For testers, finding defects is a way of life. However, we usually don't reflect on what an undiscovered defect can cost a business or how much it costs to find defects late in development. Geoff Horne seeks to put real costs on both of these situations and looks at practical ways to reduce the costs of not finding defects. With real-life case studies that you can use to justify the need for more testing, Geoff provides simple measures and statistics to calculate whether your allocation of testing dollars is too high, too low, or just right. Learn to show how testing can actually save money and how to get the best return for your testing dollar. After all, stock market investors assess their options based on risk and potential return. Why should testing be any different?

According to the Object Management Group (OMG), the benefits of Model Driven Architecture (MDA) are significant to businesses and developers alike: reduced overall product life costs, faster development, better application quality, rapid deployment of new technology, and a higher ROI on new technology. In short, the hype is that MDA enables system integration strategies that are better, faster, and cheaper. However, the MDA approach represents a fundamental change in the way software is developed, and it revolutionizes how you allocate test resources and how you create system tests. Timothy Korson outlines the MDA process and then suggests ways to change quality assurance activities to mesh with the MDA development style. Take away a realistic view of the current state of MDA practices compared to the MDA promise and vision, offered by the OMG.

When preparing for internationalization of software, officially called W3C Internationalization (I18N), preparation and careful planning are the keys to high productivity during and after the initial development project. By putting in more effort up front, less effort will be required in subsequent localization activities. Also, I18N pseudo-localization testing will help you ensure that you can deliver localized versions of your product in the least amount of time. Learn about the important issues surrounding internationalization: translation verification, double character, Unicode, multi-currency, local culture concerns, native language support, and more. Find out how to perform localization testing without an in-depth knowledge of locale specific issues or native linguistic skills. Help your organization succeed in the challenging work of internationalization while your team keeps its sanity as well.

Whereas the Agile Software Development Manifesto is a short and sweet list of principles for developers, the Declaration of Interdependence for Agile Project Management is more of a mouthful. The Declaration of Interdependence was written to provide concrete guidance for software projects and projects in general with applicability to general management. In constructing it, a dozen senior consultants, designers, and managers-project, product, and line-validated that it covered their individual core operating frameworks. In this talk, noted software designer, manager, and methodologist Alistair Cockburn, a co-author of both documents, unravels the six rules of operation in the Declaration of Interdependence. In the Declaration, project managers agree to increase ROI, deliver reliable results, expect uncertainty, unleash creativity and innovation, boost performance, and improve effectiveness.