Conference Presentations

Equilibrium in Managing Outsourced Testing

Even organizations with internal QA departments often have to rely on outsourced testing resources for some jobs. The first time you do this, you may make a lot of mistakes as well as learn a great deal. Jeff Jewell relates the lessons learned from his company's first experience in managing a project with contract testers. Learn what you can do to get the most from external testers and ensure that the quality of the product meets your internal expectations.

Jeff Jewell, Navigant International Inc.
Test Metrics Without Tears

The profile of testing has been raised significantly in the last few years, largely due to Year 2000 issues. Organizations accept that they need to systematically and thoroughly test software, and they are demanding the same levels of efficiency that are expected from all other areas of their businesses. Now it is necessary to provide evidence that the activities of the test team are an effective and efficient use of staff. Learn how such evidence can be obtained and reported with minimal overhead on testing resources.

David Vaughan, The SIM Group
Advanced Techniques in Test Automation

From this presentation's summary:

  • Identify the ten percent needed ninety percent of the Time
  • Mold the Tools to Your Bias, Not the Other
    Way Around
  • Leverage Automation on Most Critical Testing First - Augment Capability Next
  • Think “Beyond the Tool” for Capability
Andrew Pollner, ALP International Corporatioin
Automated Testing of Object-Oriented Components Using Intelligent Test Artifacts

Everyone agrees on the value of testing software components early and often to find defects before they become costly and to ensure that changes do not have unexpected side effects. Unfortunately, many developers still do not follow this practice because of the perception that creating tests is too burdensome. In this presentation, learn a practical guide to streamlining component test creation by employing intelligent test artifacts. Discover how this technique will enable you to extract the most value from testing with the least amount of effort.

Michael Silverstein, SilverMark, Inc.
STAREAST 2000: How Testers Can Contribute to Reviews

Brian Lawrence begins his presentation with a brief overview of what a review is and how it works in software organizations. Although testers may or may not understand source code, they can still contribute considerable value in reviews. Learn how to devise tests as a review preparation technique that can identify potential defects and serve as a basis for test planning and design.

Brian Lawrence, Coyote Valley Software
Design and Test of Large-Scale Systems

Increasing complexity and functionality of digital systems--coupled with time-to-market constraints--pose quality challenges. Strategies often include a mix of new development with the integration of pre-existing components from multiple sources. Ann Miller presents some of the software engineering and software management lessons learned from eight years on a large commercial satellite program, as well as several years on military satellite programs. This presentation focuses on the planned evolution of large-scale systems from the design and build of smaller components based on an end-to-end system backbone.

Ann Miller, University of Missouri-Rolla
Internet Product Delivery: Creating Quality at the Speed of the Web

Based on an operations perspective, Richard Martin shares his experiences with an e-commerce company in the areas of project planning, quality assurance, release management, and project delivery. Learn how the e-commerce market differs from other enterprise applications and which "best practices" make the most sense. Explore the most effective ways to manage change at Web speed.

Richard Martin, Calico Commerce
Improve Your Estimating Process--Beginning with a Proof of Concept

Estimating is like the weather; everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it. This presentation provides the techniques required to execute a Proof of Concept estimating model, allowing an organization to trial run the tools, techniques, and methods required to estimate projects more accurately and earlier in the lifecycle. Learn the key elements of this approach, and obtain templates to employ in your organization.

David Herron, The David Consulting Group, Inc.
Performance Evaluation and Measurement of Enterprise Applications

Today's large-scale enterprise applications are all Web-enabled and complex in nature. Many users experience performance problems from day one. Performance evaluation and measurement via extensive testing is the only practical way to raise and address all issues prior to a successful deployment. Learn how to tackle performance and capacity issues with the appropriate testing strategy and scalable infrastructure/architecture.

Rakesh Radhakrishnan, Sun Microsystems
Third-Party Testing and Its Effects on Software Engineering

Adherence to process guidelines has been shown to be beneficial for large organizations. However, ninety-nine percent of all U.S. IT organizations and independent software vendors are small businesses with less than 500 employees. Bill Councill discusses how to use a third-party testing organization such as Underwriters Laboratories to more effectively assure software quality in companies of this size.

Bill Councill, Mannatech, Inc.

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