Guest blog by Cynthia Maes

In this blog, Cynthia Maes shares her experience with the CPAT training – an intensive three-day course on Agile Testing.

Thanks to M2Q, where I enjoy working, I had the opportunity to attend Agile United’s Certified Practitioner in Agile Testing (CPAT) training. This was not a standard training, but an intensive course that combined theory with hands-on practice.

At M2Q, personal growth is highly valued. Thanks to M2Q’s support, I have the opportunity to continuously develop myself, which not only benefits my own work, but also contributes to the quality of our projects.

My experience with the CPAT Training: Three days full of insights and practice

I attended the three-day Certified Practitioner in Agile Testing (CPAT) course, and this turned out to be much more than a traditional course. It was an intensive, hands-on experience, taught by three different trainers who each brought their own approach and expertise. What made this training really special was the combination of strong theory with real-world examples.

Agile Testing in Practice

The training followed Agile United’s official CPAT syllabus, which covered all major topics around testing within an Agile context.
Think:

• The role of the tester within a Scrum team
• Working with risk through techniques such as the Headline Game and Riskstorm with TestSphere
• Exploratory Testing and how to get started with it right away
• Establishing effective testing strategies
• Story splitting and improving user stories using horror plots

Learning by doing

The strength of this training was in the hands-on approach. We worked on a realistic case, which included testing a projector fan. This example immediately brought many aspects of Agile testing to life: from creating a project and product outline to performing risk-based testing. Everything became tangible and concrete.

We were hugely challenged to think critically, ask lots of questions and give (and receive) feedback. Thanks to the exercises, you not only learn the theory, but also apply it directly in context – exactly as it should be in a real Agile environment.

Three trainers, three derspectives

The variety in trainers worked surprisingly well. Each brought his or her own vision of Agile Testing, which provided variety in approach, energy and examples. This gave me as a participant a richer and broader picture of the field.

Conclusion

The CPAT training is highly recommended for anyone who works (or wants to work) within Agile teams and takes testing seriously. It is intensive, interactive and full of insights that you can apply immediately. In my opinion, it is a valuable step for any tester who wants to learn about quality within Agile software development.

This blog was written by Cynthia Maes Software Test Engineer @M2Q

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