A Year of Weekend Testing in the Americas

I was looking for a cute way of putting this but figured I'd just put it out there. Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the first session of Weekend Testing Americas. I didn't realize that until today, since I'd posted the experience report on November 14th, 2010, which was one year ago today. So in either case, this grand experiment of Weekend Testing in the Western Hemisphere has survived and thrived during its first year.

It's been fun  to reminisce on the past year. The first session where so many people came and trying to get any traction was like herding cats (and my apologies to all of the folks who couldn't download the app in time to participate in the session. Growing pains and all that. We learned). Testing RapidReporter and getting intimately familiar with all of its features. Digging into corkboard.me. Playing Lightbot and finding out how it might help develop programming skills. Working with Volunteermatch and helping them meet a release deadline. Checking our RescueTime and seeing a holy war erupt (LOL!).

The most valuable lesson and memory of all? You don't have to ask permission to do something that could reshape the way you see yourself and the world. All you need is a few willing souls to step in and make things happen. So on this momentous day, I'd like to say thanks to Joe Harter and Lynn McKee for helping me get the ball rolling, Ajay Balamurugadas and Santhosh Tuppad for helping us with our early baby steps and getting this little enterprise off the ground, and definitely Albert Gareev for his tireless enthusiasm and encouragement for ideas, projects, and different challenges we've been able to construct over the past year. I also want to say thanks to Michael Bolton, James Bach and Jonathan Bach for their willingness to be guest presenters for WTA and to help us improve our game over the past year. Most of all, we want to say thank you to the people who really make Weekend Testing Americas work, and that's the attendees. There is a regular cadre of participants that are frequently there, actively engaged, and enthusiastic about helping us improve the craft of software testing. This year would have looked a lot different if it weren't for all of you.

As we look back at the year that was, we'd like to invite you all to come out and join us for the beginning of the new year that will be. How do you do that? Come and join us this coming Saturday, November 19, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific (2:00 PM Eastern) for our next session. Details for the session will follow shortly, so stay tuned :).