Podcast · Business

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality Engineering

by Richard Seidl | Software Development & Testing Expert · English · Business

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 deve

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 24 min
Latest: 15 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026 · 19 minNew

Dark Side of Testing: The Failures We Cause Ourselves - Bart Knaack

Testing is supposed to prevent failures in production, yet sometimes the test itself is what breaks things. Bart Knaack calls this the dark side of testing, and we talk about test data leaking out of poorly protected environments, test systems that give attackers a look at your code, and why testing in production needs a risk assessment of its own. Bart would rather ask questions than hand out checklists, because a ticked box stops people thinking. He also tells the story of a team with 10,000 end-to-end test cases that ended up needing only 50.

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E74 · 8 Oct 2026 · 18 min
Quality Hunting: Testing for Information Instead of Bugs - Rik Marselis
Quality hunting grew out of Rik Marselis's frustration with bug hunting, and I wanted to know how it works when the goal is information about quality. Rik walks me through a session: teams of about four people, three hours of exploratory testing and a goal agreed up front by asking stakeholders what would help them sleep well at night. He explains why the report structure comes first, why the prize should stay small and why the point just before several sprints go to production suits a hunt well.
E73 · 1 Oct 2026 · 17 min
On-Site Testing Conferences: Why Networking Needs Presence - Okan Çakmak
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 convinced them to keep going.
E72 · 24 Sep 2026 · 23 min
You Need a Test Automation Strategy Before AI - Michaël Pilaeten
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.
E71 · 17 Sep 2026 · 28 min
Agentic Systems in Testing: Why Humans Stay in the Loop - Nishan Portoyan
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 think, they gather information and hand it back, and anyone expecting otherwise will run into…
E70 · 10 Sep 2026 · 21 min
AI in Software Testing Raises the Value of Expert Testers - Olivier Denoo
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 skills I keep coming back to in this conversation are business understanding, communication, and…
E69 · 3 Sep 2026 · 21 min
Lean Management: Why Problem Analysis Beats Quick Fixes - Nirmala Saneechur
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.
E68 · 27 Aug 2026 · 17 min
Performance Monitoring: Set a 70% CPU Alert Before Failure - Rao Dhaligadoo
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 walk in at 1 a.m. while the whole team sits in silence, and how that experience shaped the way…
E67 · 20 Aug 2026 · 34 min
End-to-End Test Automation Without the Maintenance Trap - Lilia Gargouri
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 fifteen well-chosen test cases can outperform five hundred noisy ones, to naming conventions and…
E66 · 13 Aug 2026 · 35 min
API Testing: Agent-Optimized Design Cuts Token Costs - Sebastian Małyska
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 and budget. Sebastian also makes the case that front-end testers are already closer to this…
E65 · 6 Aug 2026 · 26 min
LLMs in Software Testing: Start with Small, Bounded Tasks - Klaudia Dussa-Zieger
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 technical defect message into something a domain tester can actually read.
E64 · 30 Jul 2026 · 21 min
Testing Complex Systems: Ship Small and Learn Fast - Jean Francois Riverin
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 fail" means in practice, and how to make that argument to a manager who still expects predictable…
E63 · 23 Jul 2026 · 25 min
Holistic Engineering: Non-Technical Forces Shape Your Code - Vanessa Formicola
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 technical judgment. I keep coming back to her concept of holistic engineering, which asks us…
E62 · 16 Jul 2026 · 17 min
Children's Book About Testing That Inspired a Future Tester - Kari Kakkonen
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 at a book fair said she wanted testing as a profession after flipping through it. We also touch…
E61 · 9 Jul 2026 · 17 min
TMMI Level 5: How Mature Teams Stop Bugs Before They Exist - Zsolt Hargitai
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 DevOps environments alike. I was also curious about the human side: Zsolt mentions that…
E60 · 2 Jul 2026 · 30 min
Learning and Unlearning with AI: Skills That Outlast Tools - Graziela Tonin
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 be taught and shared. I keep coming back to her point that the rarest and most durable skills…
E59 · 25 Jun 2026 · 25 min
Post-Agile: What Organizations Actually Need Now - Michael Mahlberg
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 decision-making practices borrowed from outside the agile world entirely. What stays with me is Michael's…
E58 · 18 Jun 2026 · 35 min
Tester Skills: Communication Decides Whether Bugs Matter - Tara Walton
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 line of defense. I also ask Tara about career direction, and her answer comes back to something…
E57 · 11 Jun 2026 · 21 min
AI in Regulated Industries: Strategy First in a Medical Lab - Alexis Savkin
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 partners trying to make things safer, and that the real mistake is trying to solve "AI" as one…
E56 · 4 Jun 2026 · 24 min
COBOL Unit Testing: Java Tests Run as Debugger Scripts - Bartosz Filipek, Szymon Wałachowski
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 write assertions in Java than in their own first language. We also get into code coverage,…
E55 · 28 May 2026 · 24 min
Chatbot Testing: Why Bugs Hide in Prompts and Retrieval - Dušanka Lečić
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.
E54 · 21 May 2026 · 24 min
AI-Assisted Testing: Testers Keep Control of the Process - Mitko Mitev
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 might already be too late.
E53 · 14 May 2026 · 29 min
How to Build QA Culture in Your Company - Filip Leszek Barszcz
In this episode, I talk with Filip Barszcz about what most companies get wrong when they claim to have a quality culture. Filip reveals why stakeholders, developers, and product owners all speak different languages when they say "quality" and how he translates between them to build actual buy-in for testing strategy. He walks through his playbook for introducing change without burning out the team: small wins first, honesty about short-term productivity drops, and color-coded tables that make executives eager to invest in QA. If you've ever struggled to get testing taken seriously beyond…
E52 · 7 May 2026 · 19 min
Business Value of Testing: Translate Risk into Money - Marta Firlej
In this episode, I talk with Marta Firlej about a topic most testers avoid: money. Marta explains why understanding how your company actually makes money is crucial for QA professionals, and walks through the real costs behind salaries, automation projects, and test activities that stakeholders care about. She shares a practical calculation method to assess whether test automation is worth the investment, and challenges us to translate testing value into business numbers.
E51 · 30 Apr 2026 · 21 min
Trust in AI Agents Lives in the System Around the Model - Henri Terho
In this episode, I talk with Henri Terho, senior consultant and AI enthusiast, about why building trust in AI systems requires the same rigor we've always applied to software—just now at a whole new level. Henri explains how AI agents multiply both our successes and our mistakes, why prompting is harder than it looks, and why testers are uniquely positioned to thrive in this shift. We dig into the oracle problem, the communication trap, and why your test suite might soon matter more than your codebase.
E50 · 23 Apr 2026 · 23 min
Flaky Tests: Why They Destroy Trust in CI Pipelines - Simon Stewart
In this episode, I talk with Simon Stewart, professional software developer and former lead of the Selenium project for over 10 years, about one of the most frustrating problems in software testing: flaky tests. Simon reveals why a flaky test isn't always a bad test – sometimes it's actually exposing real production risks that your team needs to address. We dive into practical strategies for handling flakiness in CI pipelines, from gatekeeping techniques used at Meta to knowing when it's actually okay to delete tests. You'll learn why assigning ownership to individuals (not teams) is…
E49 · 16 Apr 2026 · 32 min
Mobile Security: From Unencrypted Calls to Overlay Attacks - Bartosz Czernic-Goławski
In this episode, I talk with Bartosz Czernic-Goławski, a penetration testing and cybersecurity expert, about how mobile security has evolved from Nokia's indestructible brick phones to today's pocket-sized computers. We trace the journey from analog networks that anyone could eavesdrop on to modern smartphones that demand excessive permissions and collect sensor data every second. Bartosz reveals how attackers use overlay attacks to steal banking credentials, why iOS users aren't as secure as they think, and what phone freaks in the 1980s can teach us about today's vulnerabilities.
E48 · 9 Apr 2026 · 25 min
Empowering Women in Software Testing - Line Thomsen
In this episode, I talk with Line Ebdrup Thomsen, quality engineering manager, about why software testing attracts more women than other tech roles – and why that's still not enough. Line shares how she coaches testers to be assertive but kind, especially when they're the only woman or the only tester in a team of developers. We discuss what prevents women from speaking up, how curiosity and communication skills matter more than your degree, and why the next generation of leaders might still need a wake-up call.
E47 · 2 Apr 2026 · 22 min
Playwright: Python vs TypeScript, What Actually Differs - Maciej Kusz
In this episode, I talk with Maciej Kusz, program chair of the Testwarez conference in Poland, about why Playwright doesn't have to mean TypeScript. Maciej has been using Playwright with Python for years and shows that Python testers can leverage the framework just as effectively—if they know which PyTest plugins to use and where the documentation actually lives. We dig into the practical trade-offs: what TypeScript does better out of the box, where Python offers more flexibility for QA work beyond the browser, and why stable tests are surprisingly easier to achieve in Python's synchronous…
E46 · 26 Mar 2026 · 27 min
Learning from Failure: Feel It First, Then Analyze - Natalia Romanska
In this episode, I talk with Natalia Romanska about why our biggest professional disasters often teach us more than our polished success stories. She shares how a 70,000 złoty accounting mistake early in her career forced her to develop the self-awareness that now guides her QA work—and why that painful learning stuck harder than any training ever could. We dig into the uncomfortable truth that testers rarely talk about: the gap between knowing we should learn from failures and actually sitting down to extract those lessons. Natalia offers concrete practices for turning blame into growth,…

About Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality Engineering

Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality Engineering is a English business podcast from Richard Seidl | Software Development & Testing Expert. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Richard Seidl | Software Development & Testing Expert
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 24 min
Latest episode: 15 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1816913965
Rights: Richard Seidl

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