Celebrating 5 years of “Tabara de Testare” Bucuresti

If you check our meetup on November 9 we had set up our “usual” second Thursday of the month meetup just that it wasn’t usual at all… We celebrated 5 years of monthly meetups at Tabara de testare Bucuresti!!!

On the agenda for that evening we had the overview of the presentations/workshops we had during 2017 but this time we also prepared an overview of the previous years and afterwards we continued with the workshop on “Storytelling and communication” by Stefan Bratosin.

I’m going to start with Stefan’s workshop first because the 5 years part needs to be saved for last like all the good things.

Stefan’s workshop was inspired by some improvisation classes that he took and while being involved more and more in the classroom he realized how the exercises that he was doing could help other testers better communicate and be better story tellers since this is a big part of what we do.

The workshop had a lot of cool and fun exercises like:

  • The whole group had to count to 30 without anyone overlapping. The exercise was very interesting and we managed to count to 30 as a whole group(we were about 20) and without anyone overlapping. The “Aha” part of this exercise was when Stefan asked us to close our eyes and try this way to count to 30. We managed to listen and focus way better than the time we had our eyes opened and try to search each others all over the room and see who was the next one that will be going to say a number. We actually listened this time!
  • Question rally – something similar to “Whose line is it anyway” ( here is an example of the show with Whoopi Goldberg) where there were only questions. We were given a theme and we could answer only with a question. Really fun exercise in which we could see in action: open or closing questions, probing questions or rephrasing.
  • Another exercise from Stefan’s workshop showed us the difference between using “yes, and” and using “yes, but”. During the exercise we could notice that using “yes, but” was not at all constructive and at least during the exercise it was basically cutting off the conversation
  • In the story telling exercise we had to create a story and tell it as best as we could from a team of 5 volunteers point of view. It was really fun and again we could notice on how important is to listen to the other ones or things could derail quickly. An example of a story – “The New Year’s Eve “. Our team had to create a story and the main character was our friend “Georgica”. The twist of the exercise was that Stefan would point to us when we had to switch and take the role of the narrator. By the second team which tried telling the story they could notice that they have to better listen to their colleagues rather than focusing on what’s next so they can continue on what the story was all about. If you didn’t do that, in our teams story, the main character didn’t even make it to the new year’s eve party 🙂

Besides all the fun that we had during the workshop, we were reminded how important is communication and storytelling to our tester’s job so a big thank you to Stefan.

Here are some pictures from the exercises that we did:

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5 years of Tabara de Testare Bucuresti

5 years means a lot of time but as they say “time flies when you’re having fun”.

So what we wanted to do different this time from the other anniversary editions is to try and summarise all the years, basically a trip down memory lane.

For me personally were the best slides I’ve worked on so far for the anniversary editions. It let me remember how we started, how many people helped us start, what we did these past years and of course how many we accomplished, in the end showing that we are truly a community of software testers and that without the people in it, we wouldn’t have anything.

Was really challenging to summarise all of the above (and many more) so we tried our best to do it through an infographic:

atdt statistics

As you could see in the infographic there were 71 meetups in 60 months and we wanted to showcase the meetups in each year and for this we created gifs with pictures from them and verbally mention some of them since there were a lot to go through.

2012:

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2013:

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2014:

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2015:

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2016:

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2017:

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We couldn’t celebrate 5 years of Tabara de Testare Bucuresti without our traditional “Cartoon Tester” special cake . Here is also a big thank you for our supporters of this edition: ING Romania and QTeam Software Solutions which helped us with the cake and snacks/beverages.

 

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What’s next?

That’s a really good question!!! I remember 5 years ago when we started having the meetups I was thinking: ”let’s start it and see where it goes”. Oh well, it went very good, so for the next 5 years I expect even more amazing things, even more cooler meetups, more international speakers, more people being content owners, more workshops during the years and the list could continue.

Not sure what’s next or could say specific how is going to be in the next 5 years, but I certainly know it’s going to be awesome since YOU ARE “TABARA DE TESTARE”!!! and knowing the amazing people that are members of this community there is no other way than an even greater journey in the years to come.

See you at the 10 years anniversary edition,

Andrei Pirvulescu

Risk Analysis in Software Testing cu James Bach

Meetup-ul din octombrie 2016 de la Tabara de Testare Cluj a fost unul special: content owner a fost James Bach care a tinut o prezentare despre Risk Analysis in Software Testing.

In pregatirea pentru cursurile pe care le tine pentru testeri, James a incercat cu participantii un exercitiu privind riscurile, analiza lor si implicatiile pe care le au in testare. James si participantiiau cautat i dei de test pentru o masina autonoma de nivel 4, apoi au comparat notitele. Ce a iesit? Va lasam sa descoperiti singuri:

 

Principii de testare – un duet reusit

Vara a luat sfarsit si cu ea s-au dus si intalnirile Test and Beer.

Toamna aceasta a inceput cu o premiera. Doi dintre colegii nostri, Dana Aonofriesei si Gabi Dobritescu, si-au unit fortele pentru prezentarea din septembrie.

Avand in spate experiente diferite au abordat o prezentare in paralel a principiilor de testare. Ne-au impartasit viziunea lor asupra fiecaruia, descriindu-ne problemele de care se lovesc si solutiile pe care le-au incercat.

Principiile atinse au fost:

  • Testarea exhaustiva – De multe ori echipele cu care lucram se asteapta la asa ceva de la noi, sau cel putin asta cred. Ce facem in acest caz? Dana ne-a povestit despre cum foloseste pairwise testing pentru a avea o acoperire buna in timp ce Gabi ne-a spus cum planifica si prioritizeaza in functie de timpul pe care il are la dispozitie.

We Have To Test Everything

We Have To Test Everything

  • Oracole folosite in testare – fac testarea mai grea sau mai usora? Cand si cat de des trebuie updatate?
  • Dependenta de context – am primit cateva exemple de cum influenteaza contextul in care va rula aplicatia tipul de problemele care pot sa apara in productie
  • Test to pass vs. test to fail  – un subiect ce a pornit cateva discutii. Ce e prioritar: sa verificam daca aplicatia se comporta conform cu specificatiile sau sa gasim the big, bad, ugly bugs?
  • Inceperea testarii cat mai devreme in cadrul ciclului de dezvoltare – este unul din primele lucruri pe care le aflam despre testare, cum costul unui bug creste cu cat este descoperit mai tarziu in cadrul ciclului de dezvoltare. Si totusi se intampla des ca testerii sa nu fie inclusi in definirea requirementurilor. Am primit de la Dana si Gabi cateva idei interesante despre cum am putea sa convingem echipa sa includa testarea in discutiile initiale.
  • Popularitatea testerului – Sunt mai importante soft skills sau technical skills pentru un tester? Parerile au fost ca de obicei impartite generand noi subiecte de discutie.

Si intalnirea nu s-a terminat aici. Ca de obicei am continuat discutiile despre testare. Multumim Optaros pentru sala si pizza.

Intalnirea din Octombrie este deja stabilita. Detaliile pot fi gasite pe meetup aici. Ne vedem acolo!

Va las cu cateva poze de la intalnire.

Andra Marin

 

Proiect din comunitate si estimari top-bottom

Meetupul nostru din luna mai a fost un pic diferit de celelalte intalniri, incepand cu o scurta prezentare despre un proiect din comunitate. Claudiu Draghia ne-a prezentat pe scurt 2 site-uri, unul dintre ele find practic un motor de cautare in anumite site-uri/bloguri de testare iar cel de-al doilea un RSS feed prezentand ultimele posturi de pe anumite bloguri.

Site-urile sunt urmatoarele:

De asemenea puteti sa lasati si sugestii pentru bloguri pe care le doriti incluse.

Prezentarea principala  a fost tinuta de catre Bogdan Cojocaru si a abordat subiectul “Top-bottom estimations”, practic estimarile care se fac in faza de RFQ/RFP(Request for Quotation/Request for Proposal). Bogdan a inceput prin a ne explica cum folosesti aceste estimari incepand cu Work Breakdown Structure(WBS ) pentru inceput la nivelul 1, unde trebuie sa adaugi intial toate fazele si activitatile majore de testare precum: system testing, integration testing, UAT s.a.m.d. De asemenea ne-au fost oferite si detalii despre ceea ce s-ar putea omite la acest nivel: activitati de suport ale proiectului, presupunerea ca toti testerii au aceleasi nivel de cunostiinte, coordonarea echipei, rapoarte zilnice sau saptamanale, acceptance testing.

La nivelul 2 al estimarilor, dupa cum ne spunea Bogdan, sub fiecare faza de test ar trebui adaugate modulele sau functionalitatile pe care le vei testa. La acest nivel de estimari top-bottom se poate intampla sa nu ai toate informatiile despre modulul respectiv dar pentru a da o estimare cat mai precisa trebuie sa incerci sa afli ce functionalitati are modulul respectiv: search, contact form, s.am.d. La urmatoarele nivele se continua cu breakdown-ul pana la cel mai mic nivel pana cand o estimare este posibila.

O sugestie importanta din timpul prezentarii referitoare la prerechizite si presupuneri a fost: strange informatii…in scris!  Doar atunci vor fi valide 🙂

De-a lungul prezentarii, ni s-au explicat si diferite metode de a folosi estimari corecte: “modjo” generator, peer review sau metoda Most optimistic, most likely, most pessimistic method(the three point estimation) si nu in cele din urma cea bazata pe experienta.

In timpul prezentarii ne-a fost readus aminte sa luam in calcul si faptul ca rularea de teste inseamna si raportarea defectului plus izolarea defectului, sa nu uitam de retestare in calculele noastre, prepararea datelor, review-ul documentatiei.

Beneficiile unei estimari bune in faza de RFQ/RFP nu au fost nici ele uitate si ni s-a adus aminte de faptul ca o estimare buna in aceasta faza te poate ajuta la obtinerea unui contract,  cum o estimare buna in faza de livrare te poate ajuta sa definesti asteptari realiste.

Dupa prezentarea “Top-Bottom estimations” ca de fiecare data au urmat discutii despre testare si despre prezentarile de la intalnirea noastra. Multumim Optaros pentru sala si pizza.

Prezentarile pot fi gasite la urmatorul link

Ne vedem la urmatoarea intalnire,

Andrei Pirvulescu

Tabara de Testare este pe Meetup

Incepand de astazi “Tabara de Testare” si-a facut cont pe Meetup. Acest lucru ne va ajuta sa ne organizam mai bine pe viitor si sa creem un loc unde care cei care lucreaza ca “software testers” sau cei care sunt curiosi sa afle mai multe despre acest domeniu sa discute diverse teme sau probleme.

Daca ti-am captat atentia si vrei sa ni te alaturi te rugam sa “Join us!” pe unul din grupurile de mai jos. Deasemenea, ne-ar fi de mare ajutor daca ai face “share” sau “forward” la acest articol catre toti prietenii tai care crezi ca ar putea fi interesati sa ni se alature.

In caz de nu stiai, pana in momentul de fata au fost organizate deja 5 intalniri, dintre care 2 in Bucuresti, la care au participat in total aproximativ 80 persoane. Detalii despre aceste intalniri le poti gasi pe site-ul nostru http://tabaradetestare.ro.

Mai multe despre acest proiect pe pagina noastra de detalii: http://tabaradetestare.ro/despre-noi/.

Pana la o intalnire viitoare iti urez mult success!

Catalin