2016 was a year with many highlights for me. And for those who know me a bit longer, the years before had way more lowlights than highlights, so 2016 really was a change for the better.
It started with the intention to finally look for a new job. And in March I had the first contact with a small test consulting company called QualityMinds in Munich, with a lot more to follow.
End of March I was speaking for the first time at a conference. And what a conference it was. TestBash Brighton! In front of nearly 300 people in the Corn Exchange was a fantastic experience.
Great thing was also that my wife and daughter joined me afterwards and we enjoyed a wonderful week in England.
In May I held my first conference workshop at Let’s Test in Runö, Sweden. Also it was the first time I volunteered as facilitator, which was a good experience as well. And like the year before it was a place where I had the chance to meet some of the folks I met online for the first time.
The day before I went to Sweden I handed in my notice. I decided I had suffered enough.
On the off-testing side of my life my artisan work in 2016 was nearly non-existent as my main focus was on re-building the interior of the attic. The final touches were made end of August, just before starting at my new place. On my birthday in September my daughter started school, which started a whole new chapter for the family as well.
Back to testing. On September 1st I started at my new company, QualityMinds, a place that hired me for being me, as I found out only later. I’m part of a great team of engaged people; to be honest, for the first time in my work life.
After 6 days I also started my first project, and in a real SCRUM environment. To the day I’m still shell-shocked that SCRUM can actually work. After experiencing lots of suffering with trying to introduce a bit more agile ways of working at my last place, I actually saw SCRUM in action. What a wonderful way of working, and finally I understood lots of blogs and tweets from people working in such an environment. It is possible. But my experience also told me that not every place is ready for such a way of working. But I love it.
Thanks to fabulous Danny Dainton I was back at a TestBash in October, this time in Manchester and as an attendee, enjoying the show for 2.5 days. That’s also where we (Kristine and me, together with our team of Vera, Marcel and Daniel (in absence)) finally laid the foundation for TestBash Germany, which was publicly announced in December!
In November I was at my first client workshop with my boss, which was an interesting experience. And I’m looking forward to more experiences of that kind.
In 2016 so much happened, and it feels so much longer than one year. By now the first 8 months of the year at my last place are nearly forgotten and so much great happened that I can honestly say, 2016 was a really good year for me!
What will 2017 bring.
Well, my crystal ball is still in the repair shop, so I assume that 2017 will be busy. As my project contract has been extended, means I stay in this project for at least a few more months.
The year starts with the Dutch double-feature TestBash NL and DEWT #7 end of January. In March I’ll be at TestBash Brighton to learn more about the organization of a TestBash hands-on.
My QualityMinds team has set a couple of interesting goals, that will keep us also pretty busy besides our project work. And thanks to our wonderful learning coach Vera I’ll be busy on the QualityLearning side as well. Both helping colleagues to improve and learning lots myself.
The most part of the rest of the year will be busy with preparing, organizing and advertising the first ever TestBash Germany in my hometown Munich on October 6th, 2017.
I also want to work on a few topics to submit for conferences later in 2017 or early 2018.
In case I have some time to spare, I also volunteered for now three friends from the testing community to help review their books in progress, which I’m very much looking forward. And I wish all three of you the best of success in your writing efforts.
And then let’s see what else might come my way. In the end I am called Agile Tester, so let’s be agile!
Test Pappy 