Prepare for lift-off on Thursday, 27th February 2025, from 14:00 to 17:00 GMT, as The Testing Planet continues its intergalactic journey with Episode 09: Exploring Systems Thinking.
This free, online broadcast from the MoTaverse, will transmit fresh insights into how systems thinking can expand your approach to testing and beyond. In this episode, we’ll uncover the fundamentals of systems thinking and explore models that help us better understand complex systems.
🔭 Mission Highlights
Cosmic Conversation: Systems thinking models decoded!
With Isabel Evans and Joep Schuurkes
In this panel discussion, Isabel and Joep will guide us through the interconnected galaxies of systems thinking.
Questions that will be explored:
- What are systems thinking models, and how can they guide software quality efforts?
- How can systems thinking theory be applied in practice to solve software quality challenges?
- How do feedback loops and delays impact system behaviour and software quality?
- What are the challenges and benefits of adopting systems thinking models across teams?
Work as Designed
With Elisabeth Hendrickson
In this talk, Elisabeth Hendrickson shares powerful insights on how systems thinking can transform the way we work.
Deming said, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” Back in 2001, I presented a paper titled “Better Testing, Worse Quality” at the SM/ASM Conference. In it, I demonstrated how a heavy investment in building up a QA group ironically caused overall quality to go down. We designed the system to improve quality, but it got worse.
How could that possibly be? The answer is that all the elements of a system influence each other, sometimes in surprising ways. When we increased the investment in QA, the developers decreased their investment in testing. It makes sense once you find the hidden connection, but until then it is maddeningly counterintuitive. That’s how systems are.
In this talk, Elisabeth Hendrickson examines the nature of software development systems with thinking tools like causal models and Shewhart charts, as well as frameworks like the Theory of Constraints and Queueing Theory. You’ll learn how to reason about the interactions and (sometimes hidden) relationships between different aspects of the software development system.
By the end of the talk, you’ll be more equipped to understand why things are the way they are and help others see what you see.
The possibilities of systems thinking
With Nithin SS, Karime Salomon, Gwen Diagram and Hibri Marzook
They'll explore the boundless possibilities of systems thinking in testing. In this cosmic conversation, they will share their perspectives on these questions:
- What happens to testing?
- How does it impact the team?
- What traps can we avoid in systems thinking?
- What’s working in systems thinking?
- Systems thinking examples
The Testing Planet News – Expanding Systems Thinking
Simon Tomes, Mike Harris, Rachel Kibler & Sarah Byng.
Your news transmission from the testing universe where our team of explorers dive into exploring systems thinking community commentary.
💫 Don’t let this cosmic event pass you by! Set your coordinates and register now to ensure you receive this stellar transmission of knowledge and inspiration.
