• Gmail Mic Drop (2016)
  Google launched a prank button that sent a mic-drop GIF and muted threads. A bug made it replace the normal “Send” for some users leading to accidental mic drops in serious conversations. Disabled within hours.

• The 🚀 Emoji Crash
  A single emoji caused a consistent app crash due to a Unicode handling issue. Temporary fix: no emojis allowed in production.

• The Phantom Mouse
  A “ghost bug” with random clicks turned out to be a low-battery wireless mouse interfering with input. Not all bugs are in the code.

• Burger Emoji Debate 🍔
  Users noticed that Google placed the cheese under the patty in its burger emoji, while Apple (and others) placed it on top. The internet debated which was “correct,” and the discussion went viral—prompting Sundar Pichai to joke that he’d “drop everything” to fix it. A small visual detail turned into a public QA moment.

Got a story like this?

📣 PNSQC Call for Papers is open — deadline approaching

Whether it’s:

• a failure that taught you everything

• a fix that saved the system

• or a lesson others shouldn’t learn the hard way

This is exactly what the community wants to hear.

Why submit?

• Peer-reviewed and published paper

• Support and feedback for first-time authors

• Real technical depth (no marketing fluff)

• Travel stipend + Best Paper awards

Bottom line:
If you’ve solved a real quality problem, you already have a talk.

The PNSQC 2026 Call for Papers closes in just one month.

🗓 October 12–14, 2026
📍 Portland, OR + Online

If you’ve been thinking about submitting, now is the time.

Submit your papers

🎙️ PNSQChronicles – Season 3, Episode 1

With Great Judgment Comes Great Responsibility

In the Season 3 kickoff, Michael Larsen talks with Paul Grizzaffi (FreedomPay) about what it means to be a quality professional in the age of AI.

Key idea: Automation is powerful but judgment is irreplaceable.
From hidden AI risks to testing systems we don’t fully understand, the “human in the loop” matters more than ever.

📍 See Paul live at PNSQC 2026, Oct 12–14 in Portland, OR.

Register to Attend

📅 Upcoming Events

Fireside Chat with PNSQC Authors

🗓 Thursday, April 2 · 5:30–7:30 PM PDT

📍 Virtual (Zoom)

Thinking about submitting a paper but not sure where to start?

Join Ying Ki Kwong and Gwendolyn Avington, along with experienced PNSQC authors, for a casual session designed to:

• Demystify the proposal process

• Explain what reviewers are looking for

• Walk through the journey from abstract to final paper

Register for Fireside Chat

April Meetup: AI-Augmented Manual Testing (with PLUS QA)

🗓 Wednesday, April 22 · 6:00–8:00 PM PDT
📍 Portland, OR + Online (Hybrid)

Hosted by PLUS QA, this session features:

• Ryan Wilder (VP, PLUS QA)

• Gianni Zamora (Lead Dev, PLUS QA)

Learn how AI is being integrated into real-world manual testing workflows enhancing human expertise.

RSPV:

• meetup.com

• luma.com

Subscribe now

PNSQC 2026: Keynotes Announced

We’re excited to share the first look at keynote speakers for PNSQC 2026—bringing together thought leaders shaping the future of quality, AI, and software engineering.

🎤 Keynote Speakers

• Jonathon Wright
  The AI Assurance Imperative: Quality Engineering for the Agentic Era

• Paul Grizzaffi
  With Great Judgement Comes Great Responsibility

• Maaret Pyhäjärvi
  Better Together: Humans, AI, and the Next Quality Benchmark

• Florian Rohde
  Inside Tesla: The Birth of the Software-Defined Vehicle and Quality in the Age of Autonomy

🌟 Invited Speakers & Special Guests

• Kristine O’Connor
  Signal Before the Storm: How Quality Intelligence Can Stop Harm Before it Becomes Irreversible

• Anna Sharpe
  My Year of Living with AI

• Millan Kaul (TBA)

• Jason Arbon (TBA)

• Tariq King (TBA)

• Anne-Louise Sterry (TBA)

📣 Call for Papers — Deadline Approaching

The PNSQC 2026 Call for Papers closes in just one month.

🗓 October 12–14, 2026
📍 Portland, OR + Online

If you’ve been thinking about submitting, now is the time.

Submit your paper

📅 Upcoming Events

Fireside Chat with PNSQC Authors

🗓 Thursday, April 2 · 5:30–7:30 PM PDT

📍 Virtual (Zoom)

Thinking about submitting a paper but not sure where to start?

Join Ying Ki Kwong and Gwendolyn Avington, along with experienced PNSQC authors, for a casual session designed to:

• Demystify the proposal process

• Explain what reviewers are looking for

• Walk through the journey from abstract to final paper

Register for Fireside Chat

April Meetup: AI-Augmented Manual Testing (with PLUS QA)

🗓 Wednesday, April 22 · 6:00–8:00 PM PDT
📍 Portland, OR + Online (Hybrid)

Hosted by PLUS QA, this session features:

• Ryan Wilder (VP, PLUS QA)

• Gianni Zamora (Lead Dev, PLUS QA)

Learn how AI is being integrated into real-world manual testing workflows enhancing human expertise.

RSPV:

• meetup.com

• luma.com

Subscribe now

Call for Papers Closes in One Month

The Call for Proposals for PNSQC 2026 closes in just one month.

🗓 October 12–14, 2026
📍 Portland, OR + Online

If you’ve been thinking about submitting now’s the time.

https://meetinghand.com/e/pnsqc-2026/abstract

Workshops Are Here

PNSQC 2026 workshops are designed as hands-on, practical sessions—focused on skills you can apply immediately in your work.

AI & Modern Systems

Learn how to test systems that are no longer predictable, static, or fully human-controlled.

• AI Agentic Testing: AI Augmented Testing — Jonathon Wright

• A Quality Engineering Introduction to AI and Machine Learning — Tariq King

• Testing the Next Generation of AI-Based Software — Jason Arbon

Collaboration & Engineering Practices

Explore collaborative testing and scalable automation beyond “works on my machine.”

• Social Software Testing Approaches — Maaret Pyhäjärvi

• Testing Beyond Your Laptop with GitHub Actions — Juan de Dios Delgado Bernal

Strategy, Models & Leadership

From lightweight modeling to leadership in AI-driven organizations.

• Using Models to Define Test Plans — Wayne Roseberry

• Integrate The Model Context Protocol (MCP) into your workflow — Joe Petsche

• Quality Leadership in 2026: A Managers’ Forum on Today’s Hardest Problems — Philip Lew

🌐 Workshops details: https://pnsqc.org/conference/2026/workshops/

Subscribe now

Software systems are evolving faster than our quality practices. AI agents generate code, pipelines deploy without human approval, infrastructure heals itself, algorithms make business decisions, and systems adapt in production. Software is no longer just a tool, it is becoming an autonomous actor.
This raises a critical question: what does quality mean when software acts on its own?

That question is at the heart of #𝐏𝐍𝐒𝐐𝐂 2026: 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲.

You don’t need to be a professional speaker or academic researcher. If you’ve been wrestling with questions about AI, automation, software quality, security, processes, or testing pipelines, your perspective could be valuable to the community.

You can submit two types of proposals:
- 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 & 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — an 8–10 page peer-reviewed paper and a presentation at the conference.
- 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 — share an emerging idea, experiment, or question and discuss it informally with attendees.

We’re looking for practical experience, experiments, and case studies from people working with modern software systems, including AI, but not limited to it. This can include building, testing, and maintaining large and complex codebases, using AI in development, or adapting quality practices as systems become more automated and autonomous. Topics range from testing adaptive software and AI-assisted development to governance, security, and defining the role of human oversight.
If autonomy is changing how you build, test, or deploy software, your experience could help the community navigate this shift.

October 12–14, 2026
Portland, Oregon
Submit your proposal: https://www.pnsqc.org/cfp

Subscribe now

We’re excited to share that INTERFACE Portland will host Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) on the exhibit floor this year.

INTERFACE Portland is a one-day technology conference bringing together experts and practitioners in cybersecurity, infrastructure, cloud, AI, and IT leadership. PNSQC will have a space on the exhibit floor to connect with attendees and share more about our community and upcoming conference.

📅 March 2026
📍 Portland, Oregon

PNSQC members can attend for free and earn up to 7 CPE credits.

If you’re in the Portland area, this is a great opportunity to network, learn, and represent the PNSQC community.

👉 Register here:
https://f2fevents.com/register/?att=PDX&ref=Association&par=PNSQC

Learn more about the event agenda:
https://f2fevents.com/event/pdx26/

Quality in the Age of Autonomy - Submit your Proposal!

The Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference 2026 is now accepting proposals.

📅 October 12–14, 2026
📍 Portland, Oregon

Software systems are no longer just tools — they are becoming autonomous actors.

• AI agents generate code.

• Pipelines deploy without human approval.

• Systems learn and adapt in production.

• Infrastructure self-heals.

• Algorithms make business decisions.

Autonomy is accelerating.

So the question becomes:
What does quality mean when software acts on its own?

**Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference invites practitioners, researchers, and engineering leaders to help explore and define quality in this new era.

📣 Submit your proposal: www.pnsqc.org/cfp
Help shape Quality in the Age of Autonomy.

Subscribe now

Join the PNSQC Slack Community

We’re building an active and engaged quality community on Slack and we’d love for you to be part of it!

Whether you’re in engineering, testing, DevOps, AI, leadership, or academia, this is a space to:

• Connect with peers

• Share ideas and resources

• Discuss quality challenges

• Stay up to date on conference news

👉 Join us here:
https://join.slack.com/t/pnsqc/shared_invite/zt-3qa2mbvwy-BYqF1~0UVg9vg3O2Q6qrmw

Let’s grow the quality conversation together.

Call for Proposals Is Open!

The Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) Call for Proposals is open!

https://meetinghand.com/e/pnsqc-2026/welcome

Why Submit a Proposal?

PNSQC is not a typical commercial conference.

If your proposal is accepted, you will:

✔ Speak at one of the longest-running quality conferences in the U.S.
✔ Work with experienced reviewers to refine your paper
✔ Publish a peer-reviewed paper in the permanent PNSQC Proceedings
✔ Receive free admission to the 2-day technical program
✔ Build professional credibility

This is a supportive environment for both first-time and experienced speakers.

We welcome voices from:

• Engineering

• Testing

• DevOps

• Security

• Architecture

• AI/ML

• Management & Leadership

• Academia

• Independent Consulting

If you’ve been thinking about sharing your experience, lessons learned, or research, this is your opportunity.

February Meetup Recordings Now Available

The recordings from the Job Hiring Talks at PNSQC’s February Meetup are now available on our YouTube channel!

Jeremy Elwood presented “The Paradox of Plenty” and shared insights from the hiring side of a job posting.

Heather Wilcox delivered “Build Your Resume to Stand Out!” with practical advice on getting past AI resume screening systems.

Watch the full recording here:

If you’re in IT, you may want to check out Interface Portland on March 19 at the Oregon Convention Center.

IT infrastructure is evolving fast, ransomware, security threats, AI, bandwidth, and storage demands are keeping all of us on our toes. This local conference offers a full day of presentations, panels, and exhibitors covering security, cloud, disaster recovery, communications, and more.

✅ Free admission for IT professionals
☕ Coffee + lunch included
🎓 Up to 7 CPE credits
💵 Chance to win $1,000 in the attendee drawing

PNSQC will have a booth there! Stop by, say hello, and connect with fellow quality professionals.

Register here:
https://f2fevents.com/register/?att=PDX&ref=Association&par=PNSQC

Feel free to share with your colleagues!

📝 Article Spotlight: Quality in the Age of Autonomy

In the blog post, What Is Quality in the Age of Autonomy?, Moss Drake explores how trust, judgment, and responsibility evolve as software systems become more autonomous.

As AI-driven and self-directing systems take on greater agency, quality is no longer just about defects — it’s about intent, risk, accountability, and the balance between human and machine decision-making.

If you’re thinking about how autonomy is reshaping testing, leadership, and responsibility, this is a thoughtful place to start.

Read the article:

PNSQC Blog

What is Quality in the Age of Autonomy?

Software systems are becoming faster, more interconnected, and increasingly capable of acting with reduced human oversight. At the same time, teams continue to rely on proven quality practices - testing, collaboration, judgment, and governance - to manage risk and deliver value…

Read more

2 months ago · PNSQC

🎤 Call for Proposals: PNSQC 2026

That conversation continues at PNSQC 2026 with our theme:
“Quality in the Age of Autonomy.”

We invite you to submit a proposal sharing practical experience, hard lessons, or bold ideas about testing, automation, AI, leadership, or risk management in an increasingly autonomous world.

Help shape the dialogue — submit your abstract and join us in Portland this October.

Submit here:
www.pnsqc.org/cfp