STPCon Fall 2011

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Save $400

October 24-27, 2011
Conference Tracks
Dallas Texas

Leadership Test Strategy Agile Test Performance Test Specialized Application
Perspectives for Testers and Design Testing Process Testing Automation Test Environments

www.STPCon.com | 8 7 7. 2 5 7. 9 5 3 1

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 Tuesday, October 25 Wednesday, October 26
8:30am – 9:45am 1:30pm – 2:15pm 8:30am – 9:30am

What Can In-The-Wild It’s the
We Learn by Testing: Your Peoplework,
Listening to Survival May Not the
Our Defects Depend Upon It Paperwork
Rex Black Matt Johnston Bruce Wilkinson
President, RBCS CMO, uTest Leadership Speaker
As Yogi Berra famously said, Just like the Amazon Rainforest has Economic downturns, customer
“You can observe a lot just by millions of acres yet to be explored, expectations, employment
watching”...Or listening for that the potential of “in the wild” issues, technology challenges,
matter. In testing, we can listen to testing has yet to be tapped. As expanding regulatory compliance
our defects. Defects can tell us a a technology executive, you have and multi-generation employee
lot about what’s going on with our finite resources to achieve an ever- communication concerns can take
projects, a lot about the current expanding set of responsibilities. their toll on a sometimes overworked
quality of our products, and a lot And while budgets tighten, the workforce and especially managers
about our software engineering pace and pressure to deliver testing and team leaders.
process and its capabilities. For results increases. All of this occurs
As a result, many organizations have
example, how many defects can at a time when your customers are
decided to implement a positive
you expect users to find after you using your applications from an
and consistent workplace culture
release the product? In some cases, infinite set of devices, configurations
through their mission, vision, values,
defects can tell us interesting things and environments.
goals and strategic objectives.
about what’s not going on, too.
While your internal resources may This highly engaging, informative
For example, when testers have
be finite, there are tens of thousands and content-driven presentation
previous hands-on user experience,
of professional testers all over the will demonstrate how to build a
do they really write better defect
world representing the same, vast better business by implementing
reports? In this talk, Rex will discuss
variety of your end user base. The an inspired value-based employee
important things test professionals
question isn’t whether you should accountability culture and climate
can learn by listening to defects.
tap into this resource, but rather, of trust, respect, integrity, teamwork,
He’ll illustrate these insights with
how long can companies attempt communication, inclusiveness,
a variety of case studies and
to satisfy a diverse user base while leadership, service, change and
examples. You’ll walk away ready
testing only “in the lab”? personal responsibility.
to listen to your defects, and to
understand what they’re telling you. Matt has more than a decade of Bruce is a leadership and
technology, product & marketing communication specialist
Rex is a prolific author, practicing in
experience at companies ranging who reinforces personalized
the field of software testing today.
from startups to global enterprises, messages with humor, passion,
His first book, Managing the Testing
areas of testing. enthusiasm, and authenticity.
Process, has sold over 50,000 copies.

r e g i st e r www . STPCon.com o r ca l l 877 . 2 5 7 . 9 5 3 1

MAIN PACKAGE MAIN PACKAGE
PLUS 1-DAY

$1,695 $1,295
ends 9/16 ends 9/16

$2,095 $1,695
CONFERENCE PACKAGES after 9/16 after 9/16

AND PRICING 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

Keynotes 3
Wednesday, October 26 Thursday, October 27
1:15pm – 2:00pm 8:30am – 9:45am

Better, Faster, Are You Table of Contents
Cheaper: Ways Managing Testing
Keynotes...................................... 2-3
.
to Reduce Test Or “The Test
Cost on Monday Process?” Networking Activities........................ 4
.

M
atthew Heusser Fiona Charles Open Jam Sessions......................... 5
Consulting Tester, Principal Consultant,
Excelon Development Quality Intelligence Inc. Program Overview........................ 6-7

We are constantly asked to deliver A good manager creates a space Schedule At A Glance................... 8-9
more under increasingly tight where people can do their best work.
timeframes. Give in to those demands, A leader sets an example and inspires Pre-Con Workshops................ 10-11
and you will end up facing burnout, others to follow and then to lead in
Conference Sessions.............. 12-21
stress, business risk, and, most likely, their turn. A good test manager is
still more demands. Refuse, fight the both a good manager and a leader, Registration Packages............ 22-23
.
good fight, and it is likely someone managing the testing, and not just
else, a different department or a “the testing process.” Hotel Information............................ 24
3rd party, will outbid you...and that’s At work, defined processes and rules
not acceptable either. help us to feel that we are in control of
This presentation will focus on the our actions and thereby better placed
problem of pressure and offer real, to predict and control the outcomes.
concrete solutions to directly drive In reality, predefined processes can
out waste. At the same time, Matt will advance our work or impede it.
offer tools to help you analyze your Familiar industry-standard processes
testing, moving the conversation from may merely provide the illusion of
one of just cost, to also include value. control and a false expectation of
predictable outcomes in circumstances
Finally, Matt will talk about
where certainty is unattainable. Some
professionalism, the ways we as
ritualized processes focus attention and
testers, can better explain the value
effort on the wrong things, diverting our
we bring to the organization and how
energy from actually getting the job
we can frame the conversation about
done. Questioning our work and our
“What it is you do here.”
processes is just as critical to the pursuit
Matt, a consulting software tester and of quality as questioning products.
software process naturalist, has spent
Fiona, with 30+ years in software
the past 12 years or so developing,
development, teaches organizations
testing, and leading in dev/testing
to match their software testing to their
of computer software.
business risks and opportunities.


4 Networking Activities
Power-Up Issues and Solutions Test Management Dinner Groups
Round Table Discussions Wednesday, October 26 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Tuesday, October 25 from 7:30am – 8:30am Interested in networking with other professionals
Make the most out of your breakfast time and join your over dinner? Visit the registration desk and sign
colleagues in facilitated discussions focused on driving up for a facilitated dinner group. You will dine with
solutions to current issues. Each breakfast table will feature other professionals, have an opportunity to meet
a topic that reflects your most pressing issues that you are and greet, and discuss what matters most to you.
facing each day. We’ll provide the facilitator, but it’s up If you’re looking to reach outside your social core,
to you and your colleagues to discuss how to solve these participating in a dinner group will help you network
important problems. These roundtables are designed with other contact center managers facing the same
to help you learn, socialize and network at your fullest challenges. Each dinner guest is expected to pay for
potential. Pre-registration is not required, simply join us their individual meals... really a small price to pay for
for breakfast and be ready to discuss. a new network of colleagues.

Happy Hour Welcome Reception Rapid Fire Challenge
Tuesday, October 25 from 5:30pm – 7:00pm Thursday, October 27 from 7:30am – 8:30am
The welcome reception is the ultimate place to network Looking for fast, expert tips to help you streamline your
with your colleagues. Start your evening off with a drink testing process? Join us for this interactive session where
on us as you unwind and enjoy the Dallas nightlife. This software testing leaders will face off in a battle to see who
reception is a great opportunity to meet new people can present the most informational and educational tips
and talk to colleagues who are facing the same daily that you can take back to the office. Attendees will judge
challenges and issues. which presenters offer the best industry tips.
• 1: Harness your Inner Tester: Ways to Classify,
RF
Speed Geeking Breakfast Bytes Channel and Possibly Curb Your Natural Testing Style,
Wednesday, October 26 from 7:30am – 8:30am Dawn Haynes
Imagine hearing a hot topic – the immediate, meaningful, • RF2: A Bag of Validation Tricks, Lanette Creamer
most powerful element of a session –compressed into a
• 3: How to Calculate Risk and Cost of False Positives,
RF
small 8-minute byte. These sessions will feature a variety of
Mark Tomlinson
speakers and topics designed to educate, entertain and
motivate you, as you rotate between speakers who will • 4: FIBLOTS: A Method for Determining What To
RF
share their expertise in just a few minutes. Every lightning Test and What Not To, Scott Barber
topic you attend brings you closer to a drawing for an iPad
that will take place at the end of the session. Topics include: QA Matchmaker Board
• o You Have it All-Full Automatic Regression
S The STP matchmaker will be matching you to other testing
Test Suite...What’s Next professionals. If you have a subject matter of expertise and
• orget Reporting Results, Start Delivering Value
F want to share this knowledge, Melissa will match you to
individuals who have questions related to your expertise.
• ikuli: Useful Tool, Silver Bullet or Academic
S A whiteboard will be located at the conference where
Pipe-Dream you can list your expertise as well as your questions. The
• essy Integration Testing – Test Lessons from
M ability to meet the right people with experience which
Pulp Fiction can help your career and address your software testing
challenges is the key to a great conference experience.
• anban – In Okinawa, Belt Mean No Need
K
Rope to Hold Up Pants
• he Time I Over Engineered It
T
Excellent event, definitely planning
on attending next year. All topics were
Platinum Sponsor 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.


Open Jam Testing Sessions 5
Open Jam Sessions
Wednesday, October 26 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Are 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 Creamer
Come 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 Powell
In 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 Friends
Would 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 Reynolds
You’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 Spencer
Limited 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 Yuret
Learn 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 Kallman
Join 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 Limbaugh
Each 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 amplifying
our 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 informal
test 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 help
participants 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 assist
the 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, 2011
8:00am – 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, 2011
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, 2011
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

9
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, 2011
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

10 Pre-Conference Workshops
Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

Pre-Con 1 Pre-Con 2
From Soup to Nuts: A Five Course (Testing) Meal Test Strategy: The Design Behind the Plan
Matt Heusser, Consulting Software Tester, Excelon Development Fiona Charles, Principal Consultant, Quality Intelligence Inc.
Peter Walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide A test strategy is the set of big-picture ideas embodying
This interactive workshop will simulate real market the overarching direction or design of a test effort. It’s
conditions for software testing. Just like the real world, the significant values that will inspire, influence and
there will be schedule, requirement, and customer ultimately drive your testing, and the overall decisions
pressures. Unlike the real world there will be explanations, you have made about ways and means of delivering on
discussion, sharing, and learning. You’ll get a chance to those values. It’s the design behind the plan. But in the
see what works by doing it. standardized test strategy documents we’re all familiar
At the same time this complex workshop will introduce with, the actual strategy is often missing or buried in
more challenges, new test techniques, more powerful tedious and repetitious boilerplate that’s copied and
ways to cover the same scenarios in less time. After an pasted across multiple projects.
intense morning of software testing, we’ll spend the In this hands-on workshop we’re going to ignore the
afternoon on organizational issues, including how to best standard big document and focus on the important
make use of the little time we have, how to effectively aspects of a test strategy such as strategic thinking and
communicate about bugs and risk, and, yes, how communicating the strategy effectively. Working together
actual testing and risk relate to automation. on real testing problems, you will explore what’s essential
You will walk away with: in a strategy and how to develop it. Who are your
stakeholders? What does product quality mean to them
• solid foundation in Quick Attacks, a technique
A in practical terms? How do they characterize the value
you can use to test any software immediately they expect to get from the product? These are critical
• nalysis techniques for domain testing, designed
A considerations in determining what your test will cover
to help you learn the business logic quickly and how.
• rcheology techniques to sniff out hidden
A Throughout the day, you will practice using simple, flexible
requirements media for working through our ideas and communicating
• ools to clarify and negotiate the test group role
T clearly to project stakeholders. Participants are welcome
with management to bring their own testing problems to the class.
• xercises you can take home to do with your
E Fiona teaches organizations to match their
team as a brown bag, or to explain testing to software testing to their business risks and
larger organizations opportunities. With 30+ years experience in
Bring a laptop computer, netbook or iPad, please bring it; software development, she has managed
you’ll want to use it in this interactive simulation. testing and consulted on many challenging
testing projects for clients.
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 development
for 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.


Pre-Conference Workshops 11
Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm Monday, October 24, 9:00am – 4:00pm

Pre-Con 3 Pre-Con 4
Workshop on Mobile Testing Implementing a Test Automation Framework
Karen N. Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc. Linda Hayes, Founder, WorkSoft, Inc.
Testing the website to ensure your customers can access Whether you are only considering automation or have
your website via mobile devices is the hottest trend in years of experience, this course will help you improve
the industry. Most organizations have adopted or are your chances for success. Learn how to use frameworks
considering a mobile strategy for their organization. Are to accelerate your test automation effort, dramatically
you ready to test this mobile strategy? Testing your website shorten the learning curve, allow non-technical analysts
for use by mobile devices is a critical function and may to develop and execute automated tests, and simplify
determine whether or not your overall strategy is effective. test library management and maintenance.
Attend this workshop to understand the unique aspects of Get the facts on what automation can – and can’t –
testing websites for compatibility with mobile devices. We do for you, and find out how to get management to
will be covering the hottest and most important aspects of give you what you need to succeed. Learn how to
mobile website testing as this workshop helps you plan your avoid the traps and pitfalls that doom projects, including
mobile testing effort. unrealistic expectations. Understand when automation
Topics discussed: is appropriate and when it isn’t, and how to maximize
• Secure pages and site certificates
the right opportunities.

• ser interface checkpoints such as links, lists
U This workshop provides detailed, step-by-step instructions
and sitemaps for selecting and implementing a framework and takes
you on a guided tour of five different approaches—from
• unctional tests such as: search, browse,
F beginner to advanced—with analyses of the advantages
login, cookies and disadvantages of each. Learn how to use these
• eplicating defects on mobile devices, is it different
R practical and proven approaches with any commercial
than replicating defects on other platforms? or internally developed testing tool for web, client/server,
• creen shots: how to capture screen shots for
S mainframe, and character-based applications.
defect reporting Key Concepts:
• hoosing which devices to test with
C • hat are the benefits of automation?
W
• etting your team access to devices
G • hat are the risks?
W
• nderstanding the different browsers used
U • hat are the cost components?
W
on mobile devices • hat are cost effective strategies?
W
• ulti-locale sites on mobile devices
M • hat are alternate approaches?
W
Karen is an independent software test Linda has over twenty years of experience in
consultant. She is a frequent speaker at software test automation and is the founder of
conferences and is a contributing author three software companies including AutoTester,
to the book, Beautiful Testing released by the first PC-based test automation tool. Linda
O’Reilly publishers. She is the co-founder holds degrees in accounting, tax and law
of the WREST workshop. 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


12 Session Block 1 Tuesday, October 25, 2011
10:00am – 11:15am

Session #101 Session #102
Leading from the Middle – Applying Maxwell’s On Complete Testing
360 Leader Concepts for Test Leads Track: Test Strategy and Design
Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Matt Heusser, Software Process Naturalist, Excelon Development
Jane Fraser, Test Director, Electronic Arts Peter Walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide
Managing a successful site and trying to keep it bug-free When the big boss tells you the critically important
is a never-ending process. This session will include tools and project needs to be completely tested, how do we
best practices so you can reduce risk, mitigate disaster, and reply? Journey along with Matt Heusser and Pete Walen
meet customer needs all while keeping your team happy in in a rousing discussion of software testing, professionalism,
a hectic environment. knowledge and communication about software testing.
Along the way you will pick up pointers for explaining
Learn ways to: testing, setting expectations, risk management... and
• nfluence changes in your organization, in order to
I maybe, just maybe, a little doing more with less. Take home
improve quality in both the products and the team with you a transcript of advice on the issue of complete
• liminate the blame game from post mortems and
E testing, as well as an audio discussion of the same.
develop key learnings instead Matt has been developing, testing,
• se past events to forge new process
U and managing software projects
for his entire adult life.
• xpress the risks or issues to individuals to get results
E
Peter has been in software
Jane oversees the Test Department, which
development for over 25 years.
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.

Adapting Conventional Testing Strategies for Smarter Testing – Test Less Test Right
an Agile Environment Track: Test Process
Track: Agile Testing Rakesh Ranjan, Software Test Leader, IBM Corporation
Robert Walsh, President, Excalibur Solutions Testing less, if done smartly, can be very effective in
Contrary to what some believe, the Agile view of testing is most software development projects. This session suggests
not “don’t test,” nor is it “only developers should test.” Agile the practical methods and tools from real world projects
augments traditional testing done by testing professionals that can make a tester do more with less. In other words,
with other automated tests written and executed by create a big impact with less but utilize the correct testing.
developers and customers. Test driven development and You will learn:
unit testing, user acceptance, exploratory, usability, load • ow to mix ad-hoc and exploratory testing
H
and performance, integration, and other techniques play techniques with formal testing.
significant roles in Agile environments. This course will help • ow to know where the bugs are.
H
to explain how various testing efforts are used in responsible
approaches to Agile software development. Further, it will • ow to utilize code coverage to prioritize your testing.
H
explore ways that traditional QA efforts can be adapted to • ow to manage your time in a high performance
H
fit neatly in Agile processes. Examples will be given to show test team.
a typical Agile iteration, including what roles each team • ow to collaborate with the development team.
H
member plays inside and across iterations.
This session aims to provide you with practical tips and
Robert delivers Agile training and techniques that will make you a highly efficient tester.
contract programming services. He is also
Rakesh manages a high performance
a co-founder and former President/CEO
QA team at IBM and has been coding
of EnvisionWare, Inc., a Georgia company
and testing software that runs critical
focused on providing self-service solutions
business for almost 15 years.
to public and academic libraries.


11:45am – 1:00pm Session Block 2 13
Real World Performance Testing in Production Web Testing with Selenium 2.0 – Better, Faster,
Track: Performance Testing More Awesome
Dan Bartow, Vice President, Product Management, SOASTA Track: Test Automation
Online application performance is critical – no one would Jason Huggins, Cofounder, CTO, Sauce Labs Inc.
challenge this statement. Even with thorough testing in Selenium is the most popular open-source tool for
a lab environment, when applications are deployed to acceptance testing dynamic web applications. In
production they very frequently topple under the pressure Selenium 2.0, the Selenium project merged with the
of real-world users. Running a few hundred virtual users in a WebDriver project. This session will explain the benefits
small lab does not mean that you can support twenty times of Selenium 2.0’s technology and go into detail on what
as much load in the production environment. Yet this kind is and is not changing. Selenium’s goal is to drive any
of extrapolation is being done all throughout the industry. browser the same way an end user would with any
Testing in production is an essential component of world- programming language on any OS platform.
class performance methodologies. However, this approach This session will also cover trends in testing and test
is not without it’s own set of challenges; the three most automation, and how Selenium fits into the bigger
common of which are security, test data in production, and project management picture. Specific guidance will
potential live customer impact. Learn how businesses from be given on how to determine what should be tested
the New York Stock Exchange to Netflix have solved these with Selenium and how to deal with the problem of
problems to enable ongoing production testing. brittle, expensive-to-maintain Selenium tests.
Prior to joining SOASTA, Dan was Sr. Engineering Jason is the creator of the Selenium
Manager at Intuit and over the past decade he project, a cross-platform, cross-browser
has been responsible for the performance of web automation toolkit. When not coding
websites for American Airlines, ATT, Best Buy, in Python or JavaScript, Jason enjoys hacking
Finish Line, J.Crew, Neiman Marcus and others. on Arduino-based electronics projects.

Product Owners Are from Mars, Testers Data Testing on a Business Intelligence/Data
Are from Venus... or Are They? Warehouse Project
Track: Agile Testing Track: Specialized Application Test Environments
Jerry D. Odenwelder Jr., Product Manager, VersionOne Karen Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc.
JoEllen Carter, Agile Tester, VersionOne When a company builds a data warehouse and creates
On Agile teams, product owners are often crunched reports designed for business analysis, it’s important that
for time because of their need to assist the team with the the data on those reports is accurate. Testing for data
current release while interacting with users to refine features accuracy is different from functional testing and other
for future releases. A typical solution to this problem is to types of testing such as performance or security testing.
have multiple product owners, one focused on long term The business rules around data become boundary
direction and one, or more, focused on short term features. conditions to consider. Deciding the test data set
In this session we propose an alternate approach that becomes a considerable topic and is often one of
leverages the strengths of product owners and testers the most strategic decisions in BI testing.
to have a continuous flow from release to release. Stored procedures, triggers, and custom ETL transactions
Jerry has been in software need to be tested but frequently testers don’t have these
engineering for nearly 20 years with types of experiences on their resume which makes building a
over 6 years of agile experience. testing team a challenge for most test managers. This session
JoEllen has more than seven years takes a look at the unique testing challenges of data quality
of experience defining the role of in the business intelligence/data warehouse arena.
tester on agile teams. Karen is an independent software test
consultant and has published numerous
articles and blogs about her experiences
with software testing.


14 Session Block 3 Tuesday, October 25, 2011
2:15pm – 3:30pm

Tester Today, Manager Tomorrow Interpreting Performance Testing Results
Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Track: Performance Testing
Trisha Lee, QA and Change Control: Manager, Dan Downing, Principal Consultant, Mentora Group
First Tech Federal Credit Union You’ve worked hard to define, develop and execute a
Transitioning from tester to manager began with a credit performance test on a new application to determine its
union merger that taught Trisha to navigate through loads of behavior under load. Your initial test results have filled a
responsibility, management pressure, vendor demands and couple of 52 gallon drums with numbers. Now what?
tester needs, requiring a multitude of support, knowledge, and In this session we’ll look at my CAVIAR process for
creativity. Learn how she went from being a tester to a leader evaluating test results: Collecting; Aggregating;
during a multimillion dollar merger and lived to tell about it. Visualizing; Interpreting; Analyzing; and Reporting.
Key Points of the session include: Then together we’ll look at example graphs taken from
• ow to manage the responsibility of leading the testing
H actual projects and interpret them to see what hypotheses
during a major project we can glean. Finally, I’ll share with you my approach to
• The techniques to lead a team of formal and informal testers reporting results in a clear and compelling manner, with
data-supported observations, conclusions drawn from
• ow to build your credibility and empower a testing team
H these observations, and actionable recommendations.
• ow to transition from being a tester to a manager
H You will take home at least one new idea that will make
Trisha has worked in the credit union you a more effective performance tester.
industry for over 10 years and most Over the past 13 years, Dan has led
recently led the data validation testing hundreds of performance projects on
activities for the largest merger in applications ranging from eCommerce
credit union history. to ERP and companies ranging from
startups to global enterprises.

Managing with Metrics: The Saga of a Test Effort Testing Agility without Agile: A Toolkit
Track: Test Strategy and Design for Managers
Shaun Bradshaw, VP Consulting Services, Track: Test Process
Zenergy Technologies, Inc. Harish Narayan, Director, Technology, Vistaprint
This presentation describes how a small set of test Julie Davis, Director of Quality Assurance, Vistaprint
metrics were used to successfully manage a major test At Vistaprint, the technology team does not follow a
acceptance effort at the conclusion of a two and half year specific Agile methodology but is very agile, to ensure
ERP implementation. Attendees will learn how key metrics that new features are delivered with quality to its 10 million
drove test management decisions and how these same online customers. The QA management team uses a set
metrics will benefit their organizations. We will discuss the of best practices to ensure testing agility in the form of a
background, the planning, the effort, and the results, all toolkit which includes the following: co-located business,
from the point of view of what the metrics revealed and development and QA teams; integrated capacity planning
how they altered the management of the effort as a result. using a six month horizon; a QA project execution process
The following concepts will be taught as a part of that stresses early engagement followed by a test strategy
this presentation: to eliminate defects early; a streamlined ticket workflow to
• lanning which metrics will help determine success
P manage test progress; systems that quickly detect issues
in the test phase and those that missed the test phase;
• ey metrics that assist in day-to-day decision making
K regression automation that is executed and triaged daily;
• ow to implement and utilize key metrics to lead a test
H and metrics that help assess risk throughout the release cycle.
team in a non-threatening environment Harish is a software engineering
Shaun has spent the last 14 years helping and information technology leader
improve their QA and test processes by with over 15 years of experience.
advising, them on effective testing and test Julie began her quality assurance
management techniques as well as career in 2000 after receiving a
implementing optimized test metrics. Masters in Engineering from MIT.


4:00pm – 5:15pm Session Block 4 15
Stepping Up to Leadership: Continuous Integration Testing with
Test Leadership Lessons from Harry Potter Code Coverage
Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Track: Test Automation
Peter Walen, Quality Assurance Engineer, ACI Worldwide George Shin, QA/Test Manager, Hewlett-Packard Company
Even if you do not have the word “lead” in your job title, Finding new and never before covered code is a challenge
and even if you are not a manager or other official leader, in a continuous integration testing environment that requires
sometimes you find people looking to you to be a leader. merging and preserving code coverage measurements from
Stepping up to your own potential involves overcoming each different build version across different build targets.
your own uncertainties, self doubts and perception. Between each integration testing iteration the emphasis is
This session will look at the choices, options and paths that placed on measuring the effectiveness of the test coverage
are available to every tester and software professional, against detecting modified code down to the minimal
including opportunities for self-education, networking subset. This is important for the developers in test to stay
and other professional and technical development. In integrated continuously with the daily commits to the nightly
this interactive discussion, the presenter will talk about his builds. This session discusses a system environment that
mistakes, what he learned from them, his successes, and delivers automation and tools that contribute to developing
how he capitalized on them, and what opportunities there and testing a better quality product for our customers that
may be for you to step up to leadership in your own right also minimizes risk of exposing uncovered code that can
and practical tips for doing so. become customer visible failures.

Peter has been in software development for In his current role, George leads a team of
over 25 years. He has worked in the fields of developers responsible for integration test
insurance and finance, manufacturing, higher coverages for an Enterprise Virtual Array
education/universities, retail, distribution and (EVA) product, with the main focus being
point of sale systems. QA coverage of controller firmware.

Managing Risk for Software Products Documenting Tester Instructions –
Track: Test Strategy and Design A Survey of Successful Approaches
Matthew Sullivan, Performance Quality Control Engineer, Track: Test Process
Wolters Kluwer Justin Hunter, CEO, Hexawise
Scott Barber, CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
This session provides an overview of several different
Most organizations that develop software as a product, approaches that are successfully used by testers to address
a component of a product, or as a way to reduce internal the questions of: What type of testing documentation
business expenses manage risk at business, product, and should you create; and how much detail is appropriate to
project layers independently, and frequently with separate include in order to guide testers and/or satisfy compliance
risk management methodologies. This situation leads to requirements? This session will discuss pros and cons of
disconnects over what risks can best be managed at which several approaches, including:
layer, what risks are more or less critical than others, and
which critical risks are becoming “lost in the cracks”. • hecklists
C
• indmaps
M
During this session, a consolidated model will be presented
• est ideas
T
with specifics to implementation for managing risk for
software products and ensuring business alignment • pecification by example
S
between what is requested and what is delivered. • etailed test scripts
D
Matthew is currently involved with In some software testing presentations, the speaker
a suite of internal auditing products. will explain why they think one particular approach is
particularly attractive. This won’t be one of those talks.
Scott is a respected leader in
the area of software system Justin is a test design specialist who
performance testing. has enjoyed teaching testers how to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of their test case selection and
documentation approaches.


16 Session Block 5 Wednesday, October 26, 2011
9:45am – 11:00am

Load and Performance Testing Using Selenium Test Oracle Automation:
Track: Performance Testing Unachievable Dream or Tomorrow’s Reality?
Frank Cohen, CEO, PushToTest Track: Test Automation
Selenium is great at browser automation. Attending Dani Almog, Researcher, BGU - Ben Gurion University
this session shows how to repurpose Selenium test Test oracle is considered among the most important
scripts to be used as load and performance tests: components of software testing, yet quite sophisticated
• hy Selenium in load testing
W and generally difficult to automate. A test oracle is defined
• ata enabling Selenium tests
D as any (human or mechanical) agent that decides
whether a program behaves correctly under a given
• alibration testing methodology
C test, and accordingly can produce a verdict of “pass”
• esults analysis: the scalability index
R or “fail”. It is said that test oracle is one of the most
• eploying tests to the cloud
D humanly dependent properties during the testing work;
hence our ability to automate testing is fundamentally
• esources and next steps
R
constrained by our ability to create and use oracles.
All examples are based on open source test products
The session will present and redefine the challenge of
and toolsets, freely downloadable.
automating test oracle, demonstrating models and tools
Frank is the expert that information to address the issue and suggesting new practical and
technology professionals and enterprises innovative ways to overcome the obstacles.
go to when they need to understand
Dani has been a software developer
and solve problems in complex
and team lead. He also served as director
inter-operating information systems.
for test automation, where he built
infrastructures for test automation.

Testing in the World of Kanban Testing a New Mobile World
Track: Agile Testing Track: Specialized Application Test Environments
Carl Shaulis, QA Engineering Manager, HomeAway.com Eddy Bruin, MSC, Capgemini Financial Services
In this session, Carl Shaulis presents a journey of a team We are about to take a next step in evolution and
who adopted Kanban and went from 6 week release testers have to take this step too! Websites and web
cycles down to releasing twice per week. This session will browsers are no longer the usual center of the computing
introduce the concepts of Kanban, address why and how world. Instead ubiquitous computing is the leading way
the team made the switch to this lean process, and most forward. Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model
importantly how the role of a tester adapts to this dramatic of human-computer interaction in which information
process change. processing has been thoroughly integrated into
Carl has been testing software for everyday objects and activities.
10+ years and has over 15 years of This presentation will point out what opportunities and
management experience. He takes challenges ubiquitous computing will bring for test
an analytical approach to testing and professionals. How can we test these mobile applications?
has the fortitude to embrace change. 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 mobile
testing and constructing mobile test
capabilities in the Netherlands.


Wednesday, October 26, 2011
11:30am – 12:45pm Session Block 6 17
Performance QA Testing Within Large Improve Automation Code Quality, Clarity,
Development Organizations and Comprehension
Performance Testing Track: Test Automation
John Meza, Product Engineer, ESRI Boyd Patterson, President, Patterson Consulting, LLC
This session will focus on how ongoing performance and Much of the effort to perform test automation comes
scalability testing can be integrated into a large development months or even years after the initial scripts have been
organization. Follow a hypothetical test team from inception to written. Before you can begin to debug broken code or
full integration into the development organization, including: write new functionality for a test, you must first comprehend
• hallenges of creating an internal team and
C what was previously written. Learn about many of the
areas of responsibility and influence common pitfalls in authored code and how you can
refactor your code to dramatically improve comprehension.
• anagerial and organizational challenges when working
M
Topics will include good naming conventions for variables
within large development organizations
and methods, when to use callable routines, effective use
• ifferent modes of performance and scalability testing
D of parameters in routines, variable usage, avoiding “magic
within development organization values”, code formatting, and objective measurements of
• orking collaboratively with development teams and
W code complexity. Examples will be provided based on HP
performance test schedules based on development schedules QuickTest® Professional, but the concepts can be universally
• eporting mechanisms and report types
R applied to any programming language.

John has 25 years in the IT industry Boyd has 11 years of experience in
and for the past three years he has test automation from the HP Mercury
been the lead of the Performance tool suite as well as 7 years of experience
QA team at ESRI. in Windows® client application
development and design principles.

The Discipline Aspect of Software Testing Agile API QA
Track: Test Strategy and Design Track: Agile Testing
Karen Johnson, Founder, Software Test Management Inc. David Hefner, Senior Technical Staff Member,
The project manager asks: When will you be done? How Hewlett-Packard Company
can you tell when you will be done testing when testing Software QA seems to be increasingly about web
is a discovery activity not just a confirmation activity and applications and protocols. But APIs remain critical
you have no idea what issues you may find lurking in underpinnings of system and application software. This
the software. How do you discipline yourself to get the session will examine API quality assurance and how agile
job done? To begin with, you have to admit you have a techniques can be applied to make the process more
challenge to overcome and in this presentation, the reality effective, efficient and enjoyable. Participants will learn
of needing to be disciplined and focused to get work how to use agile techniques to streamline all of the primary
done, most especially getting work done under pressure, QA activities. Project scoping, managing relationships
will be discussed. Tactics will be shared for getting through with management and developers, tool selection,
stacks of work when you don’t feel inspired. We will look project execution, test deliverables and API testing
at how to build rigor and discipline into your practice in fundamentals will be covered.
software testing. David has worked in the software industry as a
Karen is an independent software test developer, manager and QA professional for
consultant and has published numerous small and large organizations for more than 30
articles and blogs about her experiences years and has a track record of innovation and
with software testing. experience that spans engineering practices
and methodologies.


18 Session Block 7 Wednesday, October 26, 2011
2:00pm – 3:15pm

Purpose Driven Testing Performance Testing in the Agile Enterprise
Track: Leadership Perspectives for Testers Track: Performance Testing
Cory Medlin, Director, Health Care Testing Services, N.A. Scott Barber, CTO, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
Often testing becomes an isolated exercise focused According to the presenter, performance testing is an
on tools, metrics, and execution. This session explores inherently agile process, even though many teams and
the importance of creating a connection between the organizations experience significant difficulty integrating
tester and the end user. By building a connection to performance into their existing agile processes. In this
the end users of a system, testers feel a greater sense of session, learn how performance can be seamlessly
purpose in their role. The potential benefits in both testing integrated and how to employ and manage performance
effectiveness and morale will be explored. Methods to testing on Agile projects and within Agile enterprises. After
create a sense of purpose will also be explored, including this session, students will have the tools and knowledge
ideas for team events and building a high energy culture they need to overcome many of the common difficulties
in the testing team. organizations face when trying to make performance an
Cory is an established leader in IT with integral part of their Agile processes.
experience in a variety of roles including Scott is viewed by many as the world’s
leading large scale software development most prominent thought-leader in the area
projects, building a PMO, and driving of software system performance testing and
organizations to CMMI Certification. as a respected leader in the more general
field of testing software systems.

Pairing Programmers with Non-Programmers Test Process Improvement Adoption:
Track: Agile Testing Ants on a Doughnut
Lanette Creamer, Consulting Tester/Testing Coach, Track: Test Process
Spark Quality LLC Shawn Hudson, Supervisor - Test Engineers, Sprint
Historically, pairing between developers and testers has Jill Corbitt, Capability and Process SME, Sprint
been limited to acceptance criteria or story definition. To anyone outside a testing organization, testing looks
However, one of the exciting frontiers of Agile testing is like ants on a doughnut; lots of activity with no clear
pairing between testers and programmers at strategic purpose or direction. In some ways this is true since many
points during an iteration. test organizations develop ad hoc in-house methods to
Regardless of how Agile your team is, if you can get past define, develop and implement processes. However, in
the fear and old boundaries that limit the value of pairing, 2009, Sprint Information Technology’s Enterprise Testing
you can take a step towards understanding other team Services (ETS) directorate formally adopted Songeti’s Test
members. Understanding what is happening in the code Process Improvement methodology to enhance overall
can be a huge testing advantage, and it doesn’t mean that quality while addressing procedural opportunities incident
you know how to code yourself, just that you understand to outsourcing and domestic attrition. This presentation
programming basics and some vocabulary. This session is serves to highlight assessment, implementation, migration,
an experience report about what is working so far in finding and maintenance approaches leveraged by the ETS
the common ground between testers and coders and is organization over the last 2 years. We speak directly to the
targeted for those who are not primarily programmers. investment required and lessons learned to date, coupled
After a decade at Adobe, including leading with the emerging requirement to move to the next
testing on the Creative Suites, Lanette jumped generation of test quality framework(s).
into consulting with both feet. She is currently Shawn is a Certified Test Engineer
working with a Silicon Valley client, building a with over 15 years in the defense
testing team from scratch. industry.
Jill has worked as a developer, test
analyst, test leader, and project
manager for over a decade.


STPCon Fall 2011

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