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Identifying Testing Priorities Through Risk Analysis It's impossible to test everything-even in the most trivial of systems. Tight time schedules and shortages of trained testing personnel exacerbate this problem; so do changing priorities, feature creep, and loss of resources. In many companies, test professionals either begin their work on whichever components they encounter first, or the parts they're most familiar with. Unfortunately, these approaches may result in the delivery of a system where the most critical components remain untested. Or, at the very least, critical components are tested later in the lifecycle when there may not be time to fix the problems found. All of this adds to the risk of a project. One way to overcome every one of these challenges is to employ the use of risk analysis. Rick Craig demonstrates the basics of a usable process for assigning testing priorities based on relative risk.
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Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering
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Career Path Activities for Test Professionals Ever wonder how some people seem to find the time to always do that "little extra" to benefit their careers? Have you ever thought about writing an article, speaking at a conference, or even teaching a course, but didn't know where to begin? There are lots of ways to jump-start your career through professional development activities that benefit both you and your employer. Learn how your participation in these activities can enhance your career and market your company. Journey with the instructor and find the inspiration (and energy) to maintain a diversity of activities that'll make your professional mark. Find out how easy it is to get started and where to obtain more information about updating your skills, sharing your knowledge, and helping others within our profession.
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Eric Patel, RapidSQA
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Movin' On Up: Making the Transition from Test Lead to Manager Want to be a test lead? Ready to take on the responsibilities of test management? Making the transition to a lead, then a management position, takes more than just guts- it takes preparation. This presentation illuminates some of the technical aspects you'll encounter when transitioning to test lead or test manager, including: organizing and managing the testing; working with the project manager and the rest of the project team; and deciding how, when, and what to invest in your test infrastructure. You'll also explore some of the nontechnical aspects such as coaching and mentoring, giving feedback, and providing work direction.
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Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group
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Testing Your Software's Requirements Many testing organizations focus primarily on software executable code, but that's not the only thing you can test. For instance, did you ever consider testing your software requirements? When you test only code, you face some big disadvantages, not to mention that design defects often aren't even fixable because they demand too much effort, too late in the release cycle. In fact, it's difficult to even report some requirements defects since the developers have already committed to the design strategy. But if you test your requirements early in the game, you can discover defects before they're cast into designs and code, consequently saving your organization potentially huge rework costs.
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Brian Lawrence, Coyote Valley Software
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Outsourcing Trials and Traps Sometimes outsourcing can help your business, but there's too much at stake to take outsourcing lightly. This presentation teaches you the importance of identifying your critical needs before you even begin the task of selecting an outsourcing partner, because the risks are far too great for you to try to fix a major problem with chewing gum and bailing wire. You'll also get practical guidelines for deciding what you need, finding the right partner, making it work your way and on your schedule, and deciding if it was worth it once you're done. You'll avoid oursourcing disasters by learning from the expensive lessons of others.
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Steve Jeffery, PowerQuest Corporation Inc
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Investing Wisely: Generating Return on Investment from Test Automation Implementing test automation without following best practices and tracking your ROI is a prescription for failure. Still, many companies have done so seeking the elusive promise of automated testing: more thorough testing done faster, with less error, at a substantially lower cost. However, fewer than fifty percent of these companies realize any real success from these efforts. And even fewer have generated any substantial ROI from their automated testing initiatives. This presentation takes an in-depth look at the specific pitfalls companies encounter when implementing automated functional testing, and offers proven best practices to avoid them and guarantee long-term success.
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Dale Ellis, TurnKey Solutions Corp.
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Risk Analysis for Web Testing All Web sites take risks in some areas ... your job is to minimize your company's exposure to these risks. Karen Johnson takes you through a step-by-step analysis of a Web site to determine possible exposure points. By reviewing the functionality and other site considerations, such as supported browsers or anticipated loads, risk areas can be accurately determined. You'll then create categories of testing based on the exposure points you uncover, starting with broad areas such as functional, content, security, load, and performance, and drilling down to test and protect against even minor vulnerabilities.
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Karen Johnson, Baxter Healthcare Corporation
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Using Metrics to Govern Outsourced Applications Outsourcing arrangements are established on the basis of a contractual partnership, with both parties having a vested interest in the success of the relationship. Success can be viewed differently by the outsourcing provider and customer, however, making the use of objective, quantifying service level metrics instrumental to the success of the contract. Learn how to properly identify and develop service level metrics required to support both business and technical deliverables.
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Eric Buel, Eric Buel and Associates, Inc.
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Test Management in Turbulent Times In uncertain circumstances, the challenges facing test managers are numerous and, at times, daunting. Layoffs, reorganizations, restricted resources, and job concerns can contribute to the disruption of the status quo at any given time. So what's a test manager to do? This presentation identifies test management issues and describes tips and techniques on how to better manage yourself and others. It suggests some ways to adjust your management style to have a more effective impact on your staff and guide you all through the difficulties that may arise.
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Lauri MacKinnon, Phase Forward Inc and Eric Patel, VeriTest Inc/Lionbridge Technologies
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Calculating the Return on Investment of Testing While revenues, cash flow, and earnings are vital statistics of a company's well-being, they're the by-product of what the company actually offers up as a product or service. Therefore, if the offering doesn't produce ROI for the customer, it doesn't represent a viable business opportunity. In this session, take a look at testing from the perspective that it's a service provided to your company. Since testing impacts not only your company, but also your company's customers, then you, as a tester, must provide and prove ROI to succeed in a business environment. Having the ability to discuss, define, manage, and demonstrate the ROI of testing is an invaluable skill. This session gives you the information and tools you need to define and demonstrate models of testing ROI, then translate them into upper management's terms.
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James Bampos, VeriTest Inc/Lionbridge Technologies and Eric Patel
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