Plans for this year

**UPDATED 24th March 2014

As some may have noticed I have not been as active with my blog as I normally would be, I do have a few articles on the back burner which I hope to flesh out over the next few months.  One of the reasons is that currently I am working away from home in our offices in Georgia, USA and this is taking a fair amount of my time.  At the same time I am still pushing ahead with writing my book, currently have the first four chapters almost complete and intend to publish these soon, give or take a month. It is proving a lot more difficult than expected but I do set myself difficult goals and targets.

I recently ran a workshop in Atlanta for the software testing club meet up which I felt went well.  Eric Jacobson did a great write up which you can read here.

I thought I would take this opportunity to give you an update on my current confirmed plans for this year.

• First of all I will be running a creative and critical thinking and testing workshop in Madrid, Spain at the ExpoQA conference from the 26th to the 29th May 2014.  I will also be presenting a talk on 'Stop doing too much automation'. 
• I have been selected to talk at the Agile Alliance Conference in Orlando, Florida, USA from the 28th July until the 1st August.  I will be talking about 'Taking Small Steps in a Big Organisation (An experience report on implementing ET)'.
• I feel very fortunate to have been selected to run my creative and critical thinking and testing workshop at this years CAST conference in New York, which is being held from the 11th until the 13th August.
• Finally Tony Bruce asked me if I would like to run the creative and critical thinking workshop for the next London Testers Gathering Workshops in London from the 16th until the 17th of October 2014, so I will be at that event as well.

Therefore you have plenty of opportunities to catch up with me at any of these events and I look forward to have some great discussions with other testers around the world.

Twitter Hashtags to follow for the events above:

• #EXPOQA
• #AGILE2014
• #CAST2014
• #LTGWorkshops
• #ltgw2014

Lets Test Conference 2013

Well it is soon going to be time to go to the Lets Test conference 20^th -22^nd May - - http://lets-test.com/ and I  am getting very excited about this for a few reasons.

1. I am presenting – hopefully my talk on Information Overload will be well received - http://lets-test.com/?page_id=1284
2. An awesome line up of some of the most respected testers in the world will be there – check out the program - http://lets-test.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/LetsTest2013_Program.pdf
3. I will get a chance to do the most important thing at a conference which is to do some conferring. 
4. This is going to be one of the testing events of the year (IMO)
5. There is going to be a fantastic test lab to play in and hone your testing skills - http://lets-test.com/?p=1790

I am looking forward to meeting some old friends within the testing community and hopefully making and meet new ones.

For those that have not attended conferences before or are a little inexperienced may I draw your attention to some great blogs on getting the most out of conferences.

Rob lambert Quick Guide to Eurostar (But it does apply to all conferences)

http://thesocialtester.co.uk/quick-guide-to-eurostar-2012/

Making the most of the Conference Experience – Self-promotion from my Blog http://www.steveo1967.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/making-most-of-conference-experience.html

Conferencers Anonymous – Markus Gärtner- http://www.shino.de/2013/02/26/conferencers-anonymous/

WHAT do you mean you are not attending?  - Seriously I am sure Henrik and the team can ‘fit’ you in.  What are you waiting for?  

Making the most of the conference experience

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO CONFERENCE… WE WILL TALK TO YOU…..

Since it is so close to the Eurostar conference in Amsterdam I thought I would post a conference related blog. #esconfs @esconfs -

I had planned to do this blog article a few weeks ago when I posted on twitter about the point of conferences is not all about the tracks but about the conferring. Many thanks to Rob Lambert The social tester for spurring me to complete this post together with his great A quick guide to Eurostar 2012

What?  You have not read it yet!!!  Then please stop reading this and go and do so…… (There Rob plug over with I expect the cheque to be in the post tomorrow or at least buy me a drink at Eurostar!)

This article is not going to be a “you should do this or should do that” and follows some of the messages that Rob states in his article. I remember my first conference (many, many years ago) and how it can be very intimidating.  It is even worse if you are little shy or a quiet type.

The best value you can get from a conference is not from the tracks or the keynotes but from talking to other people and conferring.  You soon learn that the problems you face in your day to day job are similar to others. This may help you to feel that you are not alone and that the issues you face are normal.  It is so easy within our profession to become insular and trapped in our own bubble.  Conferences gives you a great opportunity to see that the issues you experience are common and others are facing the same problems.  This is a great part of attending conferences to discuss these issues with others and sometimes you may discover solutions which could help you resolve the problems you are facing.

There are many ‘strong’ characters in the software testing community and some can appear to be very intimidating.  Try not to be scared and approach them, maybe just listen to begin with; this is what I did at my first few conferences and I felt too nervous or inferior to even think about taking part in the conversation.   It was at one conference when, what I would consider, a high profile figure within the testing community  asked for my thoughts about a topic I was listening to with a group of people.  So I said what I thought and the person took what I said and said this was a great example of the point being made.  This made me feel good and that I had something worthwhile to say.  This one encounter at this conference changed my whole perspective of the testing community and spurred me to start writing this testing blog.  So the conference can change you and encourage you in unexpected ways.  (Thanks Michael B – your encouragement has led to all of this from your keen observations)

At the conference lookout for non-conference social meets they are sometimes advertised on twitter.  You are not on twitter?  Please do join twitter it is a great way to interact with the whole testing community worldwide. I am @steveo1967 on twitter if you want to find me.  Others are word of mouth so it is important to socialise with people at a conferences.

Do not attend every single track at the conference doing so will exhaust you and place you under a lot of pressure.  Take some time out to reflect on  what you have attended maybe even write it up on a blog or as notes to follow up at work.  Even better take some time out to visit the expo or the great sights around the venue.  A conference is not about the number of tracks you attend or making sure you fill all your time with attending lectures.  I tried to do that for the first few conferences I attended and it did not work I had no time to reflect on what had been said and forgot so much useful information.

I have met many wonderful people at conferences and some of them have gone on to be close acquaintances that I have regular contact with even inviting them to my home.  All it takes is a little courage to try and get involved; this is so difficult to do for some but very much worth it.

I would say to that who are regulars at conferences if you spot someone on their own please try to approach them and introduce yourself. At the Eurostar conference this year there is a new concept called the community hub,  which is being hosted by Peter Morgan.  I recommend that you come along and practice doing a little socialising.

ENJOY YOURSELF – it seems strange to say that but I have seen so many people come to a conference with a unhappy face – they have come because they have been told to or feel like an outsider.  Make the most of the conference by taking part and becoming a part of the community.  The testing community can be intimidating for an outsider but if you take those first wobble steps to becoming a part of the community then it welcomes you with open arms and lots of support.

You never know you may meet someone at the conference who changes your life or at least makes you think in a different way.

In memory of Ola Hylten whom I first met at a Eurostar Conference