Showing posts with label bigdata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bigdata. Show all posts

Monday, March 6, 2017

Analytics Testing

I recently spoke in an Agile Testing Conference on - The What, Why and How of (Web) Analytics Testing.

I was also part of a panel discussion having the theme - "What's not changed since moving to Agile Testing - The Legacy Continues!" There were some very interesting perspectives in this discussion.

The great part was that the audience was very involved and vocal throughout the day. This made is very interactive and good sharing of information and experiences for all!

Below is some information about the talk. I will try to add the link to the video soon.
 

Abstract

Analytics is changing the way products and services are being created and consumed.

In this session, we will learn

  • What is Analytics?
  • Why is it important to use Analytics in your product?
  • The impact of Analytics not working as expected

We will also see some techniques to test Analytics manually and also automate that validation. But just knowing about Analytics is not sufficient for business now.

There are new kids in town - IoT and Big Data - two of the most used and heard-off buzz words in the Software Industry!

With IoT, with a creative mindset looking for opportunities and ways to add value, the possibilities are infinite. With each such opportunity, there is a huge volume of data being generated - which if analyzed and used correctly, can feed into creating more opportunities and increased value propositions.

There are 2 types of analysis that one needs to think about.

1. How is the end-user interacting with the product? This will give some level of understanding into how to re-position and focus on the true value add features for the product.

2. With the huge volume of data being generated by the end-user interactions, and the data being captured by all devices in the food-chain of the offering, it is important to identify patterns from what has happened, and find out new product / value opportunities based on usage patterns.


Slides


The What, Why and How of (Web) Analytics Testing (Web, IoT, Big Data) from Anand Bagmar

Pictures







Saturday, July 2, 2016

What is Web Analytics and how to Test it?

vodQA returned - this time with the theme - Testing Heuristics in ThoughtWorks, Hyderabad on 2nd July 2016.

Here I spoke about - "The What, Why and How of Web Analytics Testing". 

Abstract

Learn what is Web Analytics, why is it important, and see some techniques how you can test it manually and and also automate that validation. But just knowing about Web Analytics is not sufficient for business now.
There are new kids in town - IoT and Big Data - two of the most used and heard-off buzz words in the Software Industry!

With IoT, with a creative mindset looking for opportunities and ways to add value, the possibilities are infinite. With each such opportunity, there is a huge volume of data being generated - which if analyzed and used correctly, can feed into creating more opportunities and increased value propositions.

There are 2 types of analysis that one needs to think about.
1. How is the end-user interacting with the product? This will give some level of understanding into how to re-position and focus on the true value add features for the product.
2. With the huge volume of data being generated by the end-user interactions, and the data being captured by all devices in the food-chain of the offering, it is important to identify patterns from what has happened, and find out new product / value opportunities based on usage patterns.

Slides


Video

PS: Apologies for the video quality - I am not seen very clearly - but the slides are bright & clear, and so is the audio - so the important aspects are covered!




Pictures









Feedback


My Takeaway & Learning

- The attendees did not have much exposure to Web Analytics, and how it works. I should spend more time in speaking about that
- I should spend more time in challenges and potential solutions related to Big Data & IoT
- A lot of people are interested in WAAT - that could be a separate, more detailed discussion

Monday, October 12, 2015

Web Analytics and the new kids in town!

I spoke in Agile Testing Alliance Global Gathering on 8th Oct in Bangalore on "The What, Why and How of Web Analytics Testing".

This talk was my take on explaining a very important, yet quite ignored, aspect of Product / Application Development - Web Analytics. Below is the abstract of the talk, followed by slides and video from the talk.


Topic: The What, Why & How of Web Analytics Testing

Learning Objectives:

The most used and heard about buzz words in the Software Industry today are … IoT and Big Data!

With IoT, with a creative mindset looking for opportunities and ways to add value, the possibilities are infinite. With each such opportunity, there is a huge volume of data being generated - which if analyzed and used correctly, can feed into creating more opportunities and increased value propositions.

There are 2 types of analysis that one needs to think about.
1. How is the end-user interacting with the product? This will give some level of understanding into how to re-position and focus on the true value add features for the product.
2. With the huge volume of data being generated by the end-user interactions, and the data being captured by all devices in the food-chain of the offering, it is important to identify patterns from what has happened, and find out new product / value opportunities based on usage patterns.

Learn what is Web Analytics, why is it important, and see some techniques how you can test it manually and and also automate that validation.


Slides from the talk

Thursday, May 28, 2015

vodQA Pune - Innovations in Testing

vodQA Update - Agenda + Slides + Videos


Here is an update of the vodQA that went by at supersonic speed!


We had an intense and action-packed vodQA in ThoughtWorks, Pune on Saturday, 6th June 2015 - with the theme - Innovations in Testing!

Here are some highlights from the event:
  • You can find the details of the agenda + links to slides & videos from here or here.
  • After a record breaking attendee registrations (~500), we frantically closed off registrations. This meant around 140-180 people would show up based on historic attendance trends. 135 attendees made it to vodQA - the first person reaching office at 8.30am - when the event was supposed to start at 10am! That is enthusiasm!
  • We had 45+ speaker submissions (and we had to reject more submissions because the registrations had already closed). After speaking to all submitters, and a lot of dry-runs and feedback, we eventually selected 6 talks, 4 lightning talks, 4 workshops from this massive list.
  • We were unfortunately able to select only 2 external speakers (but it was purely based on the content + relevance to the theme). One of these speakers travelled all the way from Ahmedabad to Pune on his own for delivering a Lightning Talk.
  • We had a few ThoughtWorkers travelling from Bangalore (2 speakers + 1 attendee) and 1 (speaker) from Gurgaon
  • We had around 30-40 ThoughtWorkers participating in the conference. 
  • No event in the office can be possible without the amazing support from our Admin team + support staff!
  • Overall - we had around 200 people in the office on a Saturday!
  • For the first time, we did a live broadcasting of all the talks + lightning talks (NO workshops). This allowed people to connect with vodQA as it happened. Also - usually the last and most cumbersome thing from a post-event processing - uploading videos - was now the the first thing that was completed. See the videos here on youtube. This update got delayed because we still have to get the link to the slides :(
  • We celebrated the 5th Birthday of vodQA!
  • Even though most projects in TW Pune are running at 120+% delivery speed, we were able to pull this off amazingly well! This can only happen when individuals believe in what they are contributing towards. Thank you all!
  • We wrapped up most of the post-event activities (office-cleanup, retro, post-vodQA dinner and now this update email) within 5 days of the vodQA day - another record by itself!
  • Some pictures are attached with this email.
You can see the tweets and comments in the vodQA group on facebook

Again, A HUGE THANKS to ALL those who participated in any way!

On behalf of the vodQA team + all the volunteers!










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[UPDATE]

Detail agenda, with expected learning and speaker information available here (http://vodqa-pune.weebly.com/agenda.html) for vodQA Pune - Innovations in Testing.

NOTE;
- Each workshop has limited # of seats.
- Registration for workshop will be done at the Attendee Registration Desk between 9am-10am on vodQA day.
- Registration will be on first-come-first choice basis.
- See each talk / workshop details (below) for pre-requisites, if any.


----------------

vodQA is back in ThoughtWorks, Pune on Saturday, 6th June 2015. This time the theme is - "Innovations in Testing".

We got a record number of submissions from wannabe speakers and HUGE number of attendee registrations. Selecting 12-14 talks from this list was no small task - but we had to take a lot of tough decisions.

The agenda is now published (see here - http://vodqa-pune.weebly.com/agenda.html) and we are looking forward to have a very rocking vodQA!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Evolution of vodQA - The Software Tester's Conference


Evolution of vodQA - The Software Tester's Conference!

Anand Bagmar


The birth of vodQA


Back in 2009 / 2010, I was looking to attend and speak in Testing Conferences, especially near, or close to my hometown, Pune.



My search results were very disappointing for the following reasons:

  • I found that the conferences were not catered towards hands-on Testers.
  • The conferences were catered for Leads / Managers/ Directors.
  • The speakers spoke mostly about process, very high-level “things” related to Software Testing.
  • There was a significant “cost” to attend the conferences – which meant that if one is really interested in attending to learn more, they had to think multiple times before doing so.


This was clearly not working for me, as well as other like-minded people I was interacting with.



Thanks to my colleagues in ThoughtWorks, we decided to do something about this.



In June 2010, we decided to start our own conference, hosted by ThoughtWorks, with the objective of “purely sharing our learning with the community, and also learn from the community”. This was the birth of “vodQA – value oriented discussion about Quality Analysis”.



To start anything, especially external / public facing, we needed to plan it well, and the first part of the planning is – what are we trying to achieve?

vodQA – Mission Statement


To make vodQA valuable to us, and other attendees, we came up with some guiding principles. These principles have kept on evolving over time like a natural process.

  • vodQA is a practioners / hands-on conference.
  • Anyone interested in the aspect and practice of Software Testing, regardless of role or organization, should be able to attend vodQA.
  • Any topic related to Software Testing (manual / exploratory / techniques / tools / technologies / process).
  • At ThoughtWorks, the Quality of the Software we build is of prime importance. To cater to that, we have a very strong Testing capability, skills and practices within the organization. Using vodQA as a platform, we want to share our learning with the Testing Community, so they can learn from what has worked well, or not so well, based on real experiences.
  • Though at ThoughtWorks, we have “good” Testing practices, there are many more practices and experiences we can learn from the experiences of other organizations and individuals. The vodQA platform should able to provide new learning from the industry for ThoughtWorkers, and others who attend.
  • In order to keep learning from what we do, and keep doing better in the future, we take feedback from attendees and speakers. Also, with an immediate after-the-event retrospective, we attempt to do the best for all participating in next vodQA.
  • vodQA is a community event. Each community hosting vodQA should have the flexibility to structure the event in the way they see best suited for the attendees.
  • Each vodQA should have a specific theme. This allows proper expectation setting from attendees, and also invites specific themed-topics from internal (ThoughtWorkers) and external speakers.

How we connect with like-minded people?


We started by using the database of people who had expressed interest in working with / being associated with ThoughtWorks, and spreading the event by word-of-mouth.



Then we started using the power of facebook (vodQA group), LinkedIn (vodQA group) and Twitter (#vodqa) to also spread the word, and bring the community together during non-event times, to share and collaborate with each other.

The journey so far


The first vodQA event in June 2010 at ThoughtWorks, Pune was a huge success. As a result, we immediately planned and hosted another vodQA in Oct 2010, again at ThoughtWorks, Pune.



The feedback and retrospectives provided us great motivation and inputs. As a result, we decided to make vodQA an India level conference.



As we took vodQA to other ThoughtWorks India offices out of Pune, (Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon), the respective community planned and executed this event, the way they felt best.



Till date, we have hosted the following vodQA events:



Theme
ThoughtWorks Location
Date
vodQA – The Testing Spirit
Pune
Jun-10
vodQA
Pune
Oct-10
vodQA
Pune
Mar-11
vodQA - Agile testing  for Enterprises
Gurgaon
Dec-11
vodQA - Continuous Testing For Total Quality Assurance
Chennai
Jan-12
vodQA - Agile Testing for Team and and Enterprises
Bangalore
Feb-12
vodQA – Testing and Beyond
Pune
Mar-12
vodQA – NCR
Gurgaon
Jun-12
vodQA Geek Night – Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) workshop
Pune
Jul-12
vodQA - The ABCs of testing - Automation, Big Data Analytics , Cloud Testing
Bangalore
Sep-12
vodQA – Going Beyond the Usual
Pune
Oct-12
vodQA Geek Night – Test Automation workshop
Pune
Apr-13
vodQA – Get, Set, Test
Bangalore
May-13
vodQA - Served on Mobile
Chennai
Jul-13
vodQA - Agility In Mobility
Gurgaon
Jul-13
*vodQA – Smarter | Faster | Reliable
Pune
Oct-13
*vodQA Gurgaon - Selenium for Beginners -
Gurgaon
Oct-13



*Upcoming events



Some interesting quotes from attendees:

  • Liked the participation, interactive approach of the organizers and the passion and energy to make sure that audience goes satisfied
  • A Saturday well spent @ThoughtWorks #vodQA. Got a chance to meet some highly motivated & inspired ThoughtWorkers & industry professionals!
  • This is our QA family, and we want to see it grow



Overall we have had 800+ external (non-ThoughtWorker) participants and 75+ talks / workshops / games / sessions across all vodQA events. There have been a decent % of Developers / Business Analysts / Software Coaches attending and speaking, though the majority of attendees has been Software Testers.


I am very happy to see vodQA become popular and valuable to all passionate about Software Testing, all across India.


My dream is to take vodQA across the world as a community driven, Testing practioners conference!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Introducing Test Trend Analyzer (TTA)

The statement "I have a dream" is a very famous quote by American activist Martin Luther King Jr.

I resonate very closely with that. Here is why and how ...

Almost 2 years ago, I had a dream ... a vision about a product that can help those working in large organizations understand the health of their products / projects at a quick glance, instead of having a team of people manually scrambling frantically to collate and collect the information needed to get a sense of quality about the products they support. I chose to call this product Test Trend Analyzer - TTA

Given that Automation is a key factor in ensuring the success, quality and time-to-market for products, I took that as a baseline requirement and came up with a basic high-level diagram for TTA:

TTA - first diagram
Finally, a couple of months ago, I found a bunch of passionate people, who also had some time, to try and implement this tool.

We came up with this vision for TTA:


TTA Vision

Accordingly, we planned, prioritized, spiked, did some prototypes, did demos and showcases and got a base usable product completed.
This is a open-source project, available on github with more information about it on the github wiki.

The technology stack used is: RoR with mysql db. 

TTA falls in the Big Data + Visualization space - specific to Testing.




Watch this space for more information about TTA and the currently supported features. Email out to me if you need more specific information, or have questions on how can you use TTA, etc.

How can you contribute?

Given that we have implemented only a few basic features right now, and there are many more in the backlog, here is how you can help:
  • Suggest new ideas / features that will help make TTA better
  • Use TTA on your project and provide feedback
  • More importantly, help in implementing these features