STAREAST 2010 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

Executable Specs w/ FitNesse Selenium

"Executable Specifications with FitNesse and Selenium."

Dawn Cannan, DocSite LLC
Focusing Test Efforts with System Usage Patterns

Faced with the reality of tight deadlines and limited resources, many software delivery teams turn to risk-based test planning to ensure that the most critical components of the software are production ready. Although this strategy can prove effective, it is only as good as your underlying risk analysis.

Dan Craig, Coveros, Inc.

Heuristics for Rapid Test Management

Whether you are a tester or a test manager, Jon Bach believes you have little time to do the things you want to do. Even the things on your "absolutely must do" list are competing for your limited time. Jon has a list of what he calls "half-baked" ideas on how to cope. That is, these ideas are still in the oven-still being tested. In his role as a tester and manager, Jon has learned that it's not about time management; it's really about energy management-where you focus your personal energy and direct your team’s energy.

Jon Bach, Quardev, Inc.

How Google Tested Chrome

Ever wish you could peek inside a big, high-tech company and see how they actually do testing? Well, now you can. Led by Sebastian Schiavone, Google's Chrome Test Team will detail everything they have done to test Google Chrome-both the browser and the Netbook operating system-beginning with their process for test planning and how they design test automation.

Sebastian Schiavone, Google
I Wouldn't Have Seen It If I Hadn't Believed It: Confirmation Bias in Testing

"It ain't what we don't know that gives us trouble; it's what we know that ain't so." Will Rogers was talking about confirmation bias-the tendency to feel secure in our beliefs rather than to seek evidence that might challenge them. In testing, confirmation bias prompts us to stop a test too early, to choose tests that conform too closely to the happy path, or to ignore results that confound our expectations. As a result, defects have a chance to hide in our self-induced blind spots.

Michael Bolton, DevelopSense

Implementing Agile Testing

Once the company decides to move to an agile development methodology, questions invariably arise: How should we implement this methodology? What are the expected benefits and pitfalls? How does testing fit into this new approach? Join Robert Reff as he describes real world experiences that helped his test team move from the design-code-test approach to a test-driven, agile development philosophy.

Robert Reff, Thomas Reuters
Keys to a Successful Beta Testing Program

Your company is ready to launch its new product. How will it perform under real-world conditions? Will it meet the needs and expectations of the users? Will it operate on all the platforms and configurations for which it was designed? With the future of the product, your company, and perhaps your job depending on the answers, beta testing is a great way to maximize your chances of success.

Rob Swoboda, HomeShore Solutions
Lessons Learned from 20,000 Testers on the Open Source Mozilla Project

Open source community-based software development can be extremely wild and woolly. Testing in this environment is even more so, given that it is often less structured than software design and coding activities. What are the differences between testing open source and commercial or corporate applications? What can you learn from the open source community? Take a peek into the open source testing world with Tim Riley as he describes how the Mozilla Project develops and tests the Firefox browser.

Tim Riley, Mozilla
Meet "Ellen": Improving Software Quality through Personas

Users are the ultimate judge of the software we deliver because it is critical to their success and the success of their business. However, as a tester, do you really understand their tasks, skills, motivation, and work style? Are you delivering software that matches their needs and capabilities-or yours? Personas are a way to define user roles-imaginary characters-that represent common sets of characteristics of different users.

David Elizondo, Microsoft Corporation
Patterns of Testability

Testability requires interfaces for observing and controlling software, either built into the software itself or provided by the software ecosystem. Observability exposes the input and output data of components, as well as monitoring execution flow. Controllability provides the ability to change data and drive actions through the component interface. Without testability interfaces, defects are harder to find, reproduce, and fix.

Alan Myrvold, Microsoft

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