SQE STARWEST Conference Brochure 2008

keynOte SeSSiOnS TESTing EXPErTS SharE inSighT weDneSDay, october 1, 8:45 a.m. testing Lessons from Springfield—Home of the Simpsons Rob Sabourin, AmiBug.com Rob Sabourin Over the years, Rob sabourin has discovered testing lessons in the looney Tunes gang, The Great Detectives, and Dr. seuss. now he turns his attention to the simpsons, a primetime cartoon television show entertaining audiences since 1989. Rob believes that Matt Groening’s popular characters can teach us important lessons about software testing. Homer’s twisted ideas tell us about test automation—why it works and why it fails. Could your software stand up to Bart’s abuse? lisa simpson, the brilliant but neglected middle child, provides a calming influence on projects. Apu, the Kwik-e-Mart operator, works 100 hours a week—should you? when is Montgomery Burn’s authoritarian management style effective? And can we bribe stakeholders as easily as Police Chief wiggum takes a donut? inside this simple cartoon are lessons on personas, context, organization, ethics, situational leadership, and motivation. Just like you, the people of springfield commit to absurdly complex projects, such as the Monorail, all of which ultimately fail miserably. Join Rob in a revealing “simpsons retrospective” loaded with tons of testing lessons from springfield. Rob Sabourin has more than twenty-five years of management experience, leading teams of software development professionals. A well-respected member of the software engineering community, Rob has managed, trained, mentored, and coached hundreds of top professionals in the field. He frequently speaks at conferences and writes on software engineering, SQA, testing, management, and internationalization. The author of i am a Bug!, the popular software testing children’s book, Rob is an adjunct professor of Software Engineering at McGill University. weDneSDay, october 1, 10:00 a.m. telling your exploratory Story Jon Bach, Quardev, Inc. Jon Bach what do you say when your manager asks, “How did it go today?” As a test manager, you might say, “i’ll check to see how many test cases the team executed today.” As a tester with a pile of test cases on your desk, you could say, “i ran forty percent of these tests today,” or “At the rate i’m going, i’ll be finished with these test cases in forty days.” However, if you’re using exploration as part of your testing approach, it might be terrifying to try to give a status report—especially if some project stakeholders think exploratory testing is irresponsible and reckless compared to test cases. so how can you retain the power and freedom of exploration and still give a report that earns your team credibility, respect, and perhaps more autonomy? Jon Bach offers ways for you to explain the critical and creative thinking that makes exploratory testing so powerful. learn how to report your exploration so stakeholders have a better understanding and appreciation of the value of exploratory testing to your project. Jon Bach is senior consultant and manager for corporate intellect at Quardev, Inc., a Seattle outsource test lab where he manages testing projects ranging from a few days to several months using Rapid Testing techniques. In 2000, Jon and his brother James invented the “Session-Based Test Management” technique for managing and measuring exploratory testing. In his thirteen years of testing, Jon has been a test contractor, full-time test manager, and consultant for companies such as Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. He has written articles for both Better software and ieee Computer magazines. weDneSDay, october 1, 4:30 p.m. Six thinking Hats for Software testers Julian Harty, Google Julian Harty Our testing is only as good as our thinking—and all too often we are hampered by limiting ideas, poor communication, and pre-set roles and responsibilities. Based on the work of edward de Bono, the six Thinking Hats for software testers have helped Julian, and numerous others, work more effectively as testers and managers. The concepts are simple and easy to learn. For instance, we can use these concepts as individuals performing reviews and while testing, and in groups during team meetings. each of the six hats has a color representing a direction of thinking— the blue hat provides the overview and helps to keep us productive; the white hat helps us to collect facts; the red hat is a way to express intuition and feelings without having to justify them; the yellow hat seeks the best possible outcome; the black hat helps us to discover what might go wrong—not only with the software but also with our tests and our assumptions! Finally, the green hat enables us to find creative solutions to ideas and issues discovered with the other five hats. Come and learn how to apply the six testing hats and other “thinking skills” on your test projects. A senior test engineer at Google, Julian Harty finds ways to test lots of fun products, including the mobile wireless software used by millions of users worldwide. He’s been involved in software and online systems for more than twenty years and enjoys working with others to find ways to solve testing challenges productively. A presenter at both STAReAsT and STARwesT, Julian has been involved in international conferences and workshops on software testing. 16 Call 888.268.8770 or 904.278.0524 to register • www.sqe.Com/swreg http://AmiBug.com http://www.sqe.com/swreg

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