I took my computer scoence degree in the 1970's, and moved into testing in the 1980's. I was working at a company in the late 80's on software maintenance on mainframe systems, as a member of the outsourcing supplier team. We realised that we needed to deliver maintenance updates regularly, frequently, reliably and with quality built in to what we were doing. So we devised a lifecycle model to allow 4 week cycles of defining the next set of changes, based on the customer's needs, design, build, test, and deploy. Although we didn't call it agile, it predated agile, the way we were working had many of the characteristics of agile, from the feedback loops to the need for good, tight engineering, to the need for everyone to test, and so on. I think then when I saw agile starting I thought "hang on..."

I think there are several challenges. There is a challenge around diversity - that we have IT teams that reflect the world we live in, and take account of a multiplicity of people - whether by demographic measures or by culture, ways of living , of needs and expectations. There is a challenge around ethics - related to diversity, of course, yet also to ethics in data use, in machine learning, algorithm use, etc. And ethics around envirnmental challenges such as energy usage.  And there are challenges in terms of increasing technical complexity, and the increasing need for speed with quality.  I think the ethical and diversity questions are the more important challenges, but the challenges in terms of complexity, speed and quality probably feel more urgent to teams. Of course, the environemntal impact of IT is also now urgent - we have to consider the affect we have on the planet. Perhaps as an industry we need to pause, think, and reset our expectations in terms of what we should be doing - what is good for humankind, the environment, the planet - [should we be making these products at all?] and how we should be doing it - in terms of ethical considerations, diversity - [d owe have teams who represent humankind, the environment, the planet] - and then how we achieve that in terms of approaches we take to the engineering of products. My research is focused on the last of these; if we understand more about who is testing software and how they are testing, we'll have a better understanding of what tools are useful and appropriate.

I am excited that I'm seeing ethics increasingly discussed at IT conferences.   

I have been researching the expereinces of testers with the tool they use, and the title is based on quotes from some of the testers who provided their stories. People felt stuck in limbo, frustrated, and that they were being asked to solve problems as if by magic. I want to share my findings so far back to the industry, because I think other testers will relate, their colleagues and managers need to understand the frustrations, and also because anyone designing or building test tools and automation should be aware of the effects of their design decisions. It's not just about superficial improvements to usability... it's about the whole affect on people's workflow - and even their self-worth. I also have some evidence that the same problems affect other disciplines and their tools... As I move into the second part of my research I need to know who is doing testing - and so I also want to ask the Agile India community to contribute to my current data collection survey. https://forms.gle/bQaXdFDNSbKCJifP8. 

1. Insights from research into the experiences of real practitioners testing in real projects
2. Understanding of some of the usability and human blockers to successful test tool implementation
3. A chance to inform the future of test tool design by contributing to the research data: https://forms.gle/bQaXdFDNSbKCJifP8. 

I’ve been researching into the experiences of people doing testing with their test tools. Data collected and analysed so far indicates I need to find out more about who is doing testing, and how they are doing it.

Your help is vital in the next stage of my research. If you test software, or if you use the results of testing software to inform your work, please respond. I am running a survey by online interview to ask for detailed information about you. The survey link is available to you and open until end 2021: https://forms.gle/bQaXdFDNSbKCJifP8.   The data you provide will feed into a model for designing tools to support testing; your contributions will help to form that model.

Please help by completing the survey, and by passing it to colleagues who might be able to contribute.

Thanks so much!

that's a hard question - so many great speakers and interesting topics! I have not yet decided!

In your career think of the effect you are having - on your colleagues and your customers, but also on world, the environment, all the living things around you. We only have a small planet.  Second: be prepared for a long career and one where you are constantly learning.