Testing Peers

Thank you for joining us once again, especially this special episode as the Testing Peers podcast reaches the milestone of 50 episodes published! This time around the Peers are talking about the testing community. After an intro, where we talk about other communities that we have been a part of - from sports clubs, Dad's groups and churches. We dive into the testing community, where it all be...

Hello and thank you for joining us for another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This episode, the Peers are exploring the oft-spoken testing mindset. Before we get into the main section, David asks the team of any examples of where their mindset has motivated them to successfully complete something. Then we dive in. Does the testing mindset even exist? What is our interpretation of the testin...

Welcome to the Testing Peers this episode we discuss the term manual testing.  Does the term simplify our craft? Is manual testing writing step by step test cases, is it using your hands, is it a low skilled job? How do we talk about testing and how does that impact perceptions? Is code just another tool to get testing done? We discus our thoughts over a wide range angles looking at manual testing...

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. In a show of our busyness recently, we chose our topic right before recording and it was decided on "Outside Influences to our Testing". Before diving into the main topic, Russell asks us what our goals are for 2022 and we share everything from making a new role a success to reading more to even doing a handstand. "P...

Happy New Year! 2022 (not 2023, David) kicks-off with the Testing Peers talking about motivation. The Peers chat about what it is that wakes them up in the morning, is it duty or a drive to live our best life? What’s the point of never knowing at all? When every step I take is always too small. Maybe it’s just something I can’t admit, But lately I feel like I don’t give a shit. Motivation such an...

Season's greetings from the Testing Peers! As with last year we tapped into our 'great' creative minds to find a Christmas-themed episode that somehow is loosely associated with software quality. The Christmas Dinner. Can six friends reach a consensus to create a Christmas Dinner MVP ( minimum viable product )? For this year's episode, the four regular Peers are joined once mor...

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Simon Show Testing Peers Podcast. In this episode, the Peers talk about dream jobs.  Before we dive into the main topic, we talk about when we have treated ourselves to dream gifts. From Back to the Future Lego, PlayStations, greenhouses, AC Cobras and coffee machines!  We begin talking about what our dream jobs were as children and then move on to what...

Hello and welcome back for another episode of the Testing Peers podcast! In this episode, the Peers will be discussing coaching testing. We take a look at coaching credentials outside of our work lives and then dive into defining what coaching is and what it isn't. Chris mentions a sketchnote made at TestBash 2017, in a coaching workshop with Toby Sinclair and Amy Phillips - read more here ....

Thank you for joining as this time we share our views and ideas on performance and goal setting. Chris starts us off by taking us into the archive of his brain and on to PE - so we share stories of sporting prowess or lack of.  We move on to talk about why we do performance and goal setting along with some approaches including SMART and CLEAR for goal setting. We share our views about linking goal...

Thank you for joining us again. On this episode, we discuss our experience with onboarding new members to our teams. We spend time talking about the good and bad things that have happened and suggest ideas to make the onboarding processes as smooth as possible. Before diving into the main topic, David asks us to think back to times we have onboarded to travel somewhere. The peers all mention diffe...

Welcome to episode 40 of the Testing Peers! Episode 40??? How did that happen? Pleased to know people are still listening and supporting us! Thank you so much for this. In this episode, the peers discuss why we would want to have testing/quality activities happening earlier in a project cycle. The benefits of doing this and what happens if this doesn’t happen. Before this, Russell asks the peers a...

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Our gloves are off this week and we don’t have a specific topic to discuss. Instead we allowed the conversation to flow wherever it took us, with the only point being that this was a chance for us to vent about any frustrations we may have within the testing world. Before diving into the therapy session, we discussed non-testing frustratio...

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast!! This time the Peers are talking accountability, which is actually the foundational reason for the wider Testing Peers group. After initially discussing the accountability of keeping your camera on in meetings, and what you may have ended up doing with the camera off, such as gardening, making tea or playing Mario Kart Tour on our...

Thank you for joining the Testing Peers as we talk nurturing.  We all are passionate about nurturing people and teams. The Peers find we actually we nurture each other quite a bit. We talk about creating a safe spaces, where people are supported, encouraged and act as critical friends.  Russell shares a acronym to summaries some key aspects FLOW F eedback and appreciation L ead by example O pportu...

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. With this podcast, we have matched the age of our youngest Peer as the ripe old age of 36 (Can you guess who?) :) In this episode we talk about a topic which all the peers are passionate about, and that is defining and creating a "Culture of Quality". Before starting the main topic, Russell asks the peers about Culture they may hav...

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This week the Peers are talking around the perennial topic of quality. The Peers dive into what quality might mean, but in classic testers' style, we talk about the importance of context: Quality is value to some person Jerry Weinberg: Quality Software Management: Volume 1, Systems Thinking, 1992 The conversation moves onto talking abou...

Thanks for joining us again for another episode of the Testing Peers. In this episode we talk about a phrase and scenario which fills us all with dread and frustration - "How Did QA miss this?". Before we dived into the main topic, Chris asked us all to think about things we currently miss that we either used to do or have... The peers responses ranged from outreach activities to playing...

Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. This week we talk about interview tests for Testers. We will also take a trip down memory lane and revisit how we passed or struggled to pass our driving tests.  We'll move on from our terrible driving to talk about tests given pre interview and tests given to candidates during the face to face interviews. We share some of our experiences of...

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. This week join the Peers, as we discuss Communities of Practice. After a brief cake disagreement, the Peers dive into the topic. We define what we define a CoP as, including what the name is, what it means, as well as what other names we feel this falls under. Ultimately, we lean into the most important word in the name, community. We also s...

Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. This week we talk about why we automate but we start with what automation is and its value.  Automation to us is a valuable tool that should focus on enhancing testing, this doesn't always mean automating test cases but can also mean automating tasks and activities. Automation isn't a silver bullet, it has both an initial investment and...

Welcome to the final episode of our first anniversary month. As mentioned in episode 28, the Peers don’t really do brevity, so we had to record an additional episode to cover some more questions that you, the listeners, kindly submitted. And even still, we didn’t get through them all, so we may need to revisit them again sometime, or perhaps with a blooper reel on our Patreon . This episode kicks...

Thanks for joining us for another podcast episode. On this weeks, we talk about all things certification. We discuss the value of testing certifications, what role they play in our hiring practices and any alternatives that may be worth considering. Russell took us on a journey into our pasts to look at what we may of overachieved in during our younger days before diving into the main topic. When...

This episode has perhaps the best intro ever? One year into the Testing Peers Podcast project, and we are coming to you with an AMA. For today's episode, we asked you, our listeners for some questions. Special thanks for the question for this episode to: Beth Marshall Peet Michielsen Claire Reckless Lewis Prescott Bruce (the Legend) Melissa Fisher Ben Dowen Now, the Peers and brevity aren&apo...

Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. This episode is special to us for two reasons. Firstly, this is being released exactly a year since we released our first episode and it is humbling to see how far we have come in that year and how many of you have listened. Secondly, and more importantly for this episode, it’s Mental Health Awareness Week from 10th-14th May which means it felt like...

Thank you for joining us for another episode. On this episode, we are talking about our experiences of leading upwards and allowing our teams to lead us. This topic came from our good friend Beth Marshall who sent us a tweet asking for our thoughts on tips with leading our managers and other senior stakeholders. Before diving into the topic, Simon asks the peers what apps or technology has changed...