History of the Periodic Table of Testing

22 Jul 2026

Latest periodic table of testing; see the collection link for a full-text version.  image
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read my moment. If you have any comments, feedback, or questions, I'm eager to hear them, so please get in touch. 

The primary reason for sharing is to document my investigations and journeys through the world of testing using my Periodic Table of Testing. One of the original designs is below. See the Periodic Table of Testing collection for more information and a full-text list version.

.  
An original version with low contrast in places and before more modern practices were added
Over time, I tried to navigate through the table as I ask myself, do I understand what this is, how it works and how/when to implement this in the projects I work on. After all, theory and ideas are all well and good, but if you can't then apply them, what good are they? This was the beginning really of my generalist journey. 

The table takes its inspiration from many sources. I originally created the Periodic Table of Data in 2011 and shared it with the MoTaverse in 2015. Back in 2011, while working in a Business Intelligence role, I created it as a way to see how new data could fit into our existing framework. It was also a way to understand what we already had. Since sharing, I've had feedback from people in 6 countries about how this helped them visualise their data. 

The periodic table of data from the MoT article. Again, some poor contrast in places and data is divided into areas such as people, transactions, and products.

Please leave any comments or thoughts below. Thank you. 
Ady Stokes profile image
Ady Stokes
Freelance Consultant
He / Him

STEC and SQEC Certified. MoT Ambassador, writer, speaker, accessibility advocate. Consulting, Leeds Chapter Lead. MoT Certs curator. Testing wisdom, friendly, songs and poems. Great minds think differently

Open To
Write
Teach
Speak
Meet at MoTaCon 2026
Podcasting
Review Conference Proposals
Attending MoTaCon 🤝
Chapter Lead
Ambassador
Sign in to comment
Explore MoT
QA Leadership Summit - The AI-Native Edge: Leading the Future of QA image
QALS Summer 2026: a leadership summit to move beyond AI testing pilots and build production-ready, AI-first QA organizations - powered by the BrowserStack AI Test Platform and 25+ connected AI agents
MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate image
Boost your career in software testing with the MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate. Learn essential skills, from basic testing techniques to advanced risk analysis, crafted by industry experts.
Into The Motaverse image
Into the MoTaverse is a podcast by Ministry of Testing, hosted by Rosie Sherry, exploring the people, insights, and systems shaping quality in modern software teams.
Subscribe to our newsletter