Monday, March 26 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Get more out of the conference experience. Pre-Conference workshops are valuable in-depth educational sessions. Register now to take advantage of bundled discounts and educational offerings all in one location.
Doug Hoffman -
Consultant, Software Quality Methods
Automated software testing has historically meant having the computer run individually crafted test cases. The vast majority of automated test cases are regression tests that perform the same exercises as manual tests, only run by a machine. The principle advantages for these automated tests are repeatability, speed, and volume of checking. The principle disadvantages are they're relatively more expensive to create than manual tests, require more maintenance than manual tests, and are more limited in the specificity of things they can compare, relative to manual tests.
This presentation describes another way to approach test automation: to test things that cannot be tested manually. Extending the scope of testing in this way allows checking for errors that might not be found otherwise or even conceived of. These tests enable us to focus on learning about the software, allow us to go behind the UI to extend our reach, are not limited to doing the same thing each time (although even random sequences can be repeated), and can perform huge numbers of iterations and combinations that would be unthinkable using manual testing or automated regression tests. These tests are quick-hit or abstracted one or two levels from the user interface, which substantially reduces maintenance costs. This approach also encourages checking broader classes of test outcomes, thus improving the types of errors that can be discovered.
Speaker Biography
Doug Hoffman is a management consultant for Software Quality Methods, LLC and has over 30 years experience as a trainer in strategies and tactics for quality assurance. His technical focus is on test automation and test oracles. His management focus is on evaluating, recommending, and leading implementation of quality improvement programs. He is the President of the Association for Software Testing (AST); a Fellow of the ASQ; and holds MBA, MSEE, and BACS degrees. He is certified by ASQ as a Software Quality Engineer and as a Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence. He has spoken at dozens of conferences and chaired several international conferences on software quality.
Lynn McKee -
Independent Consultant, Quality Perspectives
Nancy Kelln -
Consulting Software Tester, Unimagined Testing, Inc.
Shakespeare said it best when he wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.” The same applies to testers. On projects testers play many roles from the project inception through project closure.
This full day workshop will explore the pivotal roles testers play across each phase of a project. Using collaborative exercises we will examine how testers can advocate for testing, maximize their effectiveness and most importantly become a valued source of insight for project leadership. The focus will shift from defining the role of the tester as quiet observer to an active and engaged participant throughout the entire project.
Attendees can expect to:
- Discuss the importance of relationship building with stakeholders including understanding goals, setting expectations and establishing trust;
- Explore ways to increase the participation of testing at the onset of the project and establishing the foundation for the insight testing can provide;
- Share techniques for engaging in the project planning and addressing the challenge of test estimation by uncovering the often obscured but already determined available time for testing;
- Experiment with adaptive test planning techniques to effectively adapt to changes in project scope, risk, quality or any other variety of unknowns or black swans;
- Discover ways to transform testing from a mundane and rote activity to an interactive and engaging journey of investigation, exploration, learning and discovery.
- Identify methods for increasing the value of test reporting to stakeholders including challenging traditional concepts on test measurement and metrics.
Speaker Biography
Lynn McKee is an independent consultant with 15 years experience in the IT industry and a passion for helping organizations, teams and individuals deliver valuable software. Lynn provides consulting on software quality, testing and building high performing teams. An advocate of the context-driven perspective, her focus is on ensuring testing teams are enabled with effective, adaptive and scalable approaches aligned with the organization's quality needs. Lynn is an active member of numerous software testing associations, speaks at conferences, writes articles and contributes to blogs and forums. Lynn is a co-founder of the Weekend Testers Americas and the Calgary Perspectives on Software Testing Workshop.
Nancy Kelln is an independent consultant with 13 years of diverse IT experience, Nancy enjoys working with teams that are implementing or enhancing their testing practices and provides adaptive testing approaches to both Agile and traditional testing teams. She has coached test teams in various environments and facilitated numerous local and international workshops and presentations. A co-founder of POST, Nancy is an active member of the Calgary Software Quality Discussion Group, Association for Software Testing, and the Software Test Professionals organization. Nancy and her family live in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. Connect with Nancy online at unimaginedtesting.ca or on Twitter @nkelln.
Bob Galen -
Agile Consultant, Coach & Trainer
So much of the conversation in leadership-centric workshops circles around management techniques, for example how to plan, measure and execute test activities. But when you get right down to it, those are the least impactful and more tactical aspects of test team leadership—and arguably, those skills have become commoditized.
Certainly they don’t differentiate your teams and your leadership. And certainly they don’t drive your outcomes towards highly valued performance. In this workshop we’ll focus away from the tactical and look to direct your leadership towards high value, high impact, and agile practices that will differentiate you and your teams.
We’ll explore how to hire and build a high performance team, and how to measure and motivate your teams with powerful goals. We’ll also examine how the agile methods are providing lessons in how to create powerful test teams that focus more on partnerships, driving business value, and how to effectively communicate value. You’ll leave with renewed energy and game changing techniques that will inspire your teams.
Learning Points:
- Effective techniques for interviewing and selecting true game-changing team members
- How to motivate, inspire, grow, and challenge your top performers
- How ‘Agile’ has become a differentiator in leading self-directed teams and how to do it well
- Models for changing your value proposition from “testing in quality” to “inspiring up-front quality”
- How to maintain transparency as a mechanism for negotiation, measurement, and clarity
- In short, you’ll leave a more nuanced, effective, and balanced leader…
Speaker Biography
Bob Galen is an Agile Methodologist, Practitioner & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards Scrum and other Agile methods and practices. He is currently the Director of R&D and Agile Coach at iContact, an email marketing SaaS provider. He has over 25 years of experience working in a wide variety of domains at companies including Bayer, Bowe–Bell & Howell Mail Processing, ChannelAdvisor, EMC, Lucent, Unisys and Thomson. He is a Certified Scrum Master (CSP) practicing since 2004, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile Alliance & Scrum Alliance. Bob may be reached directly at: bob@rgalen.com or bob.galen@icontact.com and for more information:www.rgalen.com
Fiona Charles -
Principal Consultant, Quality Intelligence, Inc.
Anne Marie Charrett -
Testing Coach and Trainer, Testing Times
Is quality dead? Facebook has declared that it is, yet our software testing skills and special mindset are still very much in demand. We can’t passively stand by while everyone else makes the future of software testing. We have to keep working hard, demonstrating the unique value that we bring to the table—and constantly increasing our value.
This in-depth tutorial challenges you to take ownership of your testing career and create the future you want to share. Join with Anne-Marie Charrett and Fiona Charles to interview test managers, testers, and consultants and find out what these roles really entail. We’ll investigate the unique skill set required for each role and explore the personal qualities like creativity, independence of mind, empathy and courage that distinguish the great test practitioner from the merely competent.
Throughout the day we’ll focus on practical exercises to help you identify your own career aspirations, identify skill gaps and potential for growth, and map a path to help you achieve your testing dream. If you’re ready to review your testing career and take charge of your future growth, this tutorial’s for you!
Speaker Biography
Fiona Charles teaches organizations to match their software testing to their business risks and opportunities. With 30+ years experience in software development, she has managed testing and consulted on testing on many challenging projects for clients in retail, banking, financial services, health care, telecommunications and emergency services. Throughout her career Fiona has advocated, designed, implemented, and taught pragmatic and humane practices to deliver software worth having—in even the most difficult project circumstances. Her articles on testing and test management appear frequently and she speaks and conducts experiential workshops regularly at conferences.
Anne-Marie Charrett is a testing coach and trainer with a passion for helping testers discover their testing strengths and become the testers they aspire to be. Anne-Marie offers free IM Coaching to testers and developers on Skype(id charretts) and is working on a book with James Bach on coaching testers.
Scott Barber -
CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
Performance Testing frequently generates very large volumes of data. That data usually requires significant analysis before findings are made and recommendations are delivered. To make matters more complex, even though there is a large volume of data, there are typically an insignificant number of tests conducted for most data reduction methods to be statistically valid. Finally, many of the statistical methods that are frequently used are either mis-used or mis-understood.
This hands on workshop is targeted for those leading performance test data analysis and reporting. It focuses on how to make sense out of large volumes of interrelated data to improve findings, and recommendations to help achieve business objectives, reduce project risk, and avoid bad press. Further, it teaches methods for visually reporting results of performance tests that are less prone to misinterpretation than reporting complex statistics the audience is unlikely to understand. Finally, this workshop provides you with the knowledge you need to use statistics correctly to help you understand the data. Bring your laptop with your favorite data analysis tools and be prepared to apply the skills you bring to class and the ones you learn using publicly available data sets that you can use for future self-education and/or training others in your organization.
Speaker Biography
Scott Barber is the Chief Technologist of PerfTestPlus, Co-Founder of the Workshop on Performance and Reliability, and co-author of Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications, Beautiful Testing, and Reducing the Cost of Testing (July 2011). Scott thinks of himself as a tester and trainer of testers who has a passion for software system performance.