QA Therapy

The team is thrilled to welcome back Leandro Melendez, aka Señor Performo, for his second appearance on the show! Last time, it was all about performance testing, but now, Leandro is here to explore the powerful combination of performance testing AND exploratory testing.

With nearly 20 years of IT experience and a decade dedicated to performance testing using top-tier tools like Roller, NeoLoad, and more, Leandro shares his insights on:

• The basics of performance testing: What it really is and how it goes beyond load testing.
• Exploratory testing’s role in uncovering hidden performance issues.
• The value of observability in monitoring and improving performance.
• Strategies to make performance testing more accessible for teams.

As a podcast host, global speaker, and PerfBytes podcast contributor, Leandro brings his infectious energy and expertise. Don’t miss out - hit play now and join us on the QA Therapy couch!

#QATherapy #PerformanceTesting #ExploratoryTesting

In this episode, we sit down with Ash Winter, seasoned community-focused tester, coach, and co-author of Team Guide to Software Testability.

Ash brings his wealth of knowledge to discuss how testability isn't just about testing, but a team effort that transforms the way we build and maintain software.

🌟 Key topics covered:

• What testability truly means for a team
• How exploratory testing helps uncover more than just acceptance criteria
• Insights into using the CODES model for better system architecture
• Why testers should be involved in architectural decisions
• The impact of continuous testing in DevOps

Ash's enthusiasm and practical approach make this episode a must-listen for testers, developers, and tech leaders looking to improve their processes.

Tune in now on Spotify and dive deep into the world of software testability!

#QATherapy #Testability #ExploratoryTesting #SoftwareTesting #Podcast #DevOps #Spotify

It's easy to overlook exploratory testing. But is that wise? Could incorporating exploratory testing slow down your processes, or will it uncover hidden issues that your automated tests miss?

In this episode, we dive deep into these questions and more with a special guest, Szilard Szell, a seasoned DevOps transformation lead and test coach.

Szilard joins us to diagnose common testing issues teams face, like missed defects despite solid automated pipelines or the struggle to report after exploratory sessions. He brings years of experience from various industries, offering invaluable insights into blending DevOps with exploratory testing.

Topics we’ll cover:

• Symptoms that indicate your team may need exploratory testing.
• Why traditional testing methods may not cut it in a CI/CD world.
• How exploratory testing and automation go hand-in-hand.
• Practical advice on making DevOps and exploratory testing work for any team.

Szilard also shares his thoughts on the cultural shift necessary to embrace DevOps, the power of continuous learning, and key metrics for measuring DevOps success.

Join us for this insightful conversation, and learn how to make exploratory testing an essential part of your team’s journey toward faster, higher-quality releases.

🎙️ Special episode alert! 🎙️

Today, it's Sérgio's turn in the hot seat! 🌟 In this episode, Sérgio, an amazing Solution Architect at Xray, shares his many career experiences and stories in the software testing industry. 🛠️💡

From test management tool features to what a Solution Architect does outside of work, this episode is packed with QA knowledge and insightful experiences. Plus, enjoy a round of rapid-fire questions that will definitely make you laugh (and think)!

🎙️ Special episode alert! 🎙️ 

We're thrilled to share an exclusive episode featuring one of our hosts: Cristiano Cunha!

Cristiano is more than a Solution Architect at Xray, he's also a passionate enthusiast for software testing and automation. 🛠️💡

Get ready to hear stories and insights about Cristiano's career experiences. But that's not all - get ready for a round of rapid-fire questions that promise to bring out some laughs. 😄

Tune in now to dive into Cristiano's adventures in QA!

Do you have frequent issues in your build/deployment process? Are you unsure whether certain tasks can be automated? Jenkins enables teams to automate many tasks related to the software development process, including compiling, testing, packaging, and deploying. Today we have a special guest, Kohsuke Kawaguchi, the creator of Jenkins. Did you know that Xray provides support for easy integration with your favorite CI/CD tools, including Jenkins? The integration can work in both ways: triggering a pipeline from a Test Plan/Execution or pushing the results from a job in the pipeline. Learn more about the Jenkins integration here: https://hubs.li/Q01R-h120

Are your automated tests taking too long? Do you have a lot of instability in your executions (flaky tests)? All these are symptoms that you are not addressing test automation best. That's where atomic testing comes in as a way to rethink how we approach automated testing so that we can validate what is produced and make it faster, reliable, and independent. In this episode, we have Nikolay Advolodkin, our guest QA Therapist, to assist us with these symptoms. Nikolay is a frequent conference speaker and the creator of ultimateqa.com and a youtube channel about automation. Did you know that with Xray, you can adopt the atomic testing approach, allowing you to link those tests to the requirements and bring visibility of them to the entire team? Learn more about test management with https://hubs.li/Q01qBdZd0

Are you struggling with flaky tests and unsure of what framework to adopt for web testing? We need e2e tests to be faster, stable, and reliable, is Cypress delivering all this? Let's find out. Our guest QA Therapist in this episode is Filip Hric. Filip has a lot of experience in testing and is a Cypress ambassador. Using a tool or a framework to enable UI tests is important and so is the choice of framework. Xray integrates seamlessly with Cypress and brings visibility over the results in Jira so you can easily import results and share them with the rest of the team. Learn more about the integration between Xray and Cypress here: https://hubs.li/Q01Qm57Z0

Are you unsure of what framework to adopt for web testing? Tools such as Playwright, backed by Microsoft and a big community, are a great option. Today we have guest Debbie O'Brien who is Senior Program Manager at Microsoft,  where she advocates for better testing with Playwright. Did you know that with Playwright, you can implement cross-browser testing and easily upload the related results to Jira using Xray? With the enhancements that are available in the JUnit reporter, testers can easily link a test method to an existing Test in Jira or even link it to an existing story and thus implement full traceability. Learn more about the integration between Xray and Playwright. https://hubs.li/Q01PvqFG0

Do you know how to approach API validations? API testing helps improve the overall quality and reliability of our software by identifying bugs and errors in the code early in the development process, allowing developers to fix them before they become bigger problems. To help us with this topic we have guest Diogo Rede. Diogo is a Solution Architect and Test Advocate with deep experience in testing and automation. Did you know that Xray can help you manage and streamline your API testing efforts, ensuring that your application's APIs are thoroughly tested, secure, and meet the intended requirements? Learn more about API Testing with Xray here: https://hubs.li/Q01Nm6jR0

Do you feel a bit lost whenever trying to decide what tests to perform? Testing techniques can help us increase coverage, reduce risk, and handle human resources, infrastructure, and time constraints. In this episode, we'll talk with Joel Oliveira, a frequent speaker at conferences and meetups who works at Celfocus, where he is a Senior QA Manager. Did you know that Xray Enterprise supports more advanced scenarios whenever you aim to provide a high level of coverage with a very limited number of test cases? With Xray Enterprise, you can generate optimized test scenarios using state-of-the-art pairwise algorithms. This means better use of your time and your infrastructure. Test more of what matters with less effort. Learn more about Xray Enterprise: https://hubs.li/Q01MXJVY0

How do we go about testing systems, without missing any critical scenarios or creating redundant ones? To assist us on this topic, we have a special guest with us, Ivan Filippov. Ivan has worked for several years with teams helping build efficient test models that can be used to expose important defects. Did you know that Xray Enterprise comes with Test Case Designer which is a comprehensive modeling tool where it's possible to define parameters and values, and enforce system-under-test rules. The Test Case Designer also helps you create a manageable set of test scenarios and make sure that most combinations of values are covered early on in the test suite, so that most risk is addressed upfront. Learn more about Test Case Designer here: https://hubs.li/Q01FRLzZ0

Have you ever heard about keyword-driven frameworks? Or test automation tools that are low or no code? Can we have a tool/framework that can assist us in easily making test automation scripts? Today we have a special guest, Pekka Klark, the creator of Robot Framework, who works with the Robot Framework foundation to improve its ecosystem. Did you know that with Xray, you can perform Acceptance Testing or Acceptance Test Driven Development using Robot Framework without losing information about your test results in Jira, your single source of truth? Listeners of the QA Therapy Podcast can receive 15% off tickets to RoboCon Online from March 1st-3rd. Use the code: RCON-QA-THERAPY-15%

Investing in mobile means making a mentality shift, not only by investing in mobile testing but also by changing how we approach the development and delivery of applications for mobile. Our expert QA Therapist today is Barış Sarıalioğlu. Barış has published several papers and books within the Software Engineering profession and is a usual speaker at testing conferences. Like everything, the sooner you invest in mobile, the less it will cost you and your teams to cope with it in testing. With Xray, you can define mobile tests as manual scripted tests, exploratory tests, or by gathering results from automated tests for mobile - making it possible to ignite the mobile-first mentality to elevate your product quality. Learn more about Xray: https://hubs.li/Q01qz-390

What is contemporary exploratory testing? Some of us may have heard the buzz around exploratory testing, while others may have missed it. What does ET have to bring to the table in a world with a legacy around scripted test cases? To assist us on this topic, we have a special guest, Maaret Pyhäjärvi. Maaret has several major awards in the testing space, has delivered hundreds of talks, and is a frequent keynote speaker. She lives testing from the inside out and has been improving the field for years. Did you know that with the Xray Exploratory App, teams can perform exploratory testing sessions, take notes, attach evidence, record videos or audio notes, easily report bugs, and in the end, upload results to Jira and track the results and the impacts on the deliverables using Xray? Try the Xray Exploratory App for free: https://hubs.li/Q01BPKss0

Testing has evolved. We now test broader, with different quality attributes, and look at testing more holistically. But what does that mean exactly? To assist us on this topic, we have a special guest, Janet Gregory, a frequent conference speaker who has also published several books about agile testing. With Xray, you can adopt a more agile and holistic testing approach. Everyone can collaborate during test planning, execution, debriefing, and reporting, using the tool they use in their daily activities - Jira. Check out https://hubs.li/Q01qz-390 to learn how to develop better software - together.

Outsourcing testing has a lot of misconceptions, and today we're going to bust through them all. Our guests and expert QA Therapists today are Lucía Lavagna and Federico Toledo. Federico is a frequent speaker and participant in testing conferences and is also the COO of Abstracta, a company that provides testing services, and Lucía is the  Chief Growth Officer at Abstracta. If your testing is delegated to a team, internal or external, and if you want to have some control over that process, you can adapt Xray to suit your needs. Go to https://hubs.li/Q01qz-390 to learn how to develop better software - together.

Are you having visual issues in production that are escaping your current testing efforts? With more sites and mobile apps having visual components, the content is the value in itself, and we need to have ways to perform visual testing to ensure these do not impact relevant user flows, ultimately leading to churn. To assist with diagnosing and prescribing these symptoms related to visual testing, we have guest Andrew Knight, our expert QA Therapist, also known as Automation Panda. Andy works at Applitools as a developer advocate and is a well-known Test Automation University director. With Xray, you can perform visual tests, either manually by exploring or checking different screens or UI components, or you can automate your visual tests with your tool of choice. Xray integrates with state-of-the-art tools like Applitools, tailored for visual testing and leveraged by AI and ML. See how you can integrate Xray and Applitools: https://hubs.li/Q01yz52n0

Do you ever feel that accessibility is not a priority in your testing strategy? Are you constantly fighting against accessibility myths? It's too expensive, it will take too much time, we are not trained on this topic and do not know what to do? All these are symptoms that accessibility is not fully understood nor  prioritized to be available for everyone. Today, we have Ady Stokes, our expert QA Therapist to assist on diagnosis and prescription on these symptoms related to accessibility. In the Xray documentation, under Tutorials Tips & Tricks section, you'll find tutorials for accessibility testing, namely using Axe. https://hubs.li/Q01wp5g90

Is your team thinking that AI/ML will solve all of your problems? In this episode of QA Therapy, we're joined by Tariq King, our expert QA Therapist to assist with how AI & ML will influence the testing world. He is currently the Vice President of Product-Service Systems at EPAM and has published over 40 research articles. AI is becoming widespread, and there are a variety of testing tools that harness its power. Xray integrates with popular AI tools, Functionize, and Applitool Eyes. Take a look at the Xray documentation for tutorials on how to use them together with Xray. https://hubs.li/Q01vvF3P0