Brian Osman

When I first came across agile, I was perplexed - people standing up to speak, post-it notes everywhere, and something called scrum. But this seemingly weird way of working stuck with me. I took some of the techniques and applied them to the software testing projects I was working on at the time.

It wasn’t until later on in my journey that I saw the real power of agile. I was part of an organisation that used the Extreme Programming (XP) agile framework. The short feedback loops and open communication really made a difference, and for the first time in my career, I didn’t feel burdened by bureaucracy and process.

I started speaking at events about bringing agility into the world of software testing, and a highlight was doing a talk at the world’s largest software testing conference, Star West.

Agile is a natural fit for me because I’ve always been comfortable with ambiguity. But agile isn’t chaos. It’s about cutting through the noise to achieve clarity.

As a trainer and coach at SoftEd, I try to bring the human side of agile to life in the classroom. Rather than teaching scrum or Kanban by the book, I love weaving in stories that give a broader perspective of agile.

I’m a Kiwi living in Australia, so it goes without saying that I love rugby, and you may even hear a few rugby analogies thrown into my talks! My other passion is producing a podcast with my brother-in-law called Epich Aotearoa. We chat with aspiring Kiwi entrepreneurs and others around the world who have made a positive impact.

My certifications:

• BBBST^® Black-Box Software Testing Foundations, Association for Software Testing
• BBST^® Bug Advocacy, Association for Software Testing
• ISTQB^® Advanced Level Test Analyst (CTAL-TA)
• ISTQB^® Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst (CTAL-TTA)
• ISTQB^® Advanced Level Test Manager (CTAL-TM)
• Rapid Software Testing Explored, RST
• Rapid Software Testing for Managed, RST
• ICAgile Certified Professional (ICP)
• ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Testing (ICP-TST)
• ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF)
• ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC)