Speaking

I speak at testing conferences worldwide about the messy, human parts of software quality, the things that don’t fit neatly into test plans or automation frameworks. My talks explore how cognitive biases shape our testing decisions, how systems thinking helps us find bugs that matter, and how to lead quality work without formal authority. I also speak about AI in testing, training new testers, and why real-world edge cases are more interesting than the ones we plan for.

I’ve keynoted at Agile Testing Days (Potsdam and Chicago), TestCoast (Gothenburg), Testing Portugal (Lisbon), Testing United (Vienna), and Romanian Testing Conference (Cluj-Napoca), and I regularly facilitate workshops on practical testing topics.

upcoming engagements

American Mensa Annual Gathering (Fort Worth, Texas) · July 2026
Leadership Development Workshop: boundaries as a volunteer

CAST (Cocoa Beach, Florida) · August 2026
Workshop with Carl Kibler: sticky feedback

dev2next (Lone Tree, Colorado) · October 2026
Keynote: leadership as an individual contributor
Talk: empathy for real life

Agile Testing Days (Potsdam, Germany) · November 2026
Workshop with Carl Kibler: sticky feedback
Bonus session: Women and Non-binary People in Tech forum

topics I speak on

empathy for real life
Empathy for users on the worst day of their lives. How to make bad software suck less by considering the people who use it when everything is going wrong, because for someone, somewhere, your edge case is their Tuesday.

leadership as an individual contributor
You don’t need a title to lead. This talk focuses on how to get things done, influence without authority, and use adaptive leadership concepts to drive change from wherever you sit in the organization.

the questions we ask
What testers actually do, namely, ask the right questions at the right time, shift left, shift right, and advocate for quality throughout the development lifecycle. And if your company decides to go without testers, here’s how to make sure the work still happens.

sticky feedback
How to give feedback and contribute in ways that… stick. What you say matters, but so does when you say it, since the same words land differently in planning, a design review, or a retro. This introduces a new framework for interpersonal feedback.

AI in testing
Practical prompt engineering for testers, how to use AI tools effectively in your testing work, from generating test data to exploring edge cases to writing better documentation.

training new testers
Teaching people to test means meeting them where they are, not where you want them to be. This talk is about compassion in training, understanding different learning styles, and shaping testers who can think critically from day one.

systems thinking
An introduction to systems thinking and why it matters for testers. How understanding feedback loops, emergent behavior, and interconnections helps you find bugs that matter and test more strategically.

AI in the world
The broader implications of AI beyond testing. I explore both the promise (personal assistants, medical applications) and the risks (bias, misuse, overreliance) of AI systems as they become more embedded in our lives.

cognitive bias
How our brains trick us while we’re testing. I cover specific biases like anchoring and availability bias, the difference between lateral and vertical thinking, and how recognizing our biases is the first step to better testing decisions.

keynotes

Agile Testing Days 2025 (Potsdam, Germany)
Orchestrating Chaos Into a Symphony

TestCoast 2025 (Gothenburg, Sweden)
AI: Utopia or Dystopia? (with Lena Wiberg)

Testing Portugal 2024 (Lisbon, Portugal)
Real Life Is Not an Edge Case

Testing United 2024 (Vienna, Austria)
AI: The Good, the Bad, and the Bias

Romanian Testing Conference 2024 (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Real Life Is Not an Edge Case

Mini-CAST 2021 (virtual)
Real Life Is Not an Edge Case (recording ) (not really my best work)

Agile Testing Days USA 2019 (Chicago, Illinois)
Real Life Is Not an Edge Case (slides )

talks

CAST 2025 (Salt Lake City, Utah)
systems thinking applied to testing (recording )

Agile Testing Days 2024 (Potsdam, Germany)
“The Owl Problem” (musical performance)

Agile Testing Days 2024 (Potsdam, Germany)
leadership as an individual contributor

PNSQC 2024 (Portland, Oregon)
training new software testers (recording )

Xpanxion QA Summit 2021 (Salt Lake City, Utah)
the questions we ask (recording )

panels

Xpanxion QA Summit 2021 (Salt Lake City, Utah)
skills testers need (recording )

workshops

Testing Portugal 2024 (Lisbon, Portugal)
using AI in testing

PNSQC 2024 (Portland, Oregon)
using AI in testing (with Carl Kibler)

Agile Testing Days 2023 (Potsdam, Germany)
using AI in testing (with Lisa Crispin)

CAST 2019 (Cocoa Beach, Florida)
cognitive biases in testing (with Lisa Crispin)

CAST 2018 (Cocoa Beach, Florida)
mobile testing (with Carl Kibler)

community & beyond

Speaking isn’t only a tech thing for me. I also give talks at non-engineering gatherings.

European Mensas Annual Gathering 2024 (Bucharest, Romania)
Lessons Learned in Polyamory

Mensa World Gathering 2021 (Houston, Texas)
Real Traits of Hogwarts Houses

American Mensa Annual Gathering 2018 (Phoenix, Arizona)
Rational Rebellion in Harry Potter

LeakyCon 2016 (Austin, Texas)
Rational Rebellion in Harry Potter

program committees

Agile Testing Days 2025 (Potsdam, Germany)

CAST 2025 (Salt Lake City, Utah)

podcasts

Testing Peers (March 2026)
women in testing (for International Women’s Day)

Testing Peers  (February 2026)
organizational change

Testing Peers  (December 2025)
Twelve Bugs of Christmas

Testing Peers  (November 2025)
getting started in quality

BrowserStack Talks  (October 2025)
shaping careers, community, AI

Leading With Quality  (July 2025)
how SeekWell does quality (behind a paywall)

Testing Peers  (July 2025)
accessibility

Testing Peers  (June 2025)
making work visible

RTC Shift Happens  (January 2025)
smattering of stuff

The Testing Show  (August 2024)
Crowdstrike

The Tester’s Table  (July 2024)
what testers need to be relevant

Pepe’s Bar  (June 2024)
the Owl Problem musical teaser

The Testing Show  (September 2021)
QA Summit post game wrap-up

The Testing Show  (September 2021)
QA Summit pre-game show

The Testing Show  (March 2021)
intersection of quality and testing

The Testing Show  (August 2020)
cognitive bias

The Testing Show  (August 2019)
women in tech

The Testing Show  (April 2019)
stress cases and empathy

testimonials

“Smashing and inspiring experience report. I enjoyed the extended metaphor at its heart — and will take away a long-term learning in ‘Disciplined listening looks magic’”

“I enjoyed this keynote, great story weaved into it, good content that resonated well. ‘Quality is not just about preventing bugs. it’s about protecting trust.’”

“One of my two favourite keynotes this year. Great speaker and stage presence, important points made tangible with the music analogies.”

“I loved Rachel’s stage presence and way of delivery! True keynote speaker. She dropped lots of insights and wisdom, combined with real stories. I really like how the transformation at her company reveal tangible advice for everyone who wants to affect change.”

“Shared her experiences and communicated the big takeaways as she went. Lots of people can relate to the challenges she faced and she gave practical, achievable solutions to them. I liked the orchestra analogy.”

“Speaker is really pleasant to listen to and can keep the engagement for the whole hour, which is nice.”

“Super Keynote, loved the comparison between music and testing”

“Amazing talk! Super relevant. I was able to relate to most of the described content that needs to be handled.”

“Speaker gave a really personal perspective on being a trainer/leader in the testing space.”

“Awesome presentation! Bring Rachel back again! Very clear presentation”

photos

speaker bio

Rachel Kibler is an international keynote speaker about software testing and a self-styled “Discoverer of the Broken”. She has been testing software since 2016, after pursuing careers in law and entrepreneurship. Her analytical thinking and creative spirit have been a good fit for testing. Rachel has been part of multiple agile transformations, diving in to improve processes by putting people first. She is tenacious in her constant pursuit of a better way. She enjoys the challenges of building new things, improving old things, and bettering herself as a tester and a human. Rachel currently works as a senior quality engineer at SeekWell, which sells contact lenses and glasses online. She is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she sings semi-professionally, knits for fun, and travels as much as she can.