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This Week in Quality

This Week in Quality

Ministry of Testing 91 Episodes Sep 25, 2026

Stay up to date with the world of software testing, quality assurance, and quality engineering. This weekly podcast from the Ministry of Testing community is hosted by Simon Tomes and features testing professionals from across the MoTaverse. Episodes include thoughtful conversations, testing news, and community insights covering QA trends and quality engineering practices. It is aimed at software testers, QA specialists, quality engineers, and quality advocates who want to stay informed and connected. Listeners can join the live session every Friday or catch up on past episodes wherever they get podcasts.

Episodes

MoTaCon: how to make friends and grow your influence - Ep 149
MoTaCon: how to make friends and grow your influence - Ep 149 Sep 25, 2026 59:50 Ady and Simon host a special pre-MoTaCon episode, reflecting on the history of TestBash, the growing MoTaCon festival week, and the many ways people can connect before, during, and after the conference. The conversation covers community stars, first-time attendee nerves, travel stories, karaoke, professional headshots, workshop plans, and the power of meeting online friends in person. Guests share
A month in quality: Demos, MoTaCon and human connection - Ep 148
A month in quality: Demos, MoTaCon and human connection - Ep 148 Sep 18, 2026 59:56 Simon and Demi return after the TWIQ summer break with a packed 'this month in quality' catch-up, covering MoTaCon festival plans, workshop spoilers, karaoke, community profiles, chapters, and the many ways members are showing up across the MoTaverse. Demi shares a painful-but-funny demo-day story where a last-minute deployment broke the application minutes before a major walkthrough, leading to a
Reality bytes. Meet the teams and terms where they are - Ep 147
Reality bytes. Meet the teams and terms where they are - Ep 147 Aug 14, 2026 59:10 Judy and Simon host a thoughtful 'This Week in Therapy' episode, with Judy reflecting on her first few weeks in a new role and the difference between building quality from scratch versus stepping into processes someone else has already shaped. The conversation explores mistakes, AI responsibility, risk versus reality, impostor syndrome, writing, MoTaCon reflections, and how asking questions can be
The search for the lost code, best chair and the magic of MoTaCon - Ep 146
The search for the lost code, best chair and the magic of MoTaCon - Ep 146 Aug 7, 2026 59:38 Simon and Demi open with MoTaCon updates, including the growing 'festival' around the conference, socials, dinners, Motography, and the reminder to show up as yourself. The episode then celebrates the newly-updated MoTaverse profile pages and how they help members showcase their learning, contributions, moments, stars, and badges without turning it into a competition. Demi shares a brilliant work
Oh the anxcitement! Chaos-driven development, AI coding skills, and a new look profile page
Oh the anxcitement! Chaos-driven development, AI coding skills, and a new look profile page Jul 31, 2026 59:10 Simon breaks format by taking This Week in Quality on a live tour of the MoTaverse homepage, highlighting recent moments, sessions, glossary entries, Observatory links, AI chapter growth, and the new profile page beta. The episode celebrates community members putting themselves out there: Maneesh reflects on running his first large public session, Ben explores a Claude skill for exploratory testin
Being helpful, livestream gaming and the testing edge - Ep 143
Being helpful, livestream gaming and the testing edge - Ep 143 Jul 20, 2026 50:58 Ben and Judy host episode 143, opening with Judy’s reflections on testing job applications, staying connected through the community, and finding joy even in a difficult job market. Ben shares his current focus on scaling quality engineering, reducing “Ben things,” and helping teams take more ownership of releases and automation. Gary joins to talk about pitching for a Head of Engineering role with
These wins in quality: Grins, Gary and going for it - Ep 142
These wins in quality: Grins, Gary and going for it - Ep 142 Jul 10, 2026 59:55 Simon and Demi host a high-energy wins episode, starting with Demi’s week of intense data testing and Simon’s reflections on recent MoTaverse milestones, including Diana’s first 10K, 45 Call for Insights, new company chapters, and fresh writing prompts for community moments. Nadja joins to share a big life and career move to Belgium, while Rosie reflects on London Community Week, changing communit
Hot take: AI stops the community from discussing exploratory testing and more - Ep 141
Hot take: AI stops the community from discussing exploratory testing and more - Ep 141 Jul 3, 2026 59:47 Simon kicks off this Hot Takes edition with a tour through recent MoTaverse updates, including career growth resources, motivation, quality tooling silos, AI’s impact on definitions of ready/done, and new learning tools. The main debate centres on whether relying on AI chatbots is reducing human knowledge sharing in the community, with Oleksandr and Gary adding reflections on AI, culture, silos, a
Porridge caring: Finding joy in a shifting industry - Ep 140
Porridge caring: Finding joy in a shifting industry - Ep 140 Jun 26, 2026 64:56 Simon and Judy open with updates from the MoTaverse, including the Leading with AI event, new moments from the community, Women in Testing, and a Software Testing Live session on risk. The main conversation explores the idea of grieving change in tech: the fear, sadness, frustration, and identity shifts that come with AI, shifting roles, and changing workplace cultures. Community members join to s
Future platforming conversations, right here, right now - Ep 139
Future platforming conversations, right here, right now - Ep 139 Jun 12, 2026 65:04 Simon and Demi reflect on the second video-enabled episode of This Week in Quality, with plenty of live experimentation, technical glitches, and community challenges along the way. The conversation ranges from new MoTaverse content on loop engineering, test data, career growth, and models, before digging into negative testing and why the “unhappy path” is often a core part of the system’s expected
TWiQ, camera, action: Vibe mapping high value activities - Ep 138
TWiQ, camera, action: Vibe mapping high value activities - Ep 138 Jun 5, 2026 58:36 This Week in Quality enters a new, cameras-on format - complete with connection glitches and live tool testing! The main theme is high value activities: how experienced quality folks identify the work that creates outsized impact (like exploratory testing, analysis review, and risk-based coaching) versus routine tasks that can be delegated. Gary and Preeti add a practical lens on human accountabil
Hot, flaky, and unfinished - Testing, accessibility, and the grief we don't talk about - Ep 137
Hot, flaky, and unfinished - Testing, accessibility, and the grief we don't talk about - Ep 137 May 29, 2026 56:07 Episode 137 of This Week in Quality opens with playful banter about heat, workshops vs meetings, and the reality of notification fatigue. The conversation quickly heats up with hot takes on “done is better than perfect” lightning learning, how tooling layers add complexity to testing, and why understanding the system matters before measuring it. The standout segment is Ady’s blunt argument that ac

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