 |
| Wednesday, May 14, 2003: 1:00 PM Go to 2:15 PM Go to 3:15 PM |
|
W1 Test Management
They Don’t Care About Quality!
Kathy Iberle, Hewlett-Packard
|
People often act as if quality is a singular, shining goal to which all products aspire. This assumption, however, can lead to disappointment, frustration, and even the adoption of ill-fitting practices in an attempt to be quality minded. This session takes Gerald Weinberg’s definition of quality (“value to some person”) and demonstrates how it can be interpreted very differently depending on what business you’re in. And since different businesses define quality in different ways, Kathy Iberle shows you how businesses with similar goals can be grouped together into categorized “practice cultures,” and how they can effectively share quality-inducing practices.
• Find out why quality is defined differently from business to business
• Learn about testing practices that focus on various kinds of quality
• Determine how quality goals drive the choice of testing practices | |
W2 Test Techniques
Testing in the Agile World
Brian Marick, Testing Foundations
|
All of the agile software development methods emphasize close communication between client and developer. That leads to frequent releases of working code. But where does testing fit in? Brian Marick believes agile testing should be a process of exploring requirements through executable examples — finding bugs is secondary. In this session, he does more than talk about the process, he demonstrates it!
• Experience agile testing by example
• Obtain new techniques for implementing an agile testing process
• Explore the big-picture reality of testing in the agile world | |
W3 Test Automation
The Generations of Test Automation Tools
Mark Blackburn, Software Productivity Consortium
|
Used effectively, advanced test automation tools can help you deliver complex software systems without major defects, on time, and within budget. This session takes a look at four generations of test automation, then shows you how each progressive level possesses an even greater power to generate tests that cover the increasing complexity of software. Mark Blackburn discusses the most advanced methods associated with the higher levels of test automation, thereby helping you correctly determine what skills will be required to incorporate test automation into your organization’s software development cycle.
• Explore the efficiencies and test coverage gained with later generations of test automation
• Identify key developer roles involved in these later generations
• Learn to schedule risk reductions in the first iterations of late-generation tests | |
W4 Web/eBusiness Testing
Rapid Web Testing in a High-Velocity Environment
Greg Paskal, Kinko’s
|
It’s going live tonight?! How can I test Web changes when I’m given only a few hours for testing? In this session, Greg Paskal presents the Minimum Essential Testing Strategy (METS). Designed to aid in your rapidly changing Web environment, this creative technique enhances all your Web testing efforts, regardless of time constraints or type of application. You’ll walk away with a starter strategy and the necessary skills to adapt the new strategy to your organization’s needs. Plus, you’ll discover ways to provide additional, valuable feedback to developers in a shorter time-frame.
• Obtain new-fangled, rapid Web testing techniques
• Modify METS to meet your specific needs
• Avoid common Web testing “gotchas” early in the testing process | |
W5 Test Process Improvement
Defect Escape Analysis for Test Process Improvement
Mary Ann Vandermark, IBM Corporation
|
‘’Escapes’’ are the defects that weren’t found by test teams — they were found, unfortunately, by customers. This session shows you how to implement an analysis process for these escapes that will reveal the weaknesses in your team’s test process. Once identified, these weaknesses can be treated using action plans and can also be measured for improvement. The implementation of an escape analysis process can also facilitate a more sophisticated test environment and, in the long run, improve the quality of your software.
• Explore real-world examples of escape analysis processes
• Get techniques for measuring the effectiveness of your escape analysis process
• Discover the possible benefits of implementing escape analysis | |
|
| Wednesday, May 14, 2003: 2:15 PM Go to 1:00 PM Go to 3:15 PM |
|
W6 Test Management
Damage Prevented: The Value of Testing
Tim Koomen, Sogeti
|
How often have you been asked to demonstrate the value of testing? Well now there’s a way to measure it. The technique employs a strategy of calculating the value of the damage that’s prevented by testing. For example, each defect found, if repaired, causes no damage. By applying this principle using a model that calculates the actual prevented damage by classifying each defect, you can finally put an “objective” value on testing. Tim Koomen walks you through the use of such a model and explains the value of Prevented Damage Points (PDP). The average damage for a PDP can be arrived at by comparing the prevented damage over a period of time. A test manager can also use these calculations to determine when testing should stop, because it’s possible to see when the cost of testing outweighs the prevented damage.
• Learn to quantify when you’ve done enough testing
• Obtain a model used to calculate the prevented damage quotient
• Learn how you can control the cost of testing using this model | |
W7 Test Techniques
Efficient Testing Using the Pairwise Approach
Bernie Berger, Test Assured, Inc.
|
Test teams are often faced with an enormous number of test scenarios, each of which has the potential to break the software. No one expects you to test all combinations; it would take you a lifetime to do that. And so the essential question remains: How do you test effectively? This session offers you tips for choosing your tests wisely. This way, you maximize coverage using few tests. Bernie Berger presents examples of all-pairs test case sets using both discrete and nondiscrete values. He also shows you how to organize the all-pairs test case sets, especially when values are conditional.
• Define the concept of all-pairs testing
• Analyze the issues surrounding conflicting variables and values
• Find out when you should use all-pairs testing and when you can’t | |
W8 Test Automation
Revolutionize Your Automation with Application Maps and Keywords
Dion Johnson, Pointe Technology
|
Seasoned automation professionals know the importance of using a structured automation framework when automating manual tests, but there are several to choose from. One that’s getting a lot of attention is the keyword approach. However, many are unsure how to apply it. Dion Johnson presents the advantages of combining a keyword architectural approach with a data-driven one. He offers cutting-edge techniques for enhancing this combination by unlocking the power of application maps. If used correctly, these maps can potentially revolutionize the way automation scripts are written.
• Examine the components of a keyword automation framework
• Find ways to create test case traceability using data-driven automation
• Discover a means to leverage manual test cases to make automation test scripting easier | |
| Double-Track Session! |
W9 Web/eBusiness Testing
Web/eCommerce Application Stress Testing
Robert Sabourin, AmiBug.com, Inc.
|
You know you should be doing stress testing, but you’re just not sure when to start. This session explores this question, which is of particular concern to developers and testers in Internet multi-tier development projects. Robert Sabourin explains practical methods of assessing software reliability, and why it’s important to “stress early and stress often.” He also delivers ways to find the weakest part of an application by testing to failure and then working with developers to find the root cause of the defect.
• Learn to plan, prioritize, and coordinate stress testing
• Examine several real-world automation examples
• Compare the tools — from expensive to free — used to support stress testing |
|
|
W10 Test Process Improvement
Re-Engineering the Testing Organization: Move Into the Future
Clyneice Chaney, Spherion Technology
|
An organization’s culture, people, process, and structure are the elements that allow it to function. Software organizations with a long history of mainframe development and testing that move rapidly into the client/server and Web arenas are likely to experience significant culture change in the transition. This presentation examines a change management methodology used to introduce a new testing process into a high-visibility project, one that addresses the resulting culture changes. For those embarking on a new software development approach, this is a practical guide for doing it successfully.
• Obtain tools and techniques for organizational change
• Identify the stages of organizational change
• Look at a case study of effective test organizational change | |
|
| Wednesday, May 14, 2003: 3:15 PM Go to 1:00 PM Go to 2:15 PM |
|
W11 Test Management
Questions You Should Ask Your Test Manager(And How They Should Answer)
Brian Warren, Dell Computer Corporation
|
Project managers, development managers, and planners often hear that there aren’t enough resources and time to get the job done. While project failures can be caused by many factors, failing to recognize and respond to project risks ahead of time is essentially a planning failure. Brian Warren shows you ways to recognize a planning failure — before it’s too late. He presents common problems in test planning and gives you tools to detect them. He also delivers the tough questions that should be asked early on such as: Do the testers really understand what should be tested? How can I gain confidence in my test plan? What’s lacking in our test coverage? And many more.
• Learn why understanding test plans is critical to development
• Uncover essential questions that can help anticipate problems in test planning
• Find out what non-testers look for in the answers to the questions | |
W12 Test Techniques
How to Test Without Testable Requirements
Mark Taylor, Analex Corporation
|
How do you approach a testing situation where there’s a requirements specification that contains untestable requirements? Worse yet, when there’s no requirements specification at all? Mark Taylor guides you through this challenging situation and shows you how to deal with it successfully. He’ll also give examples of where this type of testing works, and where it doesn’t, as well as what’s needed for successful execution.
• Identify the sources of systems commonly implemented without requirements
• Weigh the risks and benefits of testing without testable requirements
• Find out how to successfully use implementation- and scenario-based testing | |
W13 Test Automation
Building a Flexible Automated Testing Architecture
Jack Harris, Washington Mutual Bank
|
A component-based architecture can support testing many different applications. In this presentation, Jack Harris details the development of an automated testing infrastructure to handle the regression testing of almost any Windows-based product, with a minimum of change as new features are added. In addition to walking participants through the components of flexible test architecture, he also presents ways to mask the complexity of third-party tools.
• Find out why third-party tools are too complex and what to do about it
• Discover how to use libraries of functions
• Learn how to build a data-driven test engine | |
W14 Test Process Improvement
How to Make Friends with Upper Management and Influence Process Change
Don Oxley, Advanced Fibre Communications
|
Creating a sea change between the world of testing and the universe of upper management is a large undertaking. But increasing visibility and knowledge about testing is critical to your mission. This session gives you a real-world example of one organization’s testing process change implementation. You’ll look at the tools utilized, achievements and mistakes made, and ways to communicate the need for change to upper management.
• Determine how to plan and execute process change
• Learn to communicate the ROI of changes to upper management
• Discover how to involve key members of the test group | |
