Testing Peers
Testing Peers is a growing community of ~60 peers in testing, software quality, agility, test leadership, engineering management, and broader software development. We’re united by a shared goal: to drive quality in everything we do within our workplaces and beyond. Through collaboration, accountability, and mutual support, we strive to elevate one another both professionally and personally.
The Testing Peers podcast is now expanding beyond its original four hosts, David Maynard, Chris Armstrong, Russell Craxford and Simon Prior, striving to represent the voices of a diverse and thriving community. Our inaugural in-person conference, PeersCon, launched in Nottingham in March 2024 and will return in March 2025, further solidifying Testing Peers as a not-for-profit, by testers, for testers initiative.
Testing Peers
Switching Off
Hello and welcome to episode 65 of the Testing Peers podcast.
This week, join Simon, David, Russell and Chris as we discuss Switching Off.
Prior to the main topic, Simon introduces the topic of switching off in meeting horror stories.
We discover how triggered the Peers get over shared screens and talk about a few awkward situations.
Moving on, Russell introduces the main topic. Starting off by defining what we mean by switching off from work and if we have any mechanisms that we use.
David still gets his Windsor knot out with his shirt each day, almost as a work uniform, even when working from home.
Russell leaves his work at the office (or at least he tries to).
The Peers move on to discuss bad habits, guilt, boundaries, distractions and lament the hold our phones have on us.
Even when we know there are solutions, like notifications being switched off, alternate accounts on social media, and scheduling messages.....they all just seem to be more work.
Chris speaks to his struggles with screen time recently and seeking ways around that.
There are, of course, lots of different contexts to consider, especially with internationally distributed teams, but there are expectations and precedents that we can set, and hopefully a well established communication culture within our orgs.
It's called a work-life balance for a reason - balance - not one thing taking over the other.
We discuss motivations and identities, the dangers of burnout, guilt and pressure.
Some coping mechanisms include to-do lists, saying no and speaking about struggles.
We hope you found the discussion useful and would love to hear your feedback.
Twitter (https://twitter.com/testingpeers)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/testing-peers)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/testingpeers/)
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TestingPeers)
We’re also now on GoodPods, check it out via the mobile app stores
If you like what we do and are able to, please visit our Patreon to explore how you could support us going forwards: https://www.patreon.com/testingpeers
Saffron QA is a provider of recruitment and consultancy services, exclusively for the software testing industry.