1. Nordic Testing Days 2015 An (Estonian) Experience Report
Dr Lee Hawkins
Principal Test Architect
Dell Software, Melbourne

2. Who am I?
16 years at Quest Software / Dell Software in Melbourne, Australia.
Really testing since 2007 after attending Rapid Software Testing with Michael Bolton.
Current role is Principal Test Architect (aka “helping teams to do better testing”)
We deliver scalable and affordable solutions that simplify IT and mitigate risk. Our offerings, when combined with Dell hardware and services, drive unmatched efficiency to accelerate business results.

3. Nordic Testing Days - where
Held in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn, which has a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage listed old town.
Conference venue was the Viru Hotel, an ex-stronghold of the KGB!

4. Nordic Testing Days - what
From the official site, the conference:
Is an annual conference primarily aimed at software testers… we also welcome others ranging from programmers to UX specialists, project managers to designers etc. In other words, everyone who is interested in dipping their toes into testing.
Is a non-profit organization and the conference is put together by volunteers, who are mostly testing professionals.
Wishes to make testers from the Baltics and Northern countries noticed in Europe and draw attention to the skills and know-how available.
2015 marked the fourth run of this conference.
Theme for 2015 was “Agents of Change”.

5. Nordic Testing Days - who
Largest delegation so far, with over 300 attendees from around the world.
A heavy local and Scandanavian bias.
I was the only representative from Australia, but a couple of New Zealanders were also attending (and presenting) – Katrina Clokie and Adam Howard.
The programme included a number of well-known names from the broader testing industry:
Rob Lambert (UK)
Rob Sabourin (Canada)
Ilari Henrik Aegerter (Sweden/Switzerland)
Richard Bradshaw (UK)
Stephen Janaway (UK)

6. Nordic Testing Days – my talk
“Growing Testing Skills using the Agile Testing Ecosystem”
Early experience report of using the Bach/Bolton “Agile Testing Ecosystem” model as a way of improving the way teams integrate testing across the entire sprint.
One of a number of so-called “agile testing quadrants” models, most well-known is the Janet Gregory & Lisa Crispin version.
Find out more:
My talk: growing_testing.pdf
The REAL Agile Testing Quadrants (James Bach, Sydney 2014):
Skilled Testing and Agile Development Integrated (James Bach, Oredev 2014):

7. Nordic Testing Days – some highlights (1)
"Why I Lost My Job as a Test Manager and What I Learnt as a Result“ (Stephen Janaway (Net-A-Porter, UK))
Example of an organization that was going agile & had testers placed into teams, but still had a test manager role across multiple teams.
Organizational changes were made, where development and test managers were no more; a Delivery Manager role was created instead (something like a scrum master, organizer for the whole team).
He went on to work on building a Test Community in the organization (based on the Spotify model of chapters and guilds) to engage the testers and give them a sense of belonging.
Stephen's new role became that of Testing Coach:
Acting as a figurehead and evangelist,
Heading up the community, and
Helping testers and managers do better.
Stephen's key message was that he expects there to be many less test managers in future (and I agree with him) with more reliance on community building and coaching.

8. Nordic Testing Days – some highlights (2)
"Value Synch" (Rob Sabourin (Amibug, Canada))
He spoke about "purposeful testing", being: on time, on quality, and on budget.
His idea of "value synch" is knowing what matters (find and know your stakeholders), understanding why, and communicating effectively about it.
Ties in well with a context-driven approach.
There's no better choice of closing keynote on the circuit than Rob Sabourin, his effervescent style is perfect for the end of a long day.
The guy just talks sense and knows his stuff. Look for presentation recordings on YouTube.

9. Nordic Testing Days – some highlights (3)
"Why Remaining Relevant Is So Important" (Rob Lambert (New Voice Media, UK))
As the industry changes quickly, Rob talked about ways to stay relevant (and hence employable) based on his experience as a hiring manager. His policy is to recruit for the person, not the skills, and focuses on behaviours and outcomes.
He gave ten ways to stay relevant:
Be visibly passionate in a positive way
Be aggressively open-minded
Draw a frame around yourself
Get smart
Find out who the customer is
Improve the process (but only to directly help customers)
Do what you say you will do
Communicate well
Add skills
Be brave!

10. Nordic Testing Days - takeaways
The challenges of fitting testing into agile teams continues:
Many talks in and around this topic.
Good news - some practical experiences of what works and what doesn't are now coming out for us to share and benefit from.
The coaching model seems particularly successful and increasing in popularity.
Approaches to automation in testing are changing:
UI level testing being seen as a last resort.
The notion of "automated testing" is being deprecated.
Organization was excellent:
Ran smoothly and efficiently, but still maintained some informality.
Treatment of presenters was great (getting the simple stuff right is the key to attracting good speakers and their good planning and support on the ground was much appreciated by the speakers' group).
Feeling that the value of attending conferences is underestimated by many and we should encourage more testers to experience conferences and local meetups.

11. Some tips around conferences
Why bother?
Find out what’s going on outside of your organization/sector. See the bigger picture.
Opportunity to network with other testers - different companies, different countries, different roles, different perspectives.
Brand building – both for your company and you personally.
Getting approval for attendance:
Focus on the “value add” - show how sessions at the conference directly address current pain points in your project/organization. Putting just one good idea into practice is often worth the cost.
Offer to do all the admin/running around to book the conference, trip, etc. (make your boss’s life easy).
Offer to present an experience report about your attendance when you return to share lessons learned more broadly.
Getting a speaking slot at a conference:
Make a note of CFP dates, ask for help from others who’ve been successful with proposals for the same conference.
Take advantage of the Speak Easy programme for mentoring.

12. Contact me Q & A @therockertester lee.hawkins@software.dell.com
therockertester.wordpress.com