stpcon fall 2011

T h e L e a d i n g C o n f e r e n C e o n S o f T w a r e T e S T i n g

w w w . S T P C o n . c o m | 8 7 7. 2 5 7. 9 5 3 1

oCTober 24-27, 2011d a l l a s T e x a s

Test Strategy and Design

Conference Tracks

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early bird–September 16Save $400

Agile Testing

Test Process

Performance Testing

Specialized Application Test Environments

Test Automation

Leadership Perspectives for Testers

Software Test Professionals Conference fall 2011, the leading conference on software testing, will be held in dallas, Texas, october 24-27.Software testers, test and QA managers, and senior test professionals will gather in Dallas for the leading conference on software testing to learn about the latest tools, trends and issues affecting software testing today. Plan to attend any combination of our 40 information filled sessions, compelling keynotes, optional preconference workshops and a variety of networking opportunities for an experience designed to help you solve the challenges you encounter every day!

2 Keynotes Tuesday, October 25

8:30am – 9:45am

what Can we Learn by Listening to our defectsrex black President, RBCS

As Yogi Berra famously said, “You can observe a lot just by watching”...Or listening for that matter. In testing, we can listen to our defects. Defects can tell us a lot about what’s going on with our projects, a lot about the current quality of our products, and a lot about our software engineering process and its capabilities. For example, how many defects can you expect users to find after you release the product? In some cases, defects can tell us interesting things about what’s not going on, too. For example, when testers have previous hands-on user experience, do they really write better defect reports? In this talk, Rex will discuss important things test professionals can learn by listening to defects. He’ll illustrate these insights with a variety of case studies and examples. You’ll walk away ready to listen to your defects, and to understand what they’re telling you.

Rex is a prolific author, practicing in the field of software testing today. His first book, Managing the Testing Process, has sold over 50,000 copies.

Tuesday, October 25 1:30pm – 2:15pm

in-The-wild Testing: your Survival May depend upon itMatt Johnston CMO, uTest

Just like the Amazon Rainforest has millions of acres yet to be explored, the potential of “in the wild” testing has yet to be tapped. As a technology executive, you have finite resources to achieve an ever-expanding set of responsibilities. And while budgets tighten, the pace and pressure to deliver testing results increases. All of this occurs at a time when your customers are using your applications from an infinite set of devices, configurations and environments.

While your internal resources may be finite, there are tens of thousands of professional testers all over the world representing the same, vast variety of your end user base. The question isn’t whether you should tap into this resource, but rather, how long can companies attempt to satisfy a diverse user base while testing only “in the lab”?

Matt has more than a decade of technology, product & marketing experience at companies ranging from startups to global enterprises, areas of testing.

Wednesday, October 26 8:30am – 9:30am

it’s the Peoplework, not the Paperworkbruce wilkinsonLeadership Speaker

Economic downturns, customer expectations, employment issues, technology challenges, expanding regulatory compliance and multi-generation employee communication concerns can take their toll on a sometimes overworked workforce and especially managers and team leaders.

As a result, many organizations have decided to implement a positive and consistent workplace culture through their mission, vision, values, goals and strategic objectives. This highly engaging, informative and content-driven presentation will demonstrate how to build a better business by implementing an inspired value-based employee accountability culture and climate of trust, respect, integrity, teamwork, communication, inclusiveness, leadership, service, change and personal responsibility.

Bruce is a leadership and communication specialist who reinforces personalized messages with humor, passion, enthusiasm, and authenticity.

regiSTer www . STPCon.com or ca l l 877. 257. 9531

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Pre-Conference Tutorials (1-day)

Keynote Presentations

Breakout Sessions

Open Jam Testing Sessions

Happy Hour Welcome Reception

Speed Geeking and Power-Up Issues and Solutions

CONFERENCE PACKAGES AND PRICING

3 Keynotes

The Leading Conference on SofTware TeST ing

Keynotes.......................................2-3

Networking.Activities......................... 4

Open.Jam.Sessions......................... 5

Program.Overview........................6-7

Schedule.At.A.Glance...................8-9

Pre-Con.Workshops................10-11

Conference.Sessions..............12-21

Registration.Packages.............22-23

Hotel.Information............................24

Table of Contents

Wednesday, October 26 1:15pm – 2:00pm

better, faster, Cheaper: ways to reduce Test Cost on Monday Matthew heusser Consulting Tester, Excelon Development

We are constantly asked to deliver more under increasingly tight timeframes. Give in to those demands, and you will end up facing burnout, stress, business risk, and, most likely, still more demands. Refuse, fight the good fight, and it is likely someone else, a different department or a 3rd party, will outbid you...and that’s not acceptable either.

This presentation will focus on the problem of pressure and offer real, concrete solutions to directly drive out waste. At the same time, Matt will offer tools to help you analyze your testing, moving the conversation from one of just cost, to also include value.

Finally, Matt will talk about professionalism, the ways we as testers, can better explain the value we bring to the organization and how we can frame the conversation about “What it is you do here.”

Matt, a consulting software tester and software process naturalist, has spent the past 12 years or so developing, testing, and leading in dev/testing of computer software.

Thursday, October 27 8:30am – 9:45am

are you Managing Testing or “The Test Process?” fiona CharlesPrincipal Consultant, Quality Intelligence Inc.

A good manager creates a space where people can do their best work. A leader sets an example and inspires others to follow and then to lead in their turn. A good test manager is both a good manager and a leader, managing the testing, and not just “the testing process.”

At work, defined processes and rules help us to feel that we are in control of our actions and thereby better placed to predict and control the outcomes. In reality, predefined processes can advance our work or impede it. Familiar industry-standard processes may merely provide the illusion of control and a false expectation of predictable outcomes in circumstances where certainty is unattainable. Some ritualized processes focus attention and effort on the wrong things, diverting our energy from actually getting the job done. Questioning our work and our processes is just as critical to the pursuit of quality as questioning products.

Fiona, with 30+ years in software development, teaches organizations to match their software testing to their business risks and opportunities.


4 networKing Activities

Power-up issues and Solutions round Table discussionsTuesday, October 25 from 7:30am – 8:30am

Make the most out of your breakfast time and join your colleagues in facilitated discussions focused on driving solutions to current issues. Each breakfast table will feature a topic that reflects your most pressing issues that you are facing each day. We’ll provide the facilitator, but it’s up to you and your colleagues to discuss how to solve these important problems. These roundtables are designed to help you learn, socialize and network at your fullest potential. Pre-registration is not required, simply join us for breakfast and be ready to discuss.

happy hour welcome receptionTuesday, October 25 from 5:30pm – 7:00pm

The welcome reception is the ultimate place to network with your colleagues. Start your evening off with a drink on us as you unwind and enjoy the Dallas nightlife. This reception is a great opportunity to meet new people and talk to colleagues who are facing the same daily challenges and issues.

Speed geeking breakfast bytes Wednesday, October 26 from 7:30am – 8:30am

Imagine hearing a hot topic – the immediate, meaningful, most powerful element of a session –compressed into a small 8-minute byte. These sessions will feature a variety of speakers and topics designed to educate, entertain and motivate you, as you rotate between speakers who will share their expertise in just a few minutes. Every lightning topic you attend brings you closer to a drawing for an iPad that will take place at the end of the session. Topics include:

• So You Have it All-Full Automatic RegressionTest Suite...What’s Next

• Forget Reporting Results, Start Delivering Value

• Sikuli: Useful Tool, Silver Bullet or AcademicPipe-Dream

• Messy Integration Testing – Test Lessons fromPulp Fiction

• Kanban – In Okinawa, Belt Mean No NeedRope to Hold Up Pants

• The Time I Over Engineered It

Test Management dinner groupsWednesday, October 26 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Interested in networking with other professionals over dinner? Visit the registration desk and sign up for a facilitated dinner group. You will dine with other professionals, have an opportunity to meet and greet, and discuss what matters most to you. If you’re looking to reach outside your social core, participating in a dinner group will help you network with other contact center managers facing the same challenges. Each dinner guest is expected to pay for their individual meals... really a small price to pay for a new network of colleagues.

rapid fire Challenge Thursday, October 27 from 7:30am – 8:30am

Looking for fast, expert tips to help you streamline your testing process? Join us for this interactive session where software testing leaders will face off in a battle to see who can present the most informational and educational tips that you can take back to the office. Attendees will judge which presenters offer the best industry tips.

• rf1: Harness your Inner Tester: Ways to Classify, Channel and Possibly Curb Your Natural Testing Style, Dawn Haynes

• rf2: A Bag of Validation Tricks, Lanette Creamer

• rf3: How to Calculate Risk and Cost of False Positives, Mark Tomlinson

• rf4: FIBLOTS: A Method for Determining What ToTest and What Not To, Scott Barber

q&a Matchmaker boardThe STP matchmaker will be matching you to other testing professionals. If you have a subject matter of expertise and want to share this knowledge, Melissa will match you to individuals who have questions related to your expertise. A whiteboard will be located at the conference where you can list your expertise as well as your questions. The ability to meet the right people with experience which can help your career and address your software testing challenges is the key to a great conference experience.


excellent event, definitely planning on attending next year. all topics were

applicable to my job! i got volumes and volumes of information to make me more

productive and useful to my company.bill bennett

Senior Program Manager, QA and Testing, Hanesbrands Inc.

Platinum Sponsor

5 open JAm testing sessions

open Jam Sessions Wednesday, October 26 from 5:00pm – 6:00pmAre you looking for a hands-on session where you not only discuss testing concepts but actually get to participate in something interactive? If yes, then “Jam Sessions” are made for you! Whether you are looking for a test simulation, games and exercises to teach lateral thinking, a workshop to explain the dynamics of testing to your larger organization, or another creative learning approach, you’ll find it in a Jam Session. There will be eight opportunities to get together in this highly energized session. Interactive sessions include:

oJ1: agile Testing games, Lanette CreamerCome test prototypes of tangible items and website(s) for small prizes, internet fame, and tester glory. Collaborate and influence others by asking Lanette’s test team of offsite Oompa-Loompas to run tests on their unlimited equipment and give you back the results. Game options range from the purely physical object to a website that you can test, and there will even be a physical item with an online component for a hybrid testing challenge.

oJ2: your Tester Personality, Catherine PowellIn this session, you’ll test a very buggy application, and learn what kind of tester you really are: are you a visual aide, or maybe a submariner? Different testers find different kinds of bugs and approach testing in different ways. Figure out your personality, and learn what you can do to work on a team with a lot of different tester personalities.

oJ3: ‘SeT’ up data analysis and visual reporting, Scott Barber and FriendsWould you like to improve your data analysis and visual reporting skills without ever mentioning math or spreadsheets while learning to play a fun game that’s appropriate for both family game night and office mixers? Join Scott Barber to do exactly that, in about an hour, using the card game ‘SET’.

oJ4: iron Test Master: recipes for disaster, Virginia ReynoldsYou’ve seen the cooking contest shows–Chopped, Top Chef, Iron Chef, and Iron Chef Masters. Well, now STPCon has its very own testing contest: Iron Test Master! You’ll be provided a set of “ingredients” about an IT project and using those ingredients you will design a “recipe” on-the-fly for your step-by-step approach for the testing effort. Just like in the real contests, you will be thrown some curve-ball ingredients affecting your environments, team resources, budget, or change management, to name a few. You’ll be judged against other contestants until the playing field is narrowed down to our final Iron Test Master.

oJ5: werewolf!, Matthew Heusser and Zach SpencerLimited to fifteen people, Werewolf combines the best of modern psychology, mystery, and critical thinking. Get to know your people at STPCon, learn how they think, and take home an interactive workshop to do the same for your office. (We could tell you more, but that would ruin the exercise). We will provide the info – you will need to provide the silver bullets.

oJ6: acceptance Test Story workshop, Adam YuretLearn how to collaborate with Product Owners to define acceptance criteria in this brief workshop. You’ll touch on how to achieve shared understanding between product owners and the engineering team prior to development and learn ways to use a domain specific language tool like Cucumber to build executable specifications from those criteria. Most importantly, you learn about effective, holistic collaborative development (as opposed to waterfalling specifications), and how it can be both productive and fun.

oJ7: great Testing, bad business, Matt KallmanJoin your colleagues for this simulation and discussion around the occasional conflict between good business and good testing. Learn how to recognize the conflict, see the traps and navigate the business demands successfully. You will come away from this session with new and improved systems thinking tools to help recognize the testing improvements that will add value right now.

oJ8: exploring dynamics on Software Projects, Dave LimbaughEach standard, rule, and guide in this carefully designed simulation was created to mirror the dynamics of an actual software process. You’ll experience the thrill of working in a fast-paced, every-changing software factory, but also notice how concrete changes in process can improve quality, delivery, and job satisfaction. Take home the skills to explain not just what Agile is, but why it works, in a very concrete, meaningful way.

The Leading Conference on SofTware TeSTing

6 progrAm overview

Leadership Perspectives for Testers: Understanding the business side of testing is as important as amplifyingour approaches and techniques. In this track you will learn how to effectively lead diverse test teams, communicate with stakeholders, and advocate for testing. This track includes topics related to building test teams, leading business testers, handling the challenges of remote teams, communicating the value of testing, and using metrics in the decision making process.

101 Leading from the Middle - Applying Maxwell’s 360 Leader concepts for Test Leads

301 Tester Today, Manager Tomorrow

401 Stepping Up to Leadership: Test Leadership Lessons from Harry Potter

701 Purpose Driven Testing

801 Walk in My Shoes

901 A Remote Tester’s Perspective: The Challenges and Solutions

Test Strategy and Design: Before you begin testing on a project, your team should have a formal or informaltest strategy. There are key elements you need to consider when formulating your test strategy, if not, you may be wasting valuable time, money and resources. In this track you will learn the strategic and practical approaches to software testing and test case design, based on the underlying software development methodology. This track includes topics related to developing a test strategy, test estimation, risk management and data management.

102 On Complete Testing

303 Managing with Metrics: The Saga of a Test Effort

403 Managing Risk for Software Products

603 The Discipline Aspect of Software Testing

803 Sisyphus, Parkinson, Goldratt and You: Practical Test Estimation

1001 Using Failure Analysis to Power Up your Tests

Agile Testing: More and more software development organizations are “going Agile”. This track will helpparticipants understand how they can fit traditional test practices into an Agile environment as well as explore real-world examples of testing projects and teams in varying degrees of Agile adoption. This track will include topics related to challenges in Agile testing, utilizing Agile testing techniques, coaching an Agile test team, and using games to internalize Agile principles and practices.

103 Adapting Conventional Testing Strategies for an Agile Environment

203 Product Owners Are From Mars, Testers Are From Venus….or Are They?

503 Testing in the World of Kanban

604 Agile API QA

703 Pairing Programmers with Non-Programmers

1003 Fast and Good: Alternate Approaches to Quality at Etsy

Test Process: Test teams are constantly challenged to adjust by evolving project constraints. The ability to continually adapt testing processes to meet the changing needs of the project and the organization sets high performing teams apart. Presentations in this track will share methods for enabling teams to more effectively handle project challenges. This track includes real-world approaches to responding to change, leveraging testlists, testing in production, improving process, and transforming organizations using metrics.

104 Smarter Testing - Test Less Test Right

304 Testing Agility without Agile: A Toolkit for Managers

404 Documenting Tester Instructions - A Survey of Successful Approaches

704 Test Process Improvement Adoption: Ants on a Doughnut

904 QA Needed, Testers Need Not Apply

7


Performance Testing: Performance Testing is about collecting data on how applications perform to assistthe development team and the stakeholders make technical and business decisions related to performance risks. In this track you will learn practical skills, tools, and techniques for planning and executing effective performance tests. This track will include topics such as: performance testing virtualized systems, performance anti-patterns, and how to quantify performance testing risk, all illustrated with practitioners’ actual experiences doing performance testing.

201 Real World Performance Testing in Production

302 Interpreting Performance Testing Results

501 Load and Performance Testing Using Selenium

601 Performance QA Testing within Large Development Organizations

702 Performance Testing in the Agile Enterprise

802 Automating and Understanding Human Interaction with Web 2.0 Applications

902 5 Ways to Do More Performance Testing in Less Time

Test Automation: Which tests can be automated? What tools and methodology can be used for automating functionality verification? Chances are these are some of the questions you are currently facing from your project manager. In this track you will learn how to implement an automation framework and how to organize test scripts for maintenance and reusability, as well as take away tips on how to make your automation framework more efficient. This track includes topics related to test automation architecture, continuous integration, agile automation, and what other tasks you need to perform after you have designed your framework and scripted your test cases.

202 Web Testing with Selenium 2.0 - Better, Faster, More Awesome

402 Continuous Integration Testing with Code Coverage

502 Test Oracle Automation: Unachievable Dream or Tomorrow’s Reality?

602 Improve Automation Code Quality, Clarity, and Comprehension

903 Exploratory Test Automation

1002 Test Data Strategies

Specialized Application Test Environments: Gone are the days of a cookie cutter piece of software. Software runs in more places and is a cornerstone of more industries than ever before. Mobile devices, cloud computing, specialty medical devices - non-traditional environments pose their own testing challenges. Testing also has to accommodate specialty needs for different industries. This expansion is altering the way we exchange information and do business. In this track participants will learn testing techniques from real-world experiences in these different environments. Topics in this track will include cloud-based testing, testing in regulated industries, testing embedded software and testing mobile applications.

204 Data Testing on a Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse Project

504 Testing a New Mobile World

804 Integrated Test Automation for Enterprise Mobile Apps

1004 Modernizing Today’s Complex Applications for the Cloud

8 schedule At A glAnce Monday, October 24, 20118:00am – 5:00pm Registration & Information

8:00am – 9:00am Continental Breakfast & Networking

9:00am – 4:00pm Pre-Conference workshops

Pre-Con 1: From Soup to Nuts: A Five Course (Testing) Meal, Matt Heusser, Peter Walen Pre-Con 2: Test Strategy: The Design Behind the Plan, Fiona Charles Pre-Con 3: Workshop on Mobile Testing, Karen N. Johnson Pre-Con 4: Implementing a Test Automation Framework, Linda Hayes

Tuesday, October 25, 20117:00am – 6:00pm Registration & Information

7:30am – 8:30am Breakfast & Power-Up Issues and Solutions Roundtable Discussions

8:30am – 9:45am Opening General Session: what Can we Learn by Listening to our defects, Rex Black

10:00am – 11:15am Session block 1

101: Leading from the Middle – Applying Maxwell’s 360 Leader Concepts for Test Leads, Jane Fraser 102: On Complete Testing, Matt Heusser, Peter Walen 103: Adapting Conventional Testing Strategies for an Agile Environment, Robert Walsh 104: Smarter Testing – Test Less, Test Right, Rakesh Ranjan

11:15am – 11:45am Morning Beverage Break

11:45pm – 1:00pm Session block 2

201: Real World Performance Testing in Production, Dan Bartow 202: Web Testing with Selenium 2.0 – Better, Faster, More Awesome, Jason Huggins 203: Product Owners Are From Mars, Testers Are From Venus….or Are They?, Jerry D. Odenwelder, Jr. 204: Data Testing on a Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse Project, Karen Johnson

1:00pm – 2:15pm Lunch

1:30pm – 2:15pm Luncheon General Session: in-The-wild Testing: your Survival May depend upon it, Matt Johnston


301: Tester Today, Manager Tomorrow, Trisha Lee 302: Interpreting Performance Testing Results, Dan Downing 303: Managing with Metrics: The Saga of a Test Effort, Shaun Bradshaw 304: Testing Agility without Agile: A Toolkit for Managers, Harish Narayan, Julie Davis

3:30pm – 4:00pm Afternoon Beverage Break


401: Stepping Up to Leadership: Test Leadership Lessons from Harry Potter, Peter Walen 402: Continuous Integration Testing with Code Coverage, George Shin 403: Managing Risk for Software Products, Matthew Sullivan, Scott Barber 404: Documenting Tester Instructions – A Survey of Successful Approaches, Justin Hunter

5:30pm – 7:00pm Happy Hour Welcome Reception

Wednesday, October 26, 20117:00am – 6:00pm Registration & Information

7:30am – 8:30am breakfast & Speed geeking breakfast bytes

SG1: So You Have it All-Full Automatic Regression Test Suite...What’s Next, Dani Almog SG2: Forget Reporting Results, Start Delivering Value, Scott Barber SG3: Sikuli: Useful Tool, Silver Bullet or Academic Pipe-Dream, Matt Kallman SG4: Messy Integration Testing – Test Lessons from Pulp Fiction, Peter Walen SG5: Kanban – In Okinawa, Belt Mean No Need Rope to Hold Up Pants, Carl Shaulis SG6: The Time I Over Engineered It, Adrian Rapan

8:30am – 9:30am General Session: it’s the Peoplework, not the Paperwork, Bruce Wilkinson


501: Load and Performance Testing Using Selenium, Frank Cohen 502: Test Oracle Automation: Unachievable Dream or Tomorrow’s Reality?, Dani Almog 503: Testing in the World of Kanban, Carl Shaulis 504: Testing a New Mobile World, Eddy Bruin

11:00am – 11:30am Morning Beverage Break

11:30am – 12:45pm Session block 6

601: Performance QA Testing Within Large Development Organizations, John Meza 602: Improve Automation Code Quality, Clarity, and Comprehension, Boyd Patterson 603: The Discipline Aspect of Software Testing, Karen Johnson 604: Agile API QA, David Hefner

12:45pm – 2:00pm Lunch

1:15pm – 2:00pm Luncheon General Session: better, faster, Cheaper: ways to reduce Test Cost on Monday, Matt Heusser


701: Purpose Driven Testing, Cory Medlin 702: Performance Testing in the Agile Enterprise, Scott Barber 703: Pairing Programmers with Non-Programmers, Lanette Creamer 704: Test Process Improvement Adoption: Ants on a Doughnut, Shawn Hudson, Jill Corbitt

3:15pm – 3:45pm Afternoon Beverage Break


801: Walk in My Shoes, Tony Bruce, Adrian Rapan 802: Automating and Understanding Human Interaction with Web 2.0 Applications, Mark Tomlinson 803: Sisyphus, Parkinson, Goldratt and You: Practical Test Estimation, Matt Kallman 804: Integrated Test Automation for Enterprise Mobile Apps, Sreekanth Singaraju

5:00pm – 6:00pm open Jam Testing Sessions

OJ1: Agile Testing Games, Lanette Creamer OJ2: Your Tester Personality, Catherine Powell OJ3: ‘SET’ Up Data Analysis and Visual Reporting, Scott Barber and Friends OJ4: Iron Test Master: Recipes for Disaster, Virginia Reynolds OJ5: Werewolf!, Matthew Heusser and Zach Spencer OJ6: Acceptance Test Story Workshop, Adam Yuret OJ7: Great Testing, Bad Business, Matt Kallman OJ8: Exploring Dynamics on Software Projects, Dave Limbaugh

6:30pm – 8:30pm Test Management Dinner Groups

Thursday, October 27, 20117:00am – 1:00pm Registration & Information

7:30am – 8:30am breakfast & The rapid fire Challenge

RF1: Harness Your Inner Tester: Ways to Classify, Channel and Possibly Curb Your Natural Testing Style, Dawn Haynes RF2: A Bag of Validation Tricks, Lanette Creamer RF3: How to Calculate Risk and Cost of False Positives, Mark Tomlinson RF4: FIBLOTS: A Method for Determining What To Test and What Not To, Scott Barber

8:30am – 9:45am General Session: are you Managing Testing – or “The Test Process”, Fiona Charles


901: A Remote Tester’s Perspective: The Challenges and Solutions, Keith McIntosh 902: 5 Ways to Do More Performance Testing in Less Time, Steve Sturtevant, James Pulley 903: Exploratory Test Automation, Doug Hoffman 904: QA Needed, Testers Need Not Apply, Bradley Baird

11:30am – 12:45pm Session block 10

1001: Using Failure Analysis to Power Up Your Tests, Dawn Haynes 1002: Test Data Strategies, Linda Hayes 1003: Fast and Good: Alternate Approaches to Quality at Etsy, Noah Sussman 1004: Modernizing Today’s Complex Applications for the Cloud, Kelly Emo

1010

regiSTer www . STPCon.com or ca l l 877. 257. 9531 The Leading Conference on SofTware TeST ing

pre-conference worKshops Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

pre-con 1from Soup to nuts: a five Course (Testing) MealMatt heusser, Consulting Software Tester, Excelon DevelopmentPeter walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide

This interactive workshop will simulate real market conditions for software testing. Just like the real world, there will be schedule, requirement, and customer pressures. Unlike the real world there will be explanations, discussion, sharing, and learning. You’ll get a chance to see what works by doing it.

At the same time this complex workshop will introduce more challenges, new test techniques, more powerful ways to cover the same scenarios in less time. After an intense morning of software testing, we’ll spend the afternoon on organizational issues, including how to best make use of the little time we have, how to effectively communicate about bugs and risk, and, yes, how actual testing and risk relate to automation.

you will walk away with:

• A solid foundation in Quick Attacks, a technique you can use to test any software immediately

• Analysis techniques for domain testing, designed to help you learn the business logic quickly

• Archeology techniques to sniff out hidden requirements

• Tools to clarify and negotiate the test group role with management

• Exercises you can take home to do with your team as a brown bag, or to explain testing to larger organizations

Bring a laptop computer, netbook or iPad, please bring it; you’ll want to use it in this interactive simulation.

Matt has been developing, testing, and managing software projects for his entire adult life. His personal blog, Creative Chaos, is consistently highly ranked among testing blogs. He recently served as Lead Editor for How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing.

Peter has been in software developmentfor over 25 years. After working many years as a programmer, he moved to software testing and QA. Peter is an active member of several testing associations and an active blogger on software testing.

Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

pre-con 2Test Strategy: The design behind the Planfiona Charles, Principal Consultant, Quality Intelligence Inc.

A test strategy is the set of big-picture ideas embodying the overarching direction or design of a test effort. It’s the significant values that will inspire, influence and ultimately drive your testing, and the overall decisions you have made about ways and means of delivering on those values. It’s the design behind the plan. But in the standardized test strategy documents we’re all familiar with, the actual strategy is often missing or buried in tedious and repetitious boilerplate that’s copied and pasted across multiple projects.

In this hands-on workshop we’re going to ignore the standard big document and focus on the important aspects of a test strategy such as strategic thinking and communicating the strategy effectively. Working together on real testing problems, you will explore what’s essential in a strategy and how to develop it. Who are your stakeholders? What does product quality mean to them in practical terms? How do they characterize the value they expect to get from the product? These are critical considerations in determining what your test will cover and how.

Throughout the day, you will practice using simple, flexible media for working through our ideas and communicating clearly to project stakeholders. Participants are welcome to bring their own testing problems to the class.

Fiona 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 many challenging testing projects for clients.

1111


pre-conference worKshopsMonday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

pre-con 3workshop on Mobile Testingkaren n. Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc.

Testing the website to ensure your customers can access your website via mobile devices is the hottest trend in the industry. Most organizations have adopted or are considering a mobile strategy for their organization. Are you ready to test this mobile strategy? Testing your website for use by mobile devices is a critical function and may determine whether or not your overall strategy is effective. Attend this workshop to understand the unique aspects of testing websites for compatibility with mobile devices. We will be covering the hottest and most important aspects of mobile website testing as this workshop helps you plan your mobile testing effort.

Topics discussed:

• Secure pages and site certificates

• User interface checkpoints such as links, lists and sitemaps

• Functional tests such as: search, browse, login, cookies

• Replicating defects on mobile devices, is it different than replicating defects on other platforms?

• Screen shots: how to capture screen shots for defect reporting

• Choosing which devices to test with

• Getting your team access to devices

• Understanding the different browsers used on mobile devices

• Multi-locale sites on mobile devices

Karen is an independent software test consultant. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and is a contributing author to the book, Beautiful Testing released by O’Reilly publishers. She is the co-founder of the WREST workshop.

Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

pre-con 4implementing a Test automation framework Linda hayes, Founder, WorkSoft, Inc.

Whether you are only considering automation or have years of experience, this course will help you improve your chances for success. Learn how to use frameworks to accelerate your test automation effort, dramatically shorten the learning curve, allow non-technical analysts to develop and execute automated tests, and simplify test library management and maintenance.

Get the facts on what automation can – and can’t – do for you, and find out how to get management to give you what you need to succeed. Learn how to avoid the traps and pitfalls that doom projects, including unrealistic expectations. Understand when automation is appropriate and when it isn’t, and how to maximize the right opportunities.

This workshop provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for selecting and implementing a framework and takes you on a guided tour of five different approaches—from beginner to advanced—with analyses of the advantages and disadvantages of each. Learn how to use these practical and proven approaches with any commercial or internally developed testing tool for web, client/server, mainframe, and character-based applications.

key Concepts:

• What are the benefits of automation?

• What are the risks?

• What are the cost components?

• What are cost effective strategies?

• What are alternate approaches?

Linda has over twenty years of experience in software test automation and is the founder of three software companies including AutoTester, the first PC-based test automation tool. Linda holds degrees in accounting, tax and law and is a frequent industry speaker.

being an “army of one” at my company, it was great to talk testing with other testers and to hear about

similar challenges and possible solutions to the issues i am facing.

Michele routon QA Lead,

Expesite, LLC


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Tuesday, october 25, 2011 10:00am – 11:15amsession BlocK 1

session #101Leading from the Middle – applying Maxwell’s 360 Leader Concepts for Test LeadsTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Jane fraser, Test Director, Electronic Arts

Managing a successful site and trying to keep it bug-free is a never-ending process. This session will include tools and best practices so you can reduce risk, mitigate disaster, and meet customer needs all while keeping your team happy in a hectic environment.

Learn ways to:

• Influence changes in your organization, in order to improve quality in both the products and the team

• Eliminate the blame game from post mortems and develop key learnings instead

• Use past events to forge new process

• Express the risks or issues to individuals to get results

Jane oversees the Test Department, which includes Pogo.com, Club Pogo, Facebook games and portal, and mobile . She has provided leadership and established testing process for a team which has grown from six to sixty-eight.

session #102on Complete TestingTrack: Test Strategy and Design Matt heusser, Software Process Naturalist, Excelon DevelopmentPeter walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide

When the big boss tells you the critically important project needs to be completely tested, how do we reply? Journey along with Matt Heusser and Pete Walen in a rousing discussion of software testing, professionalism, knowledge and communication about software testing. Along the way you will pick up pointers for explaining testing, setting expectations, risk management... and maybe, just maybe, a little doing more with less. Take home with you a transcript of advice on the issue of complete testing, as well as an audio discussion of the same.

Matt has been developing, testing, and managing software projects for his entire adult life.

Peter has been in software development for over 25 years.

session #103adapting Conventional Testing Strategies for an agile environmentTrack: Agile Testing robert walsh, President, Excalibur Solutions

Contrary to what some believe, the Agile view of testing is not “don’t test,” nor is it “only developers should test.” Agile augments traditional testing done by testing professionals with other automated tests written and executed by developers and customers. Test driven development and unit testing, user acceptance, exploratory, usability, load and performance, integration, and other techniques play significant roles in Agile environments. This course will help to explain how various testing efforts are used in responsible approaches to Agile software development. Further, it will explore ways that traditional QA efforts can be adapted to fit neatly in Agile processes. Examples will be given to show a typical Agile iteration, including what roles each team member plays inside and across iterations.

Robert delivers Agile training andcontract programming services. He is also a co-founder and former President/CEO of EnvisionWare, Inc., a Georgia company focused on providing self-service solutions to public and academic libraries.

session #104Smarter Testing – Test Less Test rightTrack: Test Process rakesh ranjan, Software Test Leader, IBM Corporation

Testing less, if done smartly, can be very effective in most software development projects. This session suggests the practical methods and tools from real world projects that can make a tester do more with less. In other words, create a big impact with less but utilize the correct testing. You will learn:

• How to mix ad-hoc and exploratory testing techniques with formal testing.

• How to know where the bugs are.

• How to utilize code coverage to prioritize your testing.

• How to manage your time in a high performance test team.

• How to collaborate with the development team.

This session aims to provide you with practical tips and techniques that will make you a highly efficient tester.

Rakesh manages a high performanceQA team at IBM and has been coding and testing software that runs critical business for almost 15 years.

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Tuesday, october 25, 2011 11:45am – 1:00pm session BlocK 2

session #201real world Performance Testing in ProductionTrack: Performance Testing dan bartow, Vice President, Product Management, SOASTA

Online application performance is critical – no one would challenge this statement. Even with thorough testing in a lab environment, when applications are deployed to production they very frequently topple under the pressure of real-world users. Running a few hundred virtual users in a small lab does not mean that you can support twenty times as much load in the production environment. Yet this kind of extrapolation is being done all throughout the industry.

Testing in production is an essential component of world-class performance methodologies. However, this approach is not without it’s own set of challenges; the three most common of which are security, test data in production, and potential live customer impact. Learn how businesses from the New York Stock Exchange to Netflix have solved these problems to enable ongoing production testing.

Prior to joining SOASTA, Dan was Sr. Engineering Manager at Intuit and over the past decade he has been responsible for the performance of websites for American Airlines, AT&T, Best Buy, Finish Line, J.Crew, Neiman Marcus and others.

session #202web Testing with Selenium 2.0 – better, faster, More awesomeTrack: Test Automation Jason huggins, Cofounder, CTO, Sauce Labs Inc.

Selenium is the most popular open-source tool for acceptance testing dynamic web applications. In Selenium 2.0, the Selenium project merged with the WebDriver project. This session will explain the benefits of Selenium 2.0’s technology and go into detail on what is and is not changing. Selenium’s goal is to drive any browser the same way an end user would with any programming language on any OS platform.

This session will also cover trends in testing and test automation, and how Selenium fits into the bigger project management picture. Specific guidance will be given on how to determine what should be tested with Selenium and how to deal with the problem of brittle, expensive-to-maintain Selenium tests.

Jason is the creator of the Seleniumproject, a cross-platform, cross-browserweb automation toolkit. When not coding in Python or JavaScript, Jason enjoys hacking on Arduino-based electronics projects.

session #203Product owners are from Mars, Testers are from venus... or are They?Track: Agile Testing Jerry d. odenwelder Jr., Product Manager, VersionOneJoellen Carter, Agile Tester, VersionOne

On Agile teams, product owners are often crunched for time because of their need to assist the team with the current release while interacting with users to refine features for future releases. A typical solution to this problem is to have multiple product owners, one focused on long term direction and one, or more, focused on short term features. In this session we propose an alternate approach that leverages the strengths of product owners and testers to have a continuous flow from release to release.

Jerry has been in software engineering for nearly 20 years with over 6 years of agile experience.

JoEllen has more than seven years of experience defining the role of tester on agile teams.

session #204data Testing on a business intelligence/data warehouse ProjectTrack: Specialized Application Test Environments karen Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc.

When a company builds a data warehouse and creates reports designed for business analysis, it’s important that the data on those reports is accurate. Testing for data accuracy is different from functional testing and other types of testing such as performance or security testing. The business rules around data become boundary conditions to consider. Deciding the test data set becomes a considerable topic and is often one of the most strategic decisions in BI testing.

Stored procedures, triggers, and custom ETL transactions need to be tested but frequently testers don’t have these types of experiences on their resume which makes building a testing team a challenge for most test managers. This session takes a look at the unique testing challenges of data quality in the business intelligence/data warehouse arena.

Karen is an independent software test consultant and has published numerous articles and blogs about her experiences with software testing.


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Tuesday, october 25, 2011 2:15pm – 3:30pmsession BlocK 3

session #303Managing with Metrics: The Saga of a Test effortTrack: Test Strategy and Design Shaun bradshaw, VP Consulting Services,Zenergy Technologies, Inc.

This presentation describes how a small set of test metrics were used to successfully manage a major test acceptance effort at the conclusion of a two and half year ERP implementation. Attendees will learn how key metrics drove test management decisions and how these same metrics will benefit their organizations. We will discuss the background, the planning, the effort, and the results, all from the point of view of what the metrics revealed and how they altered the management of the effort as a result.

The following concepts will be taught as a part of this presentation:

• Planning which metrics will help determine success

• Key metrics that assist in day-to-day decision making

• How to implement and utilize key metrics to lead a test team in a non-threatening environment

Shaun has spent the last 14 years helping improve their QA and test processes by advising, them on effective testing and test management techniques as well as implementing optimized test metrics.

session #304Testing agility without agile: a Toolkit for ManagersTrack: Test Process harish narayan, Director, Technology, Vistaprint Julie davis, Director of Quality Assurance, Vistaprint

At Vistaprint, the technology team does not follow a specific Agile methodology but is very agile, to ensure that new features are delivered with quality to its 10 million online customers. The QA management team uses a set of best practices to ensure testing agility in the form of a toolkit which includes the following: co-located business, development and QA teams; integrated capacity planning using a six month horizon; a QA project execution process that stresses early engagement followed by a test strategy to eliminate defects early; a streamlined ticket workflow to manage test progress; systems that quickly detect issues in the test phase and those that missed the test phase; regression automation that is executed and triaged daily; and metrics that help assess risk throughout the release cycle.

Harish is a software engineering and information technology leader with over 15 years of experience.Julie began her quality assurance career in 2000 after receiving a Masters in Engineering from MIT.

session #301Tester Today, Manager TomorrowTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Trisha Lee, QA and Change Control: Manager,First Tech Federal Credit Union

Transitioning from tester to manager began with a credit union merger that taught Trisha to navigate through loads of responsibility, management pressure, vendor demands and tester needs, requiring a multitude of support, knowledge, and creativity. Learn how she went from being a tester to a leader during a multimillion dollar merger and lived to tell about it.

Key Points of the session include:

• How to manage the responsibility of leading the testing during a major project

• The techniques to lead a team of formal and informal testers

• How to build your credibility and empower a testing team

• How to transition from being a tester to a manager

Trisha has worked in the credit unionindustry for over 10 years and most recently led the data validation testing activities for the largest merger in credit union history.

session #302interpreting Performance Testing resultsTrack: Performance Testing dan downing, Principal Consultant, Mentora Group

You’ve worked hard to define, develop and execute a performance test on a new application to determine its behavior under load. Your initial test results have filled a couple of 52 gallon drums with numbers. Now what?

In this session we’ll look at my CAVIAR process for evaluating test results: Collecting; Aggregating; Visualizing; Interpreting; Analyzing; and Reporting.

Then together we’ll look at example graphs taken from actual projects and interpret them to see what hypotheses we can glean. Finally, I’ll share with you my approach to reporting results in a clear and compelling manner, with data-supported observations, conclusions drawn from these observations, and actionable recommendations. You will take home at least one new idea that will make you a more effective performance tester.

Over the past 13 years, Dan has ledhundreds of performance projects on applications ranging from eCommerce to ERP and companies ranging from startups to global enterprises.

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session #401Stepping up to Leadership: Test Leadership Lessons from harry PotterTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Peter walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide

Even if you do not have the word “lead” in your job title, and even if you are not a manager or other official leader, sometimes you find people looking to you to be a leader. Stepping up to your own potential involves overcoming your own uncertainties, self doubts and perception.

This session will look at the choices, options and paths that are available to every tester and software professional, including opportunities for self-education, networking and other professional and technical development. In this interactive discussion, the presenter will talk about his mistakes, what he learned from them, his successes, and how he capitalized on them, and what opportunities there may be for you to step up to leadership in your own right and practical tips for doing so.

Peter has been in software development for over 25 years. He has worked in the fields of insurance and finance, manufacturing, higher education/universities, retail, distribution and point of sale systems.

session #402Continuous integration Testing with Code CoverageTrack: Test Automation george Shin, QA/Test Manager, Hewlett-Packard Company

Finding new and never before covered code is a challenge in a continuous integration testing environment that requires merging and preserving code coverage measurements from each different build version across different build targets. Between each integration testing iteration the emphasis is placed on measuring the effectiveness of the test coverage against detecting modified code down to the minimal subset. This is important for the developers in test to stay integrated continuously with the daily commits to the nightly builds. This session discusses a system environment that delivers automation and tools that contribute to developing and testing a better quality product for our customers that also minimizes risk of exposing uncovered code that can become customer visible failures.

In his current role, george leads a team of developers responsible for integration test coverages for an Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) product, with the main focus being QA coverage of controller firmware.

session #403Managing risk for Software ProductsTrack: Test Strategy and Design Matthew Sullivan, Performance Quality Control Engineer, Wolters Kluwer Scott barber, CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.

Most organizations that develop software as a product, a component of a product, or as a way to reduce internal business expenses manage risk at business, product, and project layers independently, and frequently with separate risk management methodologies. This situation leads to disconnects over what risks can best be managed at which layer, what risks are more or less critical than others, and which critical risks are becoming “lost in the cracks”.

During this session, a consolidated model will be presented with specifics to implementation for managing risk for software products and ensuring business alignment between what is requested and what is delivered.

Matthew is currently involved witha suite of internal auditing products.

Scott is a respected leader in the area of software system performance testing.

session #404documenting Tester instructions – a Survey of Successful approachesTrack: Test Process Justin hunter, CEO, Hexawise

This session provides an overview of several different approaches that are successfully used by testers to address the questions of: What type of testing documentation should you create; and how much detail is appropriate to include in order to guide testers and/or satisfy compliance requirements? This session will discuss pros and cons of several approaches, including:

• Checklists• Mindmaps• Test ideas• Specification by example• Detailed test scripts

In some software testing presentations, the speaker will explain why they think one particular approach is particularly attractive. This won’t be one of those talks.

Justin is a test design specialist whohas enjoyed teaching testers how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their test case selection and documentation approaches.

Tuesday, october 25, 2011 4:00pm – 5:15pm session BlocK 4


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wednesday, october 26, 2011 9:45am – 11:00amsession BlocK 5

session #501Load and Performance Testing using SeleniumTrack: Performance Testing frank Cohen, CEO, PushToTest

Selenium is great at browser automation. Attending this session shows how to repurpose Selenium test scripts to be used as load and performance tests:

• Why Selenium in load testing

• Data enabling Selenium tests

• Calibration testing methodology

• Results analysis: the scalability index

• Deploying tests to the cloud

• Resources and next steps

All examples are based on open source test products and toolsets, freely downloadable.

Frank is the expert that informationtechnology professionals and enterprises go to when they need to understand and solve problems in complex inter-operating information systems.

session #502Test oracle automation: unachievable dream or Tomorrow’s reality?Track: Test Automation dani almog, Researcher, BGU - Ben Gurion University

Test oracle is considered among the most important components of software testing, yet quite sophisticated and generally difficult to automate. A test oracle is defined as any (human or mechanical) agent that decides whether a program behaves correctly under a given test, and accordingly can produce a verdict of “pass” or “fail”. It is said that test oracle is one of the most humanly dependent properties during the testing work; hence our ability to automate testing is fundamentally constrained by our ability to create and use oracles.

The session will present and redefine the challenge of automating test oracle, demonstrating models and tools to address the issue and suggesting new practical and innovative ways to overcome the obstacles.

Dani has been a software developerand team lead. He also served as director for test automation, where he built infrastructures for test automation.

session #503Testing in the world of kanbanTrack: Agile Testing Carl Shaulis, QA Engineering Manager, HomeAway.com

In this session, Carl Shaulis presents a journey of a team who adopted Kanban and went from 6 week release cycles down to releasing twice per week. This session will introduce the concepts of Kanban, address why and how the team made the switch to this lean process, and most importantly how the role of a tester adapts to this dramatic process change.

Carl has been testing software for10+ years and has over 15 years of management experience. He takes an analytical approach to testing and has the fortitude to embrace change.

session #504Testing a new Mobile worldTrack: Specialized Application Test Environments eddy bruin, MSC, Capgemini Financial Services

We are about to take a next step in evolution and testers have to take this step too! Websites and web browsers are no longer the usual center of the computing world. Instead ubiquitous computing is the leading way forward. Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities.

This presentation will point out what opportunities and challenges ubiquitous computing will bring for test professionals. How can we test these mobile applications? What makes them different from traditional application testing? What risks are involved? What is the influence of API’s, cloud computing, SOA and mash up applications? And will quality attributes shift in importance? These questions will be discussed and more questions will be raised on these topics.

Eddy is a thought leader in mobiletesting and constructing mobile test capabilities in the Netherlands.

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wednesday, october 26, 2011 11:30am – 12:45pm session BlocK 6

session #601Performance qa Testing within Large development organizationsPerformance TestingJohn Meza, Product Engineer, ESRI

This session will focus on how ongoing performance and scalability testing can be integrated into a large development organization. Follow a hypothetical test team from inception to full integration into the development organization, including:

• Challenges of creating an internal team and areas of responsibility and influence

• Managerial and organizational challenges when working within large development organizations

• Different modes of performance and scalability testing within development organization

• Working collaboratively with development teams and performance test schedules based on development schedules

• Reporting mechanisms and report types

John has 25 years in the IT industryand for the past three years he has been the lead of the Performance QA team at ESRI.

session #602improve automation Code quality, Clarity, and ComprehensionTrack: Test Automation boyd Patterson, President, Patterson Consulting, LLC

Much of the effort to perform test automation comes months or even years after the initial scripts have been written. Before you can begin to debug broken code or write new functionality for a test, you must first comprehend what was previously written. Learn about many of the common pitfalls in authored code and how you can refactor your code to dramatically improve comprehension. Topics will include good naming conventions for variables and methods, when to use callable routines, effective use of parameters in routines, variable usage, avoiding “magic values”, code formatting, and objective measurements of code complexity. Examples will be provided based on HP QuickTest® Professional, but the concepts can be universally applied to any programming language.

Boyd has 11 years of experience intest automation from the HP Mercury tool suite as well as 7 years of experience in Windows® client applicationdevelopment and design principles.

session #603The discipline aspect of Software TestingTrack: Test Strategy and Design karen Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc.

The project manager asks: When will you be done? How can you tell when you will be done testing when testing is a discovery activity not just a confirmation activity and you have no idea what issues you may find lurking in the software. How do you discipline yourself to get the job done? To begin with, you have to admit you have a challenge to overcome and in this presentation, the reality of needing to be disciplined and focused to get work done, most especially getting work done under pressure, will be discussed. Tactics will be shared for getting through stacks of work when you don’t feel inspired. We will look at how to build rigor and discipline into your practice in software testing.

Karen is an independent software test consultant and has published numerous articles and blogs about her experiences with software testing.

session #604agile aPi qaTrack: Agile Testing david hefner, Senior Technical Staff Member,Hewlett-Packard Company

Software QA seems to be increasingly about web applications and protocols. But APIs remain critical underpinnings of system and application software. This session will examine API quality assurance and how agile techniques can be applied to make the process more effective, efficient and enjoyable. Participants will learn how to use agile techniques to streamline all of the primary QA activities. Project scoping, managing relationships with management and developers, tool selection, project execution, test deliverables and API testing fundamentals will be covered.

David has worked in the software industry as a developer, manager and QA professional for small and large organizations for more than 30 years and has a track record of innovation and experience that spans engineering practices and methodologies.


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wednesday, october 26, 2011 2:00pm – 3:15pmsession BlocK 7

session #701Purpose driven TestingTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Cory Medlin, Director, Health Care Testing Services, N.A.

Often testing becomes an isolated exercise focused on tools, metrics, and execution. This session explores the importance of creating a connection between the tester and the end user. By building a connection to the end users of a system, testers feel a greater sense of purpose in their role. The potential benefits in both testing effectiveness and morale will be explored. Methods to create a sense of purpose will also be explored, including ideas for team events and building a high energy culture in the testing team.

Cory is an established leader in IT with experience in a variety of roles including leading large scale software development projects, building a PMO, and driving organizations to CMMI Certification.

session #702Performance Testing in the agile enterpriseTrack: Performance Testing Scott barber, CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.

According to the presenter, performance testing is an inherently agile process, even though many teams and organizations experience significant difficulty integrating performance into their existing agile processes. In this session, learn how performance can be seamlessly integrated and how to employ and manage performance testing on Agile projects and within Agile enterprises. After this session, students will have the tools and knowledge they need to overcome many of the common difficulties organizations face when trying to make performance an integral part of their Agile processes.

Scott is viewed by many as the world’smost prominent thought-leader in the area of software system performance testing and as a respected leader in the more general field of testing software systems.

session #703Pairing Programmers with non-ProgrammersTrack: Agile Testing Lanette Creamer, Consulting Tester/Testing Coach,Spark Quality LLC

Historically, pairing between developers and testers has been limited to acceptance criteria or story definition. However, one of the exciting frontiers of Agile testing is pairing between testers and programmers at strategic points during an iteration.

Regardless of how Agile your team is, if you can get past the fear and old boundaries that limit the value of pairing, you can take a step towards understanding other team members. Understanding what is happening in the code can be a huge testing advantage, and it doesn’t mean that you know how to code yourself, just that you understand programming basics and some vocabulary. This session is an experience report about what is working so far in finding the common ground between testers and coders and is targeted for those who are not primarily programmers.

After a decade at Adobe, including leading testing on the Creative Suites, Lanette jumped into consulting with both feet. She is currently working with a Silicon Valley client, building a testing team from scratch.

session #704Test Process improvement adoption: ants on a doughnutTrack: Test Process Shawn hudson, Supervisor - Test Engineers, SprintJill Corbitt, Capability and Process SME, Sprint

To anyone outside a testing organization, testing looks like ants on a doughnut; lots of activity with no clear purpose or direction. In some ways this is true since many test organizations develop ad hoc in-house methods to define, develop and implement processes. However, in 2009, Sprint Information Technology’s Enterprise Testing Services (ETS) directorate formally adopted Songeti’s Test Process Improvement methodology to enhance overall quality while addressing procedural opportunities incident to outsourcing and domestic attrition. This presentation serves to highlight assessment, implementation, migration, and maintenance approaches leveraged by the ETS organization over the last 2 years. We speak directly to the investment required and lessons learned to date, coupled with the emerging requirement to move to the next generation of test quality framework(s).

Shawn is a Certified Test Engineer with over 15 years in the defense industry.

Jill has worked as a developer, test analyst, test leader, and project manager for over a decade.

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wednesday, october 26, 2011 3:45pm – 5:00pm session BlocK 8

session #801walk in My ShoesTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Tony bruce, Director, Tony Bruce Consulting Ltd.adrian rapan, QA Analyst, LMAX

Follow a project, role playing a QA person and a tester dealing with problematic scenarios each of us has experienced. Going through the scenarios, walk through the different ideas and approaches people in these different roles may have. The audience will be invited to contribute their experiences and encourage discussion of what did and did not work in a given situation.

Experience and share a range of different perspectives and approaches to solving project issues. We anticipate lively discussion as discussion reveals the variety of different ways participants have dealt with scenarios that are familiar to all. Our aim is to inspire participants to see differing points of view as well as approaches that will better equip them to deal with issues that can arise on a project.

Tony has worked in testingsince 2004 with large blue chip companies and small start-ups,

Adrian has worked at all levelsof the testing life cycle.

session #802automating and understanding human interaction with web 2.0 applicationsTrack: Performance Testing Mark Tomlinson, Director, Professional Services Delivery, Shunra Software

This presentation will cover new approaches which aim to achieve two critically important goals for testing: overcoming the obstacles of complex client test automation especially for performance testing tools: and free up more time for testers to spend designing more complex tests and driving developers to fix the bugs. Walk step by step through the interactive aspects of a Web 2.0 site to illustrate exactly how a modern automation tool captures the interactions of an end user, and how sophisticated algorithms work to convert that action into more flexible and “intelligent” scripting. Learn how to improve automation skills, how to optimize the time spent on analysis and critical thinking, rather than buried in automation script nightmares.

Mark has 18 years experience in thesoftware technology industry. He is regarded as an expert and leader in software testing automation with specific emphasis in performance engineering.

session #803Sisyphus, Parkinson, goldratt and you: Practical Test estimationTrack: Test Strategy and Design Matt kallman, Project Manager and QA Director,Carnevale Interactive

How long will it take? That question is often uncomfortable even for experienced software quality professionals. Together, we will examine the fundamental nature of test estimation. From there we will consider some unique stories and ideas that will inspire us to creatively think about specific actions that will allow each one of us to better respond to the question, “How long will it take?”.

What could the story of Sisyphus, Parkinson’s law and Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints possibly contribute to a practical discussion of software test estimation? What proven ideas can we tap from leading project management experts to improve our response to estimate requests? Is there some magic formula for effective testing estimation?

Join us to add some thinking tools to help you and your organization improve the way you work together.

Matt brings a variety of softwareproject and product experiences to provide his current clients with success in their software projects.

session #804integrated Test automation for enterprise Mobile appsTrack: Specialized Application Test Environments Sreekanth Singaraju, VP of Testing Services,Alliance Global Services

Android test automation for enterprise apps provides an evolutionary approach to developing test automation frameworks to include mobile application testing. This approach involves integrating mobile test automation with existing automation frameworks to provide a comprehensive view of quality and test execution.

This session will showcase a framework and approach to address these challenges. Using a framework developed by integrating Robotium and Selenium, walk through an approach to developing an integrated test automation framework that can test applications with web and mobile interfaces. This session highlights the following key aspects of developing an integrated automation framework: test data management; reporting; test lab configuration, including multi-device management; and challenges, lessons learned and best practices to develop a successful framework.

Sreekanth has more than 12 yearsof senior technology leadership experience and leads Alliance’s QA & Testing organization in developing cutting edge solutions.


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Thursday, october 27, 2011 10:00am – 11:15amsession BlocK 9

session #901a remote Tester’s Perspective: The Challenges and SolutionsTrack: Leadership Perspectives for Testers keith Mcintosh, CEO and Founder,Professional Quality Assurance Ltd.

Much has been written on the many challenges associated with remote testing locations whether they are onshore, nearshore, or offshore. The notion of utilizing remote testing teams may be a scary challenge. Attending this session will provide you with insight into the world of a remote tester, and the struggles and challenges that need to be overcome.

Attendees will be provided with practical solutions to improve testing results and enhance job satisfaction for all team members. Real-world examples of testing successfully within projects that utilize distributed teams will be shared. How to improve communication structures by identifying the best team structure, communication models and tools for the project will be discussed.

With over twenty years of experience in allaspects of software quality assurance, testing, and software development, keith provides leadership in testing engagements, test automation activities, and quality assurance processes.

session #9025 ways to do More Performance Testing in Less TimeTrack: Performance Testing Steve Sturtevant, Senior Software & Performance Engineer, OC Systems, Inc.James Pulley, CTO, Newcoe Performance Engineering

This session provides five strategies for addressing the challenges test teams face: leveraging work developers and functional testers are already doing to help you get performance testing started earlier; do more testing in less time; increasing software performance quality under tight budgets and schedule constraints. We will discuss strategies on performance, measurement, accountability, functional testing, and test data integrity, and then share how they were successfully implemented in a multi-billion dollar enterprise application.

Steve is a consultant working atU.S. Customs & Border Protection. James’ background includes technical concentrations on network and application infrastructure performance.

session #903exploratory Test automationTrack: Test Automation doug hoffman, Consultant, Software Quality Methods

When most managers think of automated tests they picture automating what the manual testers do in running the tests. Sometimes this is what we desire, but it isn’t the most powerful way to use test automation. This session is about extending our reach to do testing that cannot be done manually. Few organizations are working beyond the automated execution of manual tests by:

• Monitoring program activities not observable by humans

• Evaluating massive volumes of data

• Exploring ever-changing areas of the program

This session covers all of these areas with a focus on using automated tests to explore the system.

Doug does management consultingin strategic and tactical planning for quality software across varied applications and industries and is the current president of AST.

session #904qa needed, Testers need not applyTrack: Test Process bradley baird, SQA Manager, Symantec

The CEO says that quality is the most important thing and the VP says that quality is a main focus. Furthermore, the Director says that quality is the company’s passion. It sounds good, right? If we actually believe this, and the goal is quality, why do we still have testers? It is time we deprecate that title and assume our true identities as Software Quality Engineers.

We need to understand that testing is simply the process that is used to assess the level of defects that a product contains. Whereas quality is the sum of the total user experience. In this session you will learn how to transform from a tester into a quality engineer and ideas on how to present quality concerns to management in a way that translates into action.

Bradley has over 20 years experienceas a QA professional and has taught and trained groups all over the US as well as in Europe, South America, Australia, and Taiwan on QA practices and methodologies.

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Thursday, october 27, 2011 11:30am – 12:45pm session BlocK 10

session #1001using failure analysis to Power up your TestsTrack: Test Strategy and Design dawn haynes, Senior Trainer and Consultant, PerfTestPlus, Inc.

Failures are not only opportunities to fix problems, but also can be used to improve our development methods and testing approaches. Defects and anomalies are rich places to do data mining and feed our test generation efforts. We can’t hope to find all the bugs, but we can look for gaps in our methods and thinking processes and insert some new types of tests in the hopes of widening the net. Where could you dig for new test ideas? Attend this session and explore the answers to this question as well as:

• Learn to mine new test ideas from defects and other undesirable software behavior

• Find ways to overcome the “cannot reproduce” barrier

• Extract patterns from the root-cause of defects instead of one-hit regression tests

Dawn is a highly regarded trainer of software testers who blends experience and humor to provide testers of all levels with tools and techniques to help them generate new approaches to software testing problems.

session #1002Test data StrategiesTrack: Test Automation Linda hayes, Founder, WorkSoft, Inc.

Getting control of the test data is fundamental for any test effort, because a basic tenet of software testing is that you must know both the input conditions of the data and the expected output results to perform a valid test. If you don’t know either of these, it’s not a test; it’s an experiment, because you don’t know what will happen. This predictability is important for manual testing, but for automated testing it’s essential. But due to complex enterprise data landscapes that are further complicated by regulatory constraints and risks, acquiring and managing reusable test data remains one of the most challenging aspects of testing. The presenter will discuss the regulatory, organizational and technical issues around test data and present multiple approaches for acquiring and managing a robust and repeatable test data environment.

Linda has over twenty years of experiencein software test automation and is the founder of three software companies including AutoTester, the first PC-based test automation tool.

session #1003fast and good: alternate approaches to quality at etsyTrack: Agile Testing noah Sussman, Test Architect, Etsy

At Etsy we have spent the last several years learning to move fast at scale. Building on the precedents set by organizations like Flickr, IMVU and Facebook, we have created a testing methodology that is highly automated, low-ceremony and involves participation from individuals across the organization. As our development cycle became more rapid many challenges to testing arose: What is the exploratory tester’s role in such a fast-moving environment? How does one validate simultaneous releases by many different functional teams? How would the feedback loop between the tester and designer need to change? Many of the answers to these questions appeared counter-intuitive at first. The end result is an online marketplace with hundreds of thousands of active sellers collectively drawing over a billion page views a month.

Noah is a senior software engineerwith a background in literature and graphic design.

session #1004Modernizing Today’s Complex applications for the CloudTrack: Specialized Application Test Environments kelly emo, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, HP Software, Hewlett-Packard Company

Many enterprises are relying on legacy applications that once efficiently supported simple business processes. Over the years, business processes have grown more complex, and the applications that support them are now integrated with many other applications and technologies. As such, businesses today are increasingly embracing the need to become more agile, and the shift to the cloud is one of the key initiatives they are turning to. In this session, the presenter discusses the need for modernizing composite applications to increase business agility before adopting the cloud. Learn:

• What are composite applications

• How to effectively manage change in composite applications

• The best methods to lower business risk through planning, developing and testing composite applications

Kelly leads the product marketingteam responsible for HP’s Applications product portfolio and is a seasoned software professional with over 20 years of experience.

Conference DiscountsEarly Bird Discount: Register by September 16to receive $400.00 off any full conference package

Team discounts:

• 3–5 attendees: 25% discount

• 6–9 attendees: 30% discount

• 10+ attendees: 40% discount

Team discounts are not combinable with other discounts/offers. Teams must be from the same company and must be submitted into the online registration system at the same time. Group discounts will be applied after the conference registrations have been submitted and a revised invoice will be sent within 24 hours of registration. If you have any questions, please call 719.476.0771.


MAIN PACKAGEPLUS 1-DAY

MAIN PACKAGE

$1,695 ends 9/16

$1,295 ends 9/16

$2,095 after 9/16

$1,695 after 9/16

Register Register

Pre-Conference Tutorials (1-day)

Keynote Presentations

Breakout Sessions

Open Jam Testing Sessions

Happy Hour Welcome Reception

Speed Geeking and Power-Up Issues and Solutions

CONFERENCE PACKAGES AND PRICING

Cancellation and Payment Policies:Cancellation Policy: All cancellations must be made in writing.You may cancel without penalty until September 23, 2011 after which a $150 cancellation fee will be charged. No-shows and cancellations after October 7, 2011 will be charged the full conference rate. Cancellation policies apply to both conference and pre-conference workshop registrations.

Payment Information: To expedite your registration, please have your Visa, MasterCard or American Express card available when registering. You may also choose to be invoiced for the conference fee. Invoices are payable upon receipt and prepayment (or a federal government purchase order) is required prior to attendance. Please make checks payable to Software Test Professionals.

We’ve made it easy to gain approval for conference attendance. Use the Letter of Approval form on the website to formally request approval from management.

232323 registrAtion pAcKAges

Software Test Professionals Conference Program BoardThe Conference Program Board (CPB) collaborates with the Software Test Professionals (STP) Conference events team to recommend keynote speakers, sessions and overall direction of the conference program. At STP we believe the stake holders in the industry should drive the direction of everything we do – the conference is no exception. With member representatives, we deliver quality conferences that resonate to every member of our industry.

Scott.Barber,.PerfTestPlus, Inc.

Vladimir.Belorusets,.Xerox Corp

Fiona.Charles,.Quality Intelligence

Elizabeth.D’Angelo,.RBC Capital Markets

Patrick.Dolan,.Deloitte

Dan.Downing,.Mentora Group

Keith.Eggeman,.Progressive Insurance

Dawn.Haynes,.PerfTestPlus, Inc.

Matt.Heusser,.Consulting Software Tester

Nancy.Kelln,.Unimagined Testing

Ashish.(Ash).Malhotra,.Progressive Insurance

Cory.Medlin,.Consulting Software Tester

Brett.Messimer,.Questcon Technologies

John.Meza,.ESRI

Bala.Mullur,.Consultant

Catherine.Powell,.Abakas

Fahmida.Rahman,.Wolters Kluwer

James.Sivak,.Consultant in Software Test

Main Conference Packagedates: Tuesday, october 25 – Thursday, october 27 Price: $1,295.00 before 9/16 OR $1,695.00 after 9/16

includes:

• 5 exceptional keynotes and general sessions

• 40 conference breakout sessions in sevencomprehensive tracks

• Rapid Fire Challenge

• Happy Hour Welcome Reception

• Speed Geeking Breakfast Bytes

• Open Jam Testing Sessions

• Test Management Dinner Groups

• Power-Up Issues and Solutions RoundTable Discussions

• Happy Hour Welcome Reception

• Three breakfasts, two lunches andbeverage breaks

• Q&A Matchmaker Board

Main Conference Package PLUS 1-Daydates: Monday, october 24 – Thursday, october 27 Price: $1,695.00 before 9/16 OR $2,095.00 after 9/16

includes: The Main Conference Package PLUS an extra 1-day Pre-Conference Workshop:

Pre-Conference workshops:

• Pre-Con 1: From Soup to Nuts: A Five Course (Testing) Meal, Matt Heusser, Peter Walen

• Pre-Con 2: Test Strategy: The Design Behind the Plan, Fiona Charles

• Pre-Con 3: Workshop on Mobile Testing, Karen N. Johnson

• Pre-Con 4: Implementing a Test Automation Framework, Linda Hayes

The Leading Conference on SofTware TeSTing

hotel informAtion

724 S. Tejon Street, Suite C | Colorado Springs, CO 80903

All conference activities will take place at the InterContinental Hotel in Dallas, TX, October 24 – 27, 2011. a special discounted rate of $155 hasbeen reserved for conference participants. To reserve your room, pleasecall 800.386.1592 and reference the Software Test Conference rate orvisit www.stpcon.com/hotel to reserve online.

Hotel rooms are expected to sell out – please reserve as soon as possible. The conference rate will be available until September 26, 2011 OR until rooms sell out. Don’t miss your opportunity to stay at the conference hotel.

interContinental dallas 15201 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, TX 75001

800.386.1592 / 972.386.6000

Visit the conference website by scanning

this QR code.

stpcon fall 2011

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