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 ;).

Writer's Block and its Mysterious Journey

*Naomi Karten writes that every writer hits writer’s block and one needs to unblock himself. Wikipedia describes writer's block “as a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work.” Anything a writer writes is new work indeed which contradicts the definition itself.

Seth Godin thinks that writing isn’t the hard part, it’s the commitment. He also talks about how Writer’s block never existed before the 1940s and it became a hit with writers only when Writing became a respectable and lucrative profession. Seth asks amusingly, “No one ever gets talker's block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down. Why then, is writer's block endemic?”

Writer’s block is an excuse to get away from writing. It’s at best, the fear of writing anything crappy. It’s not the inability to write that is the problem, it’s the hard work, motivation and commitment to write that writers lack. Additionally, writers avoid exploring different methods of improving their writing from time to time.

Writing is not as easy as it appears to be. It’s not as if, a writer sits in a beautiful apartment with a beach side view staring at palm trees and ideas start striking like stars. Writing is about serious thinking. It’s about choosing from ideas, facts, stories, plots, characters accumulated over time. Gerald M Weinberg calls these nuggets as Fieldstones.  This means that any writer would have a ‘Work in Progress Inventory’  that may include several books in different stages of completion, article drafts, collection of quotes, bits and pieces of writing that amused the writer on several occasions and so forth. He may carry a pen and paper (tools) to collect his fieldstones all the time. Yeah, all the time! Note that the writer may not use all of these right away. He hopes to use them someday.

Aspiring writers all over the world are desperate to get an answer to the most dangerous question, “How do you overcome writer’s block”. Some of these writers expect a magical answer, “Oh! Writer’s block indeed exists and you need to do A, B and C to conquer it.” Getting stuck cannot be excused as Writer’s block. There’s one best way one can beat your mind from getting stuck – Start Writing!

Addendum

It's ironical to write a blog post on Writer's Block while I have not written on this blog for 4 months now. Interestingly, I have been writing more than before, but at different places like on Moolya Blog, Testing magazines and TechWell too. Take a look if it interests you. 

Moolya Blog

Moolya Startup Test Lab

My Journey to Let's Test 2013 in Sweden

Testing Circus

Challenges In A Warzone Project

Medical Emergencies and Testing Skills

TechWell 

How and When To Give Feedback

And many more articles in progress - I am collecting fieldstones.

*I have been reading Naomi Karten's article since 3 years and I love what she writes. I particularly like her articles on Human Behavior and its implications in organizational setups. Interestingly, I disagreed with her on this particular piece.

Happy Writing and Happy Reading!