Are We Building the Right Thing, or How GenAI Made Us Forget to Ask I was listening to the A/B Testing podcast the other day, episode 229, where Alan Page had my friend Chris Armstrong on as a guest. At one point they were talking about Verification and Validation. Two concepts that have been around forever. Two simple questions, really. "Are we building the thing right?" That's verification. "Are we building the right thing?" That's validation.

"Are we building the right thing?" is a question as old as engineering itself. GenAI made it easier than ever to skip. Time to start asking again.

Hi everyone, a quick message for anyone signed up for our lunchtime event today.

There will be a slightly delayed start but we are hoping to get underway as soon as possible. Please bear with us. Thanks 🙏🏽

#bcssigist

They also need a McPlan, McStudy and McAct, so that they have the whole plan-do-study-act cycle!

AI, Education and Online Safety – An audience with BCS Lovelace and Society Medal winners It was great to be part of the audience with the winners of the 2025 BCS Lovelace and Society Medals in March 2026. The Lovelace Medal celebrates people from academia, industry or education who hav…

Last night I had an interesting evening with the winners of the BCS Lovelace and Society Medals.

Blogged: AI, Education and Online Safety - An audience with BCS Lovelace and Society Medal winners

#AI #CompSci #OnlineSafety

testandanalysis.home.blog/2026/03/31/a...

Put quality at the centre of what you do – A Review of ‘Out of the Crisis’ by W. Edwards Deming I bought this book when I was a Test Lead at a startup that made a successful exit. We began working iteratively and discussed how to use the Deming Cycle. It was a useful book for me as a Test Lea…

Blogged: Put quality at the centre of what you do - A Review of ‘Out of the Crisis’ by W. Edwards Deming

#Deming #SoftwareTesting

testandanalysis.home.blog/2026/03/24/p...

I am looking forward to hosting this webinar on shift-left testing. I hope that you join me there!

#SoftwareTesting

I will write a book review when we have finished reading it

Out of the Crisis Essential reading for managers and leaders, this is the classic work on management, problem solving, quality control, and more—based on the famous theory,

Today is World Book Day. I am reading Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming with the Profound Book Club. It is a great book, full of ways to make quality a successful strategy, and it is great to read it with so many good people.

direct.mit.edu/books/monogr...

🎉 Looking for new work.

15 years front-end dev + Design Systems specialist.

I help folks build, maintain & transform design systems.

I'm also available for focused projects, front-end builds, codebase modernisation.

Short to long term.

Let's chat - stu@alwaystwisted.com

reposts appreciated <3

Careers in tech & quality aren’t linear - Let’s talk about it.

📅 Fri 13 Feb | 🕐 13:00 GMT | 💻 Online
🎙 Early career | leadership | recruitment
🤖 Including thoughts on AI & career confidence

🔗 Register:
tinyurl.com/yc5n7zsw

#BCSSIGiST #CareersInTech #SoftwareTesting #EarlyCareers

Your Quality Engineering will be richer if you know how Quality Engineering originated It is useful to know that Quality Engineering originated in Japan in the 1950’s because it gives you long-term engineering memory. If a company has a long-term memory of previous engineers’ w…

Blogged: Your Quality Engineering will be richer if you know how Quality Engineering originated

#QualityEngineering #Taguchi #Deming

testandanalysis.home.blog/2026/02/10/y...

Guide to Submitting to SIGiST Summer Conference Submitting to a conference can be intimidating, especially if you are new to speaking, or have been rejected in the past. At SIGiST, we…

Key dates to remember:
* Conference: 7th July 2026
* CFP closes: 31st March 2026

:newspaper: Speaker support:
We’ll be publishing guidance on our Medium blog to support applicants through the submission process, particularly if this is your first time applying to speak: medium.com/@bcssigist/g...

Call for Speakers 2026 SIGiST Conference Conference Details The conference will be hosted on the 7th July 2026 9.30am to 5:00pm. The venue details are: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Ground Floor 25 Copthall Avenue London, EC2R 7BP S...

This theme focuses on the human side of testing and quality - making it ideal for speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, career stages, and disciplines.

How to apply:
Anyone wishing to submit an idea *must* complete the speaker submission form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Call for Speakers – BCS SIGiST Summer Conference
Hi everyone! We are now inviting proposals for the BCS SIGiST Summer Conference, taking place this year on July 7th (More details to follow).
Conference theme:
Human-Centred Testing: People, Practices & the Future of the Profession
# SoftwareTesting

The origins of Quality Engineering lie in the prevention of product failures in Japan. The origins of Quality Engineering are attributed to the work of Genichi Taguchi, stemming from his response to product failures he experienced while working for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Publ…

Blogged: The origins of #QualityEngineering lie in the prevention of product failures in Japan.

I had a conversation on @ministryoftesting.com Slack about the origins of Quality Engineering. This blog post is the result.

#Taguchi #Deming #SoftwareTesting
testandanalysis.home.blog/2026/01/20/t...

Improve quality by learning from your process data – a review of “Twenty Things You Need to Know” by Donald J. Wheeler Donald Wheeler has over forty years of experience in the study, practice and collaboration in data analysis. In “Twenty Things You Need to Know”, he shares this experience in the form of questions …

Improve quality by learning from your process data - a review of “Twenty Things You Need to Know” by Donald J. Wheeler

#Quality #Deming

testandanalysis.home.blog/2026/01/06/i...

Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

Where are the Louvre jewels now and can France get them back? Experts warn that whilst the criminals may yet be caught, the gemstones they stole may never be recovered.

It took just 8 minutes for thieves to steal the Napoleonic-era crown jewels from the Louvre. There weren't enough cameras and the ones there were there were facing the wrong way.

Could a 50-year-old maths problem have foiled the heist?
🧵
www.bbc.com/news/art...
1/9

Help for you on your systems thinking journey – A review of “Thinking in Systems: A Primer” by Donella H. Meadows “Thinking in Systems: Primer” is a great resource that can help you whether you are beginning, or have already started your systems thinking journey.  Meadows helps us understand what a system…

Blogged: Help for you on your systems thinking journey - A review of “Thinking in Systems: A Primer” by Donella H. Meadows testandanalysis.home.blog/2025/10/21/h...

#SystemsThinking

Quality comes first – A review of “Deming’s Road to Continual Improvement” by William W. Scherkenbach William Sherkenbach was Corporate Director of Total Quality Planning and Statistical Methods at Ford Motors and Group Director Process Improvement at General Motors. He wrote that “both of these gr…

Quality comes first - A review of “Deming’s Road to Continual Improvement" by William W. Scherkenbach

#Quality #Leadership #Deming

testandanalysis.home.blog/2025/09/16/q...

some of the pages of the zine to show what it looks like when folder

The Adventures in Systems handout zine from SoCraTes Soltau:

Formatted for 11x17 www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...

Formatted for A3
www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...

Folding instructions: www.flickr.com/photos/withj...

Thank you. What a useful handout

Collaborative customer-focused systems thinking – a review of Sys-Tao: Western Logic – Eastern Flow by Bob Browne In this book, Bob Browne recounts how he drew on ideas from both the East and the West, including the philosophies of W. Edwards Deming and Eli Goldratt, to make the Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling…

Collaborative customer-focused systems thinking - a review of Sys-Tao: Western Logic - Eastern Flow by Bob Browne
#SystemsThinking #Deming

testandanalysis.home.blog/2025/09/09/c...

Any science feature writers? We pay £350-450, send your pitches today or tomorrow!

It was rewarding to be the Programme Secretary for the conference. ITNow magazine is a great benefit of being a member of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT: www.bcs.org/membership-a...

Article about SIGiST Conference

@sigist.bsky.social 2025 Conference provided attendees with an opportunity to learn from great speakers & network with other testing professionals. I am really pleased that BCS ITNow Magazine has a three-page article about the conference.🧵

Shifting software testing left with operational definitions See how operational definitions bring clarity to requirements and support earlier testing

It is great to receive my Author Debut badge from @ministryoftesting.com for my article: www.ministryoftesting.com/articles/shi...

Shifting software testing left with operational definitions See how operational definitions bring clarity to requirements and support earlier testing

My @ministryoftesting.com article “Shifting software testing left with operational definitions” shows how operational definitions can help testers a way to shift testing upstream.

www.ministryoftesting.com/articles/shi...

Tributes paid to Dame Stephanie Shirley.
"At a time when women were almost invisible in the industry, she built a multi-million-pound software business staffed mainly by women, pioneering remote and flexible working long before it was the norm"

www.bcs.org/articles-opi...