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EinsteinGPT by Salesforce
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Salesforce and EinsteinGPT: what’s it all about?
Salesforce and EinsteinGPT: what’s it all about? 768 446 Cordny

When I started my TestingSaaS blog years ago I was inspired by the efforts of Marc Benioff and his Ohana crew at Salesforce. Creating a service online in a new to discover silicon ecosystem.

SaaS and cloud computing, that would be my area for at least a decade. Well, it’s already more than a decade and I’m still cloudbusting.

Digital identity, data science, machine learning and some occasional blockchain. All part of AI aka artificial intelligence. And it’s not stopping yet.

The Rise of Generative AI

Artificial intelligence is already a very interesting field, but AI even has an area which is even more attractive for engineers and even artists: Generative AI. This includes AI tools for creating text, images or even audio.

Let’s start with text. Do you remember the hit at the end of 2022: ChatGPT. That is a tool created by OpenAI.

What is GPT?

ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions, and assist you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and even code. It already has a massive userbase and therefore may have a profound impact on the way we work now and in the future.

But did you know ChatGPT is as implementation part of a bigger family? The GPT family.

GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer which is a family of language models generally trained on a large corpus ( collection) of text data to generate human-like text. Other members are BioGPT and ProtGPT2, which originate from biomedicine and bio-informatics. Yeah, that brings back memories of my time at Wageningen University, but that’s another story.

Ok, back to Salesforce.

Salesforce already used AI with Einstein, built-in intelligence to work smarter with CRM.

And now it has incorporated GPT into its CRM software.

Salesforce answer to Generative AI: Einstein GPT

In the beginning of March Salesforce launched Einstein GPT, the world’s first generative AI CRM technology, delivering AI-created content across every sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT interaction, all at hyperscale. Einstein GPT will use its generative power – through enabling conversational questions with natural-language prompts – to work with Salesforce’s proprietory AI models in the Salesforce ecosystem of partners and the Salesforce Data Cloud.

In this video you can see a peak of Einstein GPT.

That sounds awesome, and I can tell you a lot about its features, but what about its benefits?

The benefits of Einstein GPT

Basically Salesforce Einstein GPT is for every CRM-professional:

  • Service – More customer satisfaction through personalization (automated chat replies and knowledge articles)
  • Sales – Less time lost with automatically generated tasks like meeting scheduling and emails.
  • Marketing – Unique content creation through a data-driven personalization engine
  • Developers – Increase productivity by generated code or answering questions
  • Instant messaging – More productive ad efficient Slack conversations

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Salesforce and the future of AI

Salesforce is in AI for a long time now and will be staying.
New GPT-implementations are already there like GPT-4, which can, next to text, also respond to images, opening a whole set of new possibilities.

I wonder how Salesforce will react to this as a CRM-specialist?

Interesting media about Salesforce Einstein GPT

Do you want to read more about Einstein GPT and GPT in general?

I suggest the following pages:

https://www.salesforceairesearch.com/

https://openai.com/research/overview

Finally, follow this trailhead course too:

https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/einstein-gpt-quick-look/get-started-with-einstein-gpt

…

testdata and software testing
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One of the hardest things in Software Testing
One of the hardest things in Software Testing 870 470 Cordny

When people ask me what the hardest thing in software testing is:

Creating your testdata and then use it wisely.

Testdata, not test automation?
No, because getting the correct testdata for your software testing costs a lot of time, especially when you need lots of data, which is also diverse.

Test automation is also hard, but this is just about automating your tests, not testing it. You first need your testdata, otherwise no test, no test automation.

Luckily we have the knowledge and tools from data science where we can create testdata with, for instance, Python and its libraries.

So, what testdata did you create today for your tests?

PS: Next to this post on TestingSaaS this blogpost was also shared on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cordnynederkoorn_testdata-softwaretesting-datascience-activity-6988401827411021824-ySXd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

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The Holy Grail in Software Testing
The Holy Grail in Software Testing 2560 1920 Cordny

Test automation is not the holy grail in software testing
It’s just a tool to achieve the holy grail.

In my opinion, the holy grail here is quality.

Do you agree?

This was a post I created at LinkedIn last week and it got plenty of attention.

I mentioned 2 well known and great software test professionals, Michael Bolton and James Bach, and to my astonishment they reacted.

The Holy Grail of software testing is the truth about the status of the product.

Truth is my obsession.
Trouble is my faith.
Quality is an unknown country.

James Bach

Quality about product is like finding the Holy Grail. Lots of people are running around trying to achieve that; they’re not sure where the object of their search is; and they’re not sure how they’ll get there.

Neither testing nor automated checking advances the quality of the product. 

Michael Bolton

They said a lot more, but these struck me. You can read more in the comments to my LinkedIn post.

I also liked Jim Hazen’s take on it: It’s Automation, not Automagic. You have to do the magic all by yourself. Well said Jim!

When writing the post I wanted to kick the hornet’s nest as I explained in my following post.

Why this LinkedIn Post on Software Testing and Quality?

It certainly caught some attention and even inspired other posts.

But what was it that I wanted to achieve?

  1. That test automation is not the Holy Grail in Software Testing.
  2. A discussion about quality in software testing. Is it all about quality or the state of the product under test – as a QA engineer I first thought the first, but now I know it’s all about the state. Quality is subjective and different per person who looks at it.

Another thing I learned, kick the hornet’s nest at LinkedIn when you want to know something and people will certainly respond. Or, as Michael Bolton said, did I simply stir the soup and see the ingredients that were out of sight, below the surface?

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Challenges at work? Listen to each other!
Challenges at work? Listen to each other! 1920 1080 Cordny

Listen,

every company has challenges.

Last week a client phoned me.

‘Cordny, I want to make some changes in my software development lifecycle, but I do not get the people aligned.’

‘Why not?’ I ask him.

‘Busy, busy and they hate long meetings.’

‘Oh, I recognize that. Invite the people you want for an afternoonmeeting, 1 hour tops, and say it is important for the fututure of the company. I will join too.’

The meeting was scheduled.

The meeting started and I enter the room. People look at me.

‘Who is this bloke?’

My client starts to tell his story, but does not mention me. He wants to modernize the software development, but thinks there is no unity.

Immediately a developer reacts: ‘We need state of the art tooling.’

A scrum master reacts: ‘No, we need to look at the process.’

A discussion erupts, people are talking all at once. It is a mess.

I stand up and walk to the whiteboard and write on it:

LISTEN!!!

Everybody stops talking.

I introduce myself, Cordny from TestingSaaS, and explain my client’s issue.

Then I ask everybody to tell their story in 5 minutes max. The rest should listen and keep their mouth shut. During the storytelling I write down some keywords I hear.

After 30 minutes everybody had their talk. I return to the whiteboard and write the keywords on it.

Everyone pays attention. Not only to me and the whiteboard. No, also to each other.

The next step is connecting the keywords. Promptly action points are discussed in a proper manner without anyone interfering or raising their voice.

Now they listen to each other.

My client is happy. I am happy.

Fixate IO logo
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6 Years at Fixate, thank you!
6 Years at Fixate, thank you! 200 200 Cordny

Time flies!

Six years ago I was asked by Chris Riley ☁ if I would be interested in writing DevOps articles for their clients.
I knew a bit of DevOps and loved it’s culture theme so I took the challenge.

Every time I progressed in my writing and my DevOps knowledge and although I am not a DevOps pro, at least not in my function description 😉, I learned more about technical writing and also writing for clients.

Fast forward 2 years and I thought, why not combine #softwaretesting with #technicalwriting as a business and voila, TestingSaaS was founded.

Fast forward 4 years, my company is still alive and kicking with happy customers.
For about 2 days a week (I’m also employed at the awesome growing BlueConic ) I’m there for my customers to keep the quality of their software and documentation healthy.

A spark was needed and it came from Fixate IO. Yes I’m grateful, thank you!

PS: the last year was busy, but I promise, new articles will come Debi Davis

NFT Tarantino blockchain screenwriting script Pulp Fiction movies
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Blockchain meets screenwriting
Blockchain meets screenwriting 1612 481 Cordny

The last months I invested my time heavily on 2 areas, which seemed not related to each other: blockchain and screenwriting.
Well, not exactly.
In november Quentin Tarantino announced a planned sale of NFT’s, or “non-fungible tokens,” based off of his original hand-written script of Pulp Fiction.

So in 2022, expect some more of me regarding this extraordinary combination.

PS: Miramax, the production company behind Pulp Fiction filed suit against Tarantino. The company accuses him of violating the company’s copyright and trademark, and it’s demanding a halt to the upcoming sale.

To be continued…

Picture of Ernest Hemingway
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Social Media Writing with the Iceberg Theory
Social Media Writing with the Iceberg Theory 200 200 Cordny

Telling the story of your company is very important. Lots of SaaS companies use social media for this. LinkedIn, Facebook and also Instagram are excellent distributors of your story. At TestingSaaS we use it lot.

But, beware! Users of social media are impatient. If a story is too dull, they click or swipe to the next one.

So you have to get your story told in a quick and amusing way.

And because social media, next to the graphics and videos, makes use of short texts, you need to know how to write these. Why not use the same technique as is used in writing short stories: the famous Iceberg Theory of Ernest Hemingway. No, you do not need to be chased by Spanish bulls or have to shoot an elephant. It describes Hemingwway’s writing style.

What is the Iceberg Theory?

Why is it called the Iceberg Theory?

Well, it’s really about the iceberg. When you look at an iceberg, what do you see? The top! The other bigger part is under the water, which you can’t see.

Hemingway adapted this in his story by omitting everything that did not contribute to the story. His opinion was the reader could interpret this themselves and further construct the story.

Hemingway mentioned the Iceberg Theory in his famous book about bull fighting ‘Death in the Afternoon’:

 ” If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.”

For Hemingway, the actions of the characters should clarify the tensions felt in in the story, without explicitly mentioning them. Hemingway used his journalistic skills to accomplish this. Examples are the omission of adjectives and using short and crispy sentences.

The link with Social Media Writing

Awesome, but how is this related to telling my SaaS story on social media?

Social media stories are short and you have to use less words to tell your story. A great exercise for the Iceberg Theory. If you do it well, your story will be remembered by the reader who will then follow you for more stories. Voila, a follower.

In short, Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory is a great technique to promote your SaaS company, or any company, on social media.

Have a go! I’d love to hear your experiences.

what is a swipe file?
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No Inspiration for your SaaS Website? Use a Swipe File
No Inspiration for your SaaS Website? Use a Swipe File 1424 744 Cordny
what is a swipe file and how can you create 1
credits: https://martech.org/content-creation-swipe-files-inspiration-tools-organization/

You have a SaaS startup and you are busy as hell. Designing the application, getting funding, and you also need to market your SaaS solution. You only have 24 hours in a day and especially marketing lags behind. It takes too much time to create content for your marketing. How is it possible other SaaS startups, especially the succesfull ones, have great websites, articles and ads? And they also attract many visitors who convert into clients. Are they so good in copywriting? No! You know how they do it? They use a swipe file. What is that? Read all about it here on TestingSaaS.

What is a Swipe File?

A swipe file is a set of writing examples you can find on- and offline. Examples are websites, blogs, advertising, news letters, e-mails, editorials, you name it. A swipe file is even not restricted to copywriting. Songwriters and novel writers also rely on a swipe file when they are out of inspiration.

What is the Goal of a Swipe File?

First of all, a swipe file is not meant to copy from your competitors. The main goal is to get inspiration from this file and enhance your writing skills. You could for instance develop a template from a set of succesfull ads for a SaaS application similar to yours. Companies like Salesforce, Microsoft and Amazon have great ads which can inspire you for your SaaS ad. Great, but how do I create a swipe file?

How do you Create a Swipe File

Tha’s quite easy. Create a directory called SWIPE on your PC, laptop or tablet. This can be done on- or offline. In this directory you collect all your inspiring examples. You can even make subdirectories like social media ads, blogs, editorials etc. to categorize your examples.

The Advantages of a Swipe File

The most important advantage is you can always tun on your swipe file when you are out of inspiration. Is it hard to create a Facebook ad? Just look at examples in your swipe file.

You can save your swipe file locally, offline, on your device, but why not online? This way you can manage the swipe file anytime and anywhere. Working online also increases the collaboration with others.

Are there tools for online management of your swipe file? Yes, there are!

Tools for Swipe Files

Google Keep, Dropbox or the popular tool Evernote are great tools. These tools enable you to manage your swipefile anywhere anytime. Now you will never have to be afraid you can’t collect a great headline you can use for your SaaS marketing.

Examples of Swipe Files

Onlne there are many examples of swipe files. For my SaaS marketing I use swiped.co a lot. It really assists me to create a great SaaS content marketing campaign for my clients.

Now you have the basics for making your swipe file. Have fun!

What is the connection between IKEA, playful learning and TestingSaaS?
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Playful learning at TestingSaaS
Playful learning at TestingSaaS 1440 710 Cordny

What has playful learning at Ikea have in common with TestingSaaS?

Yesterday I read an article on the Dutch mtsprout.nl about IKEA and how Bas Van De Poel, creative director SPACE10, IKEA’s innovation lab, looks for answers for tomorrow’s business questions and creating a better everyday life.

With the Ikea Place app Space10 revolutionized shopping for furniture by placing the furniture immersed in your own living room.

How? By augmented reality.

Ikea and Augmented Reality

Space10 saw this opportunity when in 2016 Apple announced the launch of ARKIT for iOS11 and development started.

Together with the Dutch TWNKLS, a PTC company. they made this opportunity a reality and created the augmented reality Ikea Place app.

“Having all these different minds on the project made the difference.

It meant we all pushed each other to our limits.”

Daniel van der Schoor, manager at TWNKLS

Great Cordny, but why are you so interested in this?

Not only because it’s about augmented reality or the Ikea brand.

Playful Learning and TestingSaaS

No, I’m interested in how Space10 fosters innovation.

Not with thick and elaborate research reports, but through playful research.

Like Space10 and Bas van de Poel I want to make research accessible to more people.

How? By first visualizing it. For this, augmented reality is a great method.

It’s key to combine the hard facts with appealing and simple graphics.

I do now want the reader to become an instant academic, but let him experience

the process of the research.

Frankly that’s what I have dome with TestingSaaS from the beginning:

show the reader what the online application is all about.

Software testing, security, data science, blockchain… I do not mind the subject.

I want to give the reader the experience.

How? By first experiencing it myself, write about it and give it to the world through a

manual, whitepaper, blog, case study or even in augmented and virtual reality.

Who knows? Maybe one of my readers will become inspired and create

the next innovative app or device.

Just like the companies I test for and write about.

Do you have a new innovative app like the IKEA’s augmented reality app Space?

Do you NOT want boring and extensive documentation your prospects do not like when onboarding and walk away?

Let’s have a chat and see how I can help you create documentation for your app your future customers will certainly like.

My first experience testing Google Assistant with the chatbot testtool Botium
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Getting practical with Botium: Testing Google Assistant
Getting practical with Botium: Testing Google Assistant 1394 818 Cordny

How did I end up with testing Google Assistant with Botium?

During my daily software tests I verify a lot of SaaS apps and platforms.

Examples are Chatbots and virtual assistants.

And recently, clients asked me more about testing Google Assistant.

This can be done manually. This takes a long time and errors can occur when testing the same cases over a longer period of time. 

Is it also possible to use test automation?

Yes, with the help of Botium.

This article shows my first experiences when testing Google Assistant automatically with Botium.

But first what is Google Assistant?

What is Google Assistant?

Google Assistant is Google’s voice assistant. By voice commands, voice searching, and voice-activated device control you can finish a number of tasks after you’ve said the “OK Google” or “Hey Google” wake words. Conversational interactions through text or speech is its main goal, making Google Assistant a chatbot.

After the wake words you can start talking to Google without using a ‘trigger word’. Google listens and gives a response.

Google can even recognize different voices, knowing who is talking to it and responding accordingly. 

You can also ask for multiple things in one sentence.

Great, now we know what Google Assistant is. 

But do we want to test Google Assistant manually – with our own voice, or multiple voices – or can this testing be done automatically? 

Yes, by using Botium, the tool for Testing, training and quality assurance for chatbots.

What is Botium?

Selenium is the de-facto-standard for testing web applications. 

Appium is the de-facto-standard for testing smartphone applications. 

Botium is the de-facto-standard for testing conversational AI. 

And just as Selenium and Appium, Botium is free and Open Source, and available on Github.

I can tell you a lot about Botium’s architecture, but that’s out of scope for this article.

Next to testing the conversation flow of a chatbot you can do a lot more:

  • Testing NLP model of a chatbot
  • E2E testing of a chatbot based on Selenium and Appium
  • Load- and Stress testing
  • GDPR testing
  • Security testing
  • CI/CD integration (Jenkins, Bamboo, Azure DevOps Pipelines, IBM Toolchain, …)
  • and many more

For now we will focus on testing Google Assistant with Botium.

How can I test Google Assistant with Botium?

Instead of thinking how I could test Google Assistant with Botium I did a very modern thing.

I Googled the question.

And I got lucky. Botium already made a video on this with the appropriate name ‘Setting Up a Google Assistant Project in Botium Box’

Awesome, now I can copy this completely for my own testing.

The steps in Google Actions, Assistant and Botium are very straightforward.

And soon I was making my own Botium tests and creating scripts for testing Google Assistant.

But, as with all software, it is not always as easy as it seems.

My experiences with Testing Google Assistant with Botium

From what I saw when testing Google Assistant, Botium as a tool is very intuitive.

What I really like is that you can see and hear (!)  the results as they occur when using Google Assistant. Just search in your test result for the following links.

The sound and screen-links overlap, but that’s a cosmetic issue.

The important thing is, it works. 

You can hear the text as it is displayed by using the play button as seen above.

And by clicking the weblink you are forwarded to a page resembling the results you get when using Google Assistant.

One of the things I noticed when testing Google Assistant it can be different in their response than what you expected.

For example, see this result after saying ‘Hallo’ to Google Assistant:

Always update your testcases regularly, Google Assistant is changing fast, and as you can see, it even gets more personalized.

Also, what happens when the answer to your question can be random? Better said, the answer can be given in a different sequence.

Google Assistant will give appropriate prompts, depending on the question you ask.

But see what happens when I ask Google Assistant via Botium the following question:

‘Who is Jack Nicholson’?

Great, the testcase worked fine, but let’s see what happens when I repeat this testcase?

In the second test different buttons appear in the result, failing the testcase.

Now you can delete the expected test results from your Botium code in your testcase, but remember you are testing a voice assistant and Google Assistant returns these buttons so you can click them for more information or an answer to a question.

Therefore in Botium you really have to define your testcases and their expected results to avoid situations like this.

Wrap up

This article showed my first experience testing Google Assistant with Botium.

These results are not exhaustive, I only mentioned the findings important when testing Google Assistant with Botium for the first time.

Other future test cases could be multiple voice testing, asking multiple questions at the same time etc. But that’s for a future article.

Botium is intuitive, easy to use and can be used for different testing processes with chatbots.

As with every tool, you have to stay critical as a real tester should be.

Test automating a chatbot is never easy, but with Botium you have a great tool to work with.

It should be in every chatbot tester’s toolbox!

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