Loading...

PODCAST

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality Engineering

Richard Seidl | Software Development & Testing Expert

Software testing is no longer just a phase—it’s the foundation of modern engineering and your ultimate competitive advantage. Welcome to Software Testing Unleashed, the weekly podcast for anyone dedicated to building better software, faster. Hosted by Richard Seidl, renowned expert in software development and testing, this show is your backstage pass to the tools, tactics, and trends defining the next era of Quality Engineering. Whether you are a QA Engineer, SDET, Developer, or Tech Leader, each

technology management

All Episodes

17:08

On-Site Testing Conferences: Why Networking Needs...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/10/01

What does it take to turn a risky one-time event into a conference that testers travel across borders for? With Okan Çakmak I talk about how the Istanbul Software Testing Conference grew out of something missing: after the pandemic, the big Turkish testing events stayed online, and people lost the chance to meet, network and hug each other in person. He tells me how the team wondered whether 50 or 100 people would come, then welcomed 200, and how the "light in their eyes" of those first participants

en

22:53

You Need a Test Automation Strategy Before AI -...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/09/24

What happens when AI ships poor quality faster, and nobody notices because the pipeline stays green? With Michaël Pilaeten I talk about why test automation without a clear strategy is a problem that AI only accelerates, not solves. We get into the question of what separates a tester from a test automation engineer, why those two roles need each other but are not interchangeable, and how chasing 100% coverage on millions of lines of legacy code can be a waste everyone agrees to quietly.

en

28:10

The Difference Between Single Agents and a Real...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/09/17

What separates a handful of agents from a real agentic system? With Nishan Portoyan I talk about exactly that line, and why most teams are still on the wrong side of it. We walk through a full testing pipeline where eight to twelve agents handle everything from requirement review to performance test conversion, and I keep coming back to the question of where the human has to step in and why the AI simply cannot replace that judgment. Nishan is direct about what these systems cannot do: they do not

en

21:22

The Hidden Risk in AI-Generated Tests and...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/09/10

What happens to quality when anyone can generate code with a prompt but nobody checks whether it actually works? With Olivier Denoo I talk about why that question puts expert testers in a stronger position than many managers currently assume. We get into the real risk of AI that always sounds right, the edge cases a lost suitcase in Brussels reveals, and why the hardest unsolved problem in testing is still the same one Olivier ran into three decades ago: describing precisely what you want. The

en

21:16

Lean Management: Why Problem Analysis Beats Quick...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/09/03

Why do we rush to fix problems before we actually understand them? With Nirmala Saneechur I talk about Lean management, what it means to deliver quality at the right time rather than just on time, and why spending a full day understanding a problem is not wasted time. We get into what waste really means in a software project, including the story of 15 features a client never used, and how working in silos creates the kind of back-and-forth that slows everything down.

en

17:28

The Three Root Causes Behind Most Performance...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/08/27

Slow systems don't just annoy users, they cost companies real money, and most teams only find out when the phone starts ringing. With Rao Dhaligadoo I talk about what it actually takes to catch performance problems before customers do. We get into how a 70 percent CPU threshold can trigger an automated chain of monitoring, ticket creation, and root cause analysis, and why that matters more than it sounds. Rao also shares what it feels like to spend 45 hours in a war room at a bank, watching a CIO

en

33:40

End-to-End Testing: How to Stop the Maintenance Trap...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/08/20

Forty percent of automation time lost to flakiness and maintenance: that is the reality Lilia Gargouri describes. I talked with Lilia about end-to-end test automation at scale, and what struck me most was how far back the real solutions reach: a single HTML attribute added in 2017 still pays dividends today, simply because the team decided to use it consistently and never change it. We get into the full picture, from how to accurately identify every UI element without XPath gymnastics, to why

en

35:04

How Poor API Architecture Makes AI Agents Expensive -...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/08/13

With Sebastian Malyska I talk about what sits behind the APIs testers often take for granted. We get into why REST is still on top but not the whole story, how GraphQL and webhooks fit into the picture, and what actually happens when an AI agent talks to a real system through MCP. There is a practical argument running through all of it: if you understand the protocol layer, you can make smarter decisions about where to test, how to structure automation, and how to avoid burning unnecessary tokens

en

26:37

Boilerplate in Seconds: AI Handles Setup, Engineers...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/08/06

With Klaudia Dussa Zieger I talk about where language models actually deliver in testing and where they fall flat. We get into the concrete details: why a small function like generating keyword documentation works so well with a standard chat model, why reviews only started working once they switched to a reasoning model, and why one engineer working on embedded legacy code said no to AI help without hesitation. Klaudia also shares the translation use case I found most vivid, turning a cryptic

en

20:47

Shift Your Testing Mindset: From Right Answers to...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/07/30

With Jean-Francois Riverin I get into a question that bothered him for over 20 years: why are there still bugs in production even when you tested as well as you possibly could? His answer is that software stopped being a complicated problem, like building a bridge, a long time ago. It is now complex, more like medicine or meteorology, and that means the whole idea of finding the right answer through testing is the wrong goal. We talk about what it looks like to switch that mindset, what "safe to

en

25:27

Factor In People and Org to Build Software That Lasts...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/07/23

Why do so many software teams end up with the exact architecture they never intended to build? With Vanessa Formicola I talk about the hidden forces that shape technical decisions, and why those forces have far less to do with technology than most engineers want to admit. We get into patterns she calls the kitchen sink, Cirque de Soleil coding, and the monolith constellation, each one a recognizable trap that grows from career incentives, delivery pressure, and organizational culture rather than bad

en

16:55

Children's Book About Testing That Inspired a Future...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/07/16

With Kari Kakkonen I talk about what happens when you explain software testing through a fantasy story for children, where dragons are defects and knights are testers. We get into how the analogy grew into a full world covering functional, performance, usability, and security defects, each mapped to a chapter with its own kind of dragon. Kari describes how he tested the book iteratively with children, teachers, testing professionals, and non-IT readers across four rounds, and how a twelve-year-old

en

16:39

TMMI Level 5: How Mature Teams Stop Bugs Before They...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/07/09

What does it actually take to move from finding defects to preventing them? With Zsolt Hargitai I talk about TMMI, a framework for improving test processes, and why that shift in mindset marks the difference between a team that tests and a team that has genuinely matured. We get into what the maturity levels mean in practice, how a free self-assessment tool on the TMMI website gives you a first impression of where your organization stands, and why the framework holds up across agile, V-model, and

en

30:18

ChatGPT Use Cut Student Cognitive Capacity, Study...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/07/02

What does it actually mean to unlearn something, and why does that question matter as much as learning new skills right now? With Graziela Tonin I talk about how universities, companies, and individuals are struggling to find their footing in a world where AI can write code, run tests, and sometimes outperform human decision-making. We get into the research showing that students who offload thinking to AI tools lose cognitive capacity rather than gain it, and what that means for how knowledge should

en

25:19

Post-Agile: What Organizations Actually Need Now -...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/06/25

What happens to the teams and organizations left behind after an agile transformation that didn't deliver what it promised? With Michael Mahlberg I talk about why the word "agile" has lost its meaning, how big consultancies pushed companies deeper into rigid structures under an agile label, and what it actually takes to help an organization find its footing again. We get into the question of what genuinely worked from the last 25 years, from fast iterations and real customer feedback to

en

34:46

Critical Thinking: The Skill AI Cannot Replace in...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/06/18

What does a tester actually need right now, when AI tools are everywhere and QA teams keep getting cut? With Tara Walton I talk about why communication and the fundamentals of testing matter more than ever, and why being the best bug-finder in the room means nothing if you can't explain what you found and why it counts. We get into how AI's "toxic positivity" makes critical thinking a skill you have to practice deliberately, and what it means that when you remove QA, your users become your first

en

21:28

Strategy First: How AI Enters Regulated Medical Labs...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/06/11

How do you bring AI into a medical lab when the regulatory landscape is still taking shape? With Alexis Savkin I talk about exactly that tension, and the answer turns out to be less about technology than about focus and strategy. We get into why starting with a very specific, measurable problem makes the regulatory side manageable, and how a single-page risk diagram convinced compliance stakeholders faster than any technical pitch. I keep coming back to his point that regulators are not enemies but

en

24:04

Why COBOL Developers Prefer Writing Tests in Java -...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/06/04

What happens when 40 years of custom decisions stack so high that even the standard testing tools from your own vendor stop working? With Bartosz Filipek and Szymon Wałachowski I talk about exactly that situation: a mainframe environment so deep in its own customization that the only way forward was to build one final bridge to the outside world. We dig into how they created a Java-based unit testing tool for COBOL developers, and what surprised me most is that COBOL programmers find it easier to

en

24:31

Why Traditional Testing Fails for AI Systems -...

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/05/28

This time I talk with Dušanka Lečić about why testing chatbots breaks everything we know about traditional QA. She explains how chatbot bugs are invisible – they hide in prompts, retrieval logic, and chunks, not in code – and why the same input can produce dozens of valid outputs. Dušanka shares her framework for testing context retention, hallucination control, and accuracy, and reveals why stress testing a chatbot means checking for typos and user frustration, not system load.

en

24:36

Why Testers Are Safe Despite AI Hype - Mitko Mitev

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality... ·

2026/05/21

This time I talk to Mitko Mitev, about how AI is reshaping our work as testers, without replacing us. Mitko shows exactly where AI tools save real time across test planning, test case generation, and exploratory testing, and why human expertise remains non-negotiable for context, business logic, and validation. We go into the shift from writing scripts to instructing agents in plain language, how ISTQB's new AI syllabi prepare testers for what's coming, and why waiting another year to explore AI

en

73 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Signal Brief · Steady State Radio

Steady State Radio

Dad Reviews with @LaneVids (العربية)

Lane Fournerat

Briefly, AI

Harry Sharman

Dad Reviews with @LaneVids (한국어)

Lane Fournerat