Discussion: Building Connections

06 Nov 2023
  • Locked
  • Thomas Shipley's profile
  • Tamoya Beckford's profile
  • Davina Scott's profile
Discussion: Building Connections thumbnail
Talk Description
During this session, our awesome host Gwen Diagram, was joined by three experts in the field of Leadership, Coaching, Mentoring and Influence for an insightful discussion on ways to build meaningful and better connections.

Thomas Shipley lives in the UK and is a Head of QA and his main focus is to understand what others in a team are doing, the impact of planned work, managing the expectations of stakeholders and analysing development changes. 

Davina Scott will be joining us from Jamaica. Davina is an Intermediate QA and Test Analyst at Alessa Cloud Solutions with two years of experience as a QA Analyst and a year as a Developer, and is very passionate about quality, passing on knowledge, and looking for new ways to learn and evolve. 

Tamoya Beckford, also from Jamaica, is a Senior Software Developer in Test with more than six years of experience in software quality assurance. Through these experiences she has worked on different test projects for web, mobile, desktop and automation testing. 

Watch their TestBash UK 2023 talks and get hands-on with their activities:

By the end of this session, you'll be able to:

  • Building consensus within teams to rally around a new concept by identifying potential early supporters
  • Be more confident discussing ideas you have encountered while attending the conference with your team
  • Learn how to build meaningful and better connections
Thomas Shipley
Head of QA @ GlobalLogic

Hi. I am Thomas Shipley and I work in Quality Advocacy.

My career is focused on understanding what others in a team are doing. The impact of planned work, managing the expectations of stakeholders and analysing development changes.

By asking questions of a team I can better understand the impacts of these changes. Understanding more I begin to coach teams. Sharing my expertise in testing with the team so they can start thinking more like testers themselves. I mentor, pair, persuade and promote towards my goal of shared quality ownership. Sometimes this is challenging but often worth it!

Tamoya Beckford
Senior Software Developer in Test

Tamoya Beckford is a Senior Software Developer in Test with more than six years of experience in software quality assurance. Through these experiences she has worked on different test projects for web, mobile, desktop and automation testing. As a Senior QA she enjoys:
• Revising and improving the QA process and standards, while uncovering new ways to test
• Coaching and mentoring other QA Analysts. She enjoys helping people
• Leading the test efforts for her team
• Being a champion for knowledge sharing and growth

Tamoya enjoys crafting, traveling, and exploring new places and cultures.

Davina Scott
QA and Test Analyst

I am an Intermediate QA and Test Analyst at Alessa Cloud Solutions with two years of experience as a QA Analyst and a year as a Developer. During my tenure as Developer, I found myself leaning more toward the quality end of the process and decided to make the transition. I am quite passionate about delivering quality, passing on knowledge, and looking for new ways to learn and evolve. I enjoy traveling, reading, and a little badminton from time to time.

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