Quality Persevering: Software Testing News - Issue 463

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Here's a roundup of some of the things happening in the testing community. Let's go! 🚒

 

AI

• Something special has been happening with the 30 Days of AI in Testing challenge. Congrats to everyone taking part! It's amazing to see the community coming together to learn from each other.
• Lisa Crispin amplifies Rachel Kibler's advice on being aware of the anchoring bias.
• How likely are you to use AI in Testing within the next 6 months? Nao Deng shares their reflection on this question.
• Louise Gibbs used an AI tool to generate test cases. Find out how she got on.
• What percentage of your testing efforts are supported by some form of AI tooling? The results are super interesting.
• From Conventional RAG to Graph RAG by Terence Lucas Yap. Find out why Retrieval-Augmented Generation matters and what's next.
• Ash Winter has much to share about Days 11 to 15 of 30 Days of AI in Testing. Nice one for getting stuck in, Ash. 😎
• Open Source, Open Mind: OpenAI’s Transformer Debugger Unlocks AI Transparency by Toni Ramchandani.
• There are plenty more video updates from Rahul Parwal as he explores 30 Days of AI in Testing. 🗓️
• Not Strictly for the Birds by James Thomas.
• Ayah Fouad used ChatGPT and Gemini to describe a feature and to create test scenarios. "The writing format itself is not that different but coverage is missing some points that I would have added anyway even if it was not explicitly written in the feature description."
• Will AI Take Over Software Engineering and QA Automation Jobs? by Alex Khvastovich. 📺
• Aline de Farias Lisboa shares their thoughts on risks associated with AI.
• AI-Assisted Testing with Mark Winteringham.
• Conn McKay might've broken ChatGPT. 😮
• Lisa Crispin shared this helpful article from Birgitta Böckeler: Exploring Generative AI. 

Automation & Tooling

• Congrats to Christian Baumann for earning the MoT Foundation Certificate in Test Automation. 🎉
• Boost Agile process reliability, project engagement and teamwork with in-sprint test automation. In-Sprint Test Automation On Agile Teams: Yes You Can! by Swathika Visagn.
• Dmytro Stekanov explored using a testing tool and OpenAI API inside a test automation framework.
• How do you build a production-grade Javascript npm package? Kai Kok Chew can help.
• Fixing flaky Cypress tests by Gleb Bahmutov.

Accessibility

• How might AI enhance accessibility testing? Great insight from the community.

Leadership

• Christine Pinto wonders how best to move into a leadership role. Can you help?

Quality Coaching

• Emna Ayadi shares seven lessons every quality coach should acknowledge. 

Community

• Drew Pontikis reminds us to just say thank you.
• Myself, Rosie Sherry and Diana Dromey joined some of the community last week at Peers Con 24. Congrats to the organisers and volunteers. It's always great to see folks connect in person and be inspired. It sparked plenty of takeaways and ideas. 💡
• We're back with the fourth edition of the Test Exchange! Connect, collaborate and cultivate your career growth. 📈

Skills

• Maria Golubeva explores flexibility, teamwork, and adaptability. Soft skills for QA Engineers.
• A look back at release engineering. Lisa Crispin thinks about the range of skills that are useful for testers, and her learning journey for things like release engineering.

Data

• How to dump and restore a Postgres DB with new table ownership by Gemma Black. 

Security

• "The future of digital experiences demands innovation, security, and a focus on user-centric design." Source.

Device Testing

• "Real devices come with great value and benefits, but also with their costs. Mobile simulators and emulators can offer valuable benefits for both developers and testers, but it’s worth noting that they also have limitations." Read more from Lana Begunova.

Now Hiring

• Lendscape is hiring an Automation Tester. Check out the MoT job board. 

Metrics

• Hot topic! QA Metrics in a non-traditional SDLC. 🌶️

Bugs on Production

• Rosie Sherry started a thread with real-life examples we can learn from. Software testing and bug stories in the news. Have you spotted something in the news? Add it to the thread.

Just for Fun

• "No user would ever do that!" What else could you add to Christian's Testing Bull$hit Bingo card? 😃

Have a good week.

— Simon Tomes

 

This newsletter is kindly supported by TestRail

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Gather with the testing community. Join an event. 

 

🗓️ Events

View all

• 30 Days of AI in Testing Fri 01 Mar - Sun 31 Mar
• Cambridge Meetup Wed 20 Mar
• Test Exchange Thu 21 Mar
• Leeds Meetup Thu 21 Mar
• This Week in Testing "AI in Testing Special" Fri 22 Mar
• The Testing Planet - Episode One: The Companion Thu 28 Mar
• Munich Meetup Tue 23 Apr
• The Testing Planet - Episode Two: The Machine Thu 25 Apr
• The Testing Planet - Episode Three: The Toolsmith Thu 23 May
• Athens Meetup Thu 30 May
• TestBash Brighton 2024 Thu 12 Sep - Fri 13 Sep

📖 Industry News

• The test pyramid and its discontents, or, why no one agrees on anything - Nick Moore
• How to perform exploratory testing as a team -  Julia Durán
• Managing Distributed QA Teams - Chris Faraglia

✏️ Calls for Contributions

• Write for us ✍️
• Contribute to The Testing Planet 🪐 We're looking for presenters, anchors, navigators and more!