Year of AI: Your Weekly Testing News - Issue 453

Share your knowledge and shape TestBash Brighton. Submit your contribution by February 14th!
We’re on the lookout for submissions on anything AI-testing-related for the first day, as well as other hot testing topics for the second day. There are several ways you can get involved and contribute to another epic TestBash.

Welcome to the first Ministry of Testing newsletter of 2024. It's Simon here with a round-up of what's been happening in the testing community. Let's go! 🧭

AI

Alan Barr shares interesting reflections on how we are using AI in his latest AI/LLM Testing Podcast. He highlights that he has fewer distractions when carrying out research. "There is less friction to learn. There really is no reason to at least try it." Great advice from Alan!
Check out this partner webinar with LambdaTest to explore the evolving testing landscape and its future with AI. You'll learn how AI is revolutionizing testing strategies and discover practical AI use cases with examples.

Agile Testing

Kristin Jackvony shared nine reasons why testing becomes a bottleneck. A couple of them stood out: "The team is relying too much on UI automation" and "Developers are not contributing to test automation". What about you?
How might you apply agile testing to your team’s existing workflows? TestRail's Chris Faraglia shares many tips and advice in this partner webinar.

Automation

Mirek Długosz shares advice on accessing page objects in the event handler with Playwright. Also, look at the many conversations and questions about Playwright on The Club. Could you share your knowledge?
In this blog post, Irfan Mujagic explores the intricate layers of test design patterns, providing a comprehensive overview to guide you in structuring and organizing your test suites.

Bug reporting

How do you write a bug report? J. A. Pardo shares their approach.

Certifications

Early bird pricing for our MoT Certifications ends this month. Register before January 31st to receive 41% off! Introducing Our New MoT Certifications in Test Automation 🎓

Coding/Non-Coding

Andrew Kelly and others joined a good discussion about "non-technical" testers. What's your take on it? The non-technical tester, is this a myth?

Community

The Test Exchange is an opportunity to gather, get to know each other and explore ways of helping us all on our journey of advancing our software testing career. Join us on Thursday 25th January. The inaugural Test Exchange was a success so we're doing it again. Myself and MoT founder, Rosie Sherry, are hosting and it's open to all, no matter where you're at in your testing career. 😃
In case you missed the news, TestBash is coming back to Brighton, UK! Read the official announcement. As well as attending the two-day software testing conference, you could also take on these roles. 🎉
- Facilitator: Create and facilitate a group activity.
- Ambassador: Create connections before, during and after TestBash.
- Speaker: Present a 20-30 minute talk.
- Teacher: Host a 99-minute workshop
#ContributingInNewWays is a hashtag you might want to follow. Lisi Hocke has set out her ambitions for 2024. "Contributions need to be courageous, something I haven't done yet that I find scary enough while being ready to give it a try." Lisi has a history of doing amazing things each year. Follow along and be inspired! You can also add your ambitions to this thread.
"Growth always happens when you step out of your comfort zone." Parveen Khan reflects on 2023.
Steve Watson reminds us "There is no need to compare what you did against other people – our lives and commitments are all different." 💯 Read his 2023 year in review.
Congrats to Clare Norman on her promotion to Senior Quality Coach. 🏆 If not on your radar, Clare spoke at a TestBash where she shared tonnes of quality coaching advice.
There are plenty of exciting hot topics for 2024 and no doubt we'll continue to explore them. 2024 will be the year of AI. However, I'm curious to know, what are we not talking about enough?

Just for fun

If you could describe yourself as a type of tester, what type of tester would you be? 😃
Let’s make some fun software testing Lego AI imagery. The results are brilliant! 😉

Neurodivergence

Tega Enajekpo asks, is neurodivergent common in the software testing field?

New to Testing

Most weeks a new community member will ask what they should do to get into testing. Congrats on jumping in and asking, that's the first step! I recommend exploring the "New to Testing" tag on our forum, The Club. And also seek inspiration from all these amazing origin stories. They are fascinating.

Public Speaking

We've partnered with Ady Stokes to share practical tips for crafting accessible presentations. Read: Making Your Presentations More Accessible. The bonus for the writers out there, it can also be applied to blog posts and articles! 🎤

Quality Culture

Richard Forjoe asks if we should make a distinction between the craft of quality advocacy and the craft of testing. Do you find yourself leaning towards quality advocacy or improving your hands-on testing skills? Add to the conversation.
Sam McCall from mabl shares five ways to foster a culture of quality in a DevOps world in this partner webinar.
Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory's first Agile Testing Fellowship newsletter of 2024 goes live this week. I've admired Lisa and Janet's writing ever since reading their "Agile Testing" book so I imagine this newsletter will be packed with helpful advice.

Strategy & Methodologies

How to build a QA Mindset from scratch - Chapter 2 - Day-to-Day Work by Cristina Carrageis.
Gain deeper insight into testing strategies for regulated industries. In this partner webinar discover examples of maintaining test quality of record and a mechanism for test process continuous improvement.