Test Bash Dublin

Mistakes Matter - Maximizing the Benefits of Mistakes Made in Testing

This talk can be viewed on the Ministry of Testing Dojo

Everyone makes mistakes. How we cope with mistakes at work, can have a massive impact on our careers. Generally Testers are the kind of people that pursue self-growth. Learning is important to us and we want to learn from our mistakes. Yet this trait makes us focus on the mistakes that we have made. When we pay more attention to our mistakes. We start beating ourselves up, saying things like;

“I got the build number wrong”, “my actions upset someone on the team” and the big one “I missed that bug”.

Mistakes don’t have to be a bad thing if you don’t want them to be. I will share some of the ways I have learned to be comfortable when I am wrong. We’ll explore some of the surprises that happened as a result of being willing to own up to my mistakes. I will also confess the biggest mistake I ever made in a testing job so we can examine the impact, consequences, and why I will never make that mistake again.

Takeaways:

• How to become comfortable with your own mistakes

• Understanding that mistakes don’t actually have to be resolved to enable growth and learning

• The massive benefits of owning up to mistakes when working in a testing job

• How to start cultivating a mistake friendly environment in the workplace