Conference Rejected, Networking and Joining a New Team
05/06/24 • 67 min
In this conversation, Richard and Vernon discuss the experience of being rejected for conference talks and the importance of actionable feedback. They emphasize the need for clear and compelling abstracts, as well as the value of networking and building relationships within the industry. They encourage individuals to continue sharing their stories and knowledge through alternative platforms such as YouTube, blogs, and meetups.
The conversation also touches on the power of diversity in conference lineups and the importance of providing opportunities for underrepresented voices. In this conversation, Richard and Vernon discuss the importance of networking and building relationships in the software testing industry. They emphasize the value of nurturing connections and being present in the network, rather than only reaching out when you need something.
They also discuss the challenges of onboarding onto a new team and share their experiences and strategies for effective onboarding. They highlight the importance of asking for help, sharing knowledge, and finding the right balance between asking for help and helping yourself. Overall, the conversation emphasises the power of relationships and continuous learning in the testing profession.
00:00 Introduction and Positive Feedback
09:01 Creating Clear and Compelling Abstracts
16:21 The Importance of Actionable Feedback
33:10 The Power of Networking
45:33 Finding the Balance: Asking for Help vs. Helping Yourself
53:06 The Importance of Continuous Learning
Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:
08:00 - Richard's legendary advice about how to structure your conference proposal
10:07 - Sarah Deery on LinkedIn
13:00 - Clear not clever explained by Nicolas Cole
17:09 - Posts from Lena, Emna, and Jenna
20:00 - The Mash Program
20:20 - I couldn't find anything about Speak Easy but you can find the founder Anne-Marie Charrett
25:21 - Lisa Crispin's website and LinkedIn page
27:00 - Abby Bangser on LinkedIn
27:30 - Ash Coleman Hynie on LinkedIn
31:30 - Vernon Scott II on LinkedIn
34:00 - Marie Cruz and Lewis Prescott's book
45:47 - Lisi Hocke's website & Ben Dowen website
46:08 - My old pal
49:55 - The First 90 Days book on Amazon
56:37 - What's AWS?
58:50 - What about Google Cloud?
58:51 - What's Heroku?
In this conversation, Richard and Vernon discuss the experience of being rejected for conference talks and the importance of actionable feedback. They emphasize the need for clear and compelling abstracts, as well as the value of networking and building relationships within the industry. They encourage individuals to continue sharing their stories and knowledge through alternative platforms such as YouTube, blogs, and meetups.
The conversation also touches on the power of diversity in conference lineups and the importance of providing opportunities for underrepresented voices. In this conversation, Richard and Vernon discuss the importance of networking and building relationships in the software testing industry. They emphasize the value of nurturing connections and being present in the network, rather than only reaching out when you need something.
They also discuss the challenges of onboarding onto a new team and share their experiences and strategies for effective onboarding. They highlight the importance of asking for help, sharing knowledge, and finding the right balance between asking for help and helping yourself. Overall, the conversation emphasises the power of relationships and continuous learning in the testing profession.
00:00 Introduction and Positive Feedback
09:01 Creating Clear and Compelling Abstracts
16:21 The Importance of Actionable Feedback
33:10 The Power of Networking
45:33 Finding the Balance: Asking for Help vs. Helping Yourself
53:06 The Importance of Continuous Learning
Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:
08:00 - Richard's legendary advice about how to structure your conference proposal
10:07 - Sarah Deery on LinkedIn
13:00 - Clear not clever explained by Nicolas Cole
17:09 - Posts from Lena, Emna, and Jenna
20:00 - The Mash Program
20:20 - I couldn't find anything about Speak Easy but you can find the founder Anne-Marie Charrett
25:21 - Lisa Crispin's website and LinkedIn page
27:00 - Abby Bangser on LinkedIn
27:30 - Ash Coleman Hynie on LinkedIn
31:30 - Vernon Scott II on LinkedIn
34:00 - Marie Cruz and Lewis Prescott's book
45:47 - Lisi Hocke's website & Ben Dowen website
46:08 - My old pal
49:55 - The First 90 Days book on Amazon
56:37 - What's AWS?
58:50 - What about Google Cloud?
58:51 - What's Heroku?
Previous Episode
Highlights from PeersCon & Choosing the Right Medium for Meaningful Discussions
The second episode of the Vernon Richard show discusses the PeersCon conference and highlights some of the key talks. Topics covered include the concept of minimal shippable risk, the importance of psychological safety in creating a productive work environment, the challenges and learnings of stepping into a leadership role, and the role of DevOps in organisations.
We express our appreciation for the speakers and their valuable insights. The conversation covered various themes, including the importance of embracing DevOps and the role of testers in the process. The concept of glue work, which involves technical leadership and ensuring collaboration and success, was discussed. The negative impact of debates on LinkedIn and the need for respectful and curious engagement were highlighted. The importance of framing conversations and choosing the right medium for discussions was emphasized. The idea of thinking like a scientist and valuing getting right over being right was also explored.
Generated by AI.
00:00 - Introduction
00:47 - Our overall thoughts about the inaugural PeersCon event
03:00 - Heather Reid's presentation "Wait! That's not tested"
12:05 - Jit Gosai's presentation "Psychological safety – The link between speaking up, complexity and high performing teams"
16:48 - Al Goodall's presentation "Things I Learned being a new(ish) Quality Manager"
20:43 - Beth Clarke's presentation "Being the Glue: The Role DevOps in Testing"
26:38 - Leigh Rathbone's presentation "The history of testing and why its important as it feeds our future"
27:44 - Debates on LinkedIn
32:05 - Choosing the right medium for sharing ideas and managing your energy
35:04 - The challenges of online debate
39:44 - Preachers, Prosectors, Politicians and thinking like a Scientist
Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:
- 00:32 - The PeersCon website
- 02:28 - The Testing Peers podcast
- 03:00 - Heather Reid
- 07:55 - Vernon's Quality Coaching Kickstart Guide
- 12:05 - Jit Gosai
- Jit's blog
- Jit's Quality Engineering Newsletter
- Jit's LinkedIn
- 16:48 - Al Goodall
- 20:43 - Beth Clarke
- 22:33 - "First time?" meme from Maaike Brinkhof
- 23:39 - Tanya Reilly Glue Work
- 26:38 - Leigh Rathbone
- Leigh's LinkedIn
- 29:50 - Testing vs Checking
- 30:02 - Context Driven Testing
- 30:18 - Caleb Crandall
- Caleb's great post about mindset
- Caleb's LinkedIn
- 33:05 - James Bach
- James' blog
- 39:06 - Vernon explaining Coaching and being 2% right on Deena McKay's Black Tech Unplugged podcast
- 39:24 - Adam Grant explaining Preachers, Prosectors, Politicians and thinking like a Scientist on the Diary of a CEO podcast
Next Episode
Playing in the Workplace and Killer Bugs
In this episode of the Vernon Richard Show, Vernon and Richard discuss alternative names for the show and reflect on their recent activities. They talk about the Leeds Testing Atelier conference and highlight some of the workshops and talks they attended. They discuss the importance of play in the workplace and the impact of bugs in software development. They also mention the Post Office Horizon scandal and the need to consider the human impact of software failures.
The conversation covered various topics including testing chatbots, the importance of accessibility and user flow mapping. The speakers discussed their experiences with chatbots, highlighting both positive and negative interactions. They also talked about the significance of screen readers and the need for proper web app design to improve accessibility. User flow mapping was mentioned as a useful technique for building a joint team understanding of work tasks. The conversation also touched on the challenges of communication with anxiety and the benefits of being open about mental health in the workplace.
Various other topics were also discussed including reducing anxiety in the workplace, the concept of spoon theory, and the balance between speed and quality in software development. The speakers discussed the importance of building relationships and understanding how to communicate effectively to reduce anxiety. They also explored the idea of spoon theory, which relates to managing energy levels and prioritizing tasks. Lastly, they delved into the challenge of achieving both speed and quality in software development, emphasizing the need for a learning mindset and continuous improvement.
Description Generated by AI
Links to stuff we mentioned during the pod:
- 00:00 - James Thomas
- 02:42 - The Testing Atelier Conference
- Their website
- Their YouTube channel
- 05:10 - Jit Gosai
- Jit's Leeds Testing Atelier post
- Jit's Leeds Testing Atelier talk
- Jit's blog
- Jit's Quality Engineering Newsletter
- Jit's LinkedIn
- 05:43 - Elly Gausden
- Elly's LinkedIn
- 08:03 - The Battleships board game
- 09:00 - The Colt Express board game
- 11:02 - Clare Norman
- Clare's LinkedIn
- 11:44 - Lego Serious Play Training
- 11:56 - Rich's Lego Automation workshop
- 13:33 - Elliot Thurland
- 13:38 - The Post Office Horizon scandal
- 13:53 - James Christie
- James' blog
- James' body of work regarding the Post Office scandal
- 16:30 - BBC Radio 4 series about the Post Office Scandal
- 16:35 - 4 part television drama for ITV
- 17:48 - The Nightmare Headline game is described in Elisabeth Hendrickson's excellent book Explore It!
- 18:43 - Bug Advocacy
- The Association for Software Testing (AST) flavour of the course
- The Black Box Software Testing training programs in collaboration with Altom and Cem Kaner
- 19:20 - Kelsey Hightower
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