Talk given at CAST 2018 Abstract: Did you ever wonder how to improve your testing skills? Well, I did. I wanted to learn where I stood in terms of my testing knowledge and at the same time improve my exploration and automation skills. Maybe dive deeper into special areas like security or accessibility testing. I read and thought a lot, but what I felt I was missing was hands-on practice. So I decided to run an experiment. My hypothesis: “I believe that pairing and mobbing with fellow testers from the community on hands-on exploratory testing and automation will result in continuously increasing skills and knowledge as well as serendipitous learning. I’ll know I have succeeded when I noted down at least one concrete new insight or applied one new technique per testing session and shared that with the community.” In this talk, I will share the lessons learned on my journey as well as tips for doing pair testing sessions yourself. Let’s uncover if my hypothesis proved true, that a testing tour is indeed a feasible and valuable way to improve your testing knowledge and skills!

1. CROSS-TEAM PAIR TESTING
LESSONS OF A
TESTING
TRAVELER
@lisihocke

2. Fan art by François Coutu | http://fav.me/d5q8gpd
TOUR
OUR JOURNEY TODAY
@lisihocke
START
TIPS

3. Fan art by Aaron Godwin | http://fav.me/d2bf9n0
LET‘S START WITH WHY GETTING
INSPIRED
@lisihocke

4. HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF…
@lisihocke

5. CHALLENGE: BECOME A BETTER SKILLED TESTER
@lisihocke

6. hhttp://fav.me/d9jcjm7
LEARNING SOLO
@lisihocke

7. hhttp://fav.me/d9jcjm7, https://twitter.com/maaretp/status/1020603841950240769
LEARNING SOLO
@lisihocke

8. PAIRING UP FOR LEARNING
@lisihocke

9. “I believe that pairing and mobbing with fellow testers from the
community on hands-on exploratory testing and automation will
result in continuously increasing skills and knowledge as well as
serendipitous learning.
I’ll know I have succeeded when I noted down at least one
concrete new insight or applied one new technique per testing
session and shared that with the community.”
MY HYPOTHESIS
@lisihocke

10. THE EXPERIMENT: BECOME A TESTING TRAVELER
@lisihocke

11. THE EXPERIMENT: BECOME A TESTING TRAVELER
@lisihocke
PROBE:

12. SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
@lisihocke

13. SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
@lisihocke
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin

14. SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
@lisihocke
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
Sallyann Freudenberg
@SalFreudenberg

15. SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
@lisihocke
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
Sallyann Freudenberg
@SalFreudenberg
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp

16. THE TESTING TOUR LESSONS
LEARNED
@lisihocke

17. TOUR FIGURES
14
people
7
months
16
stops
@lisihocke

18. #01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
STARTING OUT
@lisihocke

19. STARTING OUT
https://twitter.com/maaretp/status/951123185382064129
@lisihocke
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp

20. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
@lisihocke

21. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
@lisihocke

22. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
@lisihocke

23. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
@lisihocke

24. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
#06
Pranav KS
@IgnorantTester
@lisihocke

25. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
#06
Pranav KS
@IgnorantTester
#07
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
@lisihocke

26. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
#06
Pranav KS
@IgnorantTester
#07
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#08
Viv Richards
@11vlr
@lisihocke

27. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
#06
Pranav KS
@IgnorantTester
#07
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#08
Viv Richards
@11vlr
#09
Cassandra H. Leung
@Tweet_Cassandra
@lisihocke

28. THE PEOPLE VISITED ON MY TOUR
#01
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
@maaretp
#02
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#03
Thiago Amanajás
@ThiagoAmanajas
#04
Dianë Xhymshiti
@dxhymshiti
#05
Lisa Crispin
@lisacrispin
#06
Pranav KS
@IgnorantTester
#07
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#08
Viv Richards
@11vlr
#09
Cassandra H. Leung
@Tweet_Cassandra
#10
Alex Schladebeck
@alex_schl
@lisihocke

29. https://twitter.com/alex_schl/status/998867221828063233
#10
Alex Schladebeck
@alex_schl
YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION
@lisihocke

30. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
@lisihocke

31. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
@lisihocke

32. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
#13
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
@lisihocke

33. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
#13
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#14
Mirjana Andovska
@mirjando
@lisihocke

34. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
#13
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#14
Mirjana Andovska
@mirjando
#15
Toyer Mamoojee
@tottiLFC
@lisihocke

35. MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT!
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
#13
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#14
Mirjana Andovska
@mirjando
#15
Toyer Mamoojee
@tottiLFC
#16
Thomas Rinke
@thomrinke
@lisihocke

36. https://twitter.com/eviltester/status/1021150238663487488
#16
Thomas Rinke
@thomrinke
THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN
@lisihocke

37. WHO’S NEXT?
#11
Viktorija Manevska
@Iki_Kviki
#12
João Proença
@jrosaproenca
#13
Peter Kofler
@codecopkofler
#14
Mirjana Andovska
@mirjando
#15
Toyer Mamoojee
@tottiLFC
#16
Thomas Rinke
@thomrinke
#17
?
#18
?
#19
?
#20
?
@lisihocke

38. LESSONS ABOUT PAIRING & THE TOUR
@lisihocke

39. LESSONS ABOUT PAIRING & THE TOUR
https://twitter.com/maaretp/status/952637976877699073
@lisihocke

40. WELL, AM I A BETTER SKILLED TESTER NOW?
@lisihocke

41. “I believe that pairing and mobbing with fellow testers from the
community on hands-on exploratory testing and automation will
result in continuously increasing skills and knowledge as well as
serendipitous learning.
I’ll know I have succeeded when I noted down at least one
concrete new insight or applied one new technique per testing
session and shared that with the community.”
WELL, AM I A BETTER SKILLED TESTER NOW?
@lisihocke

42. “I believe that pairing and mobbing with fellow testers from the
community on hands-on exploratory testing and automation will
result in continuously increasing skills and knowledge as well as
serendipitous learning.
I’ll know I have succeeded when I noted down at least one
concrete new insight or applied one new technique per testing
session and shared that with the community.”
WELL, AM I A BETTER SKILLED TESTER NOW?
@lisihocke
YES

43. KICK-START YOUR OWN TOUR
TIPS FOR PAIR
TESTING
SESSIONS
@lisihocke

44. WHAT‘S YOUR CHALLENGE?
@lisihocke

45. WHAT‘S YOUR CHALLENGE?
https://twitter.com/Reumaysa/status/1019846702881234944
@lisihocke

46. DECIDE ON TOUR DESIGN AND TOOLING
@lisihocke

47. DECIDE ON TOUR DESIGN AND TOOLING
@lisihocke

48. PREPARE EACH SESSION, JUST ENOUGH
@lisihocke

49. LET’S DO IT!
@lisihocke

50. SHARE YOUR LESSONS SO EVERYONE CAN LEARN
@lisihocke

51. SHARE YOUR LESSONS SO EVERYONE CAN LEARN
https://twitter.com/11vlr/status/1014237709009915905, https://twitter.com/tottiLFC/status/999932982566817793
https://twitter.com/thomrinke/status/1005174311794208768, https://twitter.com/11vlr/status/999565542980837376
@lisihocke

52. THANK YOU www.lisihocke.com
@lisihocke
bit.ly/testing-tour