STARWEST 1999 - Software Testing Conference

Drawing on his extensive testing experience at Ameritech, Dan Guss discusses considerations for building, managing, and coordinating the development of new or existing test environments and labs for large systems with an emphasis on the entire business solution. Examine the vision, components, approach and methodology, and business processes that are critical to a successful test environment.

In this practitioner-oriented talk, Cem Kaner uses observations and anecdotes from his experiences to broaden and diversity your approach to the design and development of the class of tests called "Black Box." Listen as he explores the conceptual differences among significantly different approaches to testing at the functional and system level without using knowledge of the program code. Examine examples that will guide your thinking about testing within a particular paradigm.

Test automation raises our hopes yet often frustrates and disappoints us. Although automation promises to deliver us from a tough situation, automating implemented tests can create as many problems as it solves. The key is to follow the rules of software development when automating testing. Bret Pettichord presents seven key steps: improve the testing process, define requirements, prove the concept, champion product testability, design for sustainability, plan for deployment, and face the challenges of success.

A software inspection is a well-known method in the industry today to improve the quality of software that we produce. Examine the problems that Intel Corporation faced with implementing this process and how they overcame the issues to see some very good results--ultimately attaining closure with 96% of their inspections.