A Decade in Software Testing - Summary

Hello Friends,

Some of you might have read few blog posts from the series, 'A Decade in Software Testing' that I wrote to mark my tenth anniversary in the IT industry. I didn't market this series as much as I usually do because I wrote these for myself, to look back and also look up to the future with regards to where I am heading in testing. Some readers reached out to me and mentioned how it has helped them learn. I thought I might as well collate a summary blog for all the posts so you can look it up in one place, if you find it worth your time.

Image Credits: The Internet

Here is a summary of all the blog posts.

In Search Of The Master

Writing, A Mental Therapy

My Tryst With Speaking Engagements

Community Gang Wars

International Society for Software Testing (ISST)

Perception About Women - Part I [Real World Problems]

Perception About Women - Part II [Gender Stereotypes, Framing and Hardwired Perceptions]

Perception About Women - Part III [Glass Ceiling, Slotting and Judgment Disposals]

I Finally Found My Master

Happy Reading!

Regards,
Pari

A Decade in Software Testing - My Tryst with Speaking Engagements

I often wondered why musicians and artists travel all over the world to showcase their work. While money appears to lure them, it’s hard to believe that these people live between suitcases only for money. There is something else that drives them beyond money. What is it?

Immortality

Many humans want to remain immortal through their work. They want to leave their footprints before they move on from this world to another. They want to feel useful and needed to mankind (or womankind J). They want to be known for their work long after they are gone.

Passionate Humans believe in something bigger than their own self

Conferring

In 2009, I went to a testing conference in Bangalore. The conference was driven by tools, technologies and processes. No one really seemed to worry about skills and values. After attending few sessions, I thought I could do better as a speaker. I brimmed with over-confidence.

In subsequent years, I submitted abstracts to many conferences where the jury asked me to take part in regional rounds, requested me to send detailed slide decks and even answer questions on email. My abstracts got rejected several times. Conference chairs hardly saw meat in my sessions during regional rounds. My storytelling ability was too weak.

At times, I was apprehensive of the jury partly because they valued topics like ‘Global Trends in Testing’ or ‘Future Trends in Testing’ more than ‘Emerging Need for Test Leadership’ or ‘Test Strategy for Web Apps’. I also thought that conferences were driven by “what the audience paid for” rather than what could help create a better world. There is a proverb in Hindi, ‘Nach Na Jaane, Aangan Tedi’ – meaning there used to be a dancer who blamed that the floor is not good and hence his dancing was bad. I was in that dancer’s state of mind, perhaps.

In 2013, I told myself that I will build on my speaking skill. It was one of the important goals for this year. I actively applied to conferences as a speaker. I started to practice writing abstracts and/or proposals seriously. I spent time learning how to make impressive slide decks (long way to go). I even sent abstracts to many conferences outside India. My testing heroes/sheroes Pradeep Soundararajan, Lisa Crispin, Carsten Fielberg and Maria Kedemo helped a great deal this year by reviewing my abstracts and provided detailed inputs. I appreciate their patience and support. It’s heartwarming to have colleagues who are so helpful. I got rejected again and again and again and again this year. As I write this post, an email arrived rejecting two more proposalsL. It’s painful to get rejected even after putting so much effort. And then, I was reminded of this proverb:

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you’re a good person is like expecting a bull not to attack you because you’re a vegetarian ~ Dennis Whole

Invited Speaker

I recently presented at Chennai on ‘Testing Mobile Apps using Heuristic Test Model COP FLUNG GUN’. It made me very happy. This was my First speaking invitation ever (without the hassles of abstract, regional rounds or selection process). I believe this invite came only because the program chair of this conference had seen me present during one of the regional rounds for a testing conference in Bangalore. Of course, my paper for Bangalore conference was rejected for political reasons [Quoting Jerry Weinberg, “All decisions are emotional and political”]. However, the same team invited me to present at their Chennai conference. I rehearsed well. My talk went really well. I pulled my phone out and made my talk highly interactive. Heads and Directors of many testing companies were glued to their seats. I received great feedback for my talk afterwards.

Catch-22

This  left me wondering. How is it that my abstracts get rejected, but some people think I am worthy to be invited to talk? How is it that people like my talk?  I have spoken at Aditi, BlrTmm, Bug DeBug and WCNGT Chennai and the feedback I received was positive.

Here is what I think. Many program chairs must have heard you speak somewhere or received great feedback about your talk or interacted with you (and believe you have great ideas) in order to offer speaking engagements. People like me need speaking engagements to be able to speak so I can become a better speaker with each attempt. It’s a Catch 22 situation.

The Spirit of Fighting Back

I believe I have great stories to tell. I have my fair share of experiences which I have learned and can help others. I see a large number of testers in Academy at Moolya benefit from what I coach on while I learn along with them. I am confident I can do better in speaking. I continue to practice. I observe other good speakers speak. I listen to YouTube videos. Hey, I plan to attend a storytelling workshop too!

Pradeep recently sent me a link to UXIndia which I registered. He nudged me to apply and I did, without any help from anyone – all on my own. I got selected for a 10 minute Rapid Fire Talk. I had a blast presenting at UX India 2013. This experience has boosted my confidence by many levels. Thanks to Pradeep for the nudge!

Presenting at UX India 2013 to an audience of UI/UX designers

Until two months ago, I was very desperate to speak at conferences. Very very desperate! I wanted to do anything possible to make it to conferences. I guess I was focusing my energies in the wrong place. I am no longer desperate. I decided I won’t worry about getting rejected anymore. It’s a waste of my time. I will continue to try, but won’t feel bad or sad as I used to. Instead, I’ll wear each rejection as a badge of honor for the effort I am putting in. At least, I am trying. It keeps me calm and grounded. There are many things that are under our control and lot many more that are not under our control.

The best way to deal with it is to get better at what is under our control and let of what is not under our control.

By the way, it’s not been all that bad. Here are my speaking engagements so far. Two talks this year is decent progress.

1. Test Estimation – BLRTMM, Bangalore, April 2010 [Invited]
2. Myths of Test Estimation – Aditi Technologies, Bangalore, November 2010
3. Heuristics of Usability – BugDebug, Chennai, March 2012
4. Testing Mobile Apps, WCNGT, Chennai, August 2013 [Invited]
5. Heuristics for User Experience (Rapid Fire Talk) – A Testers Perspective – UXIndia, Bangalore, October 2013 
6. Lunch Talk – A Retail Company, Bangalore, 2014 [Invited]
7. Ecommerce Testing – A services company, Bangalore, 2014 [Invited]
8. Heuristics for User Experience, India Testing Week 2013, Bangalore, December 2013 
9. Testing, Learning and Inspiration - SAP Labs, Bangalore, December 2013 [Invited]

Someday, you’ll hear me speak at TED!

I bet!

Regards,

Parimala Hariprasad

Addendum on 16th Jan 2014 
Hey! I am already invited for 4 conferences this year, 3 in India and 1 in US. The seeds I sowed last year seem to be sprouting already ;).

Public speaking continued............

This post is continued from my previous post. I dislike calling this part II and previous one as part I because every time I do that, I fail to write part II. Writing jinx.

In the book Linchpin, Seth Godin says the following :

It turns out that the three biological factors that drive job performance and innovation are social intelligence, fear response, and perception.  Public speaking brings all three together. Speaking to a group requires social intelligence. We need to be able to make an emotional connection with people, talk about what they are interested in, and persuade them. That's difficult, and we're not wired for this as well as we are wired to, say, eat fried foods.

Public speaking also triggers huge fear responses. We're surrounded by strangers or people of power, all of whom might harm us. Attention is focused on us, and attention (according to our biology) equals danger.

Last, and more subtly, speaking involves perception. It exposes how we see things, both the thing we are talking about and the response of the people in the room. Exposing that perception is frightening.

The above paragraph speaks for itself. I hope I don't have to elaborate. Seth Godin's simplicity in writing amazes me.

Content
With the advent of internet, there is no dearth of content if one intends to speak. However, speaking of one's own experiences has more human touch to it than copying something point by point and puking it in front of the audience. Learning in depth is not enough, one has to experience it before speaking highly of it. To paraphrase Rahul Verma, "Don't follow your guru's ideas blindly. Make them your own or discard them as need be. Experience ideas before professing to others"

Speaking style
Everyone's speaking style differs. I speak very fast. I speak very loudly. I don't smile enough as I talk about stuff that I am damn serious about. Some people are slow. Few others maintain a balance between the good and bad aspects of their speaking skills. One can change the style by practice. Rehearsing talks, talking amidst friends or colleagues who provide feedback are some small steps that could .3help.

Thought process
We would have prepared with a certain thought process in mind. We would have a list of topics we want to deliver. One single question can doom this whole process. Your thoughts are no longer yours. Someone hijacks it and before you realize, your talk will be over. My friend Netra suggests I try meditation. I annoyed her by saying, "I'm too restless to meditate". Slowing down while talking helps. Being conscious of where we left the topic as we answer a question helps. Off late, I have seen this work for me as I deliver lectures.

Evoking
Evoking serious thoughts through humor or satire helps convey serious messages in a funny way. I have a few speakers do this exceptionally well. This is where listening to more and more good speakers helps. One may start with imitating their favorite speakers, but eventually develop their own style.

Your style a.k.a Originality
If we have known the speaker closely, we can tell if he is original or not. By original, I mean being one's own true self. Seasoned speakers might appear to have their own style that works. However, they must have started from somewhere. By listening to some of the better speakers around and by working on their own style. It's hard to be original and still be a good speaker, I guess. Still thinking on these lines........

These are just a few highlights of what I think goes into good public speaking. It's a post written consciously to tell myself that I need to focus on these as I pursue serious speaking opportunities. If this helps any upcoming speakers, that will make me happy too.

Regards,
Parimala Shankaraiah

Foray into Public Speaking

Talk about Speaking
Here's one of those impending posts that's close to my heart.

One of the major goals for 2010 was to speak at conferences. Somehow, it got too hard. I probably didn't push enough.

Talking to a virtual audience
In October 2010, I got an opportunity to present a talk to college students across India thanks to Pradeep, Rahul Verma and the team at Edista who organized the talk. This talk was a live broadcast from M S Ramaiah Medical College to about 24 engineering colleges across India. 24 Colleges, say about 100 students in each college, which meant 2400 students from different parts of India. Numbers are amazing ego boosters. I had about a day to prepare. I was asked to talk about 'Testing as an interesting career option'. By the time I got a final confirmation for the talk, I had about 6 hrs left. I made some quick notes and it was already time to leave for the venue. I was busy rehearsing in the cab, memorizing the order in which I wanted to mention a few points, blah blah blah. Actually, my talk pretty much was blah blah blah.

Firstly, this talk was a live telecast and hence I had to be in a Recording Studio which appeared like a Bhooth Bangla (haunted place) from outside the college campus. Secondly, I had to keep staring at a defined area on the monitor to appear as if I am talking to the virtual audience. Thirdly, If someone posted questions to me on the chat window, I had to turn 45 degrees towards my left side to read those questions, again on the screen. The recording personnel was co-operative and promised to remind me where to look and when. It was a little weird to me, but I was looking forward to the talk as it was my first talk.

Even before I started the talk, I had gulped about 250 ml of water from a giant 2 litre bottle. I started with usual introduction and set the agenda. I spoke about why testing is considered a "not so sexy" career option, how this perception is changing, what's wrong with college graduates thinking testing doesn't pay as well as programming and a few other things. Most of what I spoke that day escapes my memory. Blame it on my pregnancy at the time :)

As I spoke, I could see students in conference halls of respective colleges looking at the large screens in their hallway, a few of them coming forward to type in questions and a major chunk of those walking out of the hall because the talk was on "testing". Nothing unusual. College graduates don't even want to listen what testing is all about. I was happy that at least a few students stayed back to listen to what I had to say. I very well knew I was not presenting well. I also knew that the content I had was good (which was actually not enough for a good talk anyway). I pretty much ended the presentation with my email and blog details for any impending queries. Students left and I left too. Out of curiosity, I asked the recording guy how many would have attended my talk approximately (fancy numbers again). He answered it would be around 50-100 people overall as that day fell into one of those long weekend holidays in India. I wondered, "Even if one person found my talk useful, I would be happy". I also hoped that, that one person would contact me in some way and tell me how useful it was. It did happen. That talk did help one person to be exact. It was Me.

I knew that with the time I had for preparation, that is the best I could have done. After that, I got busy with personal things, but somehow wasn't happy about the progress I made in public speaking.

Talking to a live audience 
Bangalore Testers Monthly Meets came in handy. I strongly felt I should start presenting regularly at these meetups. The day finally came. I presented on "Testimation" at Blrtmm#3. I make it a point to attend all meets and mini-conferences in and around bangalore for most part. One glaring thing about many of these is the fact that the audience is very keen on learning new tools or scripting languages. Not a single person would possibly think of skills development, optimal test documentation, how to work on new test ideas etc. I am biased towards these topics as I believe that these are perceived as major pain points in many organizations today. We need education in these areas more than ever.  Since, I had struggled with test estimation myself for a while, I thought of presenting my challenges. Luckily, most of the audience related to it. It was a good start for me as a speaker with this topic.

The feedback I received was awesome. Not that my talk was awesome. It's just that it was decent for a start. One of the common feedback I got was, "To smile more often while presenting". Second feedback was to get a strong hold on the topic that I present. There were many more like this.

These two talks will be very special to me as they helped me realise I'm not all that bad. Yeah, I crack really poor jokes.  I should probably take up some classes in Standup Comedy.

I admire Vipul Kocher and Rahul Verma when it comes to public speaking. They capture audience's attention within fraction of seconds. I don't really know how they manage. Michael Bolton cracks up the audience so often in a span of minutes. And Malcolm Gladwell! Oh! Malcolm does it so well..........apparently, he said in one of his Ted speeches that he memorizes all his speeches in advance line by line. I won't buy that argument anyway. Hopefully, I'll learn from many of these good speakers out there.

So this was a sneak preview into my speaking journey. I didn't have time to update about my talk at Blrtmm#3 to the blogging world as I was in a transition phase with my previous company and hardly had free time. Will keep you posted on new happenings as they occur.

Thank You,
Parimala