Welcome Maaret Pyhäjärvi to QA at the Point! Yes, we are changing things up and will have Maaret speak to us…oh and there is a time change! We will be meeting at 12:00 PM MDT.

In exploratory testing, we intertwine design and execution, and learn between tests in a way that changes the next test we perform for more impactful testing. This learning requires agency, a human connection between the two tasks with power of making decisions in the moment.
In this talk, we extend agency from a person making decisions about design and execution of tests to making these decisions about use of automation. When we enter exploratory testing with programming skills, test automation becomes a way of documenting our testing and extending our reach. We can’t explore well without automating; we can’t automate well without exploring. And we need to learn between the tests in a way that changes the next test we perform.
Opening the game with an automationist's gambit is a good option for solid foundation of testing. We need to talk about the impact of opening to the middle and end game of testing a product as well as building a career with testing emphasis.
The skills the future of the testing craft requires have already shifted. Good testing includes exploring with automation as well as without, intertwined.

Takeaways:
Importance of agency for great testing
Test automation as documentation, and its other uses
End of separation of manual and automated testing

Maaret Pyhäjärvi is an exploratory tester extraordinaire with a day-job at Vaisala as Principal Test Engineer. She is a tester, (polyglot) programmer, speaker, author, and a community facilitator. She has been awarded the two prestigious global testing awards, Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person 2016 (MIATPP) and EuroSTAR Testing Excellence Award (2020), and selected as Top-100 Most Influential in ICT in Finland 2019&2020.