TestGuild Automation Testing Podcast

Happy Holidays! I'm taking the last week of December off, but just wanted to THANK YOU for listening to Test Talks in 2015 and share some quick plans for 2016 to make Test Talks even better.

Direct download: HappyHolidays2016Preview.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different. Since we’re nearing the end of the year, I thought I’d share with you the Test Automaton Playbook presentation I gave at the Øredev Conference in Sweden this past November.

I’ve had the privilege of interviewing some of the biggest names in the testing and automation field in 2015, and I think my presentation summed up all the lessons and good practices I’ve picked during those interviews.

Direct download: ttTestAutomationPlaybook83.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

In this episode, we’ll talk with Scott Nimrod about Software Craftsmanship and how to take your development and testing efforts to a new level. Discover some modern testing techniques that can really improve the quality of your unit testing and automation testing efforts.

Scott’s enthusiasm and hustle around self improvement and making development efforts awesome really shine through in this can’t-miss episode for folks that are serious about testing and development.

Direct download: ttScottNimrodSoftwareCraftsmanship82.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:47am EDT

In this episode we’ll talk with Mark Collin, author of Mastering Selenium WebDriver. Mark will share with us how to create an extensible test framework, as well as how to write clear, simple, readable and reliable tests that perform complex test automation tasks. If you’re a Selenium automation engineer and are ready to take your Selenium efforts to the next level, this episode is a must-listen.

Direct download: ttMarkCollinMasteringSelenium81.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:15am EDT

Virtualization, Cloud Deployments and Cloud-Based Tools have challenged and changed performance testing practices. Today’s performance tester can summon tens of thousands of virtual users from the Cloud in a few minutes at a cost far lower than the expensive, on-premise installations of yesteryear. These newer environments can also cause us to struggle to understand our performance results and have to puzzle out the essential message in each.

In this episode, Eric discusses strategies for engaging with these new contexts, performance testing them effectively. He also explains how to better interpret performance test result and create better reporting.

 

Direct download: ttEricProeglerPerformanceTestingResults80.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Projects can fail for many reasons. Some fail because they test the wrong things. Others fail because they test too much. In this episode Todd H. Gardner, an enterprise consultant and founder of TrackJs, shares his many years of development experience in testing atrocities (AKA terrible testing) and what we can learn from them. You’ll come away questioning your own testing. So let’s forget about our long-held testing dogmas and start doing a better job of testing the right things in our software.

 

Direct download: ttToddGardnerTerribleTesting79.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:24am EDT

In this episode, Andy from the podcast Testing Bias shares some insights from his years of testing experience. You’ll discover the shift in testing we all need to be aware of, as well as which skills you’ll need in the coming years. We’ll also touch on a few hot topic issues like Schools of Testing as well as, “Can developers do testing?”

Direct download: ttAndyTinkhamSchoolOfTest78.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

In this episode we’ll be talking with Vladimir Khorikov, author of the Pluralsight course Automating UI Tests for WPF Applications.

Discover how to create a maintainable, automated test suite for your WPF application using the open-source framework White.

Vladimir will guide us through the process of building a White automation framework and share some of his tips and best practices along the way.

Direct download: ttVladimirWhiteFramework77.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

In this episode, we’ll hear about a real world automation success story from Neil from Physicians Mutual. Neil shares the steps he took to implement a successful, large-scale automation effort for his company. So roll up your sleeves and get ready to learn some actionable best practices that you can use in your own automation efforts.

Direct download: ttNeilPhysiciansMutual76.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

When it comes to performance testing, sometimes the best thing you can do is Just Do It. With open-source performance testing options, it’s never been easier to get started. And the best place to start is in CI. In this episode, Michael Sage from BlazeMeter shares which tools and techniques you should use to get started with your Continuous Performance testing efforts. You’ll discover how to get it done.

Direct download: ttMichaelSageBlazeMeter75.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:40am EDT

I’ve been involved with test automation for over 15 years, and I’m amazed that to this day there are misconceptions about test automation that most managers are not even aware of. In this episode you will discover my top 5 things your boss probably doesn’t understand about test automation, and why you need to educate him or her ASAP.

Direct download: ttTop5ThingsYourBossDoesntKnowAutomation74.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:21am EDT

How can we deliver what we’ve made to our customers as early as possible, as well as get faster feedback from our product users? To achieve this, more and more companies are moving toward a continuous delivery process. How does automation fit into this paradigm shift? In this episode Sahas, shares tons of real world experience with us about how to make our CI/ automation testing efforts awesome.

Direct download: ttSahasContinuousDelivery73.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:03am EDT

We are currently living in what some are calling the API economy. With mobile app development, modern DevOps practices and newer architecture like micro-servers, API’s are everywhere. They might even be in your shower. So it’s important that we have a process in place to help us monitor and test all our APIs. In this episode, Neil Mansilla, head of developer relations at Runscope, shares with us how to take our API monitoring and testing efforts to the next level.

Direct download: ttNeilMansillaRunscope72.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:11am EDT

Today we’ll be test talking with Brian Okken, author of Python Testing with UnitTest, Nose & Pytest, and host of the new Python Test Podcast. Get ready to discover some cool Python testing techniques, including how to use Python for embedded testing and more.

Direct download: ttBrianOkkenPython71.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:20am EDT

Want to take your mobile app development and testing CI efforts to the next level? Does it take you a long time to deploy your apps? Ship.io can help. Ship.io was developed specifically for Continuous Delivery or native iOS and Android mobile apps to help you easily build, test, deploy and ship quality apps faster.

Tim Rosenblatt, an engineer at Ship.io, shares with us how to improve our mobile app CI efforts.

Direct download: ttShipIoMobileCI70.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:08am EDT

Not sure if you should test your mobile app against a simulator, emulator or real device? Testing against a real device would be optimal, but do you really have the budget or time to set up your own mobile testing lab? No worries SauceLabs just got even better with their announcement of a new feature that allows customers to test their mobile apps across the full spectrum of simulators, emulators and real devices using one platform as part of their DevOps workflow.

Lubos Parobek, Vice President of Product at SauceLabs, shares with us his unique insight on all the benefits of easily testing mobile apps in SauceLabs’ cloud.

Direct download: ttLubosSauceLabsRealMobile69.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:13am EDT

Is QA dead? You might be surprised by the answer.

Today we test talk with Jess Sussna, author of Designing Delivery: Rethinking IT in the Digital Service Economy, who shares with us his view of Cybernetics and 21st century IT, and what happens to QA in a DevOps world.

The book covers how service quality is about more than designing capabilities, but is about making -- and keeping --promises to customers. In this episode you’ll learn how to make IT a full partner in the ongoing conversations you have with your customers, and why QA is an important part of this transformation.

So listen up and discover the ways in which QA is more important than ever, as well as how QA test engineers will actually thrive in the years to come.

Direct download: ttJeffSussnaDesigningDelivery68.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:11am EDT

In my experience, one of the most significant improvements to my team’s automation code has been due to the inclusion of all our test artifacts in our code reviews. Also -- if you’re a developer doing code reviews, you should be involving your QA resources to help gain fresh perspective for things that you may not have thought of. Everyone on your development team benefits from code reviews, because the sooner bugs are caught the better it is for everyone. 

Today we’ll be Test Talking with Justin Collier, the product owner of the SmartBear peer code review tool Collaborator. Justin shares his experience in helping teams succeed with productive code reviews. In this episode you’ll discover the secrets to conducting awesome code reviews for all your coding efforts (including automation code).

Direct download: ttJustinCollierCollaborator67.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00am EDT

With more and more companies making the shift-left in their development process there is increase pressure on development teams to be able to run their automated test quickly and reliably.

Peter Kim shares with us his modern automation approach that allows his team to quickly scale their test coverage against rapidly changing applications with minimal refactoring and code changes to their test scripts.

In this episode you'll discover the secret to building automation frameworks that scale.

Direct download: ttPeterKimScaleAutomation66.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:16am EDT

In this episode you’ll discover how to orchestrate your testing/Agile efforts to run in automation harmony with QASymphony’s qTest platform as we Test Talk with Kyle Cochran, VP of Product at QASymphony.

Test Management is a key tool in any Agile automation effort in order to succeed in today’s fast-paced development environment.


Kyle shares why he believes test management can help teams collaborate and enhance their test automation/development efforts.

Direct download: ttQASymphonyKyleCochran65.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:56am EDT

Ross, the author of the Pluralsight course Introduction to Wireshark shows us how Wireshark can help bridge the gap between network engineers, developers and testers to ensure we are developing high-performing, secure software application awesomeness.

In this episode you’ll discover how to use WireShark to attack hard to find bugs!

Direct download: ttWireSharkRossBagurdes64.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:44am EDT

This episode is all about how HP's new test tool LeanFT can help you and your company with your Shift-left efforts. LeanFT was developed to handle the modern automation demands of things like continuous testing and dev-ops. You'll discover the top features of LeanFT and how to accelerate your LeanFT scripting efforts

Direct download: ttLeanFTShiftLeftJoeColantonio63.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:38am EDT

In this episode you’re going to find out how to test your software better, easier and faster with Gojko Adzic, author of  Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve your Test.

Gojko reveals some of his favorite ideas from his book, all of which can be applied to many different contexts -- from small web start-ups to the world’s largest companies.


This episode will improve your team members’ collaboration on defining, creating and executing your tests.

Bonus: Listen all the way to the end to learn how to get 50% off a copy of Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve your Tests!

Direct download: ttGojko50TestIdeas62.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:34pm EDT

How many of you have been on projects where you ended up building the wrong thing? Or worked for a company that tried a process that was currently in vogue, only to see it fail? And of course, we’ve all felt the frustration of finding all types of bugs in our software that cause us to delay releasing it.

How can we reduce these common risks associated with developing software?


Matt Heusser, founder of Excelon Development -- a one-stop shop for software testing and training -- and the author of the book How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing will share with us some context-driven principles to help guide us around some of the risk roadblocks in our software development process.

Direct download: ttMattHeusserLeanSoftwareTesting61.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:42am EDT

Do you work for a large enterprise company and are struggling to create an automation strategy that will meet all the needs of your company? Want to know what the number one factor people forget when getting started with test automation?

In this episode we're going to pick the brain of Kalayana Rao Konda, President of Gallop -- one of the largest companies that specialize in providing testing services. Kalyan shares with us his deep insight gleaned from his years of automation experience, as well as his company’s extensive experience implementing hundreds of successful automation efforts around the world. You will discover what it takes to implement your own successful test automation strategy.

Direct download: ttKalyanTestAutomationStrategy60.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:49am EDT

Today, mobile apps must meet rigorous standards of reliability, usability, security, and performance. However, many mobile developers have limited testing experience, and mobile platforms raise new challenges even for long-time testers. In this episode the Author of Hands-On Mobile App Testing – Daniel Knott shares his end-to-end blueprint for thoroughly testing any iOS or Android mobile app. http://www.testtalks.com/59

 

Direct download: ttDanielKnottMobileTestingBook59.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:04am EDT

One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen for large teams all across the globe is a lack of collaboration. In this episode you’ll discover how to break down some of the barriers that separate your project management group, development group, business, and especially your QA group, and ensure that those teams are working as a unit with Sanjay Zalavadia, VP of Client Services at Zephyr.

Direct download: ttSanJayZephyrTestManagement58.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:24am EDT

How often have you found yourself doing a long, manual, repetitive administrator task on a Windows box and thinking that there has to be a better way? Well, you’re right -- and PowerShell may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Don’t be a “click next” admin! Listen to Adam Bertram, author of the Pluralsight PowerShell Toolmaking Fundamentals course, as he shares a bunch of tips on using PowerShell to automate the drudgery of some Windows-based tasks.

 

Direct download: ttAdamBertramPowershell57.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:04am EDT

Discover new and existing functionality to make your Sauce Labs automation tests even more awesome. Steve Hazel, CTO and co-founder of Sauce Labs, shares his deep development knowledge of how to make your tests run reliably in Sauce. Steve also reveals some cool new UI features recently added to Sauce Labs to make your Sauce automation experience even better.

Direct download: ttSteveHazelSauceLabs56.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:01am EDT

In this episode, discover my top takeaways from this year’s HP Discover conference, and get a sneak peek of the new HP automation tool that is going to blow your mind.

Direct download: ttHpDiscover55.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:46am EDT

In this episode, Al Sweigart shares how easy it is for someone with little-to-no programming experience can get started automating some of the most boring tasks that fill our days.  

Whats great about this is you’ll find automation can be used for much more than your typical end-to-end functional testing scenarios.

So if you’ve struggled in the past to learn a programming language for test automation, today you’re going to discover it’s much easier to get started than you probably think.

Direct download: ttAlSweigartPython54.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:48am EDT

There is nothing worse than sour BDD. You know -- the kind that is unreliable, unreadable and unmaintainable yet still need to be maintained somehow. Discover a better way with Seb Rose, the author of The Cucumber for Java Book, as he shares some of the best ways to create robust, sweet BDD (Behavior Driven Development) that will leave you satisfied and your customers delighted.

Direct download: ttSebBDDCucumberJava53.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

As the dawn of the Internet Of Things Era begins testers and developers need a better way to test the functionality of their growing API, cloud based software applications. One of the new tools/techniques developed for this purpose is the concept of Service Virtualization.

Find out why Service Virtualization is so important and why you need it to have confidence that your modern application will work as expected in the wild.

Direct download: ttPaulBruceServiceVirtualization52.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:08am EDT

My mother passed away in December after fighting a progressively debilitating disease for many years. The past months have been a time of reflection for me. My mother taught me many things about life, instilling principles that have made me not only a better person but also a better test automation engineer. In this episode, I’d like to share a few of those things with you.

Direct download: ttMotherDaySpecialEmmaColantonio51.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:49am EDT

This is the 50th episode of Test Talks, and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to feature an interview with the CEO of TestTalks’ Exclusive Sponsor, Sauce Labs.

In this episode you’ll discover why Sauce Is Boss as I speak with the new CEO of Sauce Labs, Charles Ramsey about his vision for Sauce Labs and how Sauce's awesome products and services can help you succeed with all your testing, automation & CI efforts.

Direct download: ttCharlesRamseySauceLabs50.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:05pm EDT

Protractor is an automated testing framework for testing AngularJS applications in the browser. In this episode you'll discover all the benefits of using Protractor to test your AngularJs application as we speak with Nate Taylor, author of the PluralSight course's Introduction to Protractor and TDD as a Design Tool.

Direct download: ttNateTaylorProtractor49.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:38pm EDT

Want to know what a bucket of bottlenecks is? You’ll find out today as we talk with PerfBytes’ Mark Tomlinson. Not performance testing your application can be dangerous. Don't be left singing the performance testing blues after being featured on the PerfBytes’ News of the Damned.

In this episode the Performance Sherpa, Mark Tomlinson who has over 20 years of testing experience, helps guide those new to performance testing over the rough terrain of getting started with their performance efforts -- no matter how daunting the task may seem. So get ready to bring your performance testing efforts to a whole new level!

Direct download: ttMarkTomlinsonPerfbytes48.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Can automation perform actual testing? What’s the difference between test automation and automation in testing? Discover a mind-shift that will help you improve your testing efforts and take your automation to the next level. In this episode, your friendly tester will free you from the common misunderstandings and myths of test automation and leave you smiling. Check it out!

Direct download: ttRichardBradshawAutomationInTesting47.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:28am EDT

The Apple Watch is coming. Are you ready? With the release of the much-anticipated watch happening in less than a month, I thought it would be fun to talk about iOS testing. This episode should help you get up-to-speed with iOS testing and start thinking about how you’re going to test Apple Watch apps. Andy Obusek is an iOS mobile developer at the popular Email marketing firm AWeber, and he shares some of his favorite IOS tips and tricks with us.

Direct download: ttAndyObusekIOSTesting46.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:28pm EDT

For the past few years I've been trying to promote the idea that not every automation test should be a UI test, and have been focusing more on the types of tests that can be performed below the UI, like API testing. With the rise of the Internet of Things, this type of headless testing is only going to become more popular. One of the tools I use all the time for REST-based API testing is rest-assured. In this episode, we’ll talk to the creator of the open-source tool’s REST-Assured, Power Mock and Awaitility, Johan Haleby.

Direct download: ttJohanHalebyRestAssured45.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:33pm EDT

Have you ever wondered how testing is done at big companies like Microsoft? Curious to know what it takes to succeed with testing and automation across a huge enterprise that has bunch of different products and technologies? Alan has seen it all, and shares his years of testing wisdom. Your ears will be ringing from all the test automation awesomeness knowledge bombs Alan will drop on you in this episode.

Direct download: ttAlanPageMicrosoft44.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:26pm EDT

Test Automation is difficult. It’s even harder if you need to perform any sort of visual validations in your test script. It’s often easier and more reliable to make visual validation type test into manual tests. So how do you solve this pixel predicament?

If you have a “mission critical” or complex visual application that needs to have many visual elements tested, you should check out Applitools. With its sophisticated visual algorithm, Applitools makes visual validation easy and stress-free.

Direct download: ttAdamCarmiApplitools43.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:05am EDT

A New Model For Testing

With more and more companies making the move to shift-left in their development processes, the thinking skills that many testers possess need to be unlocked and shared across the whole organization.

Paul's new model can get us all thinking about testing as early as possible in the development life cycle. Discover how we can apply the tester’s mindset to the ever-changing development landscape that includes thing like the Internet of Things and Big Data.

http://www.testtalks.com/42

Direct download: ttPaulGNewModelOfTesting42.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:48am EDT

Microsoft is about to release Windows 10, which many are describing as a game changer due to a bunch of innovative new features including a virtual reality headset called HoloLens and a new web browser named Spartan. Windows 10 will also have a host of new APIs that will allow developers to create applications that can run across multiple platforms.

Are you ready to test Windows 10? Get an early start and listen to discover what Windows 10 means for testers.

Direct download: ttJeffMartinWindows1041.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:15am EDT

Are you a tester who’s trying to automate something that your normal test automation tool is not recognizing? Or are you a gamer looking to create a gaming bot? Maybe you’re a combination of both. If any of those apply, this episode is for you. Today I’ll be Test Talking about the open-source, image based tool Sikuli with its core developer and maintainer, Raimund Hocke.

I think this is one of the most inspiring Test Talks to date because Raimund started the Sikulix project later in life, at a time when most people stop trying new things and become learning-stagnant. Raimund is proof that it’s never too late to learn something new, and his enthusiasm for Sikuli really comes through in this interview.

Direct download: ttRaimundHockeSikuli40.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:58pm EDT

In this episode you will discover how to create realistic performance tests that will enable your company to release applications in the wild that perform as expected.

Scott Moore, a performance testing consultant and former CEO of Northway solutions, shares with us how to avoid red alerts and getting stuck in a performance testing black hole by teaching us the black art of performance testing.

Direct download: ttScottMooreLoadRunner39.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:56am EDT

Do you have a sinking feeling that your test automation efforts are not quite right? When looking around in the industry are you starting to see that everyone else is facing the same issues? Lets face it there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we most of us approach testing and automation.

There are a lot of digital disruption coming that is going to force us to change the way we think about testing and automation.

It’s a brave new world for testers, so get ready to learn how to do "testing in wild" with Jonathon Wright leading the way.

Direct download: ttJonathonWright38.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:16am EDT

SmartBear’s API Readiness Platform: Ready! API

SmartBear recently released a new API testing tool named Ready! API. But I think that like with any new tool/rebranding effort things can get a little confusing. That’s why I asked Mike Giller, a technical engineer at SmartBear, to appear on the TestTalks show to let us know exactly what Ready! API is and how we can use it to automate our API tests.

Mike also shares with us all the cool new features of Ready! API and reveals SmartBear's vision for the future of API testing using the Ready! API platform.

Direct download: ttMikeGillerReadyApi37.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:08am EDT

Do you want to take your career (and life) to the next level? Discover how to make this your best year ever with John Sonmez, the author of Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual. In this episode John, who I’ve dubbed “the hardest working developer in the software business”, shares with us his best tips for becoming a successful software developer/tester.

Direct download: ttJohnSomnezSoftSkills36.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

The Cucumber Book – Behavior-Driven Development for Testers and Developers

Are you trying to get up to speed on Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), but are finding all the information hard to digest?

When you’re in a meeting do you wonder why everyone suddenly has a craving for cucumbers? Are you responsible for test automation and want to know how it all fits in BDD? Do you want to know what level of detail your BDD scenarios should be written in?

In this episode, you’ll hear the answer to these questions and many more as we test talk with Matt Wynne, author of The Cucumber Book.

Direct download: ttMattWynneCucumberBDD35.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:46am EDT

Agile Testing

If you’ve resolved to start your Agile testing efforts off right in 2015, then this episode is for you. You’ll discover what foundational principles you’ll need for better Agile practices in the new year.

Janet shares with us a bunch of awesome Agile tips and tricks to help those who are trying to improve their current Agile Testing efforts, as well as anyone who wants to start their 2015 testing projects using good, solid Agile testing best practices.

Direct download: ttJanetGregoryAgile34.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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