Disclaimer: This year I’m one of the reviewers for the Agile Testing Days.
It’s proposal season again, at least for one of my favourite conferences, the Agile Testing Days; the call for papers is open until March 28th (for 2021).
Another important tip (especially for those thinking about a keynote) comes from Liz Keogh:
If it’s an opening keynote, I try to open people’s minds to learn and question. If it’s a closing keynote, I try to help them reflect on what they learned. Keynotes are there to frame the rest of the conference.
I believe similar thinking applies to other sessions too: Make your session fit into the frame of the conference and what you know about the attendees expectations.
Tell a Story
I personally try to at least come up with a story, either one I made up or a personal one. Both worked well for me:
For a ½-day tutorial about testing and the Internet of Things (IoT), I set up the story of Goblin King Jareth the 42nd, who wanted to control his kingdom with a set of IoT devices and tasked the participants with testings these devices. The framing story helped to provide some reason to actually participate in the exercises.
For a (read: ‘the’ 🙂) keynote I gave at Agile Testing Days 2019, I chose the most personal story I possibly could: My diagnosis of and treatment for cancer – and why I still consider myself lucky. Read about it in “Being Lucky — A Keynote at the Agile Testing Days 2019“.
If you like to know more about telling a good story, be sure to read Huib Schoots’ blog post “Storytelling“! You’ll find — no surprise — a good story (and many links to more information, too).
Be Prepared
Things can go wrong: The notebook you planned to give the presentation with may crash. The projector may break or the sound system my fail. You may forget what you wanted to say. These things all happened to someone somewhere.
It’s better (and impressive!) to be prepared. For my keynote, I prepared index cards with notes of what I wanted to say when, when to make extra long breaks and other instructions, such as when to proceed to the next slide. At first I numbered them, so I could sort them, if I dropped them on the floor.
Later, I also put them on a thread: Now, even when I would drop them, they would still be sorted! This would have saved the talk, had I dropped those cards.
Some of the directions didn’t work out in the moment the presentation was live: The introduction was totally different from what I expected (and significantly louder!).
Mind the Last Possible Moment
One important, even obvious, aspect: Don’t miss the dead line. I did once and it’s annoying. Very annoying. — Most of the work was done for nothing, because I forgot to check the calendar. I learned it the hard way: If I’m too late to submit, it doesn’t matter how good the proposal was. Only if submitted within time, a paper has a chance to be selected.
I hope to see many great and inspiring proposals for the Agile Testing Days 2021!
2020 was the first year, I facilitated a LeanCoffee. Thank you Janet Gregory & Lisa Crispin for inviting me to help! Since this was an online-only conference, we used a web application and Janet selected LeanCoffeeTable. I found it easy enough to use. I particularly like the ability that all participants can enter actions and learnings during the topic discussions as well as generate a PDF to summarise the meeting. I found this a very pleasant experience.
Here are some of the ideas and insights, I kept:
No Testing Column I’ve learned that some teams entirely remove the testing column(s) from their boards. Obviously, this simplifies the board. But more importantly, it also seems to help teams integrate testing tighter with the overall development. This in turn supports teams working as one entity, and not as a number of people who happen to work on the same story.
After all those years: So many topics about testing Even after years, in some cases decades in testing, there are still areas that one can learn about, drive into and possibly thrive in. The next point is one that surprised me a bit.
Automated accessibility testing At least some parts of accessibility (commonly abbreviated a11y) testing can be automated. More on that later.
Productive ensemble testing Test in an ensemble testing (formerly known as ‘mob testing’, similar to mob programming) can be productive even with people that haven’t worked together. This was mentioned by a Lean Coffee participant who joined a group of people (with whom they never worked with before) for a testing session. To their surprise people worked together quite well.
The Last Talk On Software Testing
I had the great pleasure to moderate Rahul Verma’s talk ‘The Last Talk on SoftwareTesting’, where he explained were he thinks the business of tasting (no typo!) went wrong. Entertaining, hilarious and light hearted. And thankfully not actually the last talk on software testing at all. Here’s a very nice summary by Ekaterina Budnikov:
I was really surprised how far automated testing of accessibility is possible – and how easy it is to get started! In addition to that, I found it interesting that automated a11y (the common abbreviation for accessibility) tests can and should be divided into unit and integration tests.
An important learning: The tests that check contrasts (e.g. of text and background) are integration tests: Most often colours are set site using CSS, so not every article, product description etc. needs to be checked individually. Also the computation of how good (or bad) the contrast is, seems to be more time consuming than I thought it is.
For a first step to get some idea of accessibility of a page in Chrome: Using “CMD-OPTION-I” (on a Mac) or “View ➙ Developer ➙ Developer Tools” (via the menu) open the developer tools. Then go to the ‘Lighthouse’ tab & click generate report.
Moderating a New Voices Track
I also really enjoyed moderating Chris Baumann‘s talk ‘Extreme learning situations as testers’. The talk & topic were so good, some of the attendees stayed in the Jitsi room to discuss the topic for the whole next time slot! The following tweets cover some of the ideas & insights Christian shared with us:
So this is happening today and I'm very excited! Come an join me for my talk "Extreme learning situations as testers – How to add value while you're still learning" at 11:10! 🦄 #agileTDpic.twitter.com/eWhhCzt2JQ
Good point mentioned by @VinWijNL: Developers (and probably testers, too) don't care that much about the cost of fixing a bug, but do care that fixing is easy. A very good reason to make fixing easier & find bugs early. #agileTD#DayOne
And last, but certainly not least Miroslava Nikolova made me (re?) post a message on a piece of cardboard that circled around at the Agile Testing Days 2009.
I think it is still valid and covers the spirit of this very conference and the attitude of everyone taking part so well.
Here’s the plain text (and if you know who’s the original author, I would really like to know who they are):
We are a community of professionals. We are dedicated of our own continuing education and take responsibility for our careers. We support each other in learning and advancing our craft. We certify ourselves.
— Unknown author(s?) at the Agile Testing Days 2009
This year (2019) I went back to the Agile Testing Days, after a one year break. This post contains most of what I talked about in my keynote at the conference, as well as the reason for the break.
Some years ago, I chatted with another attendee after the conference and she noticed that I seem to be particularly lucky in life.
I didn’t think much about this at that moment and yet, I started to observe whether I am lucky or not.
the force that causes things, especially good things,
to happen to you by chance and not as a result of your own efforts or abilities.
— Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
Note, that the definition mentions chance. In other words: There is some kind of randomness involved. Also note, it states that we can’t affect luck.
What Luck is Not
I am interested in the kind of luck, I experience personally, at the place where I am, at the time when it happens.
What luck is not: Gambling, Happiness, Coincidence
Gambling
I’m not talking about, for example, buying a lottery ticket. While winning in the lottery is nice, it’s not a personal experience. The winner is drawn at some other place and another time.
Happiness
You can be lucky, but not happy — or happy but not lucky. An example of happiness is the feeling when getting a beautiful gift, you totally didn’t expect.
Coincidence
Events happening without being related by causation.
These are aspects that are related to luck, but are different.
A Story About a Car Crash
In early 2018, I went to a standard medical check-up. Everything was OK: The blood test results were not brilliant, but there was nothing to worry about.
A few weeks later I was on a business trip and took a taxi from the train station to the hotel. At a crossroads, another car crashed into the taxi, damaging the two cars significantly. The taxi driver and I were taken to hospital. It wasn’t too serious: The X-ray showed that two ribs were damaged, but not broken. One of my neck bones was slightly dislocated. Nothing pain killers, some physiotherapy and a good amount of rest couldn’t fix.
Not long after the accident, tiredness kicked in. I became less and less energetic. Getting out of a chair was demanding. So I went to see my doctor again. More blood samples were taken and the result was alarming: I was loosing blood! But where? More examinations followed. A colonoscopy brought the diagnosis. I suffered from colon cancer and it had to be treated as soon as possible.
Life came to a complete halt.
In hospital, a computer tomography showed that the tumour had strayed into the liver. So the therapy began: In two surgeries a good part of the liver and the affected part of the colon were removed. After a break to let the wounds heal, a chemo therapy followed, which lasted a bit more than half a year. I call this my personal debugging.
A surgeon told me that it’s very likely the tumour had been damaged in the car crash. This caused an internal bleeding which in turn caused the cancer to be diagnosed. I was extremely lucky, as it was diagnosed just in time to be treatable. As far as medicine & science can tell I am now (as of November 2019) cancer free! So, it’s very likely that the car crash save my life.
Tip № 1:
Good news can be hidden in bad news.
Tip № 2: Listen to your body. Go to medical check-ups.
It can save your life, and your life is worth saving.
Aspects Related to Luck
During the treatment, especially during the chemo therapy, I contemplated a lot about whether I am lucky or not. Four aspects are particularly important to me:
Persistence
Opportunity Cost
A Caring and Welcoming Community
Helping & Get Help
1. Persistence
This is relatively simple: If you want to be lucky in a particular context, put yourself in that context. In other words: Be where you want to be lucky.
As an example, I come back to my most favourite conferences.
2. Opportunity Cost
A tea bag fortune text
I had a ‘tea bag fortune text’ once, that said: “Akzeptiere, dass du nur eine Sache auf einmal tun kannst”. In English: “Accept that you can only to one thing at a time”.
You are where you are now, and you can’t be elsewhere. This is obvious, but still important. And there is always a price to pay.
If you’re at a conference listening to a talk, you can’t be in the theatre with your friends at the same time.
Note, that there’s also a price to pay for ignoring this: You may leave the talk half-way through, and rush to the theatre in time for the second act. There’s a price to pay for this, too.
3a. A Caring Community
The best example I have for this are the people at the Agile Testing Days. In 2018, the year I couldn’t attend due to my cancer treatment, I received a get-well card: A huge inflatable unicorn, covered in messages from attendees, speakers & organisers. That’s the biggest and greatest get-well card I ever received.
The inflatable get-well unicorn (Photo thanks to Sabine Wede & Eddy Bruin)
Here are just 3 of these messages:
Marianne Duijst wrote: “All the best! Our community is rooting for you.”
Someone from Portugal: “Fique melhor logo” (“Get well soon”, in English)
This is a prime example of a caring community. A big “Thank you!” to everyone who has sent me get-well wishes, gifts and video messages! It means a lot to me and it helped immensely to get through chemo therapy (and the FOMO from not being able to attend the conference).
3b. A Welcoming Community
My heuristic is this:
When you can embarrass yourself by accidentally misbehaving and you’re still welcome, well, that is a welcoming community.
Let me explain this by an example: Back in 2009, I arrived at the venue of the Agile Testing Days the evening before the conference. Trying to find someone to have dinner with, I tweeted about it, and a super-friendly Canadian answered.
@agileTD On the way to the #agiletestingdays in Berlin. Should be at the venue hotel approx. 7pm. Anyone interested in having dinner?
The next day, I tried the same, but without tweeting about it. So I went down to the hotel lobby. The same friendly Canadian told me his group was about to leave for dinner and that I could join, which I did. Food was fantastic!
Later that night, Lisa Crispin turned to me from another table, asking what I was talking about. I told her what we were discussing at my table, but that was not what she wanted to know. She clarified: “No, your session, what are you presenting in your talk.” Me: “I’m just an attendee, I don’t give a talk.” In that moment Elisabeth Hendrickson turned over to me and asked: “But you do know, that this is the speakers dinner, right?” I said: “No!?” Uncomfortable silence started spreading. Embarrassment kicked in, and probably blushing, too. I wanted to disappear there and then.
But I also noticed that everybody else seemed entertained. If I remember correctly, the organisers started laughing.
I was still welcome in the community!
4. Helping & Getting Help
My journey at the Agile Testing Days continued. In 2013 Lisa asked me, if I could help her and Janet Gregory with their keynote. I agreed immediately. — Little did I know, what I was embarking on.
They had prepared a small theatre piece for the beginning of their keynote and I had to play the role of Super Agile Person! I panicked. This looked like a good opportunity to ruin a keynote, without being a speaker. But again, it went well and people were entertained.
For some reason the embedded video may not be displayed at all times. This is the ‘plain’ link to the YouTube video
A short time later I had the chance to contribute to their second book ‘More Agile Testing’. This helped me in an interview for a project.
Interviewer: “Have you read ‘More Agile Testing’?”
Me: “Yes. In fact I contributed to it.”
Interviewer: “No way!?”
Me: “Kindly open the book on page 372.”
Interviewer: “Wow!”
Imagine this: WHAT IF … I had denied playing SuperAgilePerson?
Apart from all the good things that happened to me by helping people: Helping feels good!
Tip1 № 3:
You can’t possibly predict the strange ways of luck.
At this point I started looking for something better than anecdotes, something scientific.
Essentially: Do similar things repeatedly, but vary behaviour.
For a conference, I suggest to try these two things:
Tip № 4
Start lunch alone.
Go a bit early, grab food and sit down at an empty table. Than wait for people to come to your table and ask whether they may join. Of course you welcome them and enjoy a meal together & share ideas and thoughts.
Tip № 5
Don’t start lunch alone.
Start lunch a bit later, grab some food, find a table with a free seat, and ask whether you may join. Most of the time people will welcome you.
an idea that is based on feeling and for which there is no proof
— Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
In other words: Trust your gut feelings.
As far as I can tell, gut feelings still work if you have part of them removed.
3. Expect Good Fortune
This principle does not and cannot always work: I didn’t expect or even hoped to get cancer, but still did.
Notwithstanding, I expected the best given the circumstances. That gave me the strength to do what I could do.
A lead doctor explained to me that walking significantly improves chance of long-term cancer-free survival. The reasons for this are still unclear, but there is evidence the positive effect (see, for example, https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/39/1/71/3760392).
I started with 10 steps (with a walking aid). After a while, back at home, I was able to walk around the house.
Now, after more than a year of trying and improving, I can do 90 minutes of training on an ergo-meter, and feel great afterwards.
This is the lesson I learned: I cannot control everything, and sometimes I can only control small things. But some things I can control.
Where else can you expect good fortune? Well, at least for speakers at the Agile Testing Days, you can expect an audience that likes you and that wants you to succeed. You still need to prepare, even prepare for inconveniences, such as notebook failures at the wrong moment or a conference WiFi not being available.
Tip № 6
MOVE!
A word of caution: There are exceptions to this! If in doubt, ask your doctor. Also see Tip № 2 above.
Tip № 7
The audience wants you to succeed.
4. Turn Bad Luck Into Good
In short: It’s the story about a car crash again. See — or even better actively search for — the good things in all events.
Revisit The Definition
Luck is the force that causes things, especially good things,
to happen to you by chance and not as a result of your own efforts or abilities.
— Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
My my opinion some parts of the initial definition of luck can be removed:
First of all, it seems that luck can be affected and is not all about chance and randomness. This leaves us with this:
Luck is the force that causes things, especially good things.
Second of all, I’ve learned that there’s ‘bad luck’, too. With that part removed, the definition now looks like this:
Luck is the force that causes things.
There’s not much left and talking about the force doesn’t explain that much.
I’m sure Obi-Wan Kenobi would approve this:
In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck. – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope
Good fortune can be influenced, so let’s do it. Do you think a little more luck in your life could help? Someone at the Agile Testing Days once noticed that I seem to be a particularly lucky person. This made me ponder: Am I lucky? When? How often? Where? I also asked myself, whether it’s possible to influence luck. Episodes, some from this very conference right from the beginning in 2009, illustrate how luck can strike. However, it doesn’t necessarily feel like a lucky moment at the time it happens. It may actually feel embarrassing and stressful. These stories also provide some heuristics to help you become more lucky. Lesson learned: While luck can’t entirely be controlled, it might in fact be shaped in our favour.
