That’s the journey we took. Together. At the Orient Hotel in the rocks. An exploration of ATTD.

About 120 of us crowded into a room on the top flor. Business Analysts, Testers, Architects and Software Developers. The session was hosted by the ‘Sydney Testers’ collaborative.

It’s this sort of vibrant scene that I’ve been searching for in Sydney. A diverse group of passionate and capable professionals meeting to explore technology concepts.

A variety of fascinating technical concepts were discussed.

  • What is ATTD?
  • How is ATTD not TDD?
  • How is ATTD different to BDD?
  • Faciliating the conversation between Developers and Business people.
  • Anti patterns.
  • Project failure and the causes from a directional perspective.
  • Building a shared understanding.
  • Finding ways to get the people talking at work. “Having the conversation is more important than documenting it.”
  • “Building the product right. Building the right product.”
  • Working with a Domain Specific Language when testing.
  • Quality assurance living documentation.
  • How ATTD fits into a regular agile team structure and workflow.

I took a lot from this meetup. It was fascinating to open my eyes to the massive gap between the players at work. Developers. Architects. Business Analyst. Testers. I’m still pondering how ‘not talking’ is always bad.

Conversly. When I write code I tend to enjoy silence. The more code I write, the more I dislike chatter. It’s oxymoronic.

Walking over to someone’s desk and talking is important. If you’re not sure, do it. Silence ends up servicing no one.