Preconference In-Depth Tutorials & Workshops

Each selection runs a full day and includes lunch.
Tutorials and workshops are interactive and hands-on. Class sizes are limited, and seating is first-come, first-served.

Tutorials for Monday, May 16, 8:30-5:00

A	How to Break Software James Whittaker, Florida Institute of Technology What do you do when you are asked to test a particular feature of an application? In truth, testing theory only provides general guidelines and often falls short of helping you design a total testing strategy capable of guiding your testing activities. This tutorial changes that situation. “How to Break Software” demonstrates a set of specific techniques you can use to effectively test any software application. With his explanation of software fault models, James Whittaker helps you understand what software does and how it can fail. He then expands this fault model into a set of ''attacks'' that target the software’s most vulnerable points. James presents this new software-testing paradigm, using real bugs in real software applications as examples. Anyone who loves breaking software will gain a lot from—and enjoy—this tutorial.
	About the Instructor James Whittaker, a professor and Director of the Center for Software Engineering Research in the Computer Sciences Department at the Florida Institute of Technology, developed this workshop for new and experienced testers. James is also the author of How to Break Software: A Practical Guide to Testing. His interests include software development and testing with a specific emphasis on software security. At Florida Tech, he runs a research group of hackers, crackers, and testers who specialize in breaking software and having fun doing it. James consults for major software companies in the United States and Europe.

B	Exploratory Testing Explained  James Bach, Satisfice Inc. Exploratory testing is simultaneous learning—designing and executing tests at the same time. It is a highly productive approach to testing. Exploratory testing typically uncovers an order of magnitude more problems than the same amount of highly scripted testing. All testers conduct Exploratory testing, but few know how to do it systematically. Even fewer can articulate their process. In this tutorial, James Bach looks at specific heuristics and techniques of Exploratory testing to help you get the most from this approach. Because Exploratory testing done well is much like a martial art—the best way to learn is by practicing—James will challenge you with exercises in the art of exploration.
	About the Instructor James Bach is founder and principal consultant of Satisfice, Inc., a software testing and quality assurance company. James cut his teeth as a programmer, tester, and SQA manager in Silicon Valley and the world of market-driven software development. He has worked at Apple, Borland, a couple of startups, and a few consulting companies, including a stint as chief scientist at STLabs, an independent software testing laboratory. In 1999, James designed the General Functionality and Stability Test Procedure for the Microsoft Windows 2000 Application Certification program, which may be the first published example of a formalized intuitive testing process.

C	Test Process Improvement Lee Copeland, Software Quality Engineering What is the maturity of your testing process? How do you compare with other organizations or with industry standards? Join Lee Copeland for an introduction to the Test Process Improvement (TPI®) model, an industry standard for test process maturity assessment. Improving your testing requires understanding twenty key test process areas, your current position in each of those areas, and the next steps to take for improvement. Many organizations want to focus on achieving the highest level of maturity without first creating the foundation required for success. Rather than guessing what to do next, the TPI® model guides the way. Filled with real world TPI® assessments Lee has performed, this session describes an assessment approach that is suitable for both smaller, informal organizations and larger, formal companies. TMap ®, TPPI ®, and TPI ® are registered trademarks of Sogeti USA LLC.
	About the Instructor With more than 30 years of experience as an information systems professional, Lee Copeland has held technical and managerial positions in applications development, software testing, and software process improvement at commercial and nonprofit organizations. Lee has developed and taught numerous training courses on software development and testing issues and is a well-known speaker with Software Quality Engineering. Lee presents at software conferences in the United States and abroad. He is the author of the popular reference book, A Practitioner's Guide to Software Test Design.

D	Essential Test Management and Planning Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering The key to successful testing often is effective and timely planning. In this tutorial, Rick Craig introduces you to proven test planning methods and techniques, including the Master Test Plan and level-specific test plans for acceptance, systems, integration, and unit testing. Rick explains how to customize an IEEE-829-type test plan and test summary report to fit your organization’s needs. Learn how to manage test activities, estimate test efforts, and achieve buy-in. Discover a practical, risk analysis technique to prioritize your testing and become more effective with limited resources. Rick offers test measurement and reporting recommendations for monitoring the testing process. Discover new methods and renewed energy for taking test management to the next level in your organization.
	About the Instructor Rick Craig is a frequent speaker at testing conferences and is well received worldwide as a test and evaluation instructor. He has implemented and managed testing efforts on large-scale, traditional, and embedded systems, and co-authored a study that benchmarked industry-wide processes. Rick is coauthor of Systematic Software Testing.

E	Selecting and Integrating Testing Tools Michael Sowers, Software Development Technologies Michael Sowers provides a broad perspective of the software test tools available today and includes a practical guide for evaluating, selecting, and managing test tool implementation. Michael presents core test tool terminology, concepts, best practices, and techniques for evaluating and implementing test tools. He offers live demos of representative, full-function tools that you can use to reduce risks and improve quality across a typical product development lifecycle. Learn how to effectively integrate tools into the testing process. Examine a “best-of-breed” list of tool vendors as well as verification and validation automation practices. Leave with a deeper understanding of the hundreds of quality testing tools available and be better able to determine your technology needs.
	About the Instructor Michael Sowers has more than two decades of experience in the software engineering and quality fields with extensive experience in requirements gathering, defect prevention techniques, defect containment approaches, software verification and validation practices, and software engineering methodologies. Michael, Executive VP of Software Development Technologies, tracks innovations in software test tooling and regularly reviews product releases from major commercial testing software providers.

F	Implementing a Test Automation Framework Linda Hayes, Worksoft, Inc. Linda Hayes presents a detailed implementation approach for test automation that accelerates the development effort, dramatically shortens the learning curve, allows non-technical analysts to develop and execute automated tests, and even simplifies test library management and maintenance. Learn how to use this practical and proven table-driven approach with any commercial or internally developed testing tool and how it applies to Web, client/server, mainframe, and character-based applications. Linda provides real world examples, new knowledge, and skills you can use as the framework for a new automation project or to make an existing project more successful.
	About the Instructor Linda Hayes is Chief Technology Officer at Worksoft, Inc., a software company specializing in test automation. She has more than nineteen years of experience in software quality and testing and holds degrees in accounting, tax, and law. Linda is a frequent speaker and award-winning author of books and articles, including a monthly column in Datamation and regular columns on StickyMinds.com.

G	Introduction to Systematic Testing Dale Perry, Software Quality Engineering Too often, testers are thrown into the quality assurance/testing process without the knowledge and skills essential to perform the required tasks. To be truly effective, you first must understand what testing is supposed to accomplish and then see how it relates to the bigger project management and application development picture. After that, you can ask the right questions, such as: What should be tested? How much testing is enough? How do I know when I’m finished? And, how much documentation do I need? This tutorial details a testing lifecycle that parallels software development and focuses on defect prevention and early detection. Learn when, what, and how to test, plus ways to improve the testability of your system. Learn the basics for implementing a systematic, integrated approach to testing software.
	About the Instructor With over 25 years of experience in information technology, Dale Perry has been a developer, DBA, project manager, tester, and test manager. Project experience includes large system conversion, distributed systems, on-line applications, client/server, and Web applications. Dale is a seasoned instructor with over 10 years of instruction experience on subjects including software development, application design, testing and reviews, and software management.

H	Requirements Based Testing Richard Bender, Bender RBT, Inc. Testers use requirements as an oracle to verify the success or failure of their tests. Richard Bender provides you with the principles of the Requirements Based Testing methodology in which the software's specifications drive the test process. He discusses proven techniques to ensure that requirements are accurate, complete, unambiguous, and logically consistent. Learn to overcome the challenges of designing test cases to validate that the design and code fully implement all functional requirements. Learn how to determine which test design strategy to apply, based on respective strengths and weaknesses (e.g., Effect Graphing, Equivalence Class Testing, Orthogonal Pairs, and more).
	About the Instructor Involved in test and evaluation since 1969, Richard Bender has authored and co-authored books and courses on quality assurance and testing, software development lifecycles, analysis and design, software maintenance, and project management. He has worked with an international clientele including the military, government agencies, and large and small corporations.

Workshops for Monday, May 16, 8:30-5:00

Due to the interactive nature of these workshops, class sizes are limited, and seating is first-come, first-served.

I	Scripting for Testers Bret Pettichord, ThoughtWorks Are you a tester who is interested in developing or improving your programming skills to aid your test efforts? Automated testing means programming, but programming doesn't have to be hard. Using the Ruby scripting language in this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to script tests for Web-based software. You will use an open-source Ruby tool kit to explore techniques for automating browserbased testing. Learn how to write automated functional tests for Web applications, understand how to define a base state for your functional tests, and discover the pros and cons of different approaches for automating Web application testing. By the end of the day, you will have written automated tests for a sample application. Participants should have some programming skills in at least one language and understand basic programming concepts such as variables and if-then statements. Working in pairs is encouraged—bring a friend. * All participants should bring a laptop (Windows 2000/XP) to this hands-on session.
	About the Instructor Bret Pettichord is a leading writer and consultant specializing in agile testing and homebrew test automation. He is a leading contributor to the Watir and Selenium open-source testing tools and co-authored Lessons Learned in Software Testing, a Jolt-award finalist. He is host and founder of the annual Austin Workshop on Test Automation. As his day job, he is director of testing practice with ThoughtWorks, a transnational IT professional services firm specializing in custom software for leading global businesses, where he provides clients with strategic assistance with effective testing practices.

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