This afternoon finally the conference part of Eurostar started. In anticipation of this I traveled a day earlier to Copenhagen to take the time to go sight seeing. I experienced a magic Copenhagen. The weather was lovely sunny, though the air was quite cold. The city is historic and modern at the same time. The bike lanes are amazing and for anyone who has not yet realised it: e-bikes are the future mode of transportation especially in urbanised places. So I think Copenhagen is pretty future proof.
But enough about my travels. I am here to experience Eurostar and to find out what skills, tools and knowledge the test community needs to be future proof. That is the magic of the future. There are fortune tellers among the speakers and there are innovators at the expo. That is a good recipe for getting a glimpse of what magical future lies ahead of us.
If I think about my job and what to expected in the near future there are many things that seem impossible. How to test artificial intelligence for instance? But somehow after today I have been reassured that the impossible is possible. This was nicely demonstrated by the key note speaker Jasper van Luit. Making magic happen starts with thinking about something impossible and make it possible. The magic trick. Like stuffing a basketball in a briefcase. It could be magic, or not if you don’t believe in it. The trick with the wishing cards failed for me. Was I too sceptical beforehand? Though it succeeded with others. Did they have the right mindset or was it just coincidence? Nevermind, It is magic and don’t try to explain.
The fact that the focus is on magic is due to Iris, the programme chair who came up with the conference theme. Which after today I perceive as applicable to testing too. Magic is: testers solving an impossible logical puzzle and by doing so rescuing a project. And magic is in the words of Ires: “doing great things with the entire community”, like this :-).
The import things I have learned today are: break the pattern and the impossible becomes possible. Applying creative thinking and the magic is in your hands. Perhaps the magic should be read more metaphorically than literally. But it is utterly important that testers have an open mind, are creative, are critical, and ask ‘what if’ and ‘else’ when solving complex issues which is a great part of testing now and in the future.
