An extraordinatory week is over
Goodbyes are always hard, and this time it just felt a “wee bit” harder. Besides from having had the honour of speaking at the Eurostar Conference for the first time with my good friend and colleague Bo Dresler, I have been together with so many fantastic people that will be dearly missed, but i will do my very best to stay in contact.
The recipe for EuroSTAR success
- Choose a venue in a beatiful city like Edinburgh
- Build a team that is able to execute on a complex structure that an IT conference is
- Add 1.000+ people with a common interest in software testing and AI
Once a small hickup with finding my conference card and galla ticket was dealt with, it was smooth sailing throughout the rest of the conference. The staff did an excellent job and added support with a smile in spite of demanding attendees like myself 🙂
The EuroSTAR Programme was a good mix of engaging tutorials and inspirational track talks and i couldn’t help walking around being a little “star struck” with all the amazing people.
AI on trial
The theme of this years EuroSTAR Conference was “AI on Trial” and this was felt throughout the many tutorials and track talks. There is not doubt that the Large Language Models or LLMs are getting better, but we still experience hallucinations and bias which reminds us that using AI in software testing must be done with this in mind.
The many tutorials and track talks each provided us with various of ways to approach using AI in testing. It seemed like everyone agreed that keeping the human in the loop was critital and that you cannot use AI in software testing if you do not have a good experience in testing and reviews.
Quality Coaching Toolbox with a GenAI Twist
I enrolled for 2 tutorials and in the first one, Emna Ayadi & Eveline Molenaars from Sogeti France and Sogeti Netherlands took us through their approach to using AI as a coach. We also had hands on experience with their “Prompt Machine”, a spreadsheet that made prompting more structured and enabled better output. Both in this tutorial and throughout various track talks, the term “A clever intern” was used to describe how we should perceive AI. In fact micro managing is a must when dealing with LLMs and their tendency to hallucinate.
Enhancing Agile Testing with LLMs: A Guide for Testers
In this tutorial, which perfectly complemented the previous one, Fran O’Hara showed us how to use LLMs to work with requirements user stories and test cases. Through the use of well thought of prompts, we experienced the good and bad in using AI in testing, but most of all we were once again reminded how important “The human in the loop” is when it comes to the use of LLMs.
The track talks
Each track talk lasted about 30 minutes + 15 minutes for Q&A (not QA). There were 4-5 track talks for each time slot, which made it difficult to choose. I also chose to skip a few talks to prevent a brain melt down from all the impressions it was bombarded with. I will not cover them all, but below are a few of those i went to.
DocuMentor by Richard Bishop and Liam Patience
Liam and Richard from Lloyds Banking Group demoed their tool DocuMentor, which is a tool for reviewing test documentation. The tool enabled them to compare test plans against an approved test plan, a “Golden standard” and create immediate feedback to the authors of the test deliverables. They were enthusiastic about it and I really enjoyed this talk. DocuMentor is still in early stages and internal only, but a public version might be available some time in the near future.
Breaking Test Stereotypes: Who is testing and Why It Matters by Isabel Evans
Amidst all those track talks with AI as an ingredient (including our own), this session didn’t really include the theme of this years EuroSTAR, but it was really spot on in regards to stereotypes in testing.
With a razor sharp mind (as always), Isabel Evans took us through various stereotypes of testers and why these are completely wrong. Testers are portrayed as people with an IT-degree, a few or no hobbies at all and without any interest in art (the list goes on…). Interviews have shown that testers are just as diverse as people in other professions and that only about 16% have a degree within IT/SWE.
She also emphasised that there is still a demand for testers and we need to find out how to recruit them.
Danes on the big stage
If you asked me a few years ago if I would ever consider speaking at EuroSTAR myself, I would probably have enacted the scene from “Waynes World” where they meet Alice Cooper and react with a “We’re not worthy”. Standing there on a Wednesday afternoon in Edinburgh, with my very good friend and colleague Bo Dresler, was one of the best experiences I have had in my 20-something testing career. Ask me again and this time I will be drafting abstracts like never before.
Not just tutorials and track talks
If you think of EuroSTAR as just tutorials and track talks, you haven’t been there at all. These are of course the heart of any conference, but what happens between sessions and during breaks is where it really shines. You will meet up with old friends and most likely leave with a handful of new ones. I joined a good bunch of people from various countries in a “Full Scottish Breakfast” meetup through the Whova app. Being the “splitter” I am, I went for a stack of pancakes with bacon and sirup. I lost the battle and had to leave half of it. Saying thanks but no thanks to bring the leftovers with me, I left for the last day of the conference.
Back in Denmark the many impressions are sinking in and the backlog has been loaded with ideas for my work in software testing.
I'll be back...
