I started this post right after returning from the Agile Testing Days, yet I've only come around to finish it now. It's been yet again such a great conference with amazing folks, and it just deserves a proper blog post to share and remind my future self what it was like this year.
Monday - Arrival Day
This year, the conference started only on Tuesday of the week. Traveling on Monday, I could already build up the usual excitement before this conference that back in 2015 was my very first conference ever which laid so many foundations for my career. With its content, yet even more with its amazing folks and the space it created every year since. A space to bring your whole self, to explore what could be, to truly connect with people, and to grow beyond what I thought was imaginable.
Arriving at the hotel, I was greeted with a huge banner that welcomed me home. And as a returning alumna, this indeed hit home and resonated more with me than I already knew it would. It's one of my homes indeed and I'm grateful I discovered it so many years ago for myself.
Thank you ❤️💕 #agileTD
— Alex Schladebeck (@alexschl.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 4:13 PM
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Arriving day also means that meeting the first folks - including those I've met many years ago the first time and we've built strong connections ever since. Folks like João Proença, Elizabeth Zagroba, Thierry de Pauw, Anne Colder, Vincent Wijnen, Michael Kutz, Dragan Spiridonov, and so many more. Also meeting people I haven't had the chance yet to fully connect with, so we made up for it this year! Like with Filip Hric, whom I had the pleasure to have dinner with on this first evening, and going full circle having dinner on the last evening as well. It's been lovely to see first-timers as well and have them slowly introduce to the wider community. Agile Testing Days can feel wildly overwhelming with everything going on, so having a chance to make things smoother for those who experience it for the first time is just great.
This evening was full of wonderful conversations over dinner, ending up in the bar, and then going to bed with a renewed sense of this community where I so much belong even though (or actually because?) I never fitted in completely. Which is perfectly fine.
Tuesday - Tutorial Day
Whenever I have the opportunity to do so, I opt for taking a full-day tutorial. This year, the tutorial I chose was "Empowering Inclusive Testing: A Guide to Accessibility" by Laveena Ramchandani. I really enjoyed this training on all things accessibility. It provided foundations as well as where and how to go deeper. Laveena explained regulations, tools, and set the space for us to practice preparing for difficult conversations advocating for making our products more accessible and hence more usable for everyone. She did a great job structuring and facilitating the tutorial, equipping us with concrete actions to take back to work. Obviously, we can't solve or know everything just after a one-day training, and yet there's a lot we can take with us and start doing right away to make things better.
After the tutorial, the conference unofficially opened with the first keynote "To Heck With Your Automation Principles" by Vincent Wijnen and Paul Holland. What an entertaining start into the
conference! Well presented, getting the audience to think, engage, and see how
context needs to influence which heuristics to try.
Finally, time for dinner. I love that dinner groups are getting organized for everyone, not just the speakers. In my case, I did join the speakers dinner, which was lovely as always. I really enjoyed the insightful table conversations on lots of deep topics with Ash Coleman Hynie and Vernon Richards (both of whom were such a pleasant surprise to see at this conference!), Dr. Rochelle Carr, João Proença and Sérgio Freire.
#AgileTD speakers dinner. Always special!
— João Proença (@jrosaproenca.bsky.social) November 19, 2024 at 8:03 PM
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Wednesday - Conference Day 1
The first full conference day was there, and with it came the full frenzy of Agile Testing Days! And also re-meeting so many awesome folks. Like Toyer Mamoojee and his whole family, who's been my learning partner since 2016 (can you imagine?). Like Janina Nemec, my co-conspirator for the Open Security Conference and long-time SET playing buddy. Like Gitte Klitgaard, whose wisdom, courage, and kindness had a huge impact on me ever since I've met her first here at Agile Testing Days. Here are the sessions I've joined on this day.
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Lean Coffee
by Ashley Hunsberger and Lisa Crispin. Ever since the first Agile Testing Days I've made it a tradition to join the very first day's lean coffee session. It's quite hard for me to get up that early yet I know it's always worth it - and I still have most energy on the first day. Once again, I had a really nice group of folks we discussed interesting topics with. If you have a chance to catch a lean coffee session anywhere, bring your topics and let it surprise you. This time I've asked what are other ways to spread information and connect people beyond communities of practice that people experienced working. The gathered insights: spread information to read where people are like Google's "Testing on the toilet" initiative (that now became "Tech on the toilet"), go on mystery lunches, offer shadowing so folks can see the actual work, publish newspapers instead of only newsletters, have a marketplace with a booth to present yourself, and use the coffee kitchen (or remote analog) which is just never getting old.
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Keynote "Playful Leadership" by Portia Tung. Great opening keynote that people could relate with,
setting the scene for the conference to play, dare something, grow with
others around you, and listen to your physical responses. Very confident,
authentic, and playful stage presence, love how Portia was leading by
example.
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"A Security Champion’s Journey - How to Make Things a Bit More Secure
than Yesterday Every Day" by me.
Just one week ago I've given the inaugural instance of this brand-new talk at BSides Munich. This second time I've had a very different kind of audience in front of me - yet was it really that different? The talk worked just as well, and I loved all the kinds of insightful conversations and new connections that evolved based on it during the next days. For anybody who missed the chance, the BSides edition's recording had been published already.
Make things a bit more secure than yesterday every day! That would help us all! „A Security Champion‘s Journey“ - a great talk by @lisihocke.bsky.social at #AgileTD ! Thank you!
— Jens Höft (@jenshoeft.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 11:26 AM
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Keynote "Breaking Accessibility Barriers" by Laveena Ramchandani. I really liked that Laveena used the stage to
raise awareness on critical issues we encounter every day, with many sites
and products not being accessible for way more people than you might think
- including yourself! The best part was when she let the audience feel the
frustration and emotional roller-coaster of something not behaving as
expected. A crucial topic very well presented!
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Workshop "Collect your explorer badge" by Udita Sharma and me. We were honored to get asked to repeat this workshop this year after we've given it last year at Agile Testing Days for the first time. Once again, we had an engaged group to explore this different approach to come up with exploratory testing ideas which are easy to grasp and quick to convey to anyone else. I've made great experiences with this approach also with my own team this year, having people come up with great ideas to learn more about our product, new features or anything else we needed more information on to make better decisions. Many thanks to Udita for coming up with the original idea to this workshop and doing it together with me this year!
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Keynote "The Obvious, the Obscured, and the Illusion: Navigating the Noise of
GenAI in Testing" by Rahul Verma. I liked the call for action to get to know tools for
what they are and how you can combine them to solve actual problems that
they are fit to solve. This is too often forgotten over the hype that new technology can bring with.
It was time for dinner. I've always had great conversations over food and drinks at conferences, this one wasn't any different. The first conference evening is also reserved for the big costume party (where everyone without costume is just as welcome, which I personally just love). Hence, we could already enjoy the amazing costumes folks came up with on the theme of time traveling. Just loved it. My special kudos go out to Anne Colder and Vincent Wijnen who came up with the brilliant idea to take their amazing costumes from last year, traveling back in time - yet having the device fail in the most curious ways including a body swap! Absolutely hilarious and ingeniously implemented.
Time travelling women! #agiletd
— Alex Schladebeck (@alexschl.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 7:29 PM
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Then it was time for the big thing that everyone had been waiting for: "The Owl Problem", the first ever musical that Agile Testing Days (and any other conference?) has ever seen. Fully composed, enacted and brought to life by community folks. What an amazing event, so much effort in there, so much courage! Huge shout-out and kudos to the whole crew, you've moved mountains with your performance. The whole audience was in awe of you all bringing everything you got on the table and make it such a memorable event.
The Owl Problem @ #AgileTD ! 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄
— Jens Höft (@jenshoeft.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 9:49 PM
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Thursday - Conference Day 2
Next conference day, and I could already feel the tiredness in my bones. Agile Testing Days can be a lot, and no matter how much I can easily advise others on taking it slow and skip sessions and take the rest you need, I fail badly at the same advice for myself. Every year again. Probably because I don't regret going full in and getting the most out of it, and yet it might still not be the wisest decision I make in a year. This day, I've joined the following sessions.
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Keynote "Technical coaching development teams using the Samman method" by Emily Bache. Loved this keynote by Emily, so many important points
delivered in such a concise way. Even though I knew the Samman Method
already, I've still taken new insights with me when it comes to skill
building which triggered thoughts related to my own situation. Emily
delivers her content in such a professional and relatable way, I just love
that she took the Agile Testing Days stage and people had the opportunity to learn from
her.
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"Make a fearless start with security testing" by Sander van Beek. Sander did a great job breaking down important
security concepts to provide digestible starting points for beginners to
continue their own security journey from.
I always enjoy learning from others how they convey such topics, and also taking sketchnotes so this kind of content can be spread further.
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Keynote "Testing, Identity, and Symbols" by Jenna Charlton. Jenna really made me think with their keynote about my own
identity, or rather identities I gathered so far in my life, and those I'm
about to add to all of this. Where I feel I belong already, where not,
where not yet. And where others might struggle in different ways than I
am.
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Workshop "First Steps in Mobile Security Testing" by me.
My third and final session to give this year was a brand-new workshop. Probably the most daring one, definitely the most complex one I've ever given. I've had the concept in my mind for quite a long time, yet what made this workshop so difficult to prepare for that it haunted me for many months was the setup. This should be a first steps workshop for everyone who was new to either mobile, or security, or both. With an unknown audience and an unknown range of their existing knowledge and skills. In just two hours of time. Well, I might write a separate blog post just on the setup part to fully grasp the extent of this, and hopefully help others find a suitable solution quicker. All in all, this workshop helped me gain insights on how I can reduce the struggles even further for folks. And despite the struggles we still had, it seems to have helped folks to take their first steps in mobile security testing - and giving them this experience was exactly what I set out to do. Special shout-out to Andrej Thiele who wasn't only so kind to share feedback with me afterwards, yet also took time to listen to me on some personal struggles I've been facing - hugely appreciated!
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Keynote "I'm managing just fine!" by Lena Nyström and Heather Reid. Such a great presentation of such
fundamental questions and situations I could really relate to. I loved how
Heather and Lena weaved their own experiences and stories in and how they
delivered them in re-acting parts of their actual conversations and their
insights gained. It triggered lots of thoughts on my own situation and
decisions, what made me go this way so far and why I opt for what to be my
next step.
There were lots of great evening activities offered. This year, I chose to prioritize self-care and instead opted for having dinner out in Potsdam together with a bunch of folks. Sometimes, getting out, having a smaller group, having a differently loud environment, just helps. This time it was such a good opportunity to also check in with Ashley Hunsberger and Richard Bradshaw.
Returning to the conference, we've found the brilliant Sophie Kuester and the outcome of her late night snack exchange. Just loved her idea last year already to ask folks to bring special treats from their regions and have all of us enjoy each other's delicacies! Really brings people together. This year I've missed most of it, and yet still enjoyed so many of these sweet and savory explorations. Many thanks to Sophie for this amazing edition in the purest spirit of Agile Testing Days!
Hey #AgileTD friends (and if you're wondering, yes, you ARE a friend) help yourselves to the greatness that is our collaborative candy bar! #SnacksSnacksSnacks #CrewLove #SnacksAreAwesome #TummyAche #HeartBurn
— Mlle Sophie Pofie (@mllesophiepofie.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 11:00 PM
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This was also the night when I finally had the opportunity and pleasure to spend more time with Tobias Geyer and talk a lot about things that are moving us, like what impact we have on other people's lives and the systems we live in, and what else we can do to make the spaces we're in more inclusive, using our privilege. Thanks a lot for sharing these thoughts also beyond the conference boundaries! It's a continuous effort and we all need to continue learning and unlearning.
Friday - Conference Day 3
There it was already, the last conference day. Agile Testing Days is a whole week, and at the beginning time seems to extend, we have so much of it in front of us together. And suddenly the last day already arrived and time had just flown by. In addition, the tiredness came to the forefront on this day. This year, Agile Testing Days was hosted as a hybrid event, with the main part on-site as usual, yet all the talks being recorded and streamed, plus online activities happening as well. I didn't have any energy to join online at the same time, yet I knew I could come back to sessions also afterwards. Which allowed me to make a wise decision and skip the first sessions on this day to catch at least some sleep. So here are the sessions I did participate in this day.
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"Mistaken Identities" by Sanne Visser and João Proença. Such a deep and crucial topic,
delivered in such an entertaining way. Awesome stage performance of both
Sanne and João telling all the stories how their identities got mixed up
and what they tried to cope with the situations thrown at them. I loved
that they used the opportunity to remind people of how quickly things can
go wrong, even without bad intentions, and how tools we have can be used
for malicious purposes as well. We need to be mindful and considerate when
building these tools.
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Keynote "Diamonds in the Rough" by Ashley Hunsberger. This keynote really made me think - what fuels my
motivation nowadays? I have crafted my jobs in the past, yet what job
would I craft myself right now and here? What potential is still lying
dormant that would really relight my fire? So many more questions, based
on the research and models presented. I loved that Ashley showed both deep
vulnerability and such strength on stage, what a role model for all of us
to learn from.
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"Love in Bytes: QA Engineering for Work-Life Symphony" by Toyer Mamoojee and Reumaysa Mamoojee. How often do we transfer
lessons learned from one area of our lives to another? Well, in this talk
I learned we should do it more often! We don't learn strategies,
techniques and tools for our work context alone. Toyer and Reumaysa
showcased how we can benefit from them in our everyday personal life just
as well - and vice versa. The stories made the content very relatable, and
the paired presentation worked out really well.
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"Test like a developer, develop like a tester" by Filip Hric. We need more people spreading the word! I really
appreciate Filip for showcasing how we don't need to have such a divide
between roles in the same team when we're working on the same goal
together. And how much we can learn from each other as well. Very well
presented, too!
And there it was. The closing session, the many thanks and appreciations to organizers, volunteers and everyone. Final pictures, of course also with the unicorn we all shared the stage with. It was done. Such a happy sad wonderful feeling, it gets me every time.
Lots of people had left already at this point. Some people were staying around, clinging to this community spirit, not willing to let go just yet. Another amazing dinner group, enjoying awesome food together. My chance to also get to know Elizabeth Simister - loved our conversation!
Enjoying more snacks at the hotel. Having an absolute blast witnessing Elizabeth Zagroba run her by now infamous No Vehicles in the Park game with us. Having the day fade out on such insightful conversations on work places, careers, opportunities and more together with Thierry de Pauw, Toyer Mamoojee, and Janina Nemec. Many thanks to all of you.
Saturday - Departure Day
Another Agile Testing Days in the books. One that was brilliant in content. One where I once again still got most out of the hallway track, together with all these amazing folks. One that helped me immensely on my current situation searching for a new job, exploring new possibilities. One where I gave back once again to this community I continue to receive so much from. This conference is a very special reunion for quality in all kinds of aspects. We're truly stronger together.
Me: "I really have a lot of mugs, maybe I should get rid of some..." Looks at mugs and keeps all. Gets mug in speaker gift from #agileTD Me: "ok I need one more mug" :)
— Gitte Klitgaard (@nativewired.com) November 25, 2024 at 5:31 PM
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