There are plenty of hot topics in testing for 2024. It’s super exciting!
Here’s just a quick selection. We can easily see how long that list could get.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs)
Automation
Accessibility
Security
Leadership
Career growth
Exploratory testing
Critical thinking
plus more!
I wonder, what important topics could we do with having more discussions about? And what could we do to take action off the back of such discussions?
For example, are we talking enough about diversity, equity and inclusion in tech? What about the human side of testing? We often focus on the technical side of things.
As a side note, view the tags page to browse a page by handy tags to explore.
Exploratory testing: what are well-known downsides of this approach and should it be used on a daily basis? How to wisely promote this type of testing in my team?
Indeed, but also one of my hobby horses (I did write a book on this topic ).
This reminds me - there are so many other contexts for testing, outside software development—Enterprise ERP (salesforce, MS dynamics, sap) for one, and infrastructure and compliance (NIS2 ) could be other topics.
Within discussions of AI etc, I think it would be good to be clear on using AI tools to aid testing vs testing AI systems themselves. Two different topics, probably with some similarities though
DEI. I still feel like there are a lot of people who think it’s just about hard work and that things are a meritocracy, but the fact that many companies hire based on referrals (and people are more likely to be friends with people who are like them) goes against this.
Also, diversity is not enough, you need to work on including people as well and giving them a space to thrive.
Another thing I don’t think we talk about enough is psychological safety. The best teams I’ve been in have been diverse teams where they had psychological safety in place. (If you have diverse or psychological safety? that’s great! But both? Amazing!!)
And it goes both ways too. There are heaps of automation engineers who arent terribly good or interested in all of the other things that go into the QA of a product. I would like to see discussions about organizing QA, developing metrics and processes. and also ways in which people interested in all of the “ceremonies” if you will, that are part of the QA process can further their careers.
Maybe there is another good topic in there. Depending on what is meant by “E2E” I have an opinion that most E2E automated tests arent worth the effort required to maintain them. Maybe some discussion around the value that those tests provide?
My gripe is that it often feels like there are so few people taking about fundamental ideas of what good testing looks like and involves in the midst of all the noise about specific tools or the hype-of-the-day (e.g. AI). Some of this is from reviewing lots of conference abstracts in the last year, or from going to conferences where even with multiple concurrent sessions, it can be hard to pick an interesting talk to attend. Not to mention all the LinkedIn posts where it seems to currently be in vogue in some circles to throw rocks at the idea of having dedicated testers at all–arguments that often reveal an incredibly shallow view of testing that would really benefit from just shutting up and listening to actual testers to better understand what testing even entails.
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