I’m writing this as I’m occupying seat 32C on a flight from London back to Vancouver, 8839 m above ground. My trip started earlier today when I left Stockholm after having attended the first, but surely not last, Let’s Test conference.
Several excellent reviews of the conference have already been posted, so I thought I’d keep this post short and light-weight, but there are a few things that I’d like to comment upon:
Setting: The conference was held at Runö, beautifully located by the water, far away from the city bustle. The spring sun shining, vitsipporna (Google it) in full blossom, sheep grazing the pastures, bird song keeping people awake – the whole package. Semi-secluded venues like these make escape difficult, thereby promoting interaction and socializing, which is what conferences should be about.
Food: Those of us who arrived on Sunday had the pleasure of experiencing the festival of Swedish flavours: salmon, pickled herring, smoked prawns and the Swedish version of cheese cake. There seemed to be some scepticism regarding the pickled herring though. Try it next time, it’s the Swedish sushi!
Mood: So much energy, and so much enthusiasm! I feel invigorated and energized and ready to go out and save the world! Whether it needs saving or not. The mood at the conference was absolutely fantastic – people were friendly, encouraging and the discussions were creative and inspiring. It was an humbling experience, being allowed to meet and talk to all these brilliant testers readily sharing their experiences. Most impressive was how positive everyone was – it was a refreshingly bright picture of the future that was painted.
People: It did feel a little bit like a SWET (Swedish Workshop on Exploratory Testing) reunion, but it was great to also see a lot of new faces. There’s certainly good hope for the future of testing.
Lasting impression: In retrospect, the common thread of the conference seems to have been drawing parallels between testing and other disciplines – covering everything from hypnosis to military service. I like the idea of not looking at testing in isolation, but relating testing to the world in which the testing actually takes place and learning not only from our own community but also from non-testers.
Closing words: A big thank you to the organizers, and also to all the attendees for making it a fantastic conference. I’ll be back next year. Not organizing the conference again is not an option.
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