“The quality is connected to the risk, and the risk is connected to the testing. If we don’t keep an eye on quality, our testing and development will drift, because we are no longer building the thing that people care about anymore."

Mark Winteringham is a quality engineer and the author of “Testing Web APIs”. In this episode, discover how holistic, risk-based testing strategies can transform your software quality. Mark explains how to prioritize our testing by understanding what users truly value and translating that into different risk-based testing strategies, such as testing API design, exploratory testing, automated testing, and acceptance test-driven design (ATDD). Mark also reveals the testing Venn diagram as our testing strategic roadmap. Finally, get a glimpse of Mark’s upcoming book “AI-Assisted Testing” and learn how AI will evolve the roles of testers and developers.

Listen out for:

• Career Journey - [00:01:24]
• Writing “Testing Web APIs” - [00:05:17]
• Holistic Testing Strategy - [00:07:48]
• Start With Understanding the Problem - [00:11:02]
• Testing Venn Diagram Model - [00:14:11]
• Risk-Based Testing - [00:18:22]
• Defining Quality & Quality Attributes - [00:22:29]
• Testing API Design - [00:26:41]
• Exploratory Testing - [00:32:08]
• Automated Testing - [00:36:18]
• Acceptance Test-Driven Design (ATDD) - [00:41:54]
• “AI-Assisted Testing” Book - [00:45:51]
• Evolution of Developer and Tester Roles - [00:48:46]
• 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:51]

_____

Mark Winteringham’s Bio
Mark Winteringham is a quality engineer, course director, and author of “AI Assisted Testing” and “Testing Web APIs”, with over 10 years of experience providing testing expertise on award-winning projects across a wide range of technology sectors. He is an advocate for modern risk-based testing practices, holistic based Automation strategies, Behaviour Driven Development and Exploratory testing techniques.

Follow Mark:

• LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/markwinteringham/
• Twitter / X – @2bittester
• Website – mwtestconsultancy.co.uk

_____

Our Sponsors

Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.
Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats.

Like this episode?

Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/172. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Bureaucracy in itself is neither good nor bad. However, it often gets in the way and prevents important things you need to do. A good bureaucracy is lean, learning, and enabling."

Mark Schwartz is an Enterprise Strategist at AWS and the author of multiple books from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss his two latest books on the topics of bureaucracy and ethics. Mark begins by sharing his perspective on the impact of bureaucracy on digital transformation. He explains the definition of bureaucracy and why it tends to have a negative connotation. Mark describes the characteristics of a good bureaucracy and how leaders can play an important role in managing bureaucracy.

Next, Mark shares his reasons for writing about ethics in his latest book, why it is becoming more relevant in the digital world, and how leaders can make better ethical decisions in the current fast-paced business world.

Listen out for:

• Career Journey - [00:01:22]
• State of Digital Transformation - [00:04:33]
• Bureaucracy - [00:08:31]
• Bureaucracy and Process Improvement - [00:13:14]
• IT as the Biggest Bureaucrats - [00:15:30]
• Bureaucracy Creates Business Value - [00:18:09]
• Characteristics of Good Bureaucracy - [00:20:40]
• Leaders' Roles Towards Bureaucracy - [00:26:05]
• Writing About Ethics - [00:34:10]
• How to Make Ethical Decisions - [00:41:12]
• 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:21]

_____

Mark Schwartz’s Bio
Mark Schwartz is an iconoclastic CIO and a playful crafter of ideas, an inveterate purveyor of lucubratory prose. He has been an IT leader in organizations small and large, public, private, and nonprofit. As an Enterprise Strategist for Amazon Web Services, he uses his CIO experience to bring strategies to enterprises or enterprises to strategies, and bring both to the cloud. As the CIO of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, he provoked the federal government into adopting Agile and DevOps practices.

Mark speaks frequently on innovation, bureaucratic implications of DevOps, and using Agile processes in low-trust environments. With a BS in computer science from Yale, a master’s in philosophy from Yale, and an MBA from Wharton, Mark is either an expert on the business value of IT or else he just thinks about it a lot.

Follow Mark:

• LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/innovativecio

_____

Our Sponsors

Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.
Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats.

Like this episode?

Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/171. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Soft skills are always going to be those ladders for you to climb in your career, whereas your tech skills can turn into snakes, meaning you’ve got to start again with another skill."

Jacqui Read, author of “Communication Patterns,” joins in this episode to discuss why strong communication skills are crucial for developers and technical leaders, often surpassing the importance of merely technical expertise. We delve into four key communication areas: visual communication, multimodal communication, communicating knowledge, and communicating remotely. During the discussion, Jacqui suggests several practical patterns you can immediately implement to level up your communication skills, such as knowing your audience, the big picture comes first, and perspective-driven documentation.

Listen out for:

• Career Journey - [00:01:40]
• Architecture Kata - [00:03:17]
• Writing Communication Patterns - [00:05:03]
• Importance of Soft Skills - [00:07:33]
• Visual Communication - [00:09:24]
• Visual Communication Essentials - [00:12:12]
• Visual Narrative - [00:17:46]
• Multimodal Communication - [00:21:09]
• Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication - [00:26:29]
• Encoding & Decoding - [00:29:58]
• Communicating Knowledge - [00:32:22]
• Tips for Capturing Knowledge - [00:40:14]
• Get Feedback Early & Just-in-Time - [00:43:05]
• Communicating Remotely - [00:48:59]
• 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:23]

_____

Jacqui Read’s Bio
Jacqui Read is an internationally-recognised solution and enterprise architect, and author of Communication Patterns: A Guide for Developers and Architects. She teaches public and private workshops and speaks at international conferences on topics such as architecture practices, technical communication, and systems design. Jacqui specialises in untangling and extracting value from data and knowledge, helping businesses to determine direction in complex environments.

Her professional interests include collaborative modelling, knowledge management, Domain-Driven Design, sociotechnical architecture, and modernising enterprise architecture practices. Outside of work she enjoys gardening and strumming her ukulele while singing at the same time.

Follow Jacqui:

• Personal Website – jacquiread.com
• LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/jacquelineread
• Book’s Website – communicationpatternsbook.com

_____

Our Sponsors

Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.
Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats.

Like this episode?

Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/170. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.