Well, we did it again: The second Adelaide SIGiST. Once again, jointly hosted by the ANZTB and the ACS, went ahead on April 10, 2012. It was slightly smaller in numbers (approx. 60), but still a fantastic crowd.
Although I had speakers lined up early this time around, it was still a sprint to the finish in the last week before the event. It’s amazing how quickly time passes (especially when you have a thousand other things on the go at the same time). We got there though, and it was great.
Below are my notes and memories, so please forgive me if some details are not accurate (according to other’s views).
First up, we had Michael Snook on “Pragmatic Software Testing”. This is a method that Mike has been using for quite some time, so he has plenty of insight into it’s effectiveness in given situations and contexts. This particular presentation was based on an organisation that uses vendors to develop 95% of the time. That’s quite a common context here in little oldAdelaide.
Mike spoke about his preferred entry point into these project lifecycles being the point where risk begins to be identified. The Definition phase (if memory serves me). He then went on to describe the various process flows and documents created during those, right through to the Warranty phase, which is for an agreed period post release.
Mike shared some insights into where elements have fallen over previously, and also some common areas to focus on especially when dealing with many vendors. It was some solid information for attendees to think about. There were also some great questions which followed, specifically regarding an old favourite of mine… release recommendations and who should be making them. So thank you Mike!
Next, we moved onto most attendee’s favourite part of the evening (taking nothing away from the rest of the evening, of course); the networking and refreshments. I’m not sure if it is the networking or the refreshments that are the favourite, but throw the two together and it’s pretty popular! It’s great to have local testers come together to talk about various things. Some testing talk, some getting to you talk, and also some catch up talk! It’s also a great opportunity for many to finally put faces to names. I met quite a few people who I have only had email exchanges with previously, or maybe have only ever had LinkedIn communication. The Sebel Playford did a stellar job with this particular part of the evening, as they also did last time.
Then, Andrew Dempster took the podium (yes, there really was one) to talk on “Scripted is not Scripture”. If you’d like to discuss the meaning of the title, I’m sure he’d be happy to chat with you. Andrew’s presentation was centred on Exploratory Testing and Session Based Test Management. I’m a big fan of this approach, given the right context, so I could relate to a lot of what he presented. I think this approach is still somewhat in its infancy here inAdelaide(like it is in many other locations) so I think there may have been a few blank faces during the presentation. However, Andrew’s goal for this was to share an overview of the approach, and to highlight the importance of “thinking testers”. I believe that he achieved it and I think the questions would have kept on rolling for Andrew, had we not have gone over the allocated time.
Andrew also shared some great resources with the attendees (the likes of which I have mentioned on this blog before), so people hopefully left with some extra investigation to be done! Thank you Andrew!
These presentations (in some form) should be available from the ANZTB website soon, so you can have a look in greater detail.
I did my usual ‘silly’ close out with “Thank you” to all and a call for future presenters. By the way, if you’re reading this and you think you’d like to give it a crack… just contact me! It really isn’t all that bad talking in front of people. You can get your name ‘out there’ and you can also take ‘control’ of the audience throughout your time up front (as I displayed during my close out).
In summary… it was a great evening. I’m continuously surprised how much interest there is in these events. I want this to continue, and I want them to stay relevant. To do this, I need input (all jokes on Johnny 5 aside). I need to hear from people about what they want to see. So please, let me know if you have ideas.
Looking forward to the next one later this year!
