Saturday, May 7, 2016

Agile TD Scandinavia

So it was finally time for my first testing conference, Agile TD Scandinavia and i was also there as a speaker. Here are some of my observations and thoughts from the days.

Arriving to the hotel the day before and walking to the reception to meet up for the speakers dinner. Seeing some familiar faces was good as i may not be the most outspoken person, so at least i have someone to start talking to. As the trip and dinner progresses so does the discussions, covering everything high and low. This is a great icebreaker especially for me as this is the first time, but it quite obvious that for many this is second nature. Aiming for a fairly early night, which i almost succeeded with.

Conference day
Arriving early at the venue and at once the organisation is top notch, everything is prepared and you just walk straight in. at this point my nerves are starting to make themselves noticed. Talking to a few colleagues and i start to calm down. Finally the welcome speak and the first Keynote is starting, good as i can now start thinking about anything else then my own talk. First out is Bent Myllerup, talking about organising and setting up agile teams. Biggest take away is the way they have been creating the teams by letting the members actually select themselves, instead of some manager pointing. Short break and then moving to the New Voices room to listen to Göran Bakken and Lisa Mellegård. Both are sharing their experiences from various assignments. Unfortunately the time is set to only 20 minutes which means that both need to finish their presentations a bit abruptly, and there is really no time for questions. Short break and then it's time for my session, but first Mirsad Vojniković talks about test automation and common pitfalls and misunderstandings, he is making a few quite bold statements, but again time runs out so no real discussion around this. My time: after being presented, and of course stumbling a bit in the beginning i start to feel a flow. Until i check the time and realize i am on the second to last slide after only 8 minutes. Well just keep going and finish the talk. A few questions and i am done. Despite missing a few comments, quite happy with my work.

Now time to really enjoy the conference, and realize quite quickly that the new voices section is the one that keep pulling me in. Robin Bergh’s talk about how he redesigned the scum board was brilliant and gave a lot of new thoughts. Like the way they use the backlog as a starting grid instead. Clear and concise way to show the priority. After lunch a long time was spent on Open Space and different Games. It's a good way to challenge the mind. Mob Testing by Maaret Pyhäjärvi was a really excellent key note and a way of testing and developing that i didn't know existed. Something i will definitely read more about, sounds like a fun way of working, and a different way as well. After a full day one is quite exhausted, but the mingle after both at the venue as well as at the hotel was equally rewarding. 

General thoughts.

  • Organization of the conference: could not be better, D&H really know what they are doing. 
  • Most presentations are experience based, which is really good as it shows what can work and how to get there. 
  • As most people attending have a similar thinking about test and processes there are not really any major discussions. 
  • Would have loved someone to present “why waterfall rocks” or “detailed test cases is the future” just to see how the discussions would go. 
  • Maybe change the timings a bit, have 15-20 min for a talk and leave 10-15 min for discussions, Especially if the setting is a smaller room. 
A massive thanks to the organisers and all of you who attended.