Mike Bland

The Convergence of Wills (Surge 2016 Edition)

The video of the Surge 2016 version of "The Convergence of Wills", probably my favorite iteration of the talk so far, is now available. Plus a bonus go-script-bash lightning talk!

- Alexandria
Tags: Bash, Google, Test Mercenaries, Testing Grouplet, Testing on the Toilet, dev tools, go script, programming, technical

Last month I was honored to speak at the Surge 2016 conference produced by OmniTI. I delivered what’s probably my favorite version of the “Google and the Government” talk I’ve given so far, and not just because I try to tweak and improve it with every iteration. This time it felt like I struck the right balance between all the things I wanted to say, and I had ample time to say them without rushing. In addition to speaking, I also got to meet tons of interesting new folks and attend lots of fantastic talks that definitely enriched my awareness of various technical and cultural issues. Thanks so much to Robert Treat for inviting me, and to Holly Beer and the entire OmniTI Surge crew for making it such a well-run, wonderful experience.

That said, I’m not sure I’ll ever give the talk again. I mean, if someone asks me to, sure, I will be happy to do so as always. I believe that I tell an important story that is overflowing with important ideas, and it gives the Testing Grouplet in particular the recognition it deserves. But at this point, I feel like it’s doubtful that’ll happen, and I’m not going to actively seek another audience for it. Though I’m still trying to figure out my next career move, I’m eager to move forward rather than continuing to revisit the past, at least for the time being.

Still, I’m pleased to announce that the video of “The Convergence of Wills (Surge 2016 Edition)” is now available:

The slides for “The Convergence of Wills (Surge 2016 Edition)” are available as well.

And as a bonus, at Nathen Harvey’s open invitation, I decided completely spur-of-the-moment to jump in near the end of the Lightning Talks session to pitch my go-script-bash framework:

Here’s the direct link to my go-script-bash lightning talk.

A confession: I’ve never actually watched any of my other talk videos. Don’t know why. But I just watched the entire lightning talk while writing this post and…maybe it’s now my favorite talk I’ve ever given.