In October I went to Testbash Manchester 2019, one of the things I was doing there was taking part in the UnExpo. I thought I’d talk about my experience. So welcome to The 8 Things I Learnt From Standing Up For Too Long.
So, I was taking part in the UnExpo. What’s an Unexpo. Well actually let’s start with what an Expo is. The Expo at lots of conferences is the exhibition bit. Generally it’s a room in the venue, normally just outside where the good stuff is happening. It’s where lots of people sell their tools, their companies or their services to you. At most testing conferences it’s people selling you test management software or "magic click-and-replay" automated testing tools.
Fun fact: the Expo-type hall in a Brass Band Contest is where people will sell you the written parts poorly arranged pop songs, ugly uniform jackets with tassels on the shoulders or valve oil. For making valves oily.
But I digress: back to Test Expos.
MoT(Ministry of Test) decided they wanted to try something where people weren’t just being sold things but were talking about ideas. So at Brighton 2018 they tried an UnExpo. Basically it’s like a science fair, people turn up with big posters, or make them on the day. And then they talk about whatever ideas they want. After being pleased with the results at Brighton 2018 they decided to try again. And so they did it at TestBash Manchester 2019.
There were a large variety of tangentially testing related topics and activities being covered :a security quiz; programming a robot to go round a predetermined track and one surprisingly nervous individual was trying to discuss with people the things about Testing that make them feel guilty.
Yep. The person getting people to talk about guilt was me. For those of you that don’t know, I have this theory that when people go to conferences, read blogs or go to meetups they see how other people are doing “Modern Software Testing” and they feel guilty for not living up to those ideas in their day to day job. My idea for my UnExpo stand was simple: talk about the things you feel guilty for not doing and put them up on post-its on my board. The more things we all admit to, the more we all understand that everyone feels guilty about the same things, we’re not alone, and to hopefully we all feel a little happier with how we're doing. That was the theory anyhow. Well, what did I learn from the day. These are just a few of the things that I learnt, and this does not cover all the things people wrote down, it's just a brief overview of some of the things people said. In fact I'll also encompass nuggets of wisdom not derived from specific individual interactions or post-it's.
1. Some People Are Worried About Not Doing Enough Automation
There were quite a few people who talked to me about how they don’t do automation, some of them don’t do it because they can’t convince their teams. Some people don’t do it because they don’t like doing automation. But there was a theme of people feeling guilty because they don't do automation.
2. Some People Are Worried About Doing Too Much Automation
That Says: Am I focussing too much on automated testing.
In contrast to the people who are worried they are not doing enough automation, some people are worried they’re doing too much automation. Which I think says it all really. As a profession we feel damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
3. Some People Like Not Knowing What’s In The Box
Interesting, for me, this one: that people feel guilty for just enjoying testing things without not knowing what’s inside. I think that the deeper you understand the Software architecture the better you get at understanding it’s quality but I also accept that a driving factor for what people do with their days should also be what they enjoy, so this leaves me a little conflicted.
4. If You Stand Up In A Busy Room And Try And Project Your Voice For A Long Time You Will Get A Headache
No post-it for this. Just an observation from me. Over the course of the day I did probably around three hours of standing up trying to talk groups of three or four people in a very noisy room. After the first hour I had a very noticeable headache that made it hurt whenever I subsequently spoke. I had that headache pretty much till I woke up the next day. FUN!
5. Some People Are Worried About Learning The Wrong Things
At a conference full of people talking about all these excited new software development techniques and practices you should learn, some people were worried about not spending time on the best ones. Basically not knowing which new ideas are the ones to chase is causing people to not commit to learning anything and I think that's a shame.
6. We All Think We're The Only People "Doing It Wrong"
The first post-it it was something someone wrote about feeling guilty about. That they feel like they've never been in a team doing agile well. That seemed to be a theme, that "everyone else is doing something magically right apart from me". Although Neil Studd was talking about Testing generally rather than Agile I agree with him and think his point can be extended, that "no one really knows what right means."
7. A Programmable Robot Is More Interesting Than I Am
I suppose I could have guessed that. That area had more traffic than mine, however in fairness I had few occasions where I wasn't talking to anyone so I’m not sure how much busier I’d have wanted to be.
8. Taking Part In An UnExpo Is Fun But Hard Work
I would encourage you to get involved in this kind of thing. It forced me to talk to people I didn't know at a conference, which I’m normally not good at. Honestly, I hate approaching people I don't know because I always feel that I’m ruining their day and that I’m not who people want to talk to. So having a purpose for interaction was nice, it was good to have structure. And also I got a free ticket, (which may not always be the case but was for me), which is very good, so I got to see the rest of the conference and was forced to challenge myself socially.
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For more info on MoT Unexpo see this write up from 2018
Also, I've so far done two episodes on the things people divulged and break down my opinions on them and dig into many more of the post-it's. There's one to follow in the new year as well.
