Keynotes

Testing Wanted: Dead or Alive

Jon Bach - Director of Live Site Quality, eBay


A few speakers in the software test industry did a strange thing at testing conferences last year. They told their audiences "testing is dying."  One even pronounced it dead as he cloaked himself in a Grim Reaper costume in front of his audience. People like that seem to believe that when programmers write unit tests and conduct mandatory code reviews, it means no one needs to worry about bugs. They'll cite that because of "self-healing software" and the ability to hotfix a bug on the web, it means the role of the tester doesn't matter anymore. Jon Bach disagrees.  In his job in Live Site Quality for eBay, he’s finding that despite the trends and advances in rapid deployment and automation, exploration and sapience is more crucial than ever. Given that there are so many variables and contexts in how the world operates, testing becomes more alive.  There's value in having testers separate from programmers -- staff who can get away from their keyboard now and then to see the big picture. Join us in this informative keynote as Jon Bach tells you why this industry needs people to see gaps between what customers experience and what automation is being run.

Speaker Biography

Jon Bach is Director of Live Site Quality for eBay. His role is to coordinate efforts to find bugs in production on eBay's related sites and take measures to improve customer experiences through bug advocacy. He has been testing for 17 years for companies including LexisNexis, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft, but his claim to fame is with his brother James, with whom he created Session-Based Test Management -- a way to manage and measure efforts from exploratory testing. 

The Essence of Providing Feedback

Scott Barber - CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
Dawn Haynes - Consultant and Sr. Trainer, PerfTestPlus, Inc.


How effective is the feedback you provide to others? How valuable do you tend to find feedback that you receive? Do you know what your native critique style is? Join Dawn Haynes and Scott Barber for this interactive and amusing keynote session to find out.

Through a combination of role play and audience involvement, you will explore the attributes of your own style of critique, the relative effectiveness of common critique styles across several dimensions, and whether or not you have a knack for critiquing feedback. Bring your sense of humor, an open mind, and a willingness to participate in sharing a little well-natured, bi-directional feedback with your conference peers to this session, and leave with some new insights into giving and receiving feedback.

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.

Dawn Haynes is a Senior Trainer and Consultant for PerfTestPlus, and Secretary of the Association for Software Testing. A highly regarded trainer of software testers, she blends experience and humor to provide testers of all levels with tools and techniques to help them generate new approaches to common and complex software testing problems.  In addition to training, Dawn is particularly passionate about improving the state of performance testing across the industry.  She has more than 20 years of experience supporting, administering, developing and testing software and hardware systems, from small business operations to large corporate enterprises.  Dawn holds a BSBA in MIS with a minor in programming from Northeastern University.

No Excuses! Incorporating Core Values, Accountability & Balance Into Your Career

Jay Rifenbary - President and Author, Rifenbary Training & Development

Based on a solid foundation of core values this exciting program teaches, validates and supports the importance of key principles and skills such as self-responsibility, organizational accountability, integrity, personal honesty, professionalism, self-respect, forgiveness, passion and positive attitude as they pertain to one’s personal and professional success, and the success of others. Ultimately, this positively contributes to the morale and productivity of the individual and organization, resulting in a higher level of performance and a greater level of personal understanding, leading to a more productive, balanced and fulfilling career and life.

You will discover how to:

• Identify a foundation of core values applicable to the enhancement of both your personal and professional life
• Define those core values in regard to how they pertain to the overall mission and vision of the organization
• Develop an interactive blueprint of the relationship between the core values presented
• Indentify strategies for internalizing self-development and enhancing self-respect
• Implement forgiveness personally and professionally to enhance communication and performance
• Incorporate strategies for creating a healthy and productive life balance

Speaker Biography

Jay Rifenbary is the author of the International Best-Seller, “No Excuse! – Incorporating Core Values, Accountability and Balance into Your Life and Career”, and “True to Your Core – Common Sense Values for Living Life to its Fullest.”

Jay is a professional speaker, trainer and consultant; and for the last 19 years has provided his expertise in the areas of personal development, leadership, and communication training to organizations, associations and schools across North America, Europe and Asia. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. 

Jack Canfield, Best Selling Author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”, said of “No Excuse!” that, Jay has given the world a most generous gift. Anyone who applies the “No Excuse!” philosophy can create the life they want and make a difference.

SoLoMo Is Shaking Up The Testing Landscape: How QA Organizations Can Adapt, Keep Up & Thrive

Matt Johnston - CMO, uTest

The collision of social, local and mobile media (a.k.a. SoLoMo) is disrupting the testing industry and impacting software engineering and testing organizations across the globe. With so much sensitive and critical data flowing to and from SoLoMo technologies, there is immense pressure to ensure that apps are reliable, scalable, private and secure across a multitude of criteria, including handsets, tablets, OS, browsers, carriers, languages and locations.

For instance, the adoption of social networking apps present numerous security hurdles. Companies that communicate with customers and partners via Facebook or Twitter must protect sensitive data. GPS apps present location testing challenges. Many apps are being used outside the sterile confines of the testing lab – under “in the wild” conditions; thus, when apps and users are distributed around the globe, a portion of your testers should be too.

Using real-world success stories from Google, Microsoft, and others, Matt Johnston identifies how SoLoMo has transformed the software industry and reveals the secrets to overcoming the challenges that SoLoMo technologies present today.

Speaker Biography

With more than a decade of marketing experience at companies ranging from web start-ups to publicly traded corporations, Matt Johnston leads uTest's marketing and community efforts as CMO. He is responsible for directing uTest’s efforts in shaping the brand, building awareness, generating leads, and creating a world-class community of testers. In his role as CMO, Matt also focuses on more strategic initiatives, such as forming key partnerships and helping to plan uTest’s expansion strategy.  Matt earned a BA in Marketing from Calvin College, as well as an MBA in Marketing and Technology from New York University's Stern School of Business.

We are the 99 Percent

Anne Marie Charrett - Testing Coach and Trainer, Testing Times

Sometimes it feels that we have little control over what might happen in the future. It seems that wherever we look there is doom and gloom about testing. But we do have control over some things. We can choose how we approach our testing, how we respond to change, how we apply ourselves to learning new things, how strong our testing community is. 

 

In addition, in each of us there is a little bit of testing expertise. It might not be as brightly packaged and obvious as industry "experts" but its there. Do you know what your testing brilliance is? By focusing ourselves on our strengths and our testing community we can become stronger, more adaptable and more confident about facing an uncertain future. 

 

This keynote is a mix of stories and challenges that encourage us all to keep learning, to be open to change and to grow and build a healthy and vibrant testing community. 

Speaker Biography

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.