Conference Presentations

Evaluating, Selecting, and Measuring Subcontractors

During the past decade, it has become more commonplace to subcontract major portions of large software and systems engineering projects. Due to a lack of a well-defined set of tools or guidelines, this process has generally been ad hoc and inconsistent. Jim Nielsen describes Motorola's efforts to develop a comprehensive set of tools, processes, and measures to use in evaluating and selecting subcontractors and in predicting subcontractor performance and product quality.

Jim Nielsen, Motorola
Usability and Risk Management in a Multi-Developer Context

Driving usability improvement in an organization with more than 100 different software suppliers presents specific Quality Assurance challenges. This presentation describes the steps taken by one organization to meet this challenge. Learn how this approach resulted in a one hundred percent increase in customer satisfaction, a reduction in customer-reported usability problems, and order-of-magnitude reductions in testing time and cost.

Marilyn Valentino, EPRI
Relentless Application Development

Discover ways to develop and operate a team that can rapidly produce a tested, documented, and deployed application in less than three months! This presentation identifies important people, processes, and technologies that must be in place to ensure application success. Gain insight into what fails most often on rapid development, and learn what structures must be in place to succeed.

Linda McInnis, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Critical Components of Asset Management

Examine how Information Technology (IT) asset management methodologies can reduce your organization's IT budget between five and thirty-five percent. Kathy Shoop discusses the critical components to deploy, the challenges of implementing such a program, and the limitations of asset management tools such as spreadsheets and in-house development efforts. Discover the best practices for implementing an asset management initiative in your organization that will result in immediate cost savings.

Kathy Shoop, Janus Technologies, Inc.
Estimation for the Savvy Project Manager

The most critical estimate in the life of a project is the first estimate at project planning or initiation. This presentation explores the significance of the initial project estimate and suggests ways to approach developing this critical estimate. Learn how a savvy project manager can use this estimate to encourage creative collaboration rather than strife among project stakeholders.

Douglas Muir, Software Productivity Centre Inc.
What to Do When the Right Person Doesn't Come Along

Finding just the right technical person remains a challenge. Waiting for just the right person to come along, or hiring someone with inadequate skills, can often result in late or high-defect projects. A project will most likely fail if you have not hired the appropriate staff. Learn when to wait when hiring for a position, and when to change what people will do.

Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
The Business Case for Test Automation

In tight economic times, it's more important than ever to show a return on technology investments, including test automation. Unfortunately, management's expectations are usually unrealistic in that they expect immediate results and aren't prepared for the ongoing level of investment required after the tool is purchased. Find out why the benefits traditionally promised-reduced test resources and cycle time-are misleading and inaccurate.

Linda Hayes, WorkSoft, Inc.
The Past, Present, and Future of Software Test Automation Tools

Gregory Pope examines the past, present, and future of software testing tools. By contrasting the best thinking of ten years ago with what's happening today, he brings a clear and unique perspective to what the future might hold. Greg also provides insight into the successes and failures of once-promising tools. Using the historical factors that make test automation successful, he demonstrates how to pick tools that will be successful now and in the future.

Gregory Pope, Gregory Pope Consulting
The Art of Influence

Abby is a tester who can't seem to make herself heard. She feels invisible in design meetings, and feels like she lacks credibility with the developers on the team. But she learns a few simple changes in her communication approach that improve her chances of being listened to. Elisabeth Hendrickson talks about how testers can learn the art of influence.

Elisabeth Hendrickson's picture Elisabeth Hendrickson
All Hands on Deck

The challenge: With one week to go before release, the product still needs to be put through its paces. The test team: A few developers, a network engineer, a receptionist, an office manager, and a CTO. In this real-life story, Geordie Keitt explains how one dot-com employed some nontraditional testers to uncover the bugs in their new system.

Geordie Keitt

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