here is my experience of Day 2

• It looked as continued journey for me from Day 1.
• I did not get how to detail out testing the Micro-Services. It was more about the infrastructure and concepts. For one who hasn't heard about micro-services, this session will help to get a idea at a conceptual layer.
• Vipin Jain, had a case study and it was around a process and the impact if not understood how to use process.
• After this, all talks were on process and how to go with process so one can be informed well before a huge cost in the business.
• Testing in responsive enterprise, I was waiting for this talk. Eventually, this too was on process discussing on latest trend in software development and its methodologies.
• Following this, there was a debate about being Agile or not to be.  Each person in debate seat had their views on Agile, tools, and Continuous Integration.  But, none of them here spoke about testing! That was too sad. I expected at least they bring up point asking where is testing in all what we have heard for two days around Agile. It did not happen. See, how one gets into process trap while all are talking around the process.
• Shrini, I have seen him presenting and sharing his thoughts. It was no surprise for me. I did expect something from Shrini which would have spoken about testing execution. The only presentation which said word "testing" quite often along with the words "process" and "Agile".

My observation

• The conference was Agile Testing Days, but it did not have testing in it i.e. in two days of conference.
• Most of the speakers were of management level and was on process thoughts.
• Whereas most of the audience were in execution level i.e. Testers who do testing. See the gap of presenter and audience. 
• Process, process, and process.  The same is heard in office and same was heard in conference. Where is the testing? Or, where is the automation? How to do it? An example and demonstration of one such problem went missing in the conference.
• Testers want to know and seek help in doing their task better. At least I look for that than hearing about the process. I did not get that. 
• The game activity in the conference is clear example for collaboration and deliver as a team in knowing what is the goal. In the game session all were agile and did what their role expected do to in the team for building a jeep by assisting each others.
• I do not remember if there was much discussion on The Four Testing Quadrants and how to work on it, if Agile Testing was being discussed in Agile Testing Conference. As well I remember, just one liner mention in Shrini's presentation on the four quadrant of testing.

My humble appeal to STeP-IN committee

• I wish to share my honest opinion here as a practicing tester and seek your help to practice better. Please do not feel bad on me.
• I see the most of the audience in conferences were to be practicing hands-on testers in desk. It is they who execute and inform the stakeholders (managers and management) about the risk. When we testers better our testing skills, eventually we will learn how to deal with process and principles that comes with any name. Thereby we actually assist the culture of the project and company as well to get better. That said, I request to have more of testing in conferences than process and management.
• If looked into presenter and audience, you will see the gap clearly.  Please do encourage and pick the hands-on testers. Give more slots to these testers while we give few slots to management people. Ask for testers to come up and speak about their testing, automation, problem solving and innovations. This is what we need, importantly, to march forward in the testing practice as a start.
• Having management people talk all the way is good until we testers get what we want to get. If not, it will be boring, at least for me.
• To the panel which selects the paper or topic for presentation that come to them, please do keep the practicing testers in mind. See what is that we testers need and get that. The orientation of problem for tester and management is of different kind. You see, management sends their testers to conferences and not most of their management to conferences. I'm not saying to eliminate management talks but that should not fill the space and eliminate testing all together.
• I wish to see audience feel happy for coming to conference and say it was very useful and recommend it for themselves and others.

I took below to my desk from this conference

• To focus on my testing. Learn how to make use of process to its best for delivering by adapting it to the context on tailoring.
• Convey the same to fellow testers on desk and work along with them to deliver useful testing which is of value and creates demand for itself.
• I said myself, testing is agile in itself when understood the purpose of testing. So is the automation when it is to assist the testing. If this is consistently learned by me on each day, it will help me to adapt and tailor for any process to do better.