April 8th, 2019 by Thea Maisuradze
We are glad to report that our trip out west to host an annual #TestBowl (and attend the STPCon Spring 2019) was a sheer success!
But let’s go over this fantastic experience step by step:
#TestBowl 2019
On April 2, 2019 Inflectra hosted its 2nd annual software testing competition we call the #TestBowl. This is a friendly contest amongst teams of testers to find and record bugs, defect, issues and opinions about a piece of software they have never interacted with before. This time, the scoring rules were adjusted and ranged from 2-5 for bugs and 1 for issues.
(Icebreaker; #TestBowl 2019)
#TestBowl 2019 brought together 27 testers from all over the world. After a short round of icebreaker games, testers paired into teams and the fun began. Music was upbeat, food was abundant and delicious, and testers were top-notch.
(Teams testing the NOAA website; #TestBowl 2019)
As is our tradition, we chose a real life application – NOAA’s website for National Geodetic Survey for the #TestBowl. As a government-run webpage, it has a well-defined purpose and deals in real-life data that affect many services the state or federal agencies provide. Therefore, the #TestBowl aimed to test and verify the overall performance and accuracy of data display on a number of webpages. After about 1.5 hours of testing, 5 individuals/ 3 teams surged ahead identifying over 70 unique issues and compiling them into SpiraTest – the test management tool used during the #TestBowl.
(Testing Scoreboard in Spiratest; #TestBowl 2019)
The top two winners were selected after a full day of judging and were:
Team Docler: 1st Prize - (42 points)
- Tibor
- Matthias
Team: Golder Hurricane - (35 points)
- Christian
- Chris
We awarded them prizes right there at the STPCon and made a short video of the Award Ceremony:
What #TestBowl 2019 Validated:
- Test a meaningful, real life application: Choosing to test a non-commercial software that provides services to citizens, businesses, and civil servants throughout the country was inherently meaningful and helped imbue the participants with a sense of civic duty and service to the community. (A shout-out to Michael Bolton) Also it is our intention to hand over the test results of NOAA for further review and follow-up.
(What To Test; #TestBowl 2019)
- Any event is only as good as the (number of) people attending it: So, we had to make sure that we had a good turnout AND a captive audience. STPCon therefore was again as perfect backdrop for our Software Testing Bowl; many #TestBowl participants were already at the location because they were guests at the STPCon Spring 2019. (A shout-out to our long-standing partners, friends, and all-around fun people in charge of the STPCon)
Thank you everyone who came out to play and test. We could not have done it without you!
We are planning another testing competition in November in a yet-undisclosed European destination, so stay tuned!