STARWEST 2008 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

Database Locking: What Testers Should Know, Why Testers Should Care

Database locking is a complicated technical issue for some testers. Although we often think that this issue belongs in the realm of the developer and the DBA-"It's not my problem"-database locking is the enemy of functional and performance testers. As Justin Callison can personally attest, locking defects have led to many disasters in production systems. However, there is hope! Justin sheds light on the problem of database locking, how it varies among different platforms, and the application issues that can arise.
Justin Callison, Peak Performance Technologies
Demystifying Virtual Test Lab Management

The benefits of a virtualized test lab environment are compelling and quantifiable--rapid provisioning and tear down of environments, faster test cycles, and powerful new capabilities to resolve defects. Although many test teams have experimented with virtual machines and have experienced some of the benefits, they've also discovered issues with virtual machine "sprawl," difficulties administering the lab, and lack of virtual private networking.
Ian Knox, Skytap
Driving Development with Tests: ATDD and TDD

A perennial wish of testers is to participate early in the projects we test-as early as when the requirements are being developed. We also often wish for developers to do a better job unit testing their programs. Now with agile development practices, both of these wishes can come true. Development teams practicing acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) define system-level tests during requirements elicitation.
Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software, Inc.
End-To-End Test Automation for Complex Systems

As a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment, Ericsson knows that test automation is a key factor for driving a successful test organization. Thomas Thunell describes their automation solution-test system for complex, end-to-end environments. Ericsson's networks typically consist of mobile terminals, base stations, radio network controllers, switching systems, protocol analyzers, and possibly other components.
Thomas Thunell, Ericsson AB
Exploratory Testing: The Next Generation

Exploratory testing is sometimes associated with "ad hoc" testing, randomly navigating through an application. However, emerging exploratory techniques are anything but ad hoc. David Gorena Elizondo describes new approaches to exploratory testing that are highly effective, very efficient, and supported by automation. David describes the information testers need for exploration, explains how to gather that information, and shows you how to use it to find more bugs and find them faster.
David Elizondo, Microsoft Corporation
Fun with Regulated Testing

Does your test process need to pass regulatory audits (FDA, SOX, ISO, etc.)? Do you find that an endless queue of documentation and maintenance is choking your ability to do actual testing? Is your team losing good testers due to boredom? With the right methods and attitude, you can do interesting and valuable testing while passing a process audit with flying colors. It may be easier than you think to incorporate exploratory techniques, test automation, test management tools, and iterative test design into your regulated process.
John McConda, Mobius Test Labs
Going Mobile: The New Challenges for Testers

Mobile device manufacturers face many challenges bringing quality products to market. Most testing methodologies were created for data processing, client/server, and Web products. As such, they often fail to address key areas of interest to mobile applications-usability, security, and stability. Wayne Hom discusses approaches you can use to transform requirements into usability guides and use cases into test cases to ensure maximum test coverage.
Wayne Hom, Augmentum Inc.
Great Test Teams Don't Just Happen

Test teams are just groups of people who work on projects together. But how do great test teams become great? More importantly, how can you lead your team to greatness? Jane Fraser describes the changes she made after several people on her testing staff asked to move out of testing and into other groups-production and engineering-and how helping them has improved the whole team and made Jane a much better leader. Join Jane as she shares her team's journey toward greatness.
Jane Fraser, Electronic Arts
Has the Time for the Adversarial Organization Passed?

The concept of an independent test organization is considered a "best practice" by many experts in the industry. Is this degree of autonomy actually a good thing in the real world today? In such a structure, some testers can only play "Battleship" with the delivered software, shouting gleefully when they find a defect.
Gerard Meszaros, Independent Consultant
Integrating Security Testing into Your Process

Software quality is a priority for most organizations, yet many are still struggling to handle the volume of testing. Unfortunately, applications are frequently released with significant security risks. Many organizations rely on an overburdened security team to test applications late in development when fixes are the most costly, while others are throwing complex tools at test teams expecting the testers to master security testing with no formal processes and training.
Danny Allan, IBM Rational

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