As a person who is living in Japan and experiencing its rich culture daily, and having over 15 years of expertise in Quality Assurance, I want to merge these two fantastic worlds in this talk. I will present a unique perspective on solving modern QA challenges through analogies inspired by Japanese practices and philosophy. Modern QA struggles to keep up with rapid changes while ensuring reliability, accuracy, and scalability. These challenges call for creative solutions that blend discipline, adaptability, and mastery.

Japanese culture offers profound lessons in approaching challenges with deliberation, elegance, and mastery. Japan is also the birthplace of the quality revolution, inspiring methodologies like Toyota Production Systems, Lean, and Kaizen, and hosting figures like W. Edwards Deming. To tackle modern QA challenges, let’s draw inspiration from Japanese traditions and philosophies, using relatable and memorable analogies to reframe our approach. From the fox as a symbol of verification to the Torii gates representing quality checkpoints, and Ikebana teaching balance and harmony in test design, we’ll uncover deep insights. We’ll draw lessons from the tea ceremony’s deliberate effort, origami’s creativity, and kaizen’s continuous improvement. Analogies like kintsugi for fixing test smells, bonsai for early attention in shift-left testing, and noodles symbolizing sustainable tests will make these concepts both practical and memorable. This blend of cultural wisdom and QA methodologies promises a unique and engaging perspective.

By merging Japanese cultural wisdom with QA practices, we can find innovative, meaningful solutions to modern challenges. This session will leave participants with practical takeaways and a fresh perspective to apply to their testing journeys.

Mesut Durukal brings almost 2 decades of expertise across several domains. Skilled in CMMI, Scrum, and PMP methodologies, he has held key roles in multinational projects. Mesut specializes in test automation and CI/CD integration for continuous testing, alongside establishing test strategies and overseeing the testing lifecycle to ensure high-quality project outcomes. He is also a frequent international speaker, the best presentation award winner, a community builder and a member of various program committees.