Panel Discussion: How to shift to continuous testing in DevOps

Even back when waterfall type processes were popular, there were plenty of testers who got involved in every “phase” from feature idea to release, and even into operations and production monitoring activities. As agile development grew in popularity, and the DevOps movement grew out of that to get even big enterprise organizations breaking down role siloes, testers added to their skill sets and contributed throughout the build/measure/learn cycle. 

We have many years’ experience represented on our webinar panel. Isabel Evans, Andrew Morton, Maryam Umar and Angela Riggs will share their stories about “shifting” from “traditional” post-development testing activities to continuous testing.

Watch the live stream:

 

Or listen to the discussion:

 

The Panelists:


 Andrew Morton has brown hair, blue eyes and is smiling.Andrew Morton

Andrew has identified as a tester for over a decade (how others identify him we won't go into) and started his testing career as a UAT'er for a project for a private medical insurance company. Since then, he has had roles dealing with GIS, financial reconciliations, and e-commerce multichannel; order and inventory management, some of which he even managed to be good at. His testing interests were often drawn to use of automation, especially learning ways of doing good unit testing. An avowed Rubyist, he now works as DevBoss at Ministry of Testing.

 

 Angela Riggs has brown hair, is wearing sunglasses and a green sweater. She is a QA engineer.Angela Riggs

As a QA engineer, Angela’s work has ranged from feature testing to leading department-wide process changes. She believes that empathy and curiosity are driving forces of quality, and uses both to advocate for users and engineering teams. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring the aisles of Powell’s and the forests of the PNW. She has an enthusiasm for karaoke, and serious debates about what can truly be categorized as a sandwich.

 

Isabel Evans who has brown hair, is wearing glasses and a scarf.Isabel Evans

Independent quality and testing consultant Isabel Evans has more than thirty years of IT experience in the financial, communications, and software sectors. Her work focuses on quality management, software testing, and user experience (UX). A published author, popular speaker and storyteller at software conferences worldwide, Isabel is a Chartered IT Professional and Fellow of the British Computer Society, and received the 2017 EuroSTAR Testing Excellence Award. In parallel with her consultancy and teaching in industry, Isabel Evans is studying part-time as a PhD student at the Department of Computer Information Systems, University of Malta, working with Dr Chris Porter and Dr Mark Micallef on research in human factors for Software Testing. Within that, her current research project is to examine human factors around test tools and the automation of testing, in particular, the UX of test tools for testers. Isabel was programme chair for the HUSTEF 2018 conference in Budapest, and is the programme chair for EuroSTAR 2019 conference which takes place in Prague, November 2019.

 

Maryam has brown hair and is wearing a green sweater. She is Head of QA at a Fintech firm in London.

Maryam Umar

I work in London as Head of QA of a Fintech firm. I started my career thirteen years ago as a QA test engineer in the finance and mobile industry. After transitioning to the eCommerce sector, I performed QA in various capacities for online restaurant and travel services. I continue to work in QA as a manager now with special focus on sustainable delivery practices. In addition to this, I has been a keen advocate of creating and sustaining diverse teams. As I have transitioned in my career, I have found that creating teams which work well together is more challenging than the actual project(s) to be delivered by the team. I pay special attention to team dynamics and ensuring engineers are in roles which give them a sense of purpose. I have also been speaking at schools and universities to educate students about what the industry has to offer and what a creative space the technology sector can be.

Host:

Lisa Crispin kneeling next to a donkey. She has her hand on the side of its face.
Lisa Crispin (@lisacrispin) is a tester who enjoys sharing her experiences and learning from others. She is the co-author, with Janet Gregory, of More Agile Testing: Learning Journeys for the Whole Team (Addison-Wesley, 2014) and Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams (Addison-Wesley, 2009). Lisa is a tester on a fabulous agile team. She specializes in showing testers and agile teams how testers can add value and how to guide development with business-facing tests. Her mission is to bring agile joy to the software testing world and testing joy to the agile development world. In 2012, she was voted by her peers as the Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person, and given this award at Agile Testing Days.