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Track Talk Th20

TX – A New Testing Paradigm

Graham Freeburn

15:45-16:30 CEST Thursday 15th June

Testing has struggled with the perception, largely external, that it is a negative activity that slows down projects and provides little value. “Manual testing” continues to be used in a derogatory way, both to belittle testers and testing and drive towards automation – the mythical silver bullet that is so often a blank.

Despite excellent critique of these behaviours by respected testing leaders, and all the skill, hard work and commitment shown by all kinds of testers this negative perception lingers.

Early in my career, I was involved in “Human Computer Interface (HCI) Design” – focusing on standards for layout of mainframe green screens based on visual perception and usability. Fast forward to today and this has morphed into two new, and increasingly prominent, disciplines – User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX). These are both getting a lot of buy-in and gave me an idea that might finally nail the “manual testing” moniker.

This keynote will propose a way forward in terms of resetting this perception by adopting the concept of Test experience (TX). This builds on the true, experiential, nature of testing and recognises that TX is not a tester “exclusive” domain. I’ll explore how the social activity of software development will benefit from shift to this new paradigm. For the movie fans among you TX has another, quite sinister association, but I’ll set out why I think using this will move us forward and why it is more than just a simple renaming exercise. Leveraging some of the ethos and concepts of UX like Hierarchy and Context is Key; and Personalise the Experience and Shaping the Customer Journey for CX, I hope to provide you some new weapons in the fight with bad software. As an example from UX – Fitt’s Law: The time to acquire a target (find a bug) is a function of the distance to (how far away from it you are and which way you’re looking) and size of the target (how big is the bug).

I’ll describe how a reset could terminate the “manual testing” label and at least slow down the rise of the machines.

What you will learn

  1. Why testing continues to “get a bad name”.
  2. How introducing Test Experience (TX) can help to shift perceptions.
  3. Hints and tips on how to help this work and not being seen simply as a rebranding.

Session Details

  • Intermediate
  • 45 Minutes
  • Includes 15mins Q&A
  • Communication
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Session Speaker

ES2023-Speaker-Graham-Freeburn

Graham Freeburn

Principal Testing Consultant – Shared Services Connected , UK

Graham has nearly 40 years’ experience in IT services starting as a developer and working in a variety of roles but has specialised in testing for most of his career. A recognised industry expert and international speaker, he co-founded and chaired the Scottish Testing Group (STG) for over 12 years. In 2016 was presented with the European Testing Excellence Award in recognition of his contribution to the wider testing community.
For the last 20 years he was worked cross a wide range of industry verticals in strategic consultancy, training and test programme management to ensure testing meets the client and project’s needs and context. He is a firm believer in testing as a skill-based discipline and is a leading advocate in use of mindmaps to support test strategies, planning and exploratory testing.

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