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.

Disclaimers for the blog posts under this label - "Testing and Conferences"

I want to start writing on what I feel, and what I took back from attending a conference.  I attend conferences that is oriented majorly towards Software Testing and also on programming.  I ask to myself, "Why I'm not sharing to organizers about the experience I had attending the conference as a audience or presenter?"  Never I shared though I filled or wrote the feedback form if given during the end of conference or end of the day in a conference.

I'm not sure if I will be hated, or (and) opposed, or (and) seen as unusual for what I share. But when I share, I do with honesty and seeking the good for me and for all practicing software testers from each one of us; that includes me as well.  With this, I want to keep this post as disclaimer or pointers where one has to read if she or he has different thoughts for what I share in the successive blog posts under this label.

I want to convey the below points in list of disclaimers

• Opinions or experience I share under this blog label are my own. It has nothing do with others. I will be solely responsible for what I say here.
• I do not mean to downgrade or oppose or pull down the fame and legacy of any forum or association or group or practitioners. Instead, I wish to be a honest tester who shares what I feel in respect for the efforts the group has put in making a conference for software tester.
• I do not intended to speak about any speakers or presenters in conference. It is a skill to present to the audience and I admire it; I want to be better and grow here. If one is coming up on to the stage and presenting, she or he has to be encouraged and I'm one such encourager with empathy.
• I never talk on a person i.e. individual nor on their experience or work. If I did so, I will be too bad for doing it.  Rather, I will share what I felt as overall when I want to carry back from conference to my desk to implement in my practice.
• My sharing will be to the conference organizers, panel who sets up theme or topics presented to audience. If the conference audience observe my thoughts are relevant, I would not be surprised. I speak from my tester perspective who is hands-on.
• Organizing a conference or a talk is not a simple job. I know the efforts it takes. The posts never point on that efforts. But, I will share what was beneficial; what would have been beneficial to me or testers similar to me and to people who wants to see value out of testing.

Note: I keep updating these disclaimer pointers as I learn.

At any time if you think, I'm doing wrong or have misunderstood, please do feel free for conveying it to me. My email id is ravisuriya1 at gmail dot com.  I'm human and I'm fallible, yet I want to be better each time; if you happen to assist me to do it, I will be thankful to you.