Have you ever asked a tester, “How in the world did you find that bug?” Or maybe you’re being asked to pick up testing activities on your agile cross-functional team—or just wondering what that strange language is the testers are speaking. Agile testing is its own unique skill set, and as quality has become a team responsibility, more and more the agile testing is being performed by non-testers. Increasingly, developers and others are being asked to test and shift left, but they are rarely given the tools to ensure their testing is up to snuff. This often results in wasted time and effort, not to mention costly bugs. Jenna Charlton will explore some of the basics of exploratory testing, testing terminology, and how you can start to think like a tester. Key takeaways include session-based testing with charters, testing vocabulary and techniques, the testing pyramid, understanding and communicating risk, and why automation isn’t always the answer.

Jenna Charlton has been a software tester for nearly a decade. In that time she’s focused on manual testing, taking a particular interest in web accessibility and usability. Jenna’s experience in testing runs the gamut from lone tester on a Scrum team to test lead on an enterprise-level project. Jenna’s primary areas of expertise are in agile testing methodologies, risk based testing, accessibility testing, and test leadership. She is a regular speaker at conferences, covering a variety of testing topics and team collaboration. Jenna is passionate about making testing concepts accessible and relevant.