HUSTEF 2026 - Finally Made It

HUSTEF was on my list of conferences to go to for quite a long time. Lots of people raved about it and I was curious to experience it for myself. This year, I finally made it there!

It all started with getting invited to the review board, helping out with evaluating proposals so that the program committee could make an informed decision. So I thought, why not submitting sessions myself and see if I'd also get a chance to speak? And it worked! I consider myself fortunate to have been selected among the many papers submitted.

Time flew by this year, and now it was time to travel to the beautiful city of Budapest. A long but comfortable train ride, some time to settle down and rest at the hotel, then I met Micha Kutz for dinner. Always nice to catch up with long-time friends from the community! 

Tutorial Day

The first day was reserved for full-day and half-day tutorials. I gave my workshop "Secure Development Lifecycle Applied – How to Make Things a Bit More Secure than Yesterday Every Day" as a half-day tutorial at one of the sponsoring companies who kindly provided their office space for it.

I've given this workshop plenty of times already and it's always super interesting to see different kinds of groups engage with the material in their own way, based on their own experience. I'm also very happy to see that the concept does work out with most folks, coming from very different backgrounds! This time I had mostly people working in testing and quality roles as they are the main audience for HUSTEF. I really enjoyed seeing them work through the exercises, ask questions, share their own related stories, and generally having fun doing so.

And then a truly special thing happened. The tutorial was over - yet participants didn't leave. They stuck around. They waited for each other having a bio break, they kept talking. They all left the location together, heading back to the city center, planning to have lunch together - and invited me in! That was too good an opportunity to decline, no matter how tired I was or what else I needed to tackle in the afternoon. We had a lovely lunch together, sharing even more experiences - what could be a better start for the conference?

At some point, I needed to head back to the hotel and do final preparations for the next day. Then it was time for speakers dinner. I met Sonja Nešić on the way to the restaurant, a lovely chance to catch up with each other. The dinner place was literally on a boat, yet I got lucky that it was firmly anchored and did not move in any perceivable way. I already had the experience of having speakers dinner on a boat in the past and I can only tell you it's not a great idea if you have motion sickness. The place's acoustics unfortunately couldn't handle the noise well and I struggled a lot with processing my environment, barely hearing what people said and straining my voice to make myself heard. On the bright side, the food was excellent and I had really great company. For example, I just loved catching up with Clare Norman and Jitesh Gosai, talking about light and deep topics, and finding out that all three of us are scripting our talks. I'm in good company!

Conference Day 1

The first conferencing day arrived and it was packed with amazing talks - it was a true challenge to pick which sessions to witness live. Also, I had to skip two slots in order to be ready for my own talk and then catch my breath right after. It was a pity to miss Nicole van der Hoeven's keynote "Asimov’s Zeroth Law of Robotics: Observability for AI" this way, I was really looking forward to it. Also, I would have loved to see Micha Kutz's talk "WTFM: Where’s the F****** Manual⁈ – Why we avoid writing documentation, why we shouldn’t, and how to keep it useful with minimal pain". Good thing the talks were recorded and I can catch those I missed later on - even though it's never the same as experiencing them live on-site.

• Keynote "Beyond Vibe Coding: What It Actually Takes to Build with AI and Stay Accountable" by Kristoffer Nordström. Well, AI tooling usage can found around many corners these days. Yet what does it really take to get good value from it, how to build software with these tools and still know exactly what you're doing and especially why? Kristoffer shared his story and what he found made the difference. I really liked the following of his takes: When building becomes cheap, we need judgment in the room. 
  
• "The art of getting out of the way: Facilitation for quality professionals" by Clare Norman. Loved that Clare shared her insights on such an underrepresented and yet so crucial topic. Lots of invaluable advice, brilliant presentation! I especially loved her emphasis that facilitation is all about listening and supporting everyone in the group in doing their best thinking together - and that includes generosity and fairness. 
  
• "The Rubber Duck that talks back" by Benjamin Bischoff. Benjamin pointed out that we had hype cycles before AI tooling, like search. And all the shortcomings that come with new technology, hyped or not. He also shone a light on how we can use our skepticism for good. Benjamin encouraged us to make use of our brains, apply discipline and differentiate unnecessary from necessary friction. 
  
• "AI applications security puzzle" by Maryia Tuleika. Maryia told a story on how security concerns evolved over the years, while some are still remaining alike. Especially for current AI tooling, how do we secure them? She points out that we should rather focus on the system and constrain the tools we have at that level. I really liked her take: "Don't ask only whether you can trust AI - build and test for the moment you can't." Maryia based her talk on detailed research in the space, gathering insights from the community - worth a read, and I'm honored to be among the people she consulted. 
  
• "Out of Security Exception – What to Do Without an Expert to Secure Your Software" by me. I presented what engineering teams can do themselves to improve their product's security posture without having a security expert at hand. I've given this talk already at BSides Luxembourg this year, yet in a longer and more detailed form. This time I needed to cut it down to the essentials to fit the time slot. It seems the message came across nonetheless!
  
• "How quality is created, maintained and lost in complex software systems" by Jitesh Gosai. I've seen Jit present many years ago and was already back then impressed by both his presentation skills and by how much his point of view overlaps with mine. His talks and thoughts just resonate a lot with me, so I had to check out this one as well. He walked us through the famous CrowdStrike outage that made the world stop turning for a bit, and what we can learn from it. It was a great reminder that complex failures never have a single root cause and they require us to acknowledge and improve the socio-technical system. 
  
• Keynote "Could Personas Be Your Insight Superpower?" by Steve Watson. Are personas still relevant or needed in the age of fancy AI tooling? Steve says yes, and I agree. He presented how we can use them in a meaningful way and demonstrated the pitfalls when creating actually insightful personas without missing out on what's relevant for our target user group. As he shared, the risks are in the gap between our assumptions and our users' reality. 
  

I truly appreciate the lunch breaks were decently long to get some rest and also socialize. I had the chance to briefly speak with Vitaly Sharovatov - always a pleasure, ever since we met at NewCrafts Paris 2024. Same with Sérgio Freire and Mazin Inaad! Would have loved to catch up more with each of them.

What I thoroughly enjoyed was the opportunity to have a quiet and relaxed dinner with Heather Reid, Léna Nyström and Rachel Kibler. We had discovered the perfect place for it as well, with delicious food, calm atmosphere and awesome service. For me it was an utterly needed chance to take a break for a little while before the pressure will be on again the next weeks.

Conference Day 2

The final conference day came with yet another bunch of awesome talks.

• Lean Coffee with Gáspár Nagy. I thoroughly enjoy lean coffee sessions, and yet I did not plan to join this one. That being said, I had arrived early enough at the venue, so I decided to just join in. We had insightful conversations on the usage of AI for slides, how spending money on tokens that goes to foreign companies destroys our local economies, how everyone turning into a vibe coder and wanting to bring their projects into production causes a huge problem and how to navigate it.
• Keynote "Now You See Me" by Heather Reid. What can I say. Awesome content, awesome delivery. More people need to hear this. Heather talked about what makes upper leadership not see what people achieved, while they themselves feel it's clearly there to see. Perspectives matter and we all only have our own viewpoint available. Making things visible in ways that allow others to see things is crucial for any career - no matter if you have a leadership title or not. 
  
• "'As is' is not a requirement – it’s failure in a fancy suit" by Léna Nyström. I loved how Léna walked us through three cases in her career where it seemed people wanted a copy of what's been built before. Yet is it ever a true copy? Of course not. It needs to be modern. Some things aren't relevant anymore. No one has the complete picture. Did anyone even ask what's actually needed or what wasn't working well with the old solution? We should listen to this signal of "It should work as is" and find out what questions are unasked. 
  
• "Looks Perfect. Runs Fine. Completely Wrong. A Live Hunt." by Christine Pinto. Christine took us on the investigation of an incident where all things came together so that a bunch of AI tools enabled attackers to exfiltrate data and demand ransom from a company. Based on the audience response it seems the message landed - supply chain attacks using AI tooling are way too common these days to stay inactive. 
  
• "Quality Signals on Pull Requests: How We Stopped Shipping Bugs Without Slowing Delivery" by Marco Andrade. Marco shared an all too well-known story of flaky end-to-end tests. He pointed out what the underlying issues were and what steps they took to make sure they got actual feedback and hence value from these tests. Marco warned people not to become the gatekeeper and scapegoat but have teams trust their pipelines. 
  
• Keynote "You’re not really ready for AI (but testing can help)" by Callum Akehurst-Ryan. I really appreciate that Callum shared his personal story and showed vulnerability on stage - we need to see more of such good examples. These are the cases we all can learn the most from. Callum shared how much AI amplified all the dysfunctions that already existed before in the teams and how that ended up badly for his organization and him personally. He emphasized that we can't just demand attention from people who don't have capacity to listen. We have to roll up our sleeves, make things better ourselves, and hence become part of the solution. 
  
• "The Tale of Two Pipelines: Why Your CI/CD Can’t Fix Cultural Debt" by Chris Armstrong. Technical debt oftentimes isn't technical at all. It's rooted in a lot of other types of debt, deeply human ones. Chris presented how it doesn't matter if your engineered delivery pipeline is fast if your team can't actually get things through due to other types of debt. He also showed how such debt can look like and what to do about it. The core: optimize for flow. 
  
• "When Your AI Testing Partner Lies to Your Face: Detecting and Defeating Completion Theater" by Dragan Spiridonov. Dragan addressed how AI tooling can claim to offer confidence, yet there's either no evidence for it or the evidence indicates a different situation. He shared how you can spot this and what to do instead not to let ourselves be swayed by AI. Now, Dragan didn't only give this talk, but also a full-day tutorial and a masterclass. People clearly appreciated what he shared, in the end he won the conference's best presentation award! Check out his experience report on the conference as well. 
  
• "The Quality Nervous System" by Kevin Pyles. Kevin presented a different approach to solve the overwhelm of too much data, getting flooded while still not knowing whether you can release a new software increment. He compared it to the human nervous system which also has to deal with huge amounts of data points and signals and transform them into meaningful output at scale. He also demonstrated how quality as a living capability could look like. 
  
• Keynote "Rethinking the Automation in Testing Principles" by Richard Bradshaw. Richard looked back 10 years ago when he and Mark Winteringham came up with a set of principles to achieve more effective testing through the help of automation. He contrasted them with today's world, presented revisions made and why (check out the reasoning in Richard's own words). The principles in their new form are staying relevant and keep serving as an invaluable tool to use our thinking skills and help make better software - focusing on intent and judgment. "If you can't answer why something exists or should exist, change it." Hear, hear! 
  

Conferences have a way to start slowly, make you forget how time flies by, and suddenly they're over. That's what happened here as well. Good thing we could prolong the community spirit for a while on the last evening. I joined a great dinner initiated by Kristoffer Nordström, with Cassandra H. Leung, Chris Armstrong, Marta Firlej, Mateusz Holewski and Richard Bradshaw. Later on, we were joined by Alex Cusmaru, Jamina Pöllänen and Gek Yeo. We moved on to a bar and stayed until it closed - it was finally time to end the evening. What can I say. Amazing food, amazing company. The best part of every conference. Thanks everyone for making this such a perfect end for my first HUSTEF!

Well, it wasn't quite over for me yet. I still had one day in Budapest. My chance to sleep in, go for a walk, do a bit of sightseeing. Truly ending the conference with another great dinner and conversation together with Jamina Pöllänen. Time to go home, time to share my experiences. Thank you everyone who made this conference a pleasure to be at!

Agile Testing Days 2024 - Reunion for Quality

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

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— Alex Schladebeck (@alexschl.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 4:13 PM

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!

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— João Proença (@jrosaproenca.bsky.social) November 19, 2024 at 8:03 PM

 

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.

• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• "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!
  
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  — Jens Höft (@jenshoeft.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 11:26 AM

• 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!
  
• 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!
  
• 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

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— Alex Schladebeck (@alexschl.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 7:29 PM

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 ! 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄

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— Jens Höft (@jenshoeft.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 9:49 PM

 

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.

• 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.
  
• "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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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!
  
• 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

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— Mlle Sophie Pofie (@mllesophiepofie.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 11:00 PM

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.

• "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.
  
• 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.
  
• "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.
  
• "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" :)

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— Gitte Klitgaard (@nativewired.com) November 25, 2024 at 5:31 PM

AgileTD Open Air 2023 - Welcome to Unicorn Beach

It's been my second time to the AgileTD Open Air, the beach edition of the Agile Testing Days. I'm really not an outdoor person, yet once again I thoroughly enjoyed this event.

Monday

Directly when arriving in Cologne, it felt like coming home when spotting first folks in the hotel. After initial conversations with Sophie Küster and Micha Kutz, and yet another practice session for my new talk, it was time to go for speakers dinner. Food and company were amazing and I enjoyed our table conversations. I finally had a chance to speak with Tariq King and his wife - loved it! We got into deeper discussions around certifications and whether they make sense or not. We had fun laughing about past conference stories (anyone remember "table 2"?). We celebrated new speakers at the table, like Mazin Inaad who decided to start conference speaking at Toyer Mamoojee's and my learning partner workshop back in 2018! So proud. We got drawn into the "pen game" to practice our observation and critical thinking skills - ask me about it in person, I won't spoil it here. We had deep meaningful conversations about life struggles; I just love how communities like these support each other all the way. And so much more. Many thanks also to João Proença, Richard Bradshaw, Zeb Ford-Reitz, Paul Holland and Patrick Van Enkhuijzen - it was a brilliant evening!

Speaker Dinner Night... Table #2... @AgileTDOpenAir https://t.co/ekIYCQ5vlu

— Tariq M. King (@tariq_king) June 14, 2023

It’s Speakers Dinner time! Let’s officially open the second edition of our #AgileTD Open Air! See you all tomorrow 🦄❤️@janetgregoryca @tariq_king @jrosaproenca @lisihocke @PvanEnkhuijzen @FriendlyTester @MlleSophiePofie pic.twitter.com/Z1ftwFplO7

— AgileTD Zone (@AgileTDZone) June 12, 2023

Tuesday

Micha Kutz invited a bunch of us to go sightseeing together before the conference officially started. Who can say no to that? Also, a great opportunity to re-connect with Heather Reid and Steph Desby! We really enjoyed our time discovering Cologne.

Then it was time, the conference was about to be kicked off. We took the bus to the event location Blackfoot Beach and had sufficient time to meet folks before the official opening.

• Keynote "Invasion of the Gummy Bears: Fighting Back" by Janet Gregory. This was a great opening keynote on a very important topic. I loved the angle on it and can relate so much personally. It once again reminded me about all the coping mechanisms I already make use of, and provided me more ideas of what else to try. Finally, it provided an additional nudge to get out of my mental fatigue - easier said than done, yet I'm on it.
  
• Bonus session "Puzzle your way to group success" by Patrick Van Enkhuijzen. I just loved this session! Each of us had been given one or two pictures that only we were allowed to see and not show anyone. We were tasked to figure out the pattern in order to place all images in one order  - just by speaking with each other. What a great exercise in communication and collaboration. I'm amazed it worked out so well, too! This gave a lot of food for thought to reflect on.

  What’s happening? It’s Puzzle your way to success time with our amazing Patrick! pic.twitter.com/EeRaOA3ypC

  — AgileTD Zone (@AgileTDZone) June 13, 2023

Dinner at the beach was great and the evening flew by. Special shoutout to Marc Kalmes and Ada Pohl for insightful conversations!

Wednesday

Originally, I wanted to start the conference day with a lean coffee session, as I often do. I had some topics in mind to bring, and looked forward to the evolving conversations. Well, it didn't work out as planned and I missed the first bus that would have gotten me to the venue in time. Guess I should have used that time for extra sleep, yet it was how it was.

• Key-speech "Visibility of Testers" by Huib Schoots. It's a recurring topic that people dedicated to testing and quality are asked to justify their position and demonstrate their value-add. Yet I've seen the same apply to other roles as well, so making our contribution and impact visible is a topic for everyone. Transparency indeed often helps to do a better job, not only because it helps the team work closer together, yet also because you need to spend less headspace on justifying your value that you can use to deliver value instead.
  
• "Cross Team Ensembling" by Christian Rucinski and Zeb Ford-Reitz. This topic is very dear to my heart and I hope more people get to hear about it. I loved this talk as it was an experience report, and the angle of cross-team collaboration gives yet another perspective how working as an ensemble can be valuable. I hope people got inspired to give this a try!
  
• "The 8 ‘Commendments’ for Maintainable Test Automation" by Mazin Inaad. Can't believe Mazin just started out speaking at conferences - he delivered well! I believe also in 2023 more testers need to hear the presented "commendments" (a word play between recommendations and commandments), especially when automating tests through the whole tech stack. I really liked how he pointed out that this is not carved in stone as things depend on context - while still providing very tangible and actionable advice including examples.
  
• "Data Driven Decisions in Testing" by Heather Reid. This talk was awesome, Heather rocked it. We really need to be advocating for using more data at any time for making more informed decisions - real data can indeed be a super power to bring to the table. Loved all the stories that made this talk very tangible!
  
• "Team Transformation Tactics for Holistic Testing and Quality" by me. This is the third time I gave this brand-new talk and I felt I had practiced it well. Yet once again, real life situations differ! I was struggling a bit to find my rhythm and took more time than expected. I felt drained afterwards and wasn't sure if the message came across. Therefore, I was even more grateful when a bunch of people came to me afterwards and told me what they got out of it! Really, if you've been listening to a talk and it was helpful for you, please go and tell the speaker - we dearly need this feedback.
  
• Keynote "Combining Force Multipliers to Improve Quality" by Tariq King. Just loved the emphasis on force multipliers, how they could be applied and combined! Great examples, too. Especially appreciated that Tariq emphasized how culture is a big multiplier in itself. I totally relate to this, have seen it over and over again. Quite some food for thought in this keynote!
  
• Bonus session "Code Reading Club Session at the Beach" by Samuel Nitsche. I am part of a regular code reading club together with Sam and a bunch of other awesome folks, and I couldn't resist this opportunity for additional practice. I also always felt the testing community needs more of this - so I can only encourage folks to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. This was an amazing session indeed, it fully re-energized me. The whole group practiced together and the resulting exchange was really insightful.
• Bonus session "Smoke Tests & Mirrors" by Benjamin Bischoff. What a magical session - literally! Just loved the combination of Benjamin doing a really awesome magic show (despite very tricky stage conditions for magicians) and showing how magic principles relate (or not) with principles in testing. Both educational and entertaining!

Wonderful conversations throughout the day just happened. Like with Stefan Scheidt on why we both love Star Trek and how it relates to our work in tech teams. Or with Rick Scott, whom I ended up sitting next to in talks a lot which enabled us to instantly exchange thoughts! Or with Sam and Gabrijela Hladnik talking about getting closer to other communities like the domain-driven design (DDD) or software crafter communities. Or with Maria Olga Raimondo about our origin stories; there are so many amazing ways to end up in tech and excel there. I loved the experience people bring in who don't take the straight way.

The conference day concluded with a party with a live band made out of a bunch of speakers and friends! Loved it. Loved the more quiet and private conversations afterwards even more. Like with my dear friends Anne Colder, Vincent Wijnen and João Proença! One main insight was again that we can learn a lot of things. Everyone has a different learning curve and time when we plateau, though. Yet one thing is for sure, without practicing no one gets far. Behind skill there's usually a lot of practice and effort. 

This is Love! @jrosaproenca @alex_schl @AgileTDZone #AgileTDOpenAir pic.twitter.com/vp1XVpOw5V

— José Díaz (@jdiaz_berlin) June 14, 2023

At first glance, the program didn't seem too full that day, yet the day was over again very quickly being filled to the rim with awesome experiences.

Thursday

Second day, second chance to get to lean coffee! Or not. My body already complained about lack of sleep, so it was rather not.

• Key-speech "How do we stay relevant?" by Paul Holland. Paul reconnected this back to Huib's key-speech by sharing that if we're adding value yet aren't visible we might not stay relevant. Paul encouraged people to stop doing what automation can do, and instead start doing what only a human can do. This triggered a great conversation over lunch on which skills and behavior we assume will still continue to be relevant and which not.
  
• Workshop "Let’s Get Into Coding" by Stefan Scheidt and Micha Kutz. While this was targeted at beginners, I made it a point for myself to catch as many hands-on coding sessions as I can, as usually I can always practice no matter the overall level. And I was not disappointed! I loved the setup and instructions provided, especially that it was close to real-life situations and that struggling through while also supporting each other and receiving support was an integral part of it. This made it not only very authentic yet also encouraging to go further and learn more - together.
• Keynote "What I thought I knew about the status of testing" by Lena Nyström. I loved hearing all the misconceptions Lena had been holding or overheard in the past, and what she learned instead throughout her career. Awesome and authentic storytelling, very relatable, and I totally agreed with the provided advice. And hearing Lena say "I'm priceless because I care" really got to me, it's exactly feedback I recently received from a developer teammate (so I'm clearly biased), yet I truly believe people have to hear this more to make better career decisions.
  
• Workshop "Ensemble Exploratory Testing" by me. I've given this workshop over and over again and it doesn't get boring yet for me or the participants from what I can tell. Most often, people have never had the opportunity to try any of the included components. Seems they also had a great time and took value out of it! What else can I want.
• Bonus session "Bug Hunting - Explored" by Patrick Van Enkhuijzen and Jarno Lapere. This session was a perfect segue from my own workshop as we again explored in ensembles - and this time I had the opportunity to practice as well. It was great to learn about what's important for facilitating bug hunts, and then instantly experience one ourselves. It was especially awesome that we tested a real product so we could also provide real value. It worked really well to find a lot of issues in short time. This session was both educational and really fun. The chocolate prizes were much appreciated as well, especially as my group shared the first place with another group. :D
• Keynote "Knowledge Gaps and the Quest For Rapid Feedback Loops" by Richard Bradshaw. I really liked Richard's angle on thinking in gaps together with feedback loops, encouraging people to spot gaps and fill them quickly. I really think this is so at the core of what we're doing and trying to achieve in teams, and that more people need to hear about that. Richard provided actionable ideas how to implement this, so people could start doing so right away. The delivery was also very entertaining! Perfect to close this conference.
  

Another live band played, even more conversations were to be had. One person really made my day sharing how they love my blog (I'm feeling honored they really go through these lengthy writings!) and that especially my post "I Am white" was very impactful on them, letting them dig into resources and start changing behavior. Just wow.

And the party begins. Thank you @AgileTDZone! Such an awesome conference 💜 #AgileTDOpenAir pic.twitter.com/lOaSpfCqgO

— Marie Cruz 🇵🇭 (@mcruzdrake) June 15, 2023

Saying goodbye is always hard and people didn't want to let go until the last bit - me included.

It's @lisihocke and Marc! #AgileTDOpenAir pic.twitter.com/LrQwGMRdbU

— Richard Bradshaw 🇺🇦 (@FriendlyTester) June 15, 2023

Friday

The day of going home had come. I took the opportunity to meet up with one more community friend who happened to be in the city: Janina Nemec. It was lovely to catch up before each of us headed home.

Returning from a conference like this usually needs me to sit and digest what I heard and what I learned, the conversations we had and the thoughts they inspired. I'm sad for the people I've missed to re-connect with more deeply, I'm glad for those I had the opportunity to do so, and I enjoyed getting to know all the new folks I had not met before.

I'm grateful to have been in such good company for the last days, people that we can have deep meaningful conversations with each other. I'm grateful for all the inspirational experience exchange. I'm grateful for practicing together for our personal growth. Looking back over the last years, I've been growing with every conference I've been at. I hope more people can make this experience as well, so I will continue paying it forward.

Agile Testing Days USA 2023 - A Lot to Think About

Last year's Agile Testing Days USA was full of inspiration. This year, this conference and its community once again gave me a lot to think about.

Before the Conference

Arriving early, I had time to do a bit of sightseeing next to finalizing the preparation for my two sessions. I decided to take it slow and preserve my energy while still checking out some places I haven't seen yet.

Another benefit of being there ahead of time is to connect with people already before a conference starts and slowly getting into networking and exchanging experiences. So good to see familiar faces again and re-connect - like with Kelsey Schoen whom I met last year. On the evening before the conference started, we had a lovely dinner group which resulted in great conversations. Many thanks to João Proença, Jenna Charlton, Jenny Bramble, Paul Holland and Erik Davis!

Tutorial Day

A dream came true for me: I finally could meet Elisabeth Hendrickson in person! She's one of my personal heroes in tech. I followed her and her work for a long time via social media and was eager to learn from her in person. So when I realized she'll be at this conference and also give a tutorial, I didn't hesitate once to sign up for it. Especially as it perfectly fit my situation: "Doing the Hard Stuff".

This tutorial was indeed worth it already. It was awesome. I had hoped to get insights and advice for current difficult leadership situations as well as guiding principles for those still to come and I was not disappointed. Elisabeth shared a toolkit of the wisdom she collected over years working with teams and organizations - a toolkit full of wealth of applicable wisdom. Super interesting on a meta level as well, as I am sharing some of my own tactics in my latest talk.

We had a small group with high safety where we could bring our current challenges, think openly together about them using the toolkit, and discuss options to move forward. The self-organized structure of the tutorial made me think of an all-day themed lean coffee session with lots of dedicated time for each topic - wonderful to get detailed thoughts and feedback from everyone, and also be able to contribute! One of my topics got discussed into detail as well and I received lots of input and ideas what to try next - along with validation of my own stance and connecting the dots on what I already knew. Invaluable.

At some point, I really wondered about my own confirmation bias - as I kept nodding throughout. I really related to the toolkit topics shared. Was it because I learned and adapted a lot from Elisabeth and her peers already over the years, or were they really reflected in my own experience? Well, probably a bit of both. Anyways, it was amazing to see lots of the ideas and approaches I had used in my past being validated and built on by a group of peers.

There's a lot to ponder about and make use of. I'm really grateful for having had the chance to participate, I took a lot with me. I bet more people would benefit from this content, it actually would make a great book.

Every technical problem is, at its core, a people problem. With her tutorial, @testobsessed is giving us insights on how to do the Hard Stuff 🦄#AgileTDUSA2023 pic.twitter.com/UDd58u6mpt

— AgileTD Zone (@AgileTDZone) May 22, 2023

Right after the tutorial, it was time to get together with everyone and mingle for a "Meet the Speakers" event. This meant new people to get to know and connect with! A curious side note was when one person mentioned that they thought speakers would get formally introduced, and then being pleasantly surprised they're already among the crowd - being just normal humans as everyone else.

Finally, it was time for speakers dinner. My opportunity to connect with Allison Lazarz and catch up with Larissa Rosochansky and Rafael Cintra!

Conference Day 1

The first full day of talks and workshops for everyone was full of interesting sessions. Here are the ones that I joined.

• Early Morning Lean Coffee with Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin. I make it a point to go to at least one lean coffee session per conference whenever offered. Whoever shows up are the right people and whatever topic is discussed, I gain insight from it! If I'm lucky, my own topics are selected and people's thinking help me move forward with a challenge. Like this time - I'm grateful for the input received. Many thanks to Janet and Lisa for facilitating these sessions and for doing it so welcomingly!

  Lean Coffee underway at #AgileTDUSA! 🦄🎉 pic.twitter.com/V475QxZUQ7

  — lisacrispin @lisacrispin@mastodon.social (@lisacrispin) May 23, 2023

• Keynote "Imperfect Agile" by Jenna Charlton. What a great opening keynote reminding all of us to remember self-care and keep our own boundaries, while also encouraging to resolve conflict in a timely manner and find closure instead of piling onto existing grudges - and emphasizing that impact is more important than intent. All that while following the story of figuring out what agile actually means. Just loved the conclusion of "Take what works, leave what doesn't, don't do harm - it works for us is enough"!
  
• Keynote "Bigger than the Box" by Erika Chestnut. Great keynote emphasizing that testing is not all the work even though people try to keep us in the box. Loved that Erika showed ways how we can claim the power in what we do, seize the opportunities around us and let quality shine in a new light together with everyone. Very important messages.
  
• "Stop Making QA The Last Train Stop Before Production" by Rick Clymer. Really related to this talk and think more people need to hear it. I witnessed so many folks being stuck in what they do. This talk showed very concrete and actionable things they could do to get out of their situation and not only provide more value yet also get more value out of their work themselves.
  
• "Business Agility Lab" by Ray Arell, Rhea Stadick, Tobey Aumann and Shawna Cullinan. This was a positive surprise! I didn't expect much and came to the session as a mere filler. And received a nice hands-on introduction to Wardley mapping, a topic I would have chosen if it had been offered in the program! Loved the examples Tobey provided and the opportunity to try it ourselves. Wasn't too easy to get started with, yet understanding grew the more we tried it.
• Keynote "Focus. Deliver. Learn. Repeat." by Elisabeth Hendrickson. What an amazing keynote. Just kept nodding throughout, so many excellent points made! Sadly, this could have been given twenty years ago already, and maybe was. Why haven't we learned this in the meantime? Overall, this was a dearly needed reminder to focus back on XP principles, including the reasoning why. Delivered in a wonderful energetic and authentic way.
  

My own session on this day was my workshop "Grow Your Technical Confidence". I had a small but great group, learning together. It's always fascinating to see people dare to try something new and potentially scary, and then have them figure out what they already know about it and that they can already contribute - hence increasing their confidence for the next step once again.

Shift your perception and focus on learning - enjoy your journey of becoming technically confident with @lisihocke workshop 🦄#AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/YdRoJtnsPO

— AgileTD Zone (@AgileTDZone) May 23, 2023

To conclude the day, organizers invited everyone to an Oktoberfest party! Loved the conversations with Melissa Eaden, it's such a pleasure to reconnect with folks I haven't met for a while. More exchange followed with Ray Arell, Tobey Aumann, Pete Walen, Tara Walton and others before the evening came to an end.

Conference Day 2

The last day of the conference provided further insights and even more to ponder about. Here are the sessions I listened to.

• Keynote "Where is testing heading?" by Paul Holland. This keynote provided a reminder on bad trends in testing, historically and current, along with their reasoning. So what can testers do nowadays? Paul recommended to focus on what automation cannot do well, and make use of the tools at hand.
  
• "The dark side of agile implementation" by Lisette Zounon. Just loved the focus on how culture is essential whether people can thrive or literally end up in the emergency room. The audience interaction to openly think about warning signs and anti-patterns was a nice addition. It was quite sad to see how many folks seemed to have endured rather toxic cultures. Yet what makes us succeed is team happiness! Loved the emphasis on taking care of ourselves and practicing self-care - dearly needed that reminder.
  
• "Mobile app testing sucks. Here's how to do it better." by Eden Full Goh. This talk provided lots of insights on what we're usually missing when testing mobile apps. Loved all the examples of new features, device configuration settings, and more things that are too often not considered - especially when it comes to automation. Very tangible and practical advice and new ideas how to test better on mobile, both on exploring more and finding new ways to automate user interactions.
  
• "The WHY you are!" by Dr. Rochelle Carr. What an amazing keynote in content and delivery. Loved Dr. Rochelle Carr's abundant energy on stage and refined skills to truly engage the audience with the content shared! The messages themselves - they hit home. More than I expected to, this keynote gave me lots to think about my own why and purpose, what drives me - and how it changed over time. Very impactful.
  
• "How we're setting up QE's to fail" by Vernon Richards. This talk opened my eyes that should have already been open. I knew about glue work, and I knew about quiet quitting. Yet Vernon made the connection to where testers often find themselves, and that all of our work is indeed technical leadership - whew, that blew my mind. I think I heard this message before, yet this talk delivered it to me just at the right time to truly understand it. Gave me a lot to think about!
  
• "Building a Culture of Accessible Software" by Jon Hussey. This talk provided a lot of actionable advice on how to increase awareness about accessibility, a topic that is very relevant to me right now. I loved how Jon connected this to his own story, what he tried, what didn't work and what did. His one request was for each and everyone of us to ask for more accessibility - something we all can do. A very important topic we all need to hear more of!
  
• "Feedback Techniques for Transparent Teams" by Dee Ann Bernau. We all need to learn how to receive and give better feedback as it's essential for learning. This talk gave models to help our thinking about feedback as well as tangible steps to take and improve on feedback ourselves. One point caught my eye that I would have loved to hear more about: Creating a system to call out bad behavior in your team. More to think about.
  
• Keynote "The Secret To My Success" by Melissa Eaden. This keynote was amazingly brave. Mel shared her personal story on stage which allowed me to realize how many more people are affected by trauma and systemic issues than we might realize from just seeing the "successful" facade. Really appreciate the reframing of what success means for us and finding our own definition of what to work toward. Loved the emphasis on how giving someone a chance can have a life-changing and even life-saving impact on them, and how especially tech can lift people out of a situation they would not have gotten out otherwise. As well as asking for an outside observer view! One more argument to indeed get coaching, or therapy, or both. I admire Mel for her vulnerability and I hope this talk helps more people on their journey towards more good than bad days. It definitely had impact on me, I have lots to think about.
  

On this day, I gave my brand-new talk "Team Transformation Tactics for Holistic Testing and Quality" for the first time live on stage - in its most condensed short form. According to feedback it seems people got something out of it to take with them, what more can I want?

@lisihocke sharing that while implementing holistic testing for team transformations can take longer than expected, the benefits are worth the journey. #AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/eHr5rH8ka3

— Tristan Lombard 🇺🇦 (@TristanLombard2) May 24, 2023

Share access, share knowledge, share pain, share glue work, and share the credit.
- @lisihocke

Step by step tips on team transformation.. amazing 😍#AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/NNOmKjqVCn

— Tara (she/her) (@TaraWithTiaras) May 24, 2023

A great bonus this day: Ash Coleman was in town and stopped by to say hi! Such a pleasant surprise, was so good to see her again, even if only for a few minutes.

When you accidentally crash a testing conference and run into all of your friends! 🤩🤩🤩 @AgileTDUSA 🦄 @heather_reiduff @theBConnolly @elmoray @testobsessed pic.twitter.com/ouI6PCGIHo

— Ash Coleman (she/they) (@AshColeman30) May 24, 2023

Right after the conference ended, the social closure began with food, games and even more conversations. I joined a great dinner group with João Proença, Melissa Eaden, Jenna Charlton, Jenny Bramble, Tara Walton, Vernon Richards and Tristan Lombard.

I've been kidnapped for dinner (And dessert)! @lisihocke @melthetechie @TesterFromLeic @jennydoesthings @TristanLombard2 @TheyWrestleTest @jrosaproenca #AgileTDUSA #fieldTrip pic.twitter.com/WvNf7fVhMH

— Tara (she/her) (@TaraWithTiaras) May 25, 2023

Afterwards I ended up in storytelling conversations with Elisabeth Hendrickson, João Proença, Ray Arell and Kirtika Dhathathri. Really loved the chance to talk with Elisabeth once more - I really appreciate her for being so approachable, with people all the time and so authentic - very appreciated and amazing to see.

Post-Conference

After a conference is over means the start of digesting everything. There's overcoming the post-conference blues of having had to say goodbye again to many dear people, there's follow-up to process all the gained insights and notes and everything, and there's rest to catch up with. And some more sightseeing to do to make best use of the efforts of traveling!

Once more I realized how much time and effort the conference follow-up tasks that I do take. This made me think about what I could cut down to make it less burdensome and tedious, and grant more capacity to work on other opportunities. One particular task stood out for me: processing my sketchnotes. Not only do they eat up a lot of energy to take during the talks, I also spend lots of time to take good enough photos of them, then transcribe them to get good enough alt texts for increased accessibility (kudos to Cakelin (Kaitlin) Marquardt for demonstrating how to write alt texts for sketchnotes!), then to create threads with the sessions and alt texts on both Twitter and Mastodon. Phew. Lots of time and energy goes into all that and it's often exhausting to do after a conference when I am tired anyway. I realized that nowadays sketchnotes don't save me time anymore, which was the very reason I started sketchnoting in the first place. So I felt maybe it's time again to for the next experiment to find a more effective way to take and share notes. And guess what? Shortly after considering that, I received abundant positive and grateful feedback on my sketchnotes, including personal messages on how impactful they are and suggestions that I could even make a book out of them. I'm feeling honored! At the same time, I guess I have to really think about how to best move forward from here.

In any case, I was leaving yet another Agile Testing Days USA with a full heart and mind, lots of insights to ponder upon and ideas to try next. Many thanks to organizers and volunteers for creating this space and making this edition run so smooth, and to my fellow speakers and participants for learning so openly together. Now I have a lot to think about.