Welcome to episode 137 of the Testing Peers podcast! This time, join Callum Akehurst-Ryan, Russell Craxford, Chris Armstrong and David Maynard as we discuss Personal Branding and Social Media. In this episode, the Peers discuss the importance of personal branding and the role social media plays in shaping professional identity within the testing community. The conversation explores how each of the hosts approaches their own personal brand, the motivations behind building one, and the wa...
Welcome to episode 136 of the Testing Peers podcast. In this episode, David, Chris, Russell and Tara dig into a question from #PeersCon25 speaker, Stuart Pates: what’s the difference between a test strategy and a quality engineering strategy? The peers explore: Whether strategies are rigid documents, living guides, or something in betweenHow context drives whether you need a test strategy, a quality strategy, or bothWhy language and labels (“test” vs “quality”) can help or hinder collaboratio...
Welcome to episode 135 of the Testing Peers Podcast. This time join Chris, Russell, David and the returning Jon Robinson as we talk all things AI in testing. Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we approach testing, QA and quality. But what happens when the pace of change accelerates? In this episode, the Peers explore what AI might mean for our profession, our skills and the value we bring. We discuss: The future of QA roles in the next 3–5 years and which functions may fade or e...
Welcome to Episode 134 of the Testing Peers podcast. This week, join Simon, David, Tara and Chris. How do we explain testing and quality to people who are not testers, in a way that actually lands? In this episode, we talk about meeting stakeholders where they are, translating quality into the language of risk, cost and outcomes, and building trust through visible work and data. We also share practical ways to bring non-testers into the quality journey, from testathons to storytelling. What w...
Welcome to episode 133 of the Testing Peers podcast. In this episode, the Peers (Chris, Callum, David and Russell) explore the complex and often subtle art of influencing quality within teams, organisations and wider cultures. The team share stories from early careers to more recent consulting and coaching experiences. The conversation examines how influence operates in practice and what it truly means to be a voice for quality. This is a discussion about mindset shifts, not mandates. About p...
Welcome to episode 132 of the Testing Peers Podcast. This time, joining David and Chris are the returning Rachel Kibler and first-time host Vanessa Zettler, with the Peers discussing Software That Cares. Key Quote “There is no average user.” – A reminder that designing for the “average” often excludes everyone. Accessibility as a Civil Rights Issue Digital access is essential in modern life. The team explore why accessibility is about equity and inclusion, not just regulations. Temporary vs. ...
Welcome to a special episode of the Testing Peers to announce our Programme Committee and Theme for PeersCon 26, which is happening on 12th March 2026 in Nottingham, UK. Join our Co-Chairs David and Simon as they introduce you to the rest of the committee: Suman BalaDan AshbyBeth MarshallRita AvotaMore on the committee can be found here. After the usual banter, the team dive into talking more about the theme for the conference, which is: Context is Everything: Lessons from the Universality of...
Welcome to episode 130 of the Testing Peers Podcast. This time join David, Russell, Chris and Dermot as we talk Knowledge Resilience. After an ice breaker where Russell poses the question to the Peers of what have we wanted to learn, but have not yet achieved. Then Dermot sets up the main topic with the following question: "what would you do with the knowledge that you acquired? If you learned it, it's fine, but if you wanted to share that knowledge. How would you transmit that? We talk abou...
Welcome to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, join David, Chris, Sanne and Beth as we discuss Bad Quality By Design (a more SFW term for ensh!ttifcation). Where products and services become deliberately less usable or joyful over time, often to drive monetisation. This isn’t accidental degradation, but intentional design choices aimed at nudging users towards subscriptions, upsells, or ad exposure. Examples the Peers discuss include: Getting a “premium” experience tem...
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. On this episode, Chris, Simon and David are joined by first time co-host Rachel Kibler. The Peers discuss the topic of making work visible. David starts us off with the banter on the topic of fashion mistakes, everything from dress down fridays to bright shirts being used as a prank. David also hints at his 80's fashion challenges and his ties he wore as a teacher. Rachel kicks off the main topic, giving the back story of where the topi...
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers Podcast. On this episode, Chris, Russell, David and Simon talk about how we can ensure Quality has a seat at the table of discussions, projects and all such scenarios where it should be there. Before that, Mr Banter (Chris) leads us off down a wonderful trail of memories of social media when it all began, everything from MySpace, Bebo, Friends Reunited and MSN Messenger covered and of course, the old Twitter during the pandemic. Simon leads us i...
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. Chris, Russell and David are joined by the returning Sam to talk about a topic close to all testers hearts, the ability of storytelling. Before diving into the main topic, Russell asks the Peers what their favourite cars are, lots of classics mentioned including the almost predictable choice from Russell of the AC Cobra (which he may have mentioned before). Part of the testers role includes storytelling, whether this is in bug reports, presenta...
Hello and welcome to episode 125 of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, joining Chris, Russell and David is the returning guest host, Al Goodall. Before diving into the main topic, Al asks the group to think about book collections, a nice mix of techno-thrillers and classic prose on offer. Russell kicks off the main discussion around testability, what is it in which context? The Peers talk through implementation, pitches, prompts, value, maintainability and more. Chris also brings out the T...
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This week join Chris, David, Shey and Russell as the Peers talk about transformations. The banter for this week's episode comes from Shey, asking the group which sport they would have love to have been a professional in. Then the Peers dived into the main topic, introduced by Shey. We talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of our experiences with transformations. What role do we, as testers, play in transformations...
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers podcast. David, Russell and Chris are joined by Sergio Friere to talk about all things Professional Development. Sergio leads the banter and asks the peers what their oldest memories are, everything from canal boat parties to visiting a zulu hut are mentioned, with ages ranging from age 3-6ish between the peers. As we start the main topic, Sergio shares his journey of going into teaching now to educate students on testing (win for #MakeATester)....
Seasons Greetings! Thank you for joining us for our fifth annual podcast at Christmastime, this year's festive cheers with the Testing Peers brings Russell, Simon, David, Tara, Beth & Chris together to refine the holiday season backlog [see the footnote after the sponsor message for more details]. Who doesn't feel the festive warm & fuzzies over a refinement session? Before we jump in, Russell warms us all up with an ice breaker based on Christmas drink preferences. The we all dive in...
Thank you for joining us for episode 121 of the Testing Peers Podcast. This time, join Chris, Tara, Russell and David as we discuss tools for testers. Before diving into the main topic, to mark the festive period, Tara poses the ice-breaker question of the Peers' favourite Holiday movie. It's a Wonderful Life, Die Hard, Home Alone, Spirited, The Grinch and Violent Night are included. Then we move on to the main event.....tools for testers. The Peers discuss screen readers and recorders, AI, c...
Welcome to another Testing Peers podcast episode. This time, join Chris, David, Richard Bradshaw and Al Goodall (whose surname Chris had some real issues remembering, sorry Al!) In this episode, the Peers talk about the role of the SDET. Is it SDEad? To break the ice, Al leads the group into a discussion about the best live albums, in our humble opinions. Shout-outs to Linkin Park, Sky, Raye, Live Aid, Iron Maiden, U2, Seal and Hoobastank! The main topic dives into the main topic - the role o...
Welcome to another episode of the Testing Peers. On this episode, Chris is joined by Vernon Richards, Heather Carter and Richard Hinton to talk about career journeys and making that decision around next steps. Before that, Heather kicks off the banter by asking for 2 Truths and 1 Lie from each of the hosts. You'll need to listen to work out which ones are which. Chris starts the conversation about what is next for our careers, and the topic moves toward Personal Brand/Professional Reputation ...
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Testing Peers podcast. This time, join Chris, David, Simon and first-time host, Butch Mayhew. Ahead of the main topic, Butch asks the group about their ideal superpower. We discuss controlling time, teleportation, flying, awareness (we'll come back to that later in the episode) and Butch's idea to have mustard and ketchup fly out of his fingers, because why not? The Peers then dive in the topic of authenticity - inspired as a topic by Simon's pos...