STARWEST 2002 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

Conversations I Never Expected to Have as a Test Manager

There are times in a test manager's career when the work situation becomes surreal. If you've been in situations where you think you must be dreaming, sometimes it helps to look at things from the other person's perspective. As we mature in our jobs, we can examine these situations and see how to better answer the questions we have about unexpected communications. In this session we'll look at some typical conversations and discuss alternative ways to help everyone find the true reality, then better deal with the situation.
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group
eXtreme Programming's Unit Test Fixtures: Experience from the Field

Are you interested in adopting eXtreme Programming's (XP) unit test fixtures and related methods? Stan Bell shares his team's experiences with the Visual Basic version of the Xunit unit test framework. He then explains the methodology employed in the development shop, i.e., how engineers and QA analysts interacted prior to the application of this technique versus after.
Stan Bell, McKesson
Feature Risk Analysis: What Do I Test First?

Feature risk analysis is a quick, valuable method designed to determine which features need the most testing, and which need the least. Steve Tolman shows you how to gain a basic, yet very usable, understanding of how to prioritize the testing of features in any given test cycle. Intended for off-the-shelf software, this method delivers a definable and variable starting and ending point for testing.
Steve Tolman, PowerQuest Corporation Inc
Getting Things Done: Practical Web Application/e-Commerce Stress Testing

Web and e-commerce applications are still the rising, often unreachable, stars of the testing world. Your team's ability to effectively stress test Web applications-before your customers do-is critical. This double-track session shows you the tools that support stress testing, including several that cost absolutely nothing. It also walks you through a variety of approaches to stress testing that are available during all phases of development.
Robert Sabourin, AmiBug.com Inc
Growing Up to be a Good Test Manager

The day-to-day complexities of managing a test team can be a daunting responsibility for a new test manager or a beginning test lead. Not to worry, novices at this echelon of testing should take heart, as Jon Hagar shares his expert insight on how to become a superior test manager. This presentation outlines the knowledge and skill sets the inexperienced need to acquire, while highlighting various learning strategies designed to help test managers and leads excel in their new jobs.
Jon Hagar, Lockheed Martin
Hand-Over Tests in the Integration Process

Integration of software components, especially in complex software systems, often fails in testing, which can result in disharmony between the development and test team members. In today's global environment, however, where software components are developed and tested at several locations, there's an even greater probability for integration testing issues to occur. Hand-over tests are a technique designed to improve the integration process, because these integration tests are performed by the tester and the developer . . . together.
Kemal Balioglu, Siemens
How to Successfully Communicate the State of Testing in Your Organization

Many QA, process improvement, and test engineering personnel feel their company's management doesn't sufficiently understand, support, or value their contributions. You know what? They're right! What's the root cause of this lack? Robert Galen believes it's our inability to effectively communicate-to promote our teams and our abilities. We expect that either our work should speak for itself, or our value proposition accompanied by the metrics and data will make our case for us.
Robert L Galen, EMC Corporation
Improvement is a Journey: A Software Test Improvement Roadmap

With the wide array of software testing practices out there, how do you know where to start? Karen Rosengren shows you how a group of IBM testers developed a road map for implementing practices that takes into consideration things such as the skills required to implement them and how the practices relate to one another. She also explains IBM's Software Testing Improvement Road Map (STIR) which defines the levels of testing practices from "basic" to "engineered."
Karen Rosengren, IBM
Interface-Driven Model-Based Test Automation

For larger projects, interface-driven modeling is often an improvement over the more common requirements-driven models for test automation. Combining both methods, Mark Blackburn presents an interface-driven approach for automated test case creation and test driver generation. He focuses on how test engineers can develop more reusable models by clarifying their written requirements as models using component and system interfaces. Mark Blackburn offers his experiences, insights, and recommendations for applying this approach.
Mark Blackburn, Software Productivity Consortium
Keeping Your Outsourced Testing Under Control

As companies focus on their core business, the option to outsource software testing becomes more and more attractive. And there are plenty of organizations out there that specialize in the practice. But implementing outsourcing can feel like an uncertain proposition. In this session, Martin Pol explains how you can effectively select, implement, and audit outsourced testing activities. He shows you step by step what needs to be done to make outsourcing work for you and your company.
Martin Pol, POLTEQ IT Services BV

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