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🎄✨ Ho Ho Ho!



The holidays have arrived!



While Santa is on his way, we bring you a special edition of Sigma Scoop, <a href="https://testsigma.com/newsletter/editions/">Testsigma&#8217;s community newsletter</a>.



We all know that testing is a 24/7 gig 👻, and even at the peak of our testing prowess, we need occasional breaks to recharge our debugging superpowers!



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/m6pnFj58DVC4IcDcELXEhJ8pACoeU93DCstk0k3RN2pYgF0TUdvotdjZ23myMsWniLUPJH9OZwVJejDpKjmD0yHBGfEJO_oDzcHhYi3LTXKhyEIvA9yshJ97KvKgjt6dgIRycmRigsIJN9adaSd3mDY" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist"/></figure>



But wait, what if a critical bug surfaces in your absence?



So, before you hit the pause button 🔕on your testing efforts, here are some resources that can help you make a smooth transition from bug-hunting to holiday-hopping.



Santa brings this edition of Sigma Scoop all the way from the QA pole! 🎅



How about we start with a checklist?



<ul><li>1. Automation Framework:<ul> <li>Scheduled Test Runs: Set up automated test suites to run at scheduled intervals to ensure continuous testing.</li> <li>Monitor Stability: Regularly check the stability of your automation framework, resolving any issues promptly.</li> <li>Update Dependencies: Ensure that all dependencies and libraries in your automation framework are up-to-date.</li> <li>Setting alerts with a quick retry button for failures</li></ul></li> <li>2. <a href="https://testsigma.com/devtestops">DevTestOps</a> Best Practices:<ul> <li>Continuous Integration (CI) Pipelines:<ul> <li>Verify that CI pipelines are running smoothly and efficiently.</li> <li>Check for any failures in the CI pipeline and address them promptly.</li> </ul></li> <li>Continuous Deployment (CD):<ul> <li>Review the CD process to guarantee a seamless transition from testing to deployment.</li> <li>Implement automated deployment strategies to minimize manual intervention </li></ul> </li></ul> </li> <li>3. General Best Practices:<ul> <li>Documentation: Ensure that all testing processes and procedures are well-documented for reference.</li> <li>Backup Plans: Have contingency plans in place for potential system failures or unexpected issues.</li> <li>Communication: Clearly communicate your holiday schedule with the team and any stakeholders </li></ul> </li> <li>4. Areas to Check:<ul> <li>Test Environment: Confirm that the test environment is stable and ready for use.</li> <li>Test Data: Ensure that the required test data is available and up-to-date.</li> <li>Critical Test Cases: Identify and run critical test cases to verify essential functionalities.</li> <li>Alerts and Notifications: Set up alerts for critical issues and ensure notifications are reaching the right stakeholders </li> </ul></li> <li>5. Miscellaneous Checklist:<ul> <li>Delegate Responsibilities: Assign tasks and responsibilities to team members in your absence.</li> <li>Emergency Contact: Provide an emergency contact in case of critical issues.</li> <li>Out-of-Office Response: Set up an out-of-office response to manage communication expectations.</li></ul> </li></ul> 



 Holiday cheers from the community-a tradition we are starting! The testing community shares with us some strategies to use from one tester to another!



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</div> 



How do you streamline your continuous testing and delivery pipeline?



This talk by Akshay Maldhure should be all that you need! 



<a href="https://youtu.be/k39mho4BG-s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Watch Now!</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/k39mho4BG-s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> </a>Reflections of a Tester &#8211; Testsigma Blog Contest Unveiling the champions of our holiday series contest. Testers relive their 2023 experiences!



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/">Read Now</a> 



 Holiday rush



&#8220;For entrepreneurs, this weekend is their Super Bowl,&#8221; mentions Shopify.



Shopify merchants claim they mark a record-high $9.3 billion in Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales. But how do they do it without a dedicated QA department?



Check out this blog on how their <a href="https://news.shopify.com/preparing-the-back-end-for-black-friday-and-cyber-monday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">engineering team prepares</a> for the holidays.



Cool right?



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/r9irJDSkWvlw0W3OQ0ynI_i7-CjEYzaHiew8TPGmuyP7g_81AvQxmWLx0pLVAWOB4Mh5c-95H_PE7pUB0inF_dwLh8l4uLU5yWbhCMw78PCrqLZOR9EtmkfcvsEeshpuc06eL3zMY24OlL-GhBw8Des" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist" width="600" height="304"/></figure></div>



Shopify&#8217;s Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) Live Globe is an interactive, real-time visualization of purchases made through Shopify-powered merchants worldwide.



Wouldn&#8217;t it be nice if we could <a href="https://thetesttherapist.com/2021/10/31/forecasting-number-of-users-in-performance-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">forecast the number of users</a> on our website? 



We can&#8217;t, so we prepare by<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/holiday-readiness-testing-pradipta-ray-karmakar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Load Testing</a>.



Check out some good resources to know more about it <a href="https://qainsights.com/book-review-the-hitchhiking-guide-to-load-testing-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a> and <a href="https://abstracta.us/blog/performance-testing/load-testing-guide" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a>.



🦈The Shark Tank Effect: <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-prepare-website-for-traffic-influx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">How to Prepare Your Website for a Traffic Influx</a>



A <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/news-of-the-damned" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">podcast on sites crashing? </a>James Pulley and special guests analyze globally crashing websites and system failures while he reviews the &#8220;disastrous sins&#8221; of the evildoers in the IT department. 



Speaking of crashes..



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" width="624" height="365" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/uCeooeL4ANYzMm3iv8Cf56NF5INaYjnhxRD-yqLkYU_RiysqZDgIymlJnMnHC4qCr7xKdpFC4EOLdXpLXr3yfMXrADZe0R9ToNF_8sKU7Kt6lrQJuzmhRdrZdimB-aO5SMmMhIyBYU9eKou8qmF1AKc" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist" /></figure>



Debate time! In 2023, which is the bigger performance problem for most teams, the<a href="https://requestmetrics.com/blog/performance/frontend-vs-backend-performance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> frontend or the backend</a>?



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/n46guSk4XPKiib3o6ruJpPZD9Fvqbf-4E-Epc3B_8bs4Yr2B9VOhYtplDWuJdtq0Gchs_sAQd-TfH6KPetFo7Ts-A-1wUOv0dYc-8O6a7V3kujS6iEszrbagOhTaqLO5R5OrWb1j0D0MvsAy1OHYCXk" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist"/></figure>



How to<a href="https://youtu.be/WtxXlAtT-Pc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> test when you go globally with a fleet of thousands of machines</a> (a video)



🤔 What are the chances that ALL of these services would start experiencing an increase in reported outages on holidays? A Common source &#8211; Hosted in a common cloud provider!&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.a1qa.com/12-software-areas-to-test-ahead-of-black-friday-and-cyber-monday.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">12 software areas to test ahead of the holidays</a> &#8211; a PDF. 



A breakout Black Friday <a href="https://www.perfecto.io/resources/black-friday-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Testing Checklist</a> (for the holiday rush) for you!



And <a href="https://www.shopify.com/blog/bfcm-checklist" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">one more</a>!



How early should you test for holidays?



Happened to hear this discussion between Jason Baum and Marcus Merril talk on Black Friday testing as early as July with a 4-month code freeze and how they release major features behind feature flags. <a href="https://youtu.be/myHjQam1GOQ?t=258" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Check it out!</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/t6AkgiC6hcXJCigLizsZrIECO37sJ5r8BFFj7qA_gl9hGAqXmRaj1s1AusdtpwR_INAHroMLKSP67fl6lRFfiO_tfLK3djnia8el75QsQddtuOtUBbN228HaXCnpHIeYp-FoVtHwtVZq841qTHaIDno" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist"/></figure>



What do you think?



Everyone does code deploy freezes, but we rarely talk about it. Why?



Here are 3 good and 3 bad <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gergelyorosz_codefreeze-softwarengineering-activity-7016118763175432192-Jd2u?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">things about code freezes</a>.



And for more scoop on code freezes, check <a href="https://lnkd.in/enrK47iM" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this blog</a> by Gergely Orosz, where he discusses the approaches of big companies like Meta, Amazon, Apple, etc (though the full read is for subscribers only.)



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/sRetIHyohOUCbrbvDIP03jxnsyvCrhoWCEAojKx8nFnSxtliskGyHbnDiXCToYMNpvgHGpd3ccm27owhGQC9kJ0gsYoD5Z_d6Zk7ZJJgumKZb_h-fmO23IpYM6W_2_n3dqk7_WmEuhBgw89BUHo83C4" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist"/></figure></div>



What are your plans ahead of the holidays?



If you&#8217;d like to spend some time learning, Krystian Kubowicz gets creative and comes up with an <a href="https://testingadvent2023.carrd.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Advent calendar for testers</a>.&nbsp;



How about setting milestones such as these, we say!



Dennis Martinez shares some tips like fixing a broken test among other <a href="https://dev-tester.com/5-ideas-to-make-the-most-out-of-your-downtime-as-a-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">suggestions to make the most</a> out of your downtime. Here&#8217;s an <a href="https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/holiday-tech-book-recommendations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">exhaustive list of books</a> you could read curated by Gergely Orosz &#8211; for Software Engineers, Engineering Managers, and Product Managers!



💡 We are curious, <a href="https://www.objectstyle.com/qa/qa-tips-for-coping-with-task-buildup-and-emergencies-at-holidays" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">how do you cope with task build up after the holidays?</a>



Here are some <a href="https://www.objectstyle.com/qa/qa-tips-for-coping-with-task-buildup-and-emerg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">QA tips for coping with task buildup and emergencies during holidays</a>.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/-4yuuv8NjwXyPXRpQiDXn5k2z8_J17tJ4lYKODPF6Pb_kn-rQfV_9OFIqVchNZiRr0sAskVsWjCBnt7h66zNeW3NaZnjMwTEii3NfQko3FHevtrLR8AX2T4a2M83O56SZIXL89kGxEvD1-tR17rjY-s" alt="Testsigma - Tester's checklist"/></figure></div>



When you are back, how do you manage and prioritize projects and slow delivery? Maybe focus and navigate to a <a href="https://www.cliffhazell.com/blog/should-we-use-jira-miro/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">collective goal</a>?



It’s fun when the QA community comes together! 



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ministry-of-testing_the-wait-is-over-watch-the-premiere-ugcPost-7140328333468147713-gGET?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MOT shares the perfect way</a> to celebrate joyous QA holidays!







 We wish you a great start to 2024, dear community.



Keep fueling our rocket ship with more feedback and love; they make great recipes for what we are building at Testsigma!



See you next year!



Cheers,



Testsigma Community 💚

testsigma-community-newsletter-holiday-edition

Holidays Ahead 🎄✨: What should be on a Tester’s checklist? 

<header-banner data-theme="#ffffff" data-nl-title="Newsletter#35" classes="newsletter-hero" data-title="A Solo Tester's Journey to Quality" data-content="Get the latest updates delivered straight to your inbox" data-button-link="" data-button-type="" data-button-content="" data-img-url="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/newsletter-35.png"></header-banner>



Let&#8217;s talk about an army of one, but with infinite superpowers! ⚡



Like a teacher who single-handedly conducts all students and checks their work submissions, give feedback and maintain discipline we are referring to the &#8216;Solo tester&#8217; in a team.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/OBRybRvNwaVNlUuQUmce3qOne0d33zHPr4hCo60T-PconzHOKt8AqZEzrq0uoA6Mm7sYWM9wHMcwfOq8VvYqUshejJeMxXNQKl5_sdUyKkKh38-wub4Bi1iNvdlJKcQRaBo-_Lhx4g75gg3hjglVMhM" alt="Testsigma - A Solo Tester's Journey"/></figure>



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For the solo tester reading, a tight virtual hug to you! 🫂



(psst..solo developers, <a href="https://betterprogramming.pub/the-effective-solo-dev-8407d86c8a9e">we hear ya</a>!)



In the <a href="https://testsigma.com/newsletter/editions/edition-34/">previous edition</a>, we discussed &#8220;Changing Tester Roles&#8221; and how some teams work without dedicated testers.



However, this edition is about a team with One QA, not none 🙃



In case you are still wondering if testing is all that important, we recommend reading Dave Cheney&#8217;s
<a href="https://dave.cheney.net/2019/05/14/why-bother-writing-tests-at-all">Why test at all?</a> And Vincent Ferreira&#8217;s work on <a href="https://medium.com/@vincent.ferreira/action-or-reaction-what-is-the-best-time-to-hire-your-first-qa-ddac7419da63">What is the best time to hire your first QA?</a>



A tester&#8217;s job isn&#8217;t easy.



They battle to ensure software quality across various dimensions, including functionality, usability, performance, a touch of security testing, accessibility testing, and more.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/eNHnCCr1LlHxxcBijfBRXS28rsb6eCu4GJZAarlNHPGX11uExD9wtKshB3sv9UPFf85f8uHLC3aMlXfbRS-0cHn0x2LcXjLK157TXCJ09ylMriJjmxZzBYJIYo12zGnBkJXTGrTe5pvD83pZt1pujnY" width="624" height="624" alt="Testsigma - A Solo Tester's Journey" /></figure>



Sowmy Sridharamurthy shares in a post the<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sowmyasridharamurthy_testing-testengineering-tester-activity-7118475541308956672-Z-6Q?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop"> struggles of testing talents</a> being under pressure from DevOps working practices to be an expert in all facets of application administration.



The quickest way to isolate yourself and have your teammates shun you is by falling into the trap of thinking, &#8220;I am alone; therefore, I must remain alone.&#8220;, writes Dennis Martinez as he <a href="https://dev-tester.com/sole-tester-on-your-team-dont-worry/">shares tips</a> to integrate with the rest of the team.



Lisi Hocke recounts a situation where she felt burned out and shares how she worked her way out of it.
 Read <a href="https://www.lisihocke.com/2021/06/dear-future-me-i-am-not-alone.html">Dear Future Me: I Am Not Alone</a>.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><ul><li><a href="#What_is_an_acceptable_QADeveloper_ratio">0.1 What is an acceptable QA:Developer ratio? 🤔</a><ul><li><a href="#We_are_curious_how_big_or_small_is_your_QA_team">0.1.1 💡We are curious, how big or small is your QA team?</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Watching_the_ratio_thinking_it_is_telling_about_the_work_we_do_in_the_categories_of_dev_and_test_makes_little_sense_But_watching_the_ratio_as_how_many_people_advocate_for_quality_and_how_many_actually_think_of_and_implement_solutions_to_improve_quality_makes_a_lot_more_sense8221">0.2 “Watching the ratio, thinking it is telling about the work we do in the categories of “dev” and “test” makes little sense. But watching the ratio as how many people advocate for quality and how many actually think of and implement solutions to improve quality makes a lot more sense.&#8221;</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#What8217s_trending_at_Testsigma">1 What&#8217;s trending at Testsigma?</a></li><li><a href="#Ensuring_a_Seamless_Continuous_Testing_and_Delivery_Pipeline_A_Tester8217s_Holiday_Checklist_with_Akshay_Maldhure">2 Ensuring a Seamless Continuous Testing and Delivery Pipeline: A Tester&#8217;s Holiday Checklist with Akshay Maldhure</a></li><li><a href="#Don8217t_miss_out_on_this_exciting_blog_contest">3 Don&#8217;t miss out on this exciting blog contest</a></li></ul></div>
<h3 class="font-bold">What is an acceptable QA:Developer ratio? 🤔</h3>



Often, in a scrum process, there would be one QA for a team of many developers in a squad team.



Some teams have ratios like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/QualityAssurance/comments/11uti10/rant_15_devs_vs_1_qa/">15:1</a> or<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/agile/comments/16hma48/4_devs_vs_1_qa/"> 4:1</a>.



Carlos Arguelles writes about the <a href="https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/the-paradigm-shifts-going-from-1-1-to-10-1-to-100-1-dev-test-ratio-44183a734d77">Paradigm shifts with different Dev:Test ratios</a> and how things changed going from 1:1, to 10:1, to 100:1.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">💡We are curious, how big or small is your QA team?</h4>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><span id="Watching_the_ratio_thinking_it_is_telling_about_the_work_we_do_in_the_categories_of_dev_and_test_makes_little_sense_But_watching_the_ratio_as_how_many_people_advocate_for_quality_and_how_many_actually_think_of_and_implement_solutions_to_improve_quality_makes_a_lot_more_sense8221">“Watching the ratio, thinking it is telling about the work we do in the categories of “dev” and “test” makes little sense. But watching the ratio as how many people advocate for quality and how many actually think of and implement solutions to improve quality makes a lot more sense.&#8221;</h3>



<a href="https://visible-quality.blogspot.com/2019/10/job-crafting-and-why-specialty-titles.html">states</a>&#8211; Maaret Pyhäjärvi



Let&#8217;s look at the bright side 🔆



Being a lone tester implies being on your own.



This means you have the power and responsibility to build up the team. You can build the process and set <a href="https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/quality-principles/15315"> quality standards </a>for your entire team.



That is an advantage, right? Shaheen Sultana <a href="https://medium.com/@shaheenNtesting/solo-tester-8b198e39575e">felt the same</a>.



But it is not all easy.



For beginners, here&#8217;s <a href="https://tsh.io/blog/beginners-qa-tester-guide-starting-new-work/">how to start in a new QA team</a>: a survival guide for a beginner QA tester from an experienced specialist.



<a href="https://cakehurstryan.com/2023/08/31/we-need-to-talk-more/">We need to talk more</a> and push information into our teams, says Callum Akehurst-Ryan.



Bas Dijkstra shared on LinkedIn that he is convinced that a lot of problems we experience as a team could be solved more easily if <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/basdijkstra_im-pretty-convinced-that-a-lot-of-problems-activity-7133714610624319489-9sCv/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">people would just pair up</a> a bit more often.



Lisi Hocke takes pairing sessions to another level! 



She took a <a href="https://www.lisihocke.com/p/testing-tour.html">testing tour</a> where she paired with many different people from different teams, did hands-on exploration, and carefully crafted every pairing session in a blog, which is one not to miss!



💡You can be a pig or a chicken says, Mike Harris noting how he works as a <a href="https://testandanalysis.home.blog/2023/09/19/how-a-lone-tester-can-work-across-teams/"> tester for 2 different teams</a>



From an interesting 5-part series by Dawid Dylowicz on <a href="https://morethantesting.com/blog/first-week-as-qa-lead-in-a-startup/">First week as a QA Lead in a startup &#8211; 5 steps for 5 working days</a>; irrespective of whether or not you are a lonely tester, these tips come in handy.



The author of <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Blazing-New-Trails-Tips-Tester-ebook/dp/B07G5H7DZN">Blazing New Trails: Tips For The Lone Tester</a>, Kate Paulk shares some great ideas to hande challenges like priority juggling, cultural and/or communication issues, legacy code, unreasonable deadlines, inflexible protocols or procedures <a href="https://www.ministryoftesting.com/articles/1ed06d1e?s_id=16167570">here</a>.&nbsp;



Set goals for you and the team. What are <a href="https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/setting-goals-for-a-test-department/1270">your goals for the QA?</a>&nbsp;



 Depending on your preferences, you can do things like learning/improving your testing skills, your automation skills, your ability to read code (this can help a lot when it comes to tracking down bugs and working out what to target), and learning aspects of business analysis.&nbsp;



The possibilities are endless!



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/b3vxiLYDhVH-SseiaJkLiKURFhlcRfJtmzpUF-QkUBusuVf8kwjOJhMTbLbNudvzteH0V1eqKpD6WpzCtbXwyaVlw7lDyygxdpExGDOgX1EDhB2pVKA8AYW5dam-lXkzm9kjISAwlDtlE1dvxAoMj-Q" alt="Testsigma - A Solo Tester's Journey"/></figure>



Quality is a mindset even when no one is looking.



Sometimes testers need to coach. Check out the PoP framework based coaching and <a href="https://testandanalysis.home.blog/2022/04/26/coaching-tools-for-testers/">Coaching tools for testers</a> by Mike Harris.



💡Tried <a href="https://riskstormingonline.com/">RiskStorming?</a>&nbsp; 



These activities enhance collaboration on testing ideas across a team and build the confidence of the business in the testing being done. 



How about<a href="https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/15109-transitioning-from-being-a-solo-tester-to-being-a-part-of-a-team"> transitioning from solo to being a testing couple</a>?



Vernon Richrads <a href="https://typeshare.co/vernonrichards/posts/what-career-moves-can-you-make-when-youre-the-solo-tester-on-your-team-here-are-3-perspectives-that-might-help">shares 3 perspectives</a> that might help while making a career move when you are the solo tester on the team.



You are enough. You are adding value everyday.



When you’re the only tester in the organization, you need to be flexible.



On the plus side, it’s rarely ever boring because there’s always something new to deal with. Only that, you need to keep upskilling coz anyone can be replaced (Psst! Whether AI can or cannot replace humans, its human creators can be).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-trending-at-testsigma">What&#8217;s trending at Testsigma?</h2>



<ul><li>Here&#8217;s a very interesting holiday special webinar for you on the 14th of December, 2023</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ensuring a Seamless Continuous Testing and Delivery Pipeline: A Tester&#8217;s Holiday Checklist with Akshay Maldhure</h2> 



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Don&#8217;t miss out on this exciting blog contest</h2>



Here&#8217;s all you need to do 👇



<ul><li>Write a blog rewinding your journey as a tester in 2023</li><li>Email your content draft to community [at] testsigma.com</li><li>Make sure to include [2023 Contest] in the subject line.</li></ul>



Please note that the last date for submissions is December 9, 2023.











 So,



We come to the end of this month&#8217;s edition. Of course, the journey of a tester continues.



We&#8217;re not just one QA but one team with one goal.



Let&#8217;s continue to make testing an enjoyable and effective activity for the whole team.



We dedicate this edition to the solo testers in your teams, going the extra mile to ensure your tickets are done and the product is shipped. Also, a shoutout to all supportive dev teams who appreciate their only QA.



Until next time,



Testsigma 💚



<a href="https://testsigma.com/newsletter/">Subscribe to Sigma Scoop &#8211; our monthly community newsletter just for you!</a>

A Solo Tester’s Journey to Quality

Changing Tester roles

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<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Community_Newsletter_33_is_here">1 Community Newsletter #33 is here!</a><ul><li><ul><li><a href="#The_code_less_movement">1.0.1 The code less movement</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_democratized">1.0.2 Testing democratized</a></li><li><a href="#Some_downfalls">1.0.3 Some downfalls</a></li><li><a href="#Discussion_on_tools">1.0.4 Discussion on tools</a></li><li><a href="#Voice_of_the_Community">1.0.5 Voice of the Community</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Up_your_Testing_game">2 Up your Testing game!</a></li><li><a href="#Upcoming_Webinar">3 Upcoming Webinar!</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-newsletter-33-is-here">Community Newsletter #33 is here!</h2>



On May 25, 2023 The world celebrated the birthday of Java.



We have come a really long way from programming circuits, strings with 0&#8217;s and 1&#8217;s, assembler instructions, and then different languages providing more and more abstraction layers. Each layer removes complexity, bridging the divide between humans and machines.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_331.jpeg" alt="Testsigma - Low Code Testing" class="wp-image-817"/></figure>



James Martin, in the preface of his 15th book about the software industry, titled &#8220;Application Development Without Programmers,&#8221; stated,&nbsp;&#8220;The number of programmers available per computer is shrinking so fast that most computers in the future must be put to work at least in part without programmers.&#8221;



His foresight regarding the shortage of technical talent almost four decades ago sparked contemplation about the possibilities that could arise from the complete elimination of coding.



No-code is an approach that allows anyone, regardless of prior experience or skill level, to build applications without writing a single line of code. Since no-code platforms are visual abstractions of programmatic functions, it&#8217;s faster and easier for users of all skill levels to change the function, flow, and feel of the software.



How do we differentiate &#8220;coded&#8221; tools from &#8220;codeless&#8221; tools or hybrid?



No-code, Codeless, and Scriptless are essentially the same thing. These tools allow users to create and execute tests without any previous coding experience. They allow anyone to create a test visually based on any type of business logic that needs validation, making software testing much more accessible.



However, there are varying levels of &#8220;codeless-ness,&#8221; giving way to low-code tools. Low-code tools allow for code insertion into the text.



In short, you&#8217;re still coding, just in a different syntax.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/30144332/0b6a2004-f8c7-4156-9785-88db5fb9adff.png" alt="low code tools" class="wp-image-49362" width="200" height="149"/></figure>



How do you decide if you need LCNC tools?



Look at the timeline, product, team tech skills, scalability, and maintenance overheads. Ask questions like should you run it in headless mode, do you need to run it in CI, want to customize it, or run tests in parallel?



Can it test everything? Yes! If you can define everything and you can customize the solution. Do a POC with the criteria in mind. Here&#8217;s an&nbsp;<a href="https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/share-how-you-evaluate-a-new-tool-21-days-of-tools-day-3/53356/17" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interesting thread.</a>



&#8220;The future of coding being less about coding.&#8221;



&#8220;Coding is not the main event anymore. Building software is the main event. Coding is just one small part of it. We think the future of coding is no coding at all. We think autonomous coding is a very real thing.&#8221;



-Chris Wanstrath (Co-founder and former CEO, GitHub)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.idgconnect.com/article/3578431/github-ceo-the-future-of-coding-is-no-coding-at-all.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read here.</a>



Is Low code only for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/citizen-developer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">citizen developers?</a>



Developers can leverage low-code platforms to streamline their workflows, automate repetitive tasks, quickly prototype, and focus on higher-level aspects of application functionality.



For a better developer experience, automatic code generators (ACG) like GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and Tabnine, suggest code and functions in real time that developers can whiz through code and spot errors on the fly!



Moreover, low-code platforms provide collaborative opportunities between citizen developers and developers and enable cross-functional teams to work together and leverage each other&#8217;s expertise, and productivity.



In short, low code&nbsp;is not exclusive&nbsp;to citizen developers.



OpenAl announced&nbsp;<a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-codex" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenAI Codex</a>, an entirely new way to &#8220;write code&#8221; in the natural language. Now, programmers can use English to describe what they want their software to do, and OpenAl&#8217;s generative Al model will automatically generate the corresponding computer code in their choice of programming language.



So, does this mean coding is dead?



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It can never replace the need for a programmer to understand code. AI models have not made coding obsolete. They have just made coding more accessible, efficient, and impactful.



Let us go through the reads sourced for you in this context.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">The code less movement</h4>



<a href="http://thecodelesscode.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Codeless Code</a>&nbsp;&#8211; Tales to make wiser programmers.



Fables and Koans for the Software Engineer is a series of stories by Qi about the&nbsp;<a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MartialArtsAndCrafts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">programming monks</a>&nbsp;of the Temple of the Morning Brass Gong,&nbsp;<a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AffectionateParody" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">parodying</a>&nbsp;the style of Zen&nbsp;<a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Koan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Koans</a>. Each story (or &#8220;case&#8221;) is meant to humorously illustrate a principle of programming philosophy or best practices.



<a href="https://medium.com/fibery/no-code-revolution-why-now-2f2bd914cb05" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">No-code Revolution</a>. Why now? Why not 20 years ago? Michael Dubakov tries to answer an interesting question he received describing four software waves from 1960 to 2030.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Testing democratized</h4>



Check the Ins and Outs of codeless testing &#8211; Is it the same as record and playback? Take a look at its evolution, expected trends, and future&nbsp;<a href="https://testsigma.com/codeless-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in this guide</a>.



There&#8217;s more to scriptless testing than just hitting the record button. Here are&nbsp;<a href="https://dzone.com/articles/scriptless-testing-is-not-just-record-and-playback" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 scriptless testing approaches</a>&nbsp;you can adopt.



Low-code tools have a reputation for making it very easy to start with but a nightmare to maintain. Mike Fitzmaurice shares his&nbsp;<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/how-make-low-code-work-long-term" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pieces of advice</a>&nbsp;on how you can potentially avoid bad outcomes over the long term.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Some downfalls</h4>



There are plenty of recording tools that can follow your actions on a website and save them as test scripts. Dennis Martinez lists out the&nbsp;<a href="https://dev-tester.com/are-automated-test-recording-tools-worth-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pros and cons of using them.</a>



In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ontestautomation.com/are-we-solving-the-right-problems-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this blog</a>, Bas Dijkstra explains why the pursuit of making test automation easier by inventing more and more low-code tools is not necessarily the best path to follow. And why investing in software development skills matters more than ever.



<a href="https://responsibleautomation.wordpress.com/2022/09/06/wait-is-avoiding-low-code-an-automation-anti-pattern/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wait, Is Avoiding Low-Code An Automation Anti-Pattern?</a>&nbsp;is another read in this context by Paul Grizzaffi.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Discussion on tools</h4>



Visual tests, despite their graphical nature,&nbsp;<a href="https://jlottosen.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/visual-tests-are-still-code/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">still involve code</a>. Jesper Ottosen argues that understanding this fact is crucial for effective testing and highlights the importance of treating visual tests as code-based artifacts.



Recently, Google has decided to launch its own Recorder tool embedded directly into Chrome.&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/recorder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Introducing the Chrome DevTools Recorder</a>!



Angie Jones lists&nbsp;<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/10-features-every-codeless-test-automation-tool-should-offer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 features every codeless test automation tool should offer</a>, and here&#8217;s a follow-up blog on the same&nbsp;<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/scriptless-test-automation-solution-how-to-use-it-to-improve-your-testing-roi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">from Testsigma</a>&nbsp;(Thank You, Angie, for the&nbsp;<a href="https://angiejones.tech/codeless-test-automation-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shoutout!</a>)



Check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://abstracta.us/blog/software-testing/low-code-for-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list of top low code tools</a>&nbsp;for test automation.



Reduce the gap between an &#8216;SDET&#8217; and a &#8216;True Tester&#8217; by using codeless test automation. Codeless automation takes less effort, and an&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.testproject.io/2021/07/20/sdet-vs-true-tester-role-of-codeless-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SDET can be efficient as a &#8216;True Tester.&#8217;</a>



What about the vendors of low code platforms? What&nbsp;<a href="https://www.infoq.com/news/2022/09/test-low-code-applications/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">kind of testing do</a>&nbsp;they do?



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<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Voice of the Community</h4>



Nithin&nbsp;shares his thoughts on low code tools and his experience with them.



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It depends on multiple factors, most of the LCNC platforms take over the maintenance part so that the teams can fully focus on the script development part, which brings more ROI in terms of business. And few situations where it&#8217;s more preferred to choose is when less number of Automation engineers are available, when the team is not equipped well with coding skills and needs to move faster, and when a complete e2e solution has to be set up within a shorter span of time, etc.



Evaluation will cover several aspects, team adaption factor is one, and then support provided, authoring speed, maintainability, scalability, collaboration options, integrations, CI/CD, documentation, tool stability, cross platform and device support etc will also be the factors under consideration.



The main limitation I personally felt is the customization part, LCNC tools (mostly) will be rigid and restrict the users from making the framework fully customizable, whereas ground up solutions help end to end customizations.



For me, it has its own pros and cons, and not one tool fits all requirements. Identifying the right one matters, and it has to be selected with the above factors in mind, else it won&#8217;t be giving the expected results and will only be an added effort for the team.



So it will stay, but it can be a double edged sword if you do not use it wisely!



Seema Prabhu&nbsp;shares 3 situations she managed with Low code automation.



First &#8211; I had a team which struggled with coding, the learning curve was huge, but they had good domain experience and worked very well with their squad. So replacing them was not an option.



Second- Application &#8211; we build websites (100s) for each OEM, and overall have 1000 or so we maintain. We customize individual ones based on customer requests. So regression testing each one &#8211; by coded automation was not possible unless we had dedicated qa for each dealer ( that&#8217;s impossible). So, low &#8211; code was handy here.



Third, our customer is also the delivery team &#8211; who build websites for dealers (new ones) and need to test it before they hand it over again. These are customized. So coded would not work unless it had a strong, very big team dedicated.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_336.png" alt="Testsigma - Low Code Testing" class="wp-image-827"/></figure>



Next, let&#8217;s hear from&nbsp;Priyanka Brahmane.



&#8220;I use the Karate API Automation framework, which I would classify as a Low-code rather than a No-code framework.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_337.png" alt="Testsigma - Low Code Testing" class="wp-image-829"/></figure>



Latest from Testsigma



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-up-your-testing-game">Up your Testing game!</h2>



<ul><li>Cool Mobile Debugger that allows you to fix issues in real-time on the go</li><li>Testsigma X JIRA to monitor test progress &amp; deployment readiness</li><li>Logic based filtering for Conditional Statements</li><li>Unify tests and features across all mobile OEMs and OS versions</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-upcoming-webinar">Upcoming Webinar!</h2>



Sowmya Sridharamurthy takes us on a journey to API Testing mastery!



Join an exclusive webinar [on June 22] as Sowmya dives deep into the topic, leaving you with practical tips, inspiration, and a fresh perspective on the power of API testing.



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Is low code/no code a game-changer or a setback?



We would love to hear your perspective!&nbsp;<a href="mailto:community@testsigma.com">Share your thoughts</a>&nbsp;so we can share them with the community!



Until next time,



With 💚, Team Testsigma

Low Code Testing: Hype or Hyper-powered

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<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><ul><li><a href="#Community_Newsletter_32_is_here">0.1 Community Newsletter #32 is here!</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Beyond_just_internal_teams">1 Beyond just internal teams</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_conferences_8211_a_good_start">2 Testing conferences &#8211; a good start</a></li><li><a href="#Speaking_at_conferences">3 Speaking at conferences</a></li><li><a href="#Becoming_an_active_community">4 Becoming an active community</a></li><li><a href="#Innovate_8216n8217_Connect_8211_The_Testsigma_Way">5 Innovate &#8216;n&#8217; Connect &#8211; The Testsigma Way!</a></li><li><a href="#Major_Feature_Dropped">6 Major Feature Dropped</a></li><li><a href="#What_we_are_reading">7 What we are reading 🤓</a></li></ul></div>
<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-newsletter-32-is-here">Community Newsletter #32 is here!</h5>



Whether or not you are doing QA without a QA team &#8211;&nbsp;<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/two-years-no-testers-what-i-learned" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Two years with no testers</a>&nbsp;or you are part of a small&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/introduction-devops-aws/two-pizza-teams.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;two-pizza team,&#8221;</a>&nbsp;or now rely on ChatGPT as your&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/@wesselbraakman/can-we-use-chatgpt-as-a-qa-buddy-dc923723bef4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">QA buddy</a>&nbsp;, the importance of having a community to learn (from anywhere) and collaborate with cannot be overstated.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_321.jpeg" alt="Testsigma - Community Newsletter" class="wp-image-803" width="592" height="640"/></figure>



Best done with an environment of true collaboration beyond just our internal team.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_322.png" alt="Testsigma - Community Newsletter" class="wp-image-850"/></figure>



Isn&#8217;t that true? It&#8217;s the support signals we send to each other that matter.



It would be great if you had someone to&nbsp;<a href="https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-for-pull-requests#gentest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">point out a missed test&nbsp;</a>but a bigger community of testers who have practical tips to share.



This edition is all about making your mark in testing communities! Now, let&#8217;s explore these resources we sourced for you!



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Beyond just internal teams</h4>



<a href="https://qahiccupps.blogspot.com/2020/07/community-building.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Community Building- a Blog by James Thomas</a> James Thomas offers various practical methods and devices to improve context and facilitate better communication and understanding between teams, especially standalone test teams, in getting a broader context of the work of other teams within the company.



<a href="https://blog.agilityscales.com/the-formation-of-teams-and-communities-c41efec8af0e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Formation of Teams and Communities</a> Are you preparing to form a team, business unit, department, or community? Pick which color on the agility scale suits you.



<a href="https://dev.to/patilganesh1010/communities-you-should-know-as-a-developer-1a8k" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Communities You Should Know As a Developer</a> Here&#8217;s a list of communities that are impacting developers&#8217; life and adding the best values.



<a href="https://www.stickyminds.com/article/advancing-craft-testing-what-have-you-done-lately" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Advancing the Craft of Testing: What Have YOU Done Lately?</a> Lisa Crispin explains that the cloud, social media, and other products of modern technology have exponentially expanded our outlets for honing our craft.



💡 A&nbsp;<a href="https://testingtitbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/A-Z-of-How-To-Contribute-To-Communities-1-2048x1090.png" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mindmap&nbsp;</a>on how you can contribute to testing communities by Rahul Parwal and Ajay Balamurugadas.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Testing conferences &#8211; a good start</h4>



Meet your heroes in person! Or present your views.



With so many leaders from diverse backgrounds in attendance, you are bound to leave with fresh perspectives and a global agile mindset.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/true-story-long-game-ajay-balamurugadas/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A True Story. It is a Long Game</a> Invest in you! Discover how investing in community initiatives has paid off for Ajay Balamurugadas, where he reveals the ROI achieved.



💡 Here&#8217;s an image of his investment and his returns.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_323.jpeg" alt="Testsigma - Community Newsletter" class="wp-image-805"/></figure>



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Speaking at conferences</h4>



Importantly, don&#8217;t put your weapon down when you learn your paper has been returned.



Lisi Hocke shares some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lisihocke.com/p/speaking-at-conferences.html#conferences" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tips&nbsp;</a>to become a conference speaker, write an abstract, create a presentation or workshop, or prepare for a session.



Rob Lambert shares a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blazingly-simple-guide-submitting-conferences-rob-lambert/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blazingly simple guide</a>&nbsp;to some ideas and techniques that helped him start the journey to public speaking by pushing past his comfort zones.



In&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/sInkgJUZE08" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this video</a>, Alan Richardson further adds a case study submitting to a talk while examining a couple of successful and failed submissions and summarizes some great tips to keep in mind.



As testers, we are always looking for potential risks with a system or process, how to mitigate them, and be proactive about resolving them, says Deborah Reid as she shares her experience putting this skill to use while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ministryoftesting.com/articles/ae2985d8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing to speak at a conference for the first time.</a>



<a href="https://confs.tech/testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Find Your Next Test Conference&nbsp;</a>&#8211; ones you shouldn&#8217;t miss this year 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_324.png" alt="Testsigma - Community Newsletter" class="wp-image-852"/></figure>



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Becoming an active community</h4>



Considered volunteering?



Mahathee Dandibhotla shares her&nbsp;<a href="https://synapse-qa.com/my-volunteering-experience-with-the-testing-community/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first-time volunteering experience</a>&nbsp;with TTT.



Or become a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ministryoftesting.com/testbash/review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reviewer</a>.



Not a social butterfly? 🦋



Find ways to engage with the community that works for YOU.



This could mean attending smaller events or networking opportunities, participating in online forums or groups, or finding ways to connect one-on-one with other professionals in the industry.



Would you believe it if someone said Joe Colantonio is an&nbsp;<a href="https://testguild.com/community/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">introvert!</a>&nbsp;?



Also check out&nbsp;<a href="http://katrinatester.blogspot.com/2016/01/introverts-in-agile.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Is there a place for introverts in the community?</a>&nbsp;by Katrina Clokie.



MoT has compiled a good&nbsp;<a href="https://d2h1nbmw1jjnl.cloudfront.net/contribution/WaystoContributetoMoT.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list</a>&nbsp;of how you can contribute indirectly. Some actions may seem trivial, but they contribute towards building a valuable and supportive community.



💡&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/QualityAssurance/comments/ug8z40/is_software_testing_stressful_for_introverts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Is software testing stressful for introverts?</a>



TLDR; Here&#8217;s a representation of what this edition is all about:<gwmw style="display:none;">



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Innovate &#8216;n&#8217; Connect &#8211; The Testsigma Way!</h4>



At Testsigma, we do this cool tradition called&nbsp;Lunch &amp; Learn&nbsp;series every month. We order some pizzas and gather around with our internal team to share insights from our experiments and learn new things.



Build an internal community if you are a tester in a different tribe; have weekly calls to reflect on a problem, a bug, or what was missed, discuss events you attended, and share learnings.



And have lots of fun while you learn too!



Here&#8217;s a little sneak peek of one such event where we hosted a Hackathon.



(A moment of fun as KR, our CEO &amp; Founder, was cheerfully distributing gifts)



With 9 teams participating, the event was a complete success, with teams coming up with ideas for new tools with the entire office cheering them on! We plan to bring it to our bigger community as well! (YES! We are planning on launching them 🤩)



Learning is fun—but learning from each other makes the experience even more enriching. Our Discord Community&nbsp;is a platform that enables discussions, brainstorming, and questions. It&#8217;s an excellent way to connect, engage, and catch up.



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Celebrating a big win &#8211; Testsigma is now a G2 High Performer for Test Automation Software! Woohoo! 🥳



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/nl_327.png" alt="Testsigma - Community Newsletter" class="wp-image-854"/></figure>



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Major Feature Dropped</h4>



We are overwhelmed by the kind of responses we have been receiving for our latest launch from the testing community! We&#8217;re thrilled to announce with you the all new API Testing feature that unravels testing complexities!&nbsp;<a href="https://hubs.ly/Q01MVZBw0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">See it in action!</a>



But that&#8217;s not all. Stay on top of what&#8217;s new in Testsigma.



Join an exclusive webinar [on May 25] for a run down on the latest product updates from Testsigma &amp; see them in action!



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<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">What we are reading 🤓</h4>



How did you celebrate World Book Day last month? We loved&nbsp;&#8216;The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived.&#8217;



What about you? What book have you not been able to put down lately?&nbsp;<a href="mailto:community@testsigma.com">Let us know!</a>&nbsp;Do let us know what you think about this edition too.



And that&#8217;s a wrap for this edition!



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TL;DR Don&#8217;t be a dinosaur! Take small steps to evolve and stay agile in the community! 🦕 🦖



With 💚, Team Testsigma

Community Compass

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In this newsletter, we try to understand what composes the most part of the daily lives of us testers and then dive into some content catered to those broad categories.



Thus, below is how the sections in our newsletter look like, this week:



<ul><li></li></ul>



Let’s dive in!



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Software_testing_tips">1 Software testing tips</a></li><li><a href="#Flaky_tests">2 Flaky tests</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_jargons">3 Testing jargons</a></li><li><a href="#Beyond_testing_skills">4 Beyond testing skills</a></li></ul></div>
<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Software testing tips</h4>



<a href="https://www.stickyminds.com/article/too-much-test-automation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Too Much Test Automation</a> Best results are achieved by balance, this article discusses how to keep your goals in view at all times and avoid doing too much of test automation.



<a href="https://medium.com/@dmytro_lukianchuk/testing-payments-not-just-the-test-cases-5256c8f6d3ee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testing Payments : Not Just The Test Cases</a> Fintech is a huge industry and a good amount of testing is needed there too. Here is some good advice on how to go about testing payments, one of the most dreaded types of testing.



<a href="https://gtr.agiletestingalliance.org/rahul-parwal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">As Testers, How To Unblock Yourself?</a> Some strategies that you can adapt when your testing tasks are blocked.



<a href="https://trishkhoo.com/2018/07/what-happens-when-your-first-coding-experience-is-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What Happens When Your First Coding Experience Is Test Automation?</a> Couple of tips for a tester who is new to test automation and coding.



<a href="https://www.annemariecharrett.com/quality-engineering/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quality Is A Journey &#8211; But Do You Know Your Destination?</a> How do you keep your software testing productive at all times? Annie Marrie explains with a great analogy.



<a href="https://alexromanov.github.io/2021/12/10/testing-randomness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How To Test Randomness?</a> How do you check that an application is truly generating random numbers?



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Flaky tests</h4>



<a href="https://engineering.fb.com/2020/12/10/developer-tools/probabilistic-flakiness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How Do You Test Your Tests?</a> Where the authors found that almost all tests were flaky, the degree of flakiness varied &#8211; here is how Facebook handles those flaky or unreliable tests.



<a href="https://github.com/jenkinsci/flaky-test-handler-plugin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jenkins Flaky-Test-Handler Plugin</a> A plugin designed to handle flaky tests by re-running failed tests, aggregating and reporting flaky tests statistics and so on.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Testing jargons</h4>



💡&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andreas-worm_where-does-shallow-testing-end-and-deep-activity-6870673297613348864-ejvJ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Where Does Shallow Testing End And Deep Testing Begin?</a> A great discussion where different professionals present their views on shallow testing and deep testing.



<a href="https://synapse-qa.com/how-reindeers-browse-the-web-an-access-story/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How Reindeers Browse The Web &#8211; An Access Story</a> How to do accessibility testing right? Explained beautifully for a reindeer &#8211; a great Christmas read for testers!



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Beyond testing skills</h4>



<a href="https://www.testrail.com/blog/testers-diary-learning-developers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tester’s Diary : Learning From Developers</a> How a tester built a great relationship with a developer and thus, became a better team member.



<a href="https://www.ministryoftesting.com/dojo/lessons/lessons-learned-about-leadership-from-perspective-of-an-aspiring-leader?s_id=8631607" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lessons Learned About Leadership, From Perspective Of An Aspiring Leader</a> If the next goal of your career is to be a leader, then this is a great compilation of things you should be doing or thinking about.



💡&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michael-bolton-08847_youve-got-issues-activity-6875174250639085568-tbxv" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">You&#8217;ve Got Issues</a> So, who is responsible for the bugs that could not be found before they went into production?



<a href="https://www.annemariecharrett.com/supporting-the-whistleblowers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Supporting The Whistleblowers</a> Who are the whistleblowers in the tech industry and do we treat them well? If not, how can that be improved?



Hope you enjoyed this week&#8217;s picks.



Until next, see ya!



With 💚, Team Testsigma

Testing reads hot off the community ♨️

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With the year coming to an end, it&#8217;s essential to reflect back on what went right, what went wrong and what could have been done better. And, what’s most important is to give 2022 the refreshing start you deserve!



We too are starting a new chapter!



We are oh so excited to officially kick off Testsigma Open Source this New Year 2022!



We are releasing the Beta version the upcoming week! And, we invite YOU!



Don&#8217;t miss the opportunity to stay up-to-date in terms of what is happening in the Testsigma Open Source World!



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><ul><li><ul><li><a href="#Be_a_part_by_joining_our_Discord_community_for_testers">0.0.1 Be a part by joining our Discord community for testers!</a></li><li><a href="#What8217s_hot">0.0.2 What&#8217;s hot</a></li><li><a href="#Tester_tips">0.0.3 Tester tips</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Automation">1 Automation</a></li><li><a href="#Bugs_bugs_everywhere">2 Bugs, bugs everywhere!</a></li><li><a href="#Some_useful_links">3 Some useful links:</a></li></ul></div>
<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-be-a-part-by-joining-our-discord-community-for-testers">Be a part by joining our Discord community for testers!</h4>



<a href="https://discord.com/invite/5caWS7R6QX">Join Now!</a>



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">What&#8217;s hot</h4>



<a href="https://youtu.be/36DcCCzAJB8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automation Testing Trends For 2022 By Joe Colantonio</a> We are already approaching 2022! Joe Colantonio shares top trends to keep an eye out for in the year 2022.



<a href="https://engineering.salesforce.com/outdated-content/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Is Quality Engineering A Dying Art?</a> Does Quality engineering go beyond testing? A blog that explores the details.



<a href="https://kellychinn.medium.com/qa-life-in-2021-c8b21bd5eee0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">QA Life In 2021</a> Kelly Chin shares how as a QA she has adjusted to adapt and improve remote working as part of an agile team.



<a href="https://simon-prior.uk/2019/06/03/thinking-differently-embracing-neurodiversity-in-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thinking Differently – Embracing Neurodiversity in Tech</a> There have been huge movements globally to try and correct imbalances in the workforce. Simon Prior talks about a less widely discussed area in Testing or even the wider Tech industry, Neurodiversity.



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Tester tips</h4>



<a href="https://www.practitest.com/resource-center/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Letter To A Starting Tester</a> Suggestions and tips from an experienced QA professional writing to his &#8220;younger self&#8221; as a starting tester about the expected road to come. A blog by Joel Montvelisky.



<a href="https://medium.com/writers-blokke/avoid-burnout-as-the-only-tester-e747493173a0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Avoid Burnout As The Only Tester, Here’s How</a> Burnout is real and testing is a challenge. Jamaal Todd shares some tips to avoid it.



<a href="https://nicolalindgren.com/step-by-step-guide-testing-without-requirements-little-requirements/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Step By Step Guide: Testing Without Requirements/Little Requirements</a> Software can be created from conversations and assumptions. Here’s a guide to help you test when there are no (explicit) requirements or very little requirements to go off.



💡&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ajaybalamurugadas_testing-softwaretesting-digitaltesters-activity-6870762224143736832-rSoe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How are you sharpening your bug hunting skills?</a>



<h2 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300" id="automation">Automation<gwmw style="display:none;"></h2>



<a href="https://medium.com/wix-engineering/detox-the-unobtainable-test-stability-or-is-it-5f8cd765df1c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Detox: The Unobtainable Test Stability (Or Is It?)</a> This article aims to explain how Wix is using Detox (a gray box testing solution for mobile apps) internally, how to manage configuration, fight flakiness, and some best practices.



<h2 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300" id="bugs-bugs-everywhere">Bugs, bugs everywhere!<gwmw style="display:none;"></h2>



<a href="https://synapse-qa.com/2021/06/25/even-programming-languages-have-bugs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Even Programming Languages Have Bugs!</a> Bugs in programming languages? We may not have thought about it deeply. Balaji, shares his learning experience about bugs in programming languages and how it could help testers.



<a href="https://betterprogramming.pub/hey-qa-why-didnt-you-find-that-bug-42ab3ef0a7e0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hey QA, Why Didn’t You Find That Bug?</a> Why this is a toxic question and what you should ask instead. An article by Blake Norrish sharing his thoughts on why the QA role is not a net to catch all bugs.



<a href="https://thinkingtester.com/healthy-testing-habits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Healthy Testing Habits</a> Six healthy testing habits you’ll want your team to adopt that greatly contribute to software quality.



<h2 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300" id="some-useful-links">Some useful links:<gwmw style="display:none;"></h2>



Stay informed about product news and tips. <a href="https://testsigma.com/newsletter/?utm_source=mail&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=beta" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join our newsletter</a>



We’ll be listening, learning, and further empowering along the way, and we can’t wait to see what you build with us! <a href="https://discord.com/invite/5caWS7R6QX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join the Discord Community</a>



Don’t forget to follow us on social media



Until next, see ya!



With 💚, Team Testsigma

Your testing recommendations + A big announcement📢

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2021 is almost over!



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Top blogs</h4>



<a href="https://medium.com/wix-engineering/bug-scoring-a-way-to-distinguish-same-bugs-2bb7647da535" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bug Scoring — A Way To Distinguish “Same” Bugs</a> How do you pick bugs? Here’s a new metric, Bug Score, a cumulative measure of bug importance, based on many factors, which we usually do not consider.



<a href="https://www.stickyminds.com/article/how-make-100-releases-day-only-6-quality-engineers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How To Make 100 Releases Per Day With Only 6 Quality Engineers</a> Evgeny Tkachenko outlines how, at Wayfair, they are able to release code to production hundreds of times per day, with only six Quality Engineers.



<a href="https://www.stickyminds.com/article/how-optimize-customer-experience-using-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How To Optimize Customer Experience Using Testing</a> Find out how customers behave at every step of their journey and what steps they never get to so you can optimize stages that need improvement in the right order.



<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/analyze-first-test-later-how-approach-your-next-software-project" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Analyze First, Test Later : How To Approach Your Next Software Project</a> Don&#8217;t let the analysis part of your software testing job throw you a curve. Here&#8217;s what you need to know, and some ways to approach the process.



<a href="http://shrinik.blogspot.com/2021/05/how-to-improve-questioning-skills.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How To Improve Questioning Skills</a> Shrini Kulkarni shares some thoughts on improving questioning skills.



<a href="https://qatoddy.medium.com/the-on-going-qa-dilemma-ready-for-testing-529aa0724c0c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The On-Going QA Dilemma : “Ready For Testing”</a> “Break down traditional QA silos and empower developers to own quality checks.” &#8211; Jamaal Todd



<a href="https://theqalead.com/topics/managing-your-testing-career/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leadership In Test : Managing Your Career</a> How to keep growing and developing as a test manager and possible career paths to take in a rapidly changing landscape.



<a href="https://ivantay2003.medium.com/pet-peeves-on-software-testers-df0a1f8b031a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pet Peeves On Software Testers</a> 5 suggestions to improve the communication between testers and developers.



<a href="https://dragonsforelevenses.com/2021/09/24/is-it-possible-to-improve-the-impact-of-our-testing-by-simplifying-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Is It Possible To Improve The Impact Of Our Testing By simplifying It?</a> Action Driven Exploration, an attempt to simplify testing.



<a href="https://engineering.salesforce.com/tester-augmentation-not-test-automation-1de28269c9a4/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tester Augmentation, Not Test Automation</a> Josh Meier proposes to take a look at test automation from a different lens and start looking at it as tester augmentation and outlines the purpose of tester augmentation.



<a href="https://medium.com/wix-engineering/besides-regular-testing-how-to-effectively-spend-your-free-time-when-not-testing-51fb34b5baff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Besides Regular Testing: How To Effectively Spend Your Free Time When Not Testing</a> Spare time between tasks? What to do? What’s Wix’s strategy?



Are you already in the middle of the Black Friday rush?



Catch all our previous editions in the category A-Z right&nbsp;<a href="https://testsigma.com/newsletter/editions/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=AZ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here!</a>



And, do let us know if you’d like us to feature your article, just reply to this email!



Until next, see ya!



With 💚, Team Testsigma

We hunt these for you, testers!

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2021 is almost over!



And, we thought to take a moment to reflect on the year and where we are headed!



At&nbsp;<a href="https://testsigma.com/?utm_source=email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma,</a>&nbsp;we engaged with industry experts, conversed with our customers and learnt that it was more important to be able to continue and provide to the community, now more than ever.



Testsigma has built a great portfolio for itself with brands like Freshworks, APA, HPE, Sage who are our customers. Having a global audience and seeing their strong interest in our product, we decided to go open-source to be of service to an even larger audience.



So, we bring you Testsigma now free for everyone, no budget constraints, with absolutely no strings attached!



Great support, features and now a bigger community. You will be among the first to get notified when we go live!



Queries or want to volunteer? Write to us at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:community@testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">community@testsigma.com</a>



Here’s a recap of some of our top 2021 picks and some events you don’t want to miss!



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Top_blogs">1 Top blogs</a></li><li><a href="#Binge_them">2 Binge them!</a></li><li><a href="#What_to_look_out_for">3 What to look out for?</a></li></ul></div>
<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Top blogs</h4>



<a href="https://kellychinn.medium.com/qa-life-in-2021-c8b21bd5eee0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">QA Life In 2021</a> Kelly Chinn, a senior QA, gives a detailed account of her life as a QA in 2021 and what changed for her.



<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/what-software-testing-looks-2021-3-key-elements" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What Software Testing Looks Like In 2021: 3 Key Elements</a> What testers need to do in 2021? And how can they do it? This blog talks about it and more.



<a href="https://visible-quality.blogspot.com/2021/08/future-of-testing-and-last-five-years.html?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Future Of Testing And Last Five Years?</a> A well-thought post on what all changed in testing in the last 5 years.



Airbnb’s Monorepo Journey To Quality Engineering A close look into the interesting and business-driven quality engineering story of Airbnb.



<a href="https://www.diogonunes.com/blog/5-years-5-tricks-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">5 Tricks From 5 Years As A Software Tester</a> 5 tricks that would be helpful, not only for your testing team, but for the well-being of all teams in general.



<a href="https://medium.com/technogise/legacy-test-automation-code-what-should-qas-do-6e54b638439c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Legacy Test Automation Code 😨 …. What Should QAs Do?</a> What do you do when you have legacy test automation code to work with? Some great tips to get you going.



<a href="https://randomtechthoughts.blog/2021/07/25/good-software-and-how-to-get-it/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Good Software And How To Get It</a> This blog answers some important questions around getting good software and how, in a unique style.



<a href="https://mysoftwarequality.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/ultimate-guide-to-reducing-the-amount-of-defects-and-other-waste-in-your-product/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ultimate Guide To Reducing The Amount Of Defects And Other Waste In Your Product</a> How do you deal with the waste in your product? An intriguing post with great insights.



<a href="https://trishkhoo.com/2019/03/testyourcode/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Best Developers Test Their Code</a> The importance of testing your code, from the perspective of a developer.



<a href="https://testingtraveler.com/2021/04/09/33-routines-to-make-you-a-better-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">33 Routines To Make You A Better Tester</a> ‘33 routines to make you a better tester’ is a book for testers, and here is a review that would give you the reasons for why this book needs to be read.



There are a lot of testing events, webinar conferences that happened this year. And, if you missed some of them, here are some more you may not want to miss!



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">Binge them!</h4>



<a href="https://www.testjssummit.com/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test JS Summit</a> TestJS Summit is a 2-day online event for QAs and software developers to get up to date with JS testing best practices, sharpen skills and get latest updates from top products core teams.



<a href="https://associationforsoftwaretesting.org/conference/cast-archive/cast-2021/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAST 2021</a> CAST 2021 is in person this year, and is going to be held in Atlanta on November 8th and 9th.



<a href="https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/best-software-qa-testing-conferences-2021?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Best Software QA And Testing Conferences Of 2021</a> A list of all events that happened and a couple more you can attend in the year 2021



💡&nbsp;<a class="title-purple" href="https://youtu.be/l3o2Ci3k3Ho" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">If you couldn’t attend Testsigma’s latest webinar on Stability, &amp; KPIs. Watch it here!</a>



<h4 class="!italic mt-40 title_yellow !text-amber-300">What to look out for?</h4>



<a href="https://synapse-qa.com/superreads2021/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Synapse QA SuperReads 2021</a> An ongoing event for testers around the globe. They also have various webinar sessions termed, ‘Sparks’ packed with interesting webinar discussions.



<a href="https://events.geekle.us/qa/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">QA Global Summit&#8217;22</a> An insightful and informative session for QA Engineers by Geekle.



<a href="https://guildconferences.com/ag-2022/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automation Guild 2022</a> Joe Colantonio is already planning on Guild 2022 &amp; you might not want to miss it!



Keep an eye out on some of these community pages for all things testing!



<a href="https://www.ministryoftesting.com/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MOT,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thetesttribe.com/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Test Tribe,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/joinchat/UKDuiCJi-pPpv_9a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Test Chat Community,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://theqalead.com/podcasts/?utm_source=testsigma-email&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=year-roundup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The QA Lead podcasts.</a>



Until next, see ya!



With 💚, Team Testsigma

Year 2021 – Some top picks & what’s new!?

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Locators help you find your way to any element (a button, a text/para, image or just anything) on the web page!



In this edition, we cover locators, specifically Xpaths.



XPath&nbsp;or XML path uses a path notation (as in URLs) for navigating through the hierarchical structure of an XML/HTML document.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Looking_for_a_start">1 Looking for a start?</a></li><li><a href="#Locator_strategies">2 Locator strategies</a></li><li><a href="#Good_practices_for_best_results">3 Good practices for best results!</a></li><li><a href="#XPath_vs_CSS">4 XPath vs CSS</a></li><li><a href="#Tools_and_workarounds">5 Tools and workarounds</a></li><li><a href="#What8217s_new">6 What&#8217;s new?</a><ul><li><a href="#Automate_your_tests_with_reliable_self-healing_locators">6.1 Automate your tests with reliable, self-healing locators!</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">Looking for a start?</h4>



<a href="https://automationpanda.com/2019/01/15/web-element-locators-for-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Element Locators For Test Automation</a> Have you ever struggled with locating elements on a web page when writing tests? Here’s a guide to help you out.



<a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/XPath" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XPath</a> XPath features a wealth of functions, and it is documented in detail in Mozilla&#8217;s XPath documentation.



<a href="https://medium.com/aeturnuminc/identify-page-elements-using-xpaths-a495a75c1954" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Identify Web Elements Using XPaths</a> How do you identify and construct XPaths for web elements?



<a href="https://dzone.com/articles/case-insensitive-xpath-query" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Case-Insensitive XPath Query Search On XML Document In ASP.NET</a> Here’s how you can make XPaths using text case-insensitive [same can be applied for other languages]



<a href="https://www.swtestacademy.com/xpath-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XPath In Selenium With All Tactics And Examples [2021 Guide]</a> Locators of some elements change dynamically in the DOM. These locators must be capable of locating complex and dynamically changing web elements. Here are 15 tactics to write effective XPath locators.



💡&nbsp;<a class="title-purple" href="https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/10/saying-goodbye-to-firebug/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saying Goodbye To Firebug</a>



<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">Locator strategies</h4>



<a href="https://ghostinspector.com/blog/css-selector-strategies-automated-browser-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CSS Selector Strategies For Automated Browser Testing</a> Walk through to the syntax, thoughts on when and why CSS selectors are useful.



<a href="https://medium.com/@donatas.uznys/robust-locator-strategy-custom-attributes-for-test-automation-5527ae0483d7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robust Locator Strategy: Custom Attributes For Test Automation</a> Add custom attributes for test automation directly into your front-end code to reduce test brittleness and simplify test automation framework.



<a href="https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/development/dotnet-development/practical-ui-test-automation-locators-and-asynchronous-loading/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Practical UI Test Automation – Locators And Asynchronous Loading</a> Jim Holmes gives some advice on how to start building smart, robust test harnesses, and some tools you might want to consider before you automate your UI tests.



💡&nbsp;<a class="title-purple" href="https://flukeout.github.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CSS Diner – Fun Game to Learn CSS</a>



<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">Good practices for best results!</h4>



<a href="https://medium.com/@arnonaxelrod/best-practices-for-choosing-locators-for-selenium-8946ecf0abf5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Best Practices For Choosing Locators For Selenium</a> What are some best practices to use when choosing a locator for an element.



<a href="https://autify.com/blog/why-id-should-not-be-used/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Why You Shouldn’t Use ids In E2E Testing</a> Best practices of locating elements on E2E automated testing and a take on why you shouldn’t blindly use ids.



<a href="https://smartbear.com/blog/appium-tip-18-how-to-use-xpath-locator-efficiently/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Appium Tip #18: How To Use XPath Locators Efficiently</a> Let&#8217;s take a look at different XPaths and some tricks you might find useful.



💡&nbsp;<a class="title-purple" href="https://youtu.be/LB8GBc_NNTE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Element locator strategy, best practices by Julia Pottinger</a>



<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">XPath vs CSS</h4>



<a href="http://elementalselenium.com/tips/32-xpath-vs-css" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CSS Vs XPath &#8211; 3 Parts</a> One of the most heated and subjective conversations is which locator strategy is better, often circling around two &#8211; XPath and CSS. Also, explains how XPaths are faster than CSS. A must read!



<a href="https://dev.to/vladimirbag/catch-them-if-you-can-or-why-locators-make-my-tests-stable-4lja" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Catch Them If You Can : Quality Locators For Stable End 2 End Tests</a> CSS and Xpaths were never designed to be used for test automation. Why?



💡&nbsp;<a class="title-purple" href="https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/performance-of-different-location-strategies-with-selenium-webdriver/48046" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Performance of different location strategies with Selenium WebDriver</a>



<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">Tools and workarounds</h4>



<a href="https://automationminds.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/selenium-webdriver-ie-driver/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium Webdriver &#8211; IE Driver</a> Jim Evans comments on IE Driver being slow.



<a href="https://vinayaktitti.medium.com/smart-automation-locator-generator-bfa7e43eefd7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Smart Automation Locator Generator</a> Element locator generators that provide unique, relative &amp; absolute XPath and CSS.



<a href="https://sfxpathgenerator.yolasite.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Salesforce Xpath Generator</a> A smart way to automate the Salesforce application.



<h4 class="!italic title_yellow !text-amber-300">What&#8217;s new?</h4>



<a href="https://sanjayselectorshub.medium.com/selectorshub-the-best-xpath-plugin-for-all-the-browsers-30113ef4534f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SelectorsHub : Xpath Plugin</a> A free tool that lets you generate and verify XPaths and CSS selectors all in a matter of a few minutes!



<a href="https://angiejones.tech/selenium-4-relative-locators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium 4 Relative Locators</a> Selenium 4 brings Relative Locators (originally named Friendly Locators). Angie Jones covers this functionality that was added to help you locate elements that are nearby other elements.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-automate-your-tests-with-reliable-self-healing-locators">Automate your tests with reliable, self-healing locators!</h5>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/?utm_source=nl&amp;utm_medium=mail&amp;utm_campaign=xpaths"></a>



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Have you also wondered if stability of automated tests equates to better quality?



We are having a panel disussion on&nbsp;<a href="https://testsigma.com/webinars/do-stable-automated-tests-ensure-quality?utm_source=nl&amp;utm_medium=mail&amp;utm_campaign=xpaths" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Does the stability of automated tests equate to better quality?</a>&nbsp;with&nbsp;Lisette Zounon,&nbsp;Bas Dijkstra,&nbsp;Brijesh Deb&nbsp;and&nbsp;Srinivas Kantipudi.



Join us on the&nbsp;27th&nbsp;of&nbsp;October!



Until next, see ya!



With 💚, Team Testsigma