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When Test Drives the Development Bus Once development reaches "code complete," the testing team takes over and drives the project to an acceptable quality level and stability. This is accomplished by weekly build cycles or dress rehearsals. The software is graded based on found, fixed, and outstanding errors. Development strives to increase the grades in each build--improving the quality and stability of the software. Learn how to use this "dress rehearsal" process to build team morale, develop ownership by the entire development team, and ensure success on opening night.
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Cindy Necaise, MICROS Systems, Inc.
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The Role of Information in Risk-Based Testing With risk-based testing, you identify risks and then run tests to gather more information about them. Formal risk analysis is often necessary for identifying and assessing risks with new domains or technologies. A common problem, however, is how to assess risks when you have little information. Learn how to use testing to identify risks, reach team agreement on risk magnitude, and identify actions which allow these risks to be understood and mitigated.
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Bret Pettichord, Satsfice
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STAREAST 2001: The Power of Retrospectives to Improve Testing Testing is a tough job! Most test professionals learn the hard way what works and what doesn't. Retrospectives are focused, facilitated reviews of a defined piece of work. Learn how software project retrospectives are used as a test process improvement technique to capture the essence of a work, provide closure, and establish a springboard for active improvement in an organization.
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Esther Derby, Esther Derby Associates, Inc
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A Short Course in Managing Expectations Have you ever delivered exactly what your customers said they wanted, and still they were dissatisfied? This session uses a case study of one such experience as the basis for introducing information, tools, and guidelines to help you better manage expectations. Naomi Karten addresses issues such as how to build a strong foundation, avoid conflicting interpretations, implement effective feedback-gathering processes, and understand the other party's perspective.
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Naomi Karten, Karten Associates
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Problem Resolution Cycle Time Optimization No matter how well we plan and execute software development, defects are generated and can escape to the customers. Failure to quickly resolve software problems leads to negative consequences for our customers and increases internal business costs. A quick deterministic
method to prioritize problems and implement their solution helps to reduce cycle time and costs. Achieving this goal requires several steps. The first is to determine a model that links problem resolution performance to institutional variables and problem characteristics. Statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) is a tool that provides data requirements for estimating the impacts of these variables on problem resolution. Once data has been gathered the results of statistical analysis can be input into a mathematical optimization model to guide the organization.
This paper describes such an analysis.
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Don Porter, Motorola
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Managing Your Outsourcing Contract Through Metrics Have project demands led you to consider outsourcing as a possibility? If so, make sure you get the most bang for your company's outsourced buck-and be able to prove it too. Learn about techniques you can use to manage your outsourcing contract based on an appropriate set of service level measures. Koni Thompson also provides specific recommendations for a metrics-centered approach based on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).
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Koni Thompson, The David Consulting Group
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A Unified Model for Software Management This is the presentation that puts all the concepts into perspective. The speaker constructs a model of the software development company as a layered organization comprised of core values at the center, then radiating out to best practices, software lifecycles, software management processes, and finally support tools and systems. Wael Amin reveals how to understand an organization's culture, identify its core values, adopt best practices, and more. His exploration runs the gamut from corporate vision to delivering quality.
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Wael Amin, IT Worx
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Teams, Governance, and the Evolution of Social Systems While there are good reasons to use teams for software projects, there are also many well-documented challenges and pitfalls. One of the most important decisions for any team is the governance model they choose to abide by. By examining how social systems evolve and the different types of decision-making models they use, we can successfully modify our team approach, especially when work-like software development-is technical and creative in nature. This presentation shows you how to use this context to apply these social structure principles to extract maximal benefits from your team.
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Russell Roundtree, Landmark Graphics
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eXtreme Programming: Managing Agile Development Extreme Programming (XP) has captured the attention of the industry by challenging many cherished beliefs held about software development and management. Not only that, it's actually delivered against those challenges. As a development process, XP focuses on producing sound software architectures while delivering required functionality to customers on time and within budget. It uses iterative development along with other controversial yet effective techniques to get the job done. Robert Martin gives us the real scoop on why XP has enjoyed so many successes, and how it can and will continue to flourish in business development environments.
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Robert Martin, Object Mentor, Inc.
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SM/ASM 2002: The Business Case for Software Quality Each generation of technology-from mainframe to the Internet-creates many opportunities for businesses to try new things. But with uncharted territory comes exponentially increased risks. One way to reduce risk is to implement effective software quality processes. However, the investment required to improve development and testing infrastructures can be significant. Richard Bender addresses fourteen major areas of opportunity that underscore why this investment is critical if an organization is to succeed. He covers areas such as increasing project failure rate, the limited supply of software professionals, rising support costs, and the implications of eCommerce.
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Richard Bender, Bender & Associates
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