AB Testing
Alan and Brent host a podcast about modern software testing practices, discussing how testing fits into broader topics like Agile, Lean, DevOps, data science, and leadership. They share stories and insights from their experiences in the software world, aiming to demystify testing for practitioners. The show releases episodes roughly every other week and covers a wide range of related subjects. Music for the podcast is provided under Creative Commons licenses.
Episodes
Episode 238: Lana Begunova - Part 1
In this episode, Lana Begunova and Alan explore the intricacies of the human brain, creativity, AI, and innovation, sharing personal stories and insights into their mental processes and projects.
AB Testing 237: Another Show About Everything and Nothing
In this episode, Alan and Brent discuss the challenges and strategies of modern software testing, deployment, and organizational culture. They share insights on continuous deployment, environment management, AI's role in testing, and building trust within teams.
Episode 236 - Molly Sheets
In this episode, Alan and Molly explore the evolving landscape of software development, AI's role in coding, systems thinking, and the future of tech education. They share personal stories, industry insights, and practical advice for navigating a rapidly changing tech world.
Episode 235: Who tf is Jevon?
In this episode, Alan and Brent explore the rapid evolution of AI, the implications of Jaevon's paradox, and how organizations can adapt to the changing technological landscape. They discuss the future roles of developers, the importance of critical thinking in education, and the ongoing shifts in the software industry.
Episode 234: Mobile Testing with Aditya Challa
In this episode, Alan and Aditya discuss the complexities of mobile testing, the impact of AI on software development, and how to adapt testing strategies for rapid development cycles. They explore challenges like device fragmentation, AI-driven automation, and future trends in mobile delivery.
Espisode 233: Empathy Elevated w/ Colette Molteni
In this episode, Alan and Colette explore the importance of empathy, self-awareness, and human skills in tech leadership, especially in the context of AI's rise. They share personal stories, practical strategies, and insights on developing emotional intelligence to foster better team dynamics and decision-making.
Episode 232: More AI with Prince Kohli
In this insightful interview, Prince Kohli, CEO of Sauce Labs, discusses the transformative impact of AI on software testing. Topics include how AI accelerates test creation, enhances stability, and reshapes roles in development and testing teams.
Episode 231: The B is Back
In this episode, Spy and a special guest explore the evolving landscape of software engineering, emphasizing the shift towards postmodern engineering principles that acknowledge the role of AI, organizational interaction, and probabilistic systems. They discuss how traditional concepts are becoming obsolete and propose a new framework for trustworthy, adaptive socio-technical systems.
Episode 230: Kat Obring is Back
In this insightful interview, Kat Obring discusses the evolving role of AI in testing and quality assurance, emphasizing good decision-making, automation, and the future of team collaboration. The conversation explores practical AI applications, decision frameworks, and how testers can stay relevant in a fast-changing landscape.More from Kathttps://www.linkedin.com/in/katjaobring/https://kato-coac
Episode 229: Testing in the Age of AI
In this engaging interview, Chris Armstrong from SmartBear discusses the evolving role of testing in the age of AI, emphasizing the importance of curiosity, system thinking, and responsible AI integration to ensure quality and trust in software development.https://smartbear.com/ai-software-quality-gap-report/https://smartbear.com/blog/levels-of-autonomy-in-software-development-closing-the-gap-betw
Episode 228: Hangin' with Shachin and Pulkit
Shachin Agarwal and Pulkit Agarwal join Alan for a discussion on AI in testing.https://evertest.ai
Episode 227: Elisabeth Hendrickson
In this engaging interview, Elisabeth Hendrickson shares her journey through the tech industry, her insights on systems thinking, and the principles behind her upcoming book 'Signals and Levers.' Discover how her experiences shape modern approaches to quality, leadership, and software delivery.Elisabeth's book: https://signalsandlevers.com/Elisabeth's linkedin: https://www.linkedin
Episode 226: (REPLAY) The Croissants are Selenium w/ Jason Huggins
In this replay of episode 103, we are joined by Jason Huggins, the creator of Selenium, to discuss the true intent of the tool and why the industry has developed what Alan calls a 'tragic sickness' and an 'unhealthy infatuation' with UI automation. Driven by his belief that hand-crafted UI tests are an inefficient 'money pit' and a 'maintenance nightmare,' Alan chal
Episode 225: Walmyr's Journey
SummaryIn this episode of the AB Testing Podcast, host Spy welcomes back Walmyr, a seasoned QA engineer and educator, to discuss his journey in quality assurance, the importance of quality culture in software development, and the transition to agile environments. Walmyr shares insights on his experiences with test automation, the significance of effective test design, and the challenges of navigat
Episode 224: 2026 End of Year Mayhem
In this episode of the A-B Testing Podcast, Spy, Walmyr, and Global Warming reflect on the past year, discussing their favorite books, podcasts, and entertainment from 2025. They delve into the importance of code review and refactoring in the age of AI, share personal finance strategies, and explore the evolving landscape of remote work. The conversation also touches on predictions for 2026, inclu
Episode 223: Lina Zubyte
Lina joins Spy this week to talk about metrics, her upcoming book, and a bit about AI (with a whole lot of ranting).More from Lina on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/linazubyte/
Episode 222: Quality is a System
Spy is joined by Globalworming, and we talk about quality as a system, PCT hike statistics, and narrative fiction.
Episode 221: Project Management Thoughts w/ Timm Gleason
Brent is still on hiatus, so Spy-Friend Timm Gleason joins the podcast this week to talk about stuff - but especially Spy's rant's on project management.
Episode 220: Spy Returns
Back after a long hiatus - or half back. No Brent this week, but Andreas Worm and Danny Faught listen while I tell trail stories
Episode 219: Mailbag and Goodbye For Now
We take on a mailbag question, and then talk a bit about the upcoming AB Testing hiatus as Alan prepares for a very long walk in the woods.
Episode 218: The Principles of AI Assisted Coding
We ramble a bit...but then get somewhere interesting. Worth a listen.
Episode 217: Remote Work and Big News
Alan gives Brent some advice on engaging remote workers, and Alan shares some bigly news.
Episode 216: A Palate Cleanser from AI
We take a mailbag question - and talk about other stuff.
Episode 215: The Beat Goes On
More ranting and discussions (and sometimes, some insights) from Brent and Alan.
Episode 214: The AI Apocalypse
It's been a while, but we're back to disagree about measuring developer productivity, and then talk about the doom and rebirth coming from AI.
Episode 213: The 2024 Year in Review
Usual end of year episode where we reflect on 2024, and look forward to 2025.
Episode 212: AI and Engagement Surveys
Once again, we ramble on topics we didn't plan on talking about.
Episode 211: Leadership Stuff
Welp - Alan asked Brent how it was going, he said it was review season, and then 40 minutes of babbling commenced
Episode 210: Mailbag with ChatGPT
We're lazy, so we let chatgpt kick us off with a mailbag question. Tangents followed.
Episode 209: AI and Testing?
It's hard to tell what we talked about in this episode. But it involved a sleep-deprived Alan, and Brent, the Cat-Lady.
Episode 208: Brain Refactor w/ Dagna Bieda
The wonderful Dagna Bieda joins us to talk about her new book, Brain Refactor.
Buy the book at https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Refactor-Engineering-Fulfillment-Opportunities/dp/B0DB69G798/ and learn more about Dagna at https://www.themindfuldev.com/
Episode 207: No, GenAI isn't replacing your team
We talk about this article - https://stackoverflow.blog/2024/06/10/generative-ai-is-not-going-to-build-your-engineering-team-for-you/ - which is good, but hyperbolic at times.
Episode 206: Crowd-Crash
Just like millions of others, we feel the need to talk about crowdstrike - just a bit. Then we talk about leadership, engagement, and potential new podcasting ventures.
Episode 205: We're Afraid of AI
It's another episode of the AI Testing Podcast, where we discuss the advancements of AI, parallels to nuclear war, and what humans will do in the future.
Links -
OpenAI reportedly nears breakthrough with “reasoning” AI, reveals progress framework
The Day After
Episode 204: The Three Ways of Devops & MT
We talk about a lot of stuff - because that's what we do. Somewhere in there, we talk about the overlap between the ways of devops and MT, and Brent threatens to rewrite the first principle.
Episode 203: Podcast Alan
We talk about "Podcast Alan", and a bit about Alan's day job. Once again, going with the minimal editing approach.
Episode 202: The Return
It's been a long break. Again. But there are reasons. This time, we take a mailbag question and talk about the challenges of organizational change.
Episode 201: Aftermath
In the aftermath of the episode 200 extravaganza, we talk about Fallout (the show), and take a mailbag question that evolves into yet more discussions on AI.
Episode 200: IT'S EPISODE 200
We recorded this episode live - sort of. We have guests. We have fun. We get bobbleheads. We talk about AI. It's EVERYTHING you could ask for on our 200th episode AND 10th anniversary.
Episode 199: Ten Years Gone
For the first time in ten years, Brent and Alan both listen to the very first episode of AB Testing (so you don't have to).
Episode 198: Fiefdoms
We talk about fiefdoms - but mostly we end up talking about the growth mindset.
Episodde 197: Wait - Test is Alive Again
Somewhere in the middle of a whole lot of tangents, we take a walk though James Whittaker's post on The Resurrection of Software Testing - https://medium.com/@docjamesw/the-resurrection-of-software-testing-634423cd8411
Episode 196: A Chat with Kat Obring
We had a great time with a wonderful guest. Big thanks to Kat Obring for hanging out with us.
Sign up for Kat's newsletter here - https://katobring.podia.com/
You can find Kat on linkedin here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katjaobring/
And even more about Kat and her business here - https://kato-coaching.com/
Episode 195: AI and Alicorns
We start with a bit of a retro of the last few episodes and once again head off into the weeds of AI.
Episode 194: More Testing and AI with Jason Arbon (part 2)
It's the remainder of the interview with Jason. It gets fun, it gets weird, and it gets cool.
Episode 193: More Testing and AI with Jason Arbon (part 1)
We spent a little extra time with Jason and talked A LOT about AI, testing in AI, and whether or not Alan or Brent will have a quality title some day.
Episode 192: Bryan Finster
We are joined by Bryan Finster who talks about his journey with CD, Developer Testing, and he shares all kinds of fantastic information on delivering quality software.
You can read his 5-minute devops blog at blog.bryanfinster.com see his podcast (vcast?) on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@devhopspodcast9535) and see some of his work on CD at minimumcd.org
Episode 191: 2023 Year End Extravaganza
It's our annual year end episode where we discuss our predictions from a year ago, reflect on the last year, and think a bit about what may happen in 2024.
Episode 190: We Could Be Heroes
We talk a bit about our friend chat GPT, and then talk about heroes in the workplace. There's an obvious cross-over to Alan's post on angryweasel.substack.com that's worth checking out.
Episode 189: Brent being Brent
We're back and recording on a new platform - except when we aren't. In this episode, we talk about...not AI...and instead talk about the Peter Principle and Brent finally reading the Phoenix Project.
Episode 188: AI Testing with Jason Arbon
We talk with Jason Arbon about - you guessed, AI. Unfortunately, this recording only contains two thirds of our discussion, since zencastr decided to do its own thing.
Episode 187: All we talk about is AI
Yeah - we talk about AI, and (eventually) wonder if AI can be a good CEO.
Episode 186: IC or Manager - That is the Question
In this episode, Brent and Alan answer a mailbag question, and talk about how and when they have changed between manager and IC (individual contributor - aka non-manager) roles.
Episode 185: The ROI of Test Automation
So...Perze asked a question that he said was probably a thought experiment, but we tried to answer, but Perze was right and it ended up being a thought experiment after all - but the answer is in there somewhere.
Episode 184: Is Testing a Dying Profession
We discuss an article by the same name, but also dive extensively into the topic, whether it's true or not (or maybe), and tell some stories along the way.
Episode 183: Premature Escalation
We're back after a mini-break. In this episode, we talk about the concept of Premature Escalation, and whether or not teams are crossing the chasm into Modern Testing. And a bunch of tangents along the way.
Episode 182: Brian Pulliam and StrengthsFinders
We are joined by Brian Pulliam, and we go waaaay deep into StrenthgsFinders. It was fascinating and fun, and a ton of fun. Brian's website is https://refactorcoaching.com/, and you can find more about StrengthsFinders at https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/strengthsfinder.aspx
Episode 181: The AI Testing Podcast
We talk a lot (again) about AI. Just like Agile was a disruptor when we began the podcast AI is a disruptor that you can ignore at your own peril, or embrace and ride the wave. There's some other good stuff here as well.
Episode 180: Brent is Mary Poppins
Apologies for the delay - anchor failed us for the first time (or maybe the problem was pbkac) - but posting 12 hours late regardless.
We spend a little time talking about our previous guest (chat gpt), whether AI is taking our jobs away, return to office, windows phone, and /finally/ a bit (abstractly) about Alan's new gig.
Episode 179: An Interview with Chat GPT
We talk almost entirely about AI, with the bulk of the time "interviewing" chat GPT about the modern testing principles. Lots of fun, and lots of fodder for future podcasts.
Episode 178: Testing vs Quality
Beware - there are tangents and rambling. But - if you like listening to us talk about stuff in our lives, and eventually whether the emphasis should be on great testing or great quality, it should be fun.
Episode 177: How Alan quit his job
We start with our (now) regular discussion of AI, and then talk about the deets of Alan leaving his job at Unity (and then more about AI)
Episode 176: AI, Migrations, and more Chat GPT
It's a pretty rambly episode, but we talk more about AI and chat gpt (sorry), touch on a mailbag question about migrations, and hit a few dozen other subjects on the way. Hold on tight.
Episode 175: We're Doomed
Brent puts on his tinfoil hat and talks about how tech and AI are going to doom us all.
Episode 174: Healing the wounds of layoffs
We talk quite a bit about the layoff situation in text - and then tell some stories about "the old days" at microsoft.
Episode 173: The Mindful Dev w/ Dagna Bieda
We are joined by Dagna Bieda from https://www.themindfuldev.com to talk about coaching, burnout, and growth as a software engineer.
Episode 172: Dedicated Testers are a heuristic for slow feedback loops
We spend the whole episode talking about the reactions to Alan's post describing why most software teams don't need dedicated testers. Bring the Hate!
Episode 171: 2022 Recap and Look Forward into 2023
It's our last podcast of 2022, so we look back on the year, talk about our 2022 predictions, and look forward into 2023. And we once again, talk quite a bit about chatgpt.
Episode 170: AB Testing meets ChatGPT
We try not to talk about https://chat.openai.com/chat the entire episode, but we mostly fail.
Episode 169: Zencaster Holds a Grudge
We mostly talk about prioritization, but as usual, it's impossible for us to stick to a single topic.
Episode 168: Bubbles and Blowhards
We talk a bit about the bubbles we're in and the bubble's we're not in. And then finally, we talk about how people can move into experimentation and Modern Testing.
Episode 167: Oh my god! Get to the point!
We record an entire podcast without getting to the point - or maybe we just created a lot of points. We talk about podcasting, how we learn, and async work - and about 30 other things.
Episode 166: The Modern Modern Testing Podcast
We chat a bit about filling offices, then a lot about A/B testing, and share a few stories along the way.
Episode 165: It IS Modern, and it IS about Testing
After a very brief political discussion (apologies), we talk about what we'd do as testers today, and along the way, accidentally reinvent Modern Testing.
Episode 164: Matt LeRay from Speedscale
We are joined by Matt from Speedscale. We talk a little about his company, but talk a lot about everything else.
Important links
https://www.speedscale.com
Speedscale on twitter - https://twitter.com/Speedscaleai
Matt on twitter - https://twitter.com/matthewleray
Episode 163: Layoffs
Interspersed with a ridiculous number of tangents, we talk about layoffs.
Episode 162: Hanging out with Kirk Marple
We are joined by Kirk Marple, CEO of Unstruk. We talk about data mostly, but also baseball (which is also data) - and share a few microsoft stories.
Episode 161: msft stuff, and the state of modern testing
We talk about a lot of stuff - including posting salary ranges for jobs, SDETs making devs cry, and the pesky Principle 7
Episode 160: The Modern Testing Podcast: featuring Bert Jernsen
We talk about...a lot of things. From testing podcasts to A/B (with the slash) testing to the idea of Internal Developer Relations. It's a lot, so apologies in advance.
Episode 159: Darko Fabijan from Semaphore
We have Darko from Semaphore - that's the good news. The bad news is that we lost the last 5-ish minutes of the podcast due to me not planning ahead. We will work with Darko to crash an episode of his podcast in the near future and complete the conversation.
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