Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, we talk about our experience with models for testing. This takes us down the journey of identifying the models we have found most useful during our testing careers. Before diving into the main topic, David asks us what our first model of car we owned was, which was a fun trip down memory lane, particularly for our resident petrol head (Russell!). Chris certainly wins the award for the biggest death trap out of the 4 of us. Chris i...
Jun 05, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, we will discuss our experiences around Public Speaking. This covers everything from our own talks to any tips and suggestions we have to help people get into performing public speaking. Chris starts us off with asking us about our experiences during our youth with public performances and any horror stories. We had everything from drill commands in the Air Cadets, school performances and Christmas shows. We dived into why...
May 22, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Welcome to episode 55 of the Testing Peers podcast. This episode falls on the same date as the start of Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 , and this year's theme is Loneliness and our mental health. We greatly value all the discourse around mental health and see great value in continuing the conversation and so we have dedicated this episode to the topic of loneliness from our experiences and perspectives in our testing lives. Russell kicks us off with a conversation about renovation and DIY str...
May 08, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. Today we talk Agile and our experiences around it This week Simon banter borrows his banter ideas from the More Than Work Podcast. Once we move on from our banter we move on to talk about agile/Agile and what it isn't. We talk about the mindset that is needed and how transformations go badly or well. We talk about short cuts and bad implantations along with the good. We also share a quote from Vince Lombardi around chasing perfection 'Gent...
Apr 24, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Welcome to episode 53 of the Testing Peers podcast! In this episode, the Peers are talking about Experience – what it means to us in the workplace, how we approach working with people of differing experience, as leaders – and much more. Before diving into the main topic, David asks the Peers to look back at experiences in our lives when we realised we couldn’t do something, or made a mistake. Moving on, we look at a lot of questions around experience. Does time served make you ‘better’? Should t...
Apr 10, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. On this episode, we discuss the important and often talked about topic of Job Titles within the Testing/Quality space. Before diving into the main topic, Chris leads with the banter and gets us thinking what our Superhero alter-ego's may be. You're in for a treat, but think it's safe to say, we won't be getting our own Marvel or DC comic/film with these... But maybe there is a new SWAG opportunity here if we can find someone to h...
Mar 27, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. On this episode, the peers discussion the topic and the ‘art’ of persuasion. Covering what we mean by persuasion, some examples of when we have used it and also discussed it from the angle of being an ally for those trying to pursuade someone. Before we dived into the main topic, Russell took us on a crucially important tangent by asking us what our ideal breakfasts would be. Safe to say, all our choices could be covered by a buffet breakf...
Mar 13, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 51
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 began for us - conferences, news subscriptions, meetups with special mention to EuroSTAR , Ministry of Test...
Feb 27, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 50
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 testing mindset? Can only people with the testing mindset test? Can you teach the testing mindset? Can any...
Feb 13, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 49
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, but what are your thoughts? What does the term manual testing mean to you? Why not get in touch and...
Jan 30, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 48
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. "Peers Con" is mentioned too which is our conference we would love to find a way of running. On the main topic, we di...
Jan 16, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 47
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 aggravation Accusations don’t know how to take them Inspiration getting hard to fake it Concentratio...
Jan 02, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 46
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 more by our good friends Shey Crompton & Beth Marshall. As with last year, we asked our guests to nominate a charity fo...
Dec 19, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 45
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 our dream jobs might be today. The Peers even play with ideas down the line of a Testing Peers consult...
Dec 05, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 44
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 . We explore the following the questions: do you need to have experience at the craft to coach it? who is r...
Nov 21, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 43
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 goals to bonuses and pay and talk about the complexities of things to consider. The Peers then talk about...
Nov 07, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 42
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 different holidays they have been on. With onboarding, the peers start by discussing the importance of gi...
Oct 24, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 41
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 about their proudest achievements which is a good trip down memory lane for everyone. A lot of the co...
Oct 10, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 40
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 frustrations during the pandemic (without getting political). We discussed things such as masks on public tran...
Sep 26, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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 phones. We then dive into the main topic, what is accountability? Why is accountability important? A...
Sep 12, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 38
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 pportunities W orking together Our discussion move on to talking about a lot of different ideas as one size ...
Aug 29, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 37
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 have experienced on holidays. Beaches, Hurricanes, whiskey and Planes which don't smell too pleasant all got a me...
Aug 15, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 36
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 about how we can even measure quality, be it via coverage, confidence, or other. We also touch on Dan Ashby's...
Aug 01, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 35
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 computer games and everything in between. With the main topic, this originally came from one of our awesome f...
Jul 18, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 34
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 giving and receiving testing tests ourselves. We'll also cover some of the risks and benefits of testing c...
Jul 04, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 33
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 share our experiences in starting them, working in them successes and failures. We reference Leigh Ra...
Jun 20, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 32
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 on going investment cost that shouldn't be ignored. We mention Richard Bradshaw's Ministry of Testing - TestBas...
Jun 06, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 31
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 off with the Peers discussing questions that we hate, before moving on to questions that we love, ki...
May 30, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 30
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 discussing the certifications, the peers touch on the difference between the knowledge learned and t...
May 23, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 29
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't two things that go hand in hand, so we have split this AMA into two episodes, the second of which will be ...
May 16, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 28
