diff --git a/akka-docs/src/test/java/jdocs/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.java b/akka-docs/src/test/java/jdocs/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.java
index 291e289a73..4a1bcc5923 100644
--- a/akka-docs/src/test/java/jdocs/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.java
+++ b/akka-docs/src/test/java/jdocs/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.java
@@ -188,7 +188,8 @@ class Main extends AbstractBehavior<String> {
 
 public class ActorHierarchyExperiments {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
-    ActorSystem.create(Main.createBehavior(), "testSystem");
+    ActorRef<String> testSystem = ActorSystem.create(Main.createBehavior(), "testSystem");
+    testSystem.tell("start");
   }
 }
 // #print-refs
diff --git a/akka-docs/src/test/scala/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.scala b/akka-docs/src/test/scala/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.scala
index 6aca175a89..d3c9036b14 100644
--- a/akka-docs/src/test/scala/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/src/test/scala/typed/tutorial_1/ActorHierarchyExperiments.scala
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ class Main(context: ActorContext[String]) extends AbstractBehavior[String] {
 }
 
 object ActorHierarchyExperiments extends App {
-  ActorSystem(Main(), "testSystem")
+  val testSystem = ActorSystem(Main(), "testSystem")
+  testSystem ! "start"
 }
 //#print-refs