|
|
|
STAREAST 2006 Concurrent Sessions
Go To: Agile Methods | Exploratory Testing | Outsourced Testing | Performance Testing | Security Testing |
Special Topics | Test Automation | Test Management | Test Metrics | Test Techniques
View by Date
| Test Management | | | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:30 AM |
Credibility: Your Key to Success as a Test Manager
Randy Rice, Rice Consulting Services Inc
For test managers and testers, credibility is everything. Without credibility, people won't take you seriously or believe your findings. There are very specific and achievable things every test manager can and should do to make sure the information conveyed to stakeholders is accurate and reliable. Randall Rice talks about the credibility factors you need to exhibit for success: knowledge, attitude, objectivity, accuracy, trust, and attention to detail. With real-world examples, Randall teaches you to build long-term trust with creative ways to document test findings and present to your stakeholders the information they want—when they need to know it. Take away a list of eight credibility killers, and learn how to rebuild you team’s credibility once it is lost.
• A template for assessing your team’s present credibility rating
• Ways to deliver accurate and timely information to all project stakeholders
• Grow as a test manager or tester by building trust and respect |
| | | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 1:45 PM |
Hallmarks of a Great Tester
Michael Hunter, Microsoft Corporation
As a manager, you want to select and develop people with the talents to become great testers, the ability to learn the skills of great testers, and the willingness to work hard in order to become great testers. As an individual, you aspire to become a great tester. So, what does it take? Michael Hunter reveals his twenty hallmarks of a great tester from personality traits—curiosity, courage, and honesty—to skills—knowing where to find more bugs, writing precise bug reports, and setting appropriate test scope. Measure yourself and your team against other great testers, and find out how to achieve greatness in each area. Learn how to identify the great testers you don’t know that you already know!
• The personality traits a person needs to become a great tester
• The talents a person needs to become great tester
• The skills you need to develop to become a great tester |
| | | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 3:00 PM |
Apprenticeships: A Forgotten Concept for Testing
Lloyd Roden, Grove Consultants
The system of apprenticeship was first developed in the late Middle Ages. The uneducated and inexperienced were employed by a master craftsman in exchange for formal training in a particular craft. So why does apprenticeship seldom happen within software testing? Do we subconsciously believe that just about anyone can test software? Join Lloyd Roden and discover what apprenticeship training is and—even more importantly—what it is not. Learn how this practice can be easily adapted to suit software testing. Find out about the advantages and disadvantages of several apprenticeship models: Chief Tester, Hierarchical, Buddy, and Coterie. With personal experiences to share, Lloyd shows how projects will benefit immediately with the rebirth of the apprenticeship system in your test team.
• Four apprenticeship models that can apply to software testers
• Measures of the benefits and return on investment of apprenticeships
• Advice on making apprenticeships work in your team |
| | | T1 is a Double-Track Session! | | Thursday, May 18, 2006 9:45 AM |
Testing Dialogues—Management Issues
Esther Derby, Esther Derby Associates Inc
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
As a test manager, are you struggling at work with a BIG test management issue or a personnel issue? If so, this session is for you. “Testing Dialogues—Management Issues” is a unique platform for you to share with and learn from test managers who have come to STAREAST from around the world. Facilitated by Esther Derby and Johanna Rothman, this double-track session takes on management issues—career paths for test managers, hiring, firing, executive buy-in, organization structures, and process improvement. You name it! Share your expertise and experiences, learn from others’ challenges and successes, and generate new topics in real time. Discussions are structured in a framework so that participants will receive a summary of their work product after the conference. |
| | | Thursday, May 18, 2006 1:30 PM |
A Balanced Scorecard Approach for Assessing Test Value and Success
Isabel Evans, Testing Solutions Group Ltd
Internal test metrics—test progress, defect density, and TPI/TMM measures on process improvement—do not reveal the complete picture of test value and success. By comparing common test metrics with those found in the Balanced Business Scorecard—financial, customer, internal, and learning/innovation metrics— we see the need to also report financial and customer measures. Some of these measures are quantitative (such as profits), and others are more qualitative (for example, customer satisfaction). Learn to measure the financial impact of testing through productivity metrics and measures of how testing affects the total cost of quality. Include in your reporting qualitative assessments such as the customers’ perception of the usefulness of testing, the visibility of testing on projects, acceptability measures, and estimation accuracy.
• Set measures for all viewpoints of testing’s value and success
• Collect data needed to support these metrics
• Make reports to colleagues and customers add value for decision making |
| | | Thursday, May 18, 2006 3:00 PM |
Acceptance Testing: What It Is and How To Do It Better—in Context
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
When test engineers use the term "acceptance testing," they might be saying and thinking profoundly different things. Acceptance testing can mean one of at least a dozen approaches to the testing of a product and serve one or more of at least thirty different customer roles in a project. Tests and testing approaches that are appropriate in one context can be unacceptable—even disastrous—in another. When someone asks you to do user acceptance testing, what should you do? When should you do it? How do you determine success? Michael Bolton outlines the ways in which testers and test managers use context-driven thinking to better serve the mission of acceptance testing and develop skills to handle dramatically different testing situations. Apply your context in this interactive session to discover ways to improve your acceptance testing, and learn to use context-driven thinking in other areas, too.
• The many customers for acceptance testing and what they value
• Framing the mission for successful acceptance testing
• An introduction to context-driven thinking in software testing |
| | | Friday, May 19, 2006 10:00 AM |
The Last Presentation on Test Estimation You Will Ever Need to Attend
Geoff Horne, Geoff Horne Testing
Estimating the test effort for a project has always been a thorn in the test manager’s side. How do you get close to something reasonable when there are so many variables to consider? Sometimes, estimating test effort seems to be no more accurate than a finger in the wind. As Geoff Horne likes to call it, the “testimation” process can work for you if you do it right. Learn where to start, the steps involved, how to refine estimates, ways to sell the process and the result to management, and how to use the process to develop a test plan that resembles reality. Geoff demonstrates a spreadsheet-based tool that he uses to formulate his “testimations” and shows you how to use it at each step of the process.
• The different variables that need to be considered
• How to convert the “testimation” into a workable test schedule
• A spreadsheet template to help you estimate test effort |
| | | Friday, May 19, 2006 11:15 AM |
Deal Me In: Playing the Manage Your Manager Game
Jon Hagar, Lockheed Martin
We all have managers above us with whom we must deal—and how we deal with them requires skill and practice. To be successful and help a team be its best, you, as a test manager, need daily practice at managing your manager(s). Using an “arms length” viewpoint of gaming, Jon Hagar examines seven situations in which you may need to win in order to get what you want and what your team needs. But not all games can be won or at least not in exactly the way we might want to win them. The test management game is about positive intent, taking the high road—you do not have to cheat—and knowing when to bet and when to fold your cards.
• You want a promotion or even your manager’s job. What can you do?
• Your manager sets impossible schedule or budget goals. What can you do?
• A manager is not listening to the test information. What can you do?
. . . plus four more management games people play |
| |
|
|
