Planification phase
After our first virtual coffee between the Sfax and Salta communities, we got many positive comments and people were asking when the next one will take place…
It was the first trigger to think about a second edition, and the second trigger was a discussion with Antonella, one of our participants, who is also a meetup organizer:
“I have organized one MoT meetup here in Barcelona and helped organize another one and of course I always want to organize more”
Anto
“How about we do a meetup together like the coffee meetup, but more oriented about emotional intelligence and how to make teams feel good during these crazy times?”
Anto
We created an open poll to see if community members interested or if they prefered more technical stuff, and we ended up by this list “topics of interest” where the most voted was about Focus and Time management Tips. Indeed, this is the trend in the period of Covid-19.
- Focus & Time management tips
- Effective testing for fast release cycles
- Agile tools
- Retro idea to show appreciation
- Cheer up the office (remotely)
Which ended up with a meetup plan since the beginning of “May” between 3 MOT organizers from 3 different continents
Event Day
Since the chosen topic was about sharing: “Focus & Time management tips” between participants online via crowdcast, the organizers started with their tips:
Organizer of MOT Salta community: Ileana‘s Tips
Organizer of MOT Barcelona community: Antonella‘s Tips
Organizer of MOT Sfax community: Emna‘s Tips
More details about my tips shared via Linkedin article.
Useful tips from participants shared live
“Working from a list is a big thing for me – i create lists for everything i do – no matter what”
Mike Lyles
Most importantly – prioritize that list for Hi,Med,Low so that you know which things MUST be done today vs. “can be done” today
Mike Lyles
I have a personal kanban board on my door, but I also have a bunch of sticky notes on my monitor and my laptop
Lisa Crispin
I also often make a “to do” mind map in the morning of what I hope to get done that day.
Lisa Crispin
I am most productive and happy when I “pair Pomodoro” – I have a friend in my same time zone, we time our pomodoros together, though we don’t work together and aren’t working on the same things. We set our timers in Slack. When it’s break time, we hold each other accountable to get up and move! And of course, to get started again when the break is over.
Lisa Crispin
Yann P de M : “ 3 methods that you might want to have look at and combine/mix:
The pomodoro technique — Personal Kanban — Getting things done “
2 other books that really helped me:
- Get Momemtum — How to start when you’re stuck
- A Factory of One — Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance
Meditating half an hour each day brings me a lot of concentration during the day”
The book “Start with Why” is good for first understanding your goals, why you’re doing something, and how to set them and manage them as well – by Simon Sinek
As well as the book “Thinking Fast and Slow”
Mike
Great tips ! Do take break ! Talk to your loved one ! Do yoga !
Trisha Chetani
We need to be isolate to concentrate
Mohamed nabil
When I talk to my colleagues through visio, it’s fun to see ours kids, It make us human, not robot !
Benji
I like Ileana’s idea of determining if an event is being recorded – because i do try to put those in a queue and watch them later – if recorded
Mike
I do 45 minute pomodoros with 15 minute breaks, I listen to podcasts when I go out on my break to feed the donkeys.
Lisa
Imposter Syndrome, if only I could get over it! There’s a great video of Claire Reckless’ talk on imposter syndrome on the MoT Dojo. I don’t know whether or not it’s behind the paid firewall, since I have a Pro subscription.
Lisa
Also look for videos on the topic from Gem Hill, Gitte Klittgard, I know there are other really good talks about it.https://www.ministryoftesting.com/dojo/lessons/the-fraud-squad-learning-to-manage-impostor-syndrome-as-a-tester-claire-reckless?s_id=225022
For the pomodoro practitioners, if you struggle to concentrate, try one day with the ticking every second. As someone with ADHD it really helps me get back to work when I start wandering off
YannPdeM
Other tips, when I’m not concentrate, just take a break with my son and dog, only 5 minutes, go again: boost of energy
Benji
I have one tip, if your back hurts from sitting to much, you can use your ironing board to stand up and work at the same time better for the back and much cheaper than a “raise and low desks”
Natalia Machuca
I would like to suggest to read “Explore it” by Elizabeth Hendrickson
Vjkumran
Overcoming imposter is knowing that you CAN DO IT – and you are amazing
Mike
I have a personal kanban board for books with a WIP limit of 3, usually there is a mix of 1 for long term (often methodology), 1 for short term (tool/language/…), 1 for changing my mind (novel, systems thinking, artbooks, …)
YannPdeM
My best thing against imposter was meeting people who support me without asking “what can you deliver”
Testhexe
Types of testers https://www.ministryoftesting.com/dojo/lessons/tester-types-the-e-book
Antonella
Vijaykumar Nadeshan:
https://qa-vijaynadeshan.blogspot.com/2019/01/mind-map-ultimate-thinking-tool-for.html
Pair Pomodoro , setting timer together. call each other , get move . Get back on time and maintain discipline . By Lisa
Trisha
So important – extra 2 minutes will not solve the problem, walking will might give you a great solution – By Lisa
Community Virtual commitment
- The jam board
We wanted to engage participants and to make them feel like it’s a real international meetup not only between screens.
We suggested to create a shared Jamboard with “greetings”, “pictures”, “notes” whatever participants want to share …
- Gifts to Winners
Although it’s not evident to give participants swags and cool things when the event is 100% remote. But we managed to find a sponsor InnoIT even in virtual mode.
Using the magic “wheel‘’ https://wheelofnames.com/ we announced 4 winners just at the end of the meetup, we gave them vouchers to order the gift they wanted the most from MOT Store 🙂
Conclusion
Ileana: “I enjoyed exchanging ideas and tips on time management during Corona times with testers around the globe. Personally, my way of organizing my tasks works for me but now I’m giving a try to Mind Maps. Don’t be afraid to try new ideas, you may be surprised! I hope we do this again! “
Antonella: “I love the fact that we can spend some time together during the weekend! It speaks volumes about how involved we are with our community and how much we enjoy our enriching discussions! It was great to learn about the different things we do to stay focused and healthy, even if the current times are difficult for everybody. I’m really happy I got to be a part of this event and I look forward to many more to come!”
Emna: “I’m very pleased to collaborate with Barcelona and Salta communities. It was a great international meetup breaking the ice for everyone WFH with tips for focus and time management that are really useful 🙂
We got people from +20 countries! It’s definetly, the positive side of remote meetups, giving people the opprtunity to join even if they are far from us, the community is getting bigger and we meet people from all the corners of the globe.”
Thank you everyone for joining our virtual meetups use our hashtag #testersvirtualcoffee in all social media, don’t hesitate to join offline discussions in our slack channel.
Emna Ayadi 