STAREAST 2009 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

"A" is for Abstraction - Managing Change in Successful Test Automation

Implementing a test automation project can be like a mountain climbing expedition-many find the task daunting, some attempt it, and only a few are successful. Showing real-world examples-such as the need for scripting across different platforms-Mark Meninger explains how to embrace change and use abstraction to provide creative ideas and approaches for your test automation project. You'll learn how to implement a platform abstraction layer in the automation architecture to overcome multi-platform issues and much more.
Mark Meninger, Research In Motion
A Pragmatic Approach to Improving Your Testing Process

Although most test managers know they need to improve their processes, many don't know how to go about it. How do you understand the effectiveness of your current test process and then move forward for quick wins and long-term gains? Clive Bates presents a step-by-step approach to gather information on the existing process using special questionnaires and interviews that help you compare your organization with others and identify short and long-term improvement activities.
Clive Bates, Grove Consultants
A Test Offshoring Model that Works

USG is a Fortune 500 building products manufacturer with over fifty North American locations. USG has effectively managed to integrate their offshore and local test teams to provide support for a major ERP implementation and subsequent software releases.
Brook Klawitter, USG, Corp.
After System Testing: Don't Forget Infrastructure Testing

Traditionally, testing IT applications is done in isolation on a stand-alone platform. However, when applications interface with the corporate IT infrastructure, you need to plan, engineer, and execute an additional level of integration testing. David Watt describes a typical IT infrastructure and the historical problems, costs, and complexities of conducting infrastructure integration testing. Because of the complexities common to many IT infrastructures, this level of testing is often ignored and omitted.
David Watt, Lockheed Martin
Agile Testing in the Large: Stories and Patterns of Transformation

You're part of a large test organization that has invested money, sweat, and tears in test processes, plans, cases, and automation tools that have served you well. You've built a team that excels in your development environment. In fact, everyone is depending on you to verify sound engineering practices and formally assure product quality. Now agile methods are being adopted in your organization and messing up everything. Developers and testers are pushed together with the hope that quality will somehow still happen.
Robert Galen, Software Testing Consultant
Agile Testing: Solving the Agilist's Dilemma

One problem with iterative software development is that teams are forced to write and test software incrementally-and repeatedly. Testers know that any change could break features in both obvious and hidden ways. Developers know that a change to their stable design is just around the corner. So, should we go back to designing software all up front and testing the whole product just before delivery? Of course not!
Rob Myers, Independent Test Consultant
An Open Source Tool for RIA/Ajax Testing

Building rich Internet applications (RIA) using Ajax is challenging partly because of all the variations in browser performance and functional issues. In addition, different browsers render Ajax differently depending on version and operating environment. Frank Cohen shares a free, open-source service to check Ajax application functions and create a gallery of screen shots to ensure browsers are rendering your application correctly. The unit tests run on a distributed set of test engines in a cloud of servers.
Frank Cohen, PushToTest
Applying Test Design Concepts in the Real World

Have you ever read a book, taken a class, or attended a conference session on test design concepts that you never actually incorporated into your work? Have others on your team rejected new design techniques that appeared promising to you? Sometimes the path from concept to real-world application can be wrought with challenges. Marie Lipinski Was shares the path she took to bring formal test design techniques from the classroom to the workroom.
Marie Was, CNA Insurance
Beyond Testing: Becoming Part of the Innovation Machine

Testing, once a marginalized function at Google, is now an integral part of Google's innovation machine. Patrick Copeland describes how this vital transformation took place. As he was analyzing how to be more efficient and better align his testing team with the needs of the company, Patrick realized they had to move beyond "just testing" and become a force for change.
Patrick (Pat) Copeland, Google
Building a Quality Dashboard for Your Project

Jason Bryant shows how you can transform readily available raw data into visual information that improves the decision-making process with simple measures that yield power for both testing and development managers. A quality dashboard helps focus regression tests to cover turmoil risk, ensures issues are resolved before beta, identifies risks in the defect pool, and provides information to monitor the team’s adherence to standard processes.
Jason Bryant, Schlumberger Information Solutions

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