Tuesday, June 30, 2015

"Agile Testing" workshop in July

[UPDATE] I think I will include some interesting Innovation Games to demonstrate the need for collaboration and more effective working. Or it could be something more specific to Testing on Agile projects. So many options ... 

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

As part of Unicom's World Conference Next Generation Testing, I am doing a 1-day workshop on "Agile Testing", on Friday, 24th July 2015 in Bangalore. You can register for the workshop from here, or contact me for more information.

Below are the details of the workshop. 

Agile Testing

Abstract

The Agile Manifesto was published in 2001. It took the software industry a good few years to truly understand what the manifesto means, and the principles behind it. However, choosing and implementing the right set of practices to get the true value from working the Agile way has been the biggest challenge for most!

While Agile has now gone mainstream, and as we get better at the development practices to being Agile, Testing has still been lagging behind in most cases. A lot of teams are still working in the staggered fashion - with testing following next after development completed.

In this workshop, we will learn and share various principles and practices which teams should adopt to be successful in testing on Agile projects. 

Agenda


  • What is Agile testing? - Learn what does it mean to Test on Agile Projects
  • Effective strategies for Distributed Testing - Learn practices that help bridge the Distributed Testing gap!
  • Test Automation in Agile Projects - Why? What? How? - Why is Test Automation important, and how do we implement a good, robust, scalable and maintainable Test Automation framework!
  • Build the "right" regression suite using Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) - Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) is an evolved way of thinking about Testing. It helps in identifying the 'correct' scenarios, in form of user journeys, to build a good and effective (manual & automation) regression suite that validates the Business Goals.

Key Learnings for participants in this workshop


  • Understand the Agile Testing Manifesto
  • Learn the essential Testing practices and activities essential for teams to adopt to work in Agile way of working
  • Discover techniques to do effective testing in distributed teams
  • Find out how Automation plays a crucial role in Agile projects
  • Learn how to build a good, robust, scalable and maintainable Functional Automation framework
  • Learn, by practice, how to identify the right types of tests to automate as UI functional tests - to get quick and effective feedback


Pre-requisites


  • At-least a basic working knowledge and understanding of Agile

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Enabling CD & TTA in Discuss Agile 2015

I had the opportunity to speak in Discuss Agile Delhi 2015 on 2 topics.

Here are the details on the same:


Enabling Continuous Delivery (CD) in Enterprises with Testing

Abstract:

The key objectives of any organization is to provide / derive value from the products / services they offer. To achieve this, they need to be able to deliver their offerings in the quickest time possible, and of good quality!
In such a fast moving environment, CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Delivery) are now a necessity and not a luxury!
There are various practices that organizations need to implement to enable CD. Changes in requirements (a reality in all projects) needs to be managed better. Along with this, processes and practices need to be tuned based on the team capability, skills and distribution.

Video:




Slides:






To Deploy, or Not to Deploy? Decide using Test Trend Analyzer (TTA)

Abstract:

The key objectives of organizations is to provide / derive value from the products / services they offer. To achieve this, they need to be able to deliver their offerings in the quickest time possible, and of good quality!
In order for these organizations to to understand the quality / health of their products at a quick glance, typically a team of people scramble to collate and collect the information manually needed to get a sense of quality about the products they support. All this is done manually.
So in the fast moving environment, where CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Delivery) are now a necessity and not a luxury, how can teams take decisions if the product is ready to be deployed to the next environment or not?
Test Automation across all layers of the Test Pyramid is one of the first building blocks to ensure the team gets quick feedback into the health of the product-under-test.
The next set of questions are:
    •    How can you collate this information in a meaningful fashion to determine - yes, my code is ready to be promoted from one environment to the next?
    •    How can you know if the product is ready to go 'live'?
    •    What is the health of you product portfolio at any point in time?
    •    Can you identify patterns and do quick analysis of the test results to help in root-cause-analysis for issues that have happened over a period of time in making better decisions to better the quality of your product(s)?
The current set of tools are limited and fail to give the holistic picture of quality and health, across the life-cycle of the products.
The solution - TTA - Test Trend Analyzer
TTA is an open source product that becomes the source of information to give you real-time and visual insights into the health of the product portfolio using the Test Automation results, in form of Trends, Comparative Analysis, Failure Analysis and Functional Performance Benchmarking. This allows teams to take decisions on the product deployment to the next level using actual data points, instead of 'gut-feel' based decisions.

Slides:



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!










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

[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!

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

What is Agile Testing? How does Automation help?

I spoke in a conference recently on "What is Agile Testing? How does Automation help?"

Abstract

Agile Methodology is not new. Many organisations / teams have already adopted Agile way of Software Development or are in the enablement journey for the same. 

What does this mean for Testing? There is no doubt that the Testing approach and mindset also needs to change to be in tune with the Agile Development methodology. 

Learn what does it mean to Test on Agile Projects. Also, learn how Test Automation approach needs to change for the team to be successful!

Video

Slides



Here I am on the stage, in Main Hall, in front of 150+ people, delivering the talk - What is Agile Test? How does Automation Help?:



Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Role of Automation in Testing

I am speaking in Discuss Agile 2015 conference on 13-14 June 2015 on the following topics - 

As part of this conference, I also did an interview with Saket Bansal and Atulya Mishra on - The Role of Automation in Testing.

This was an interesting, virtual interview - where interested people had asked questions during registration, and also a lot of questions came up during the interview.

Below is the video recording of the interview. 


I also referenced some slides when speaking about some specific topics. Those can be seen below, or directly from slideshare.




Monday, May 11, 2015

vodQA Geek Night in ThoughtWorks, Hyderabad - Client-side Performance Testing Workshop

I am conducting a workshop on "Client-side Performance Testing" in vodQA Geek Night, ThoughtWorks, Hyderabad from 6.30pm-8pm IST on Thursday, 14th May, 2015.

Visit this page to register!

Abstract of the workshop:

In this workshop, we will see the different dimensions of Performance Testing and Performance Engineering, and focus on Client-side Performance Testing. 

Before we get to doing some Client-side Performance Testing activities, we will first understand how to look at client-side performance, and putting that in the context of the product under test. We will see, using a case study, the impact of caching on performance, the good & the bad! We will then experiment with some tools like WebPageTest and Page Speed to understand how to measure client-side performance.

Lastly - just understanding the performance of the product is not sufficient. We will look at how to automate the testing for this activity - using WebPageTest (private instance setup), and experiment with yslow - as a low-cost, programmatic alternative to WebPageTest.

Venue:

ThoughtWorks Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd.
3rd Floor, Apurupa Silpi,
Beside H.P. Petrol Bunk (KFC Building),
Gachibowli,
Hyderabad - 500032, India 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Push the Envelope at vodQA, Bangalore

[UPDATED - Slides added]

Yet another vodQA begins today, Saturday, 25th April 2015 - this time at ThoughtWorks, Bangalore. The theme for this vodQA is - "Push the Envelope". The detail agenda can be found here.


I conducted a workshop on "Client-side Performance Testing" in vodQA Bangalore. 


Abstract of the workshop:



In this workshop, we will see the different dimensions of Performance Testing and Performance Engineering, and focus on Client-side Performance Testing. 

Before we get to doing some Client-side Performance Testing activities, we will first understand how to look at client-side performance, and putting that in the context of the product under test. We will see, using a case study, the impact of caching on performance, the good & the bad! We will then experiment with some tools like WebPageTest and Page Speed to understand how to measure client-side performance.



Lastly - just understanding the performance of the product is not sufficient. We will look at how to automate the testing for this activity - using WebPageTest (private instance setup), and experiment with yslow - as a low-cost, programmatic alternative to WebPageTest.

Here are the slides used in the workshop:

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Enabling CD & BDT in March 2015

I have been very busy off late .... and am enjoying it too! I am learning and doing a lot of interesting things in the Performance Testing / Engineering domain. I had no idea there are so many types of caching, and that there would be a need to do various different types of Monitoring for availability, client-side performance testing, Real User Monitoring, Server-side load testing and more ... it is a lot of fun being part of this aspect of Testing.

That said, I am equally excited about 2 talks coming up in the end-of-March 2015:

Enabling CD (Continuous Delivery) in Enterprises with Testing 

- at Agile India 2015, on Friday, 27th March 2015 in Bangalore.


Abstract

The key objectives of Organizations is to provide / derive value from the products / services they offer. To achieve this, they need to be able to deliver their offerings in the quickest time possible, and of good quality!
In such a fast moving environment, CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Delivery) are now a necessity and not a luxury!

There are various practices that Organizations and Enterprises need to implement to enable CD. Testing (automation) is one of the important practices that needs to be setup correctly for CD to be successful.

Testing in Organizations on the CD journey is tricky and requires a lot of discipline, rigor and hard work. In Enterprises, the Testing complexity and challenges increase exponentially.

In this session, I am sharing my vision of the Test Strategy required to make successful the journey of an Enterprise on the path of implementing CD.



Build the 'right' regression suite using Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) - a Workshop

- at vodQA Gurgaon, on Saturday, 28th March 2015 at ThoughtWorks, Gurgaon.


Abstract

Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) is a way of thinking. It helps in identifying the 'correct' scenarios, in form of user journeys, to build a good and effective (manual & automation) regression suite that validates the Business Goals. We will learn about BDT, do some hands-on exercises in form of workshops to understand the concept better, and also touch upon some potential tools that can be used.

Learning outcomes

  • Understand Behavior Driven Testing (BDT)
  • Learn how to build a good and valuable regression suite for the product under test
  • Learn different style of identifying / writing your scenarios that will validate the expected Business Functionality
  • Automating tests identified using BDT approach will automate your Business Functionality
  • Advantages of identifying Regression tests using BDT approach

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Experiences from webinar on "Build the 'right' regression suite using Behavior Driven Testing (BDT)"

I did a webinar on how to "Build the 'right' regression suite using Behavior Driven Testing (BDT)" for uTest Community Testers on 18th Feb 2015 (2pm ET).

The recording of the webinar is available here on utest site (http://university.utest.com/recorded-webinar-build-the-right-regression-suite-using-behavior-driven-testing-bdt/).

The slides I used in the webinar can be seen below, or available from slideshare.




Here are some of my experiences from the webinar:
  • It was very difficult to do this webinar - from a timing perspective. It was scheduled from 2-3pm ET (which meant it was 12.30-1.30am IST). I could feel the fatigue in my voice when I heard the recording. I just hope the attendees did not catch that, and that it did not affect the effective delivery of the content.
  • There were over 50 attendees in the webinar. Though I finished my content in about 38-40 minutes, the remaining 20 minutes was not sufficient to go through the questions. The questions itself were very good, and thought provoking for me.
  • A webinar is a great way to create content and deliver it without a break - as a study material / course content. The challenge and the pressure is on the speaker to ensure that the flow is proper, and the session is well planned and structured. Here, there are no opportunities to tweak the content on the fly based on attendee comments / questions / body language.
  • That said, I always find it much more challenging to do a webinar compared to a talk. Reason - in a talk, I can see the audience. This is a HUGE advantage. I can understand from their facial expressions, body language if what I am saying makes sense or not. I can have many interactions with them to make them more involved in the content - and make the session about them, instead of me just talking. I can spend more time on certain content, while skipping over some - depending on their comfort levels. 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

vodQA Cocktail - early in 2015

As we get ready for Celebrating Selenium's 10 year journey in vodQA Hyderabad, ThoughtWorks Chennai is ready to take vodQA to the next level on Saturday, 21st February, 2015 with an interesting Cocktail of topics related to Software Testing.

Register here as a speaker for vodQA Chennai, or here as an attendee.