Creative Testing Masterclass

19. 8. 2020 (EN)

A practical workshop led by Adam Matlacz that will teach you how to introduce creativity into your projects.

About the course

A lot has been said about Exploratory testing. Some call it just "testing", other makes a separate domain of it. But taking aside semantics - everyone agrees that there is high power in giving freedom to testers and letting them explore the system. This embraces the most critical attribute of any tester - Creativity!
 
I have come long journey on finding the path through the jungle of different books, blog posts, workshops and presentations describing the creative testing techniques. In the end, I triggered a long-lasting experiment to test them and find out which ones work for my team. We organised set of Exploratory Testing Sessions. During each session, we have learned, used and debriefed different creative testing approaches. This workshop will be our experiment in a nutshell. You will get the essence of our almost year-long search for the best approach.
 
In this workshop, you will learn how to build up competencies necessary for efficient and creative tests in your team. You will also experience on your own some techniques we used during our sessions.

About Adam Matlacz

Adam Matłacz has spent his whole professional life in the IT in different roles – tester, consultant, pre-sales engineer, business analyst, scrum master and Agile Coach – to finally end up again in Testing. Engineer, speaker, trainer of skills such as software testing, Agile and self-presentation. Full-time System Test Manager and Test Architect at DTC, Lecturer at Coders Lab and coach in the Sages.

Privately a foodie, traveler and book lover.

Key takeaways

Implement "outside of the box" approach in daily work

Learn how to conduct exploration sessions effectively and when to end them

Experience how to execute efficient Exploratory testing session on a live system in a creative way

Handouts

  • After session, participants will receive presentation with exercises conducted during the session.

Setup

  • Classes will be conducted online, using https://zoom.us/download Workshop exercises will be performed using the online tool miro.com. Participants need to have a computer with a web browser.

Pre-requisities

  • All participants have to go through basic miro tutorial:
  • https://go.miro.com/getting-started-with-miro-board-basics

Course agenda

Module I - Creativity

In this module, we will work on boosting participants Creativity. Participants will discuss what it means to be creative. We will show that Creativity is a skill, and as with every skill - you can work on it to be better at it. Participants will learn a couple of techniques for creative thinking and practise one of them in a testing context.

  • After this module participants:
    • Will be conscious of the importance of polishing Creativity as one of the most valuable skills in software development.
    • Will know several techniques for creative thinking and be able to implement them in a testing context.
    • Will be able to implement "outside of the box" approach in their daily work as Testers.

Module II - Thinking and exploring

In the second module, we will learn what exploratory tests are and what are the benefits of performing them. We will focus on developing thinking that supports testing (system thinking, critical thinking, abstract thinking, etc.). Through a series of exercises, we will explore the essence of the tester's work and an effective quality assurance process. During exploration, you can lose track of time or direction. Therefore, we will also learn how to set the direction, resources and purpose of exploration so that it runs effectively. It not only systematises our work but also helps to answer the question when to finish the tests.

  • After this module participants:
    • Will be conscious of different types of thinking needed for software development.
    • Will be able to use that knowledge in Quality Assurance field - generating testing ideas, analysing complex solutions, improving software development process etc.
    • You will learn how to conduct exploration sessions effectively and when to end them.

Module III - Creative Exploration

This will be a hands-on session. Participants take part in a live session of Exploratory Tests. We will show how to create and use simplified Testing Charter. One of the Exploratory Testing techniques will be described in detail. Participants will be divided into groups and then go through a complete testing session on a simple online system selected for this workshop. 

  • After this module participants:
    • Will learn how to create simple Test Charters that helps instead of limiting you.
    • Will get to know one Exploratory testing technique.
    • Will experience how to execute efficient Exploratory testing session on a live system in a creative way.