Keynote 3

Lost in Transformation

Michael Bolton

11:30-12:30 CEST Thursday 9th June

Every day, more and more organizations are taking on “digital transformation”, leaning on software and machinery to perform jobs, make decisions and solve problems. Machines do work that has traditionally been done by humans or that could not be done by ordinary humans unaided by machinery. Every day, the reach of what machines can do is extended by technological advancements, growing bodies of data and by human ambition.

This should prompt us to ask if the jobs are being done and the problems are being solved. If we intend to be responsible problem-solvers, we should ask if our solutions have really addressed the problems. Are the problems left unsolved? Or have we perhaps introduced new ones? Are there things we’re forgetting in the rush?

These questions, in turn, should prompt us to test our software. As software changes, accelerating and extending our capacity to do things in the world, we need testing and our ideas about it to respond to those changes. As we go through our digital transformations, are there things we’re forgetting in testing too?

Michael Bolton has been coming to EuroSTAR for the last fifteen years. He’s been involved in software development, one way or another, for longer than some testers have been alive, and he still considers himself a student of the craft. Join Michael as he shares the set of lessons that he’s learned — and that he’s worried that he and others might have forgotten, or not learned yet.