Conference Presentations

Software Code Inspection for Defect Prevention

Thousands of hours are spent testing, but most software professionals find that traditional testing simply isn't enough to ensure code quality. This presentation gives software professionals a complementary approach: software inspection. Learn how software inspection differs from traditional testing, and gain an understanding of principal inspection techniques.

Jasper Kamperman, Reasoning
STARWEST 2001: Bug Hunting: Going on a Software Safari

This presentation is about bugs: where they hide, how you find them, and how you tell other people they exist so they can be fixed. Explore the habitats of the most common types of software bugs. Learn how to make bugs more likely to appear and discover ways to present information about the bugs you find to ensure they get fixed. Drawing on real-world examples of bug reports, Elisabeth Hendrickson reveals tips and techniques for capturing the wiliest and most squirmy critters crawling around in your software.

Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software
STAREAST 2001: Managing the End Game of a Software Project

How do you know when a product is ready to ship? QA managers have been faced with this question for many years. Using the methodology discussed in this presentation, you take the guessing out of shipping a product and replace it with key metrics to help you rationally make the right decision. Learn how to estimate, predict, and manage your software project as it gets closer to its release date. Learn how to define which metrics to track--and how to measure them. Discover how to define the ratings scale for each metric and how to create a spider chart for product readiness. This presentation is a must for any individual or organization that is serious about maximizing the results of positive events and minimizing the consequences of adverse ones.

Mike Ennis, BMC Software
When Test Drives the Development Bus

Once development reaches "code complete," the testing team takes over and drives the project to an acceptable quality level and stability. This is accomplished by weekly build cycles or dress rehearsals. The software is graded based on found, fixed, and outstanding errors. Development strives to increase the grades in each build--improving the quality and stability of the software. Learn how to use this "dress rehearsal" process to build team morale, develop ownership by the entire development team, and ensure success on opening night.

Cindy Necaise, MICROS Systems, Inc.
STAREAST 2001: Bug Hunting: Going on a Software Safari

This presentation is about bugs: where they hide, how you find them, and how you tell other people they exist so they can be fixed. Explore the habitats of the most common types of software bugs. Learn how to make bugs more likely to appear and discover ways to present information about the bugs you find to ensure that they get fixed. Drawing on real-world examples of bug reports, Elisabeth Hendrickson reveals tips and techniques for capturing the wiliest and squirmiest of the critters crawling around in your software.

Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software, Inc.
Orthogonal Defect Classification at Cisco

This presentation outlines the history of the Orthogonal Defect Classification system deployment at Cisco.

Bob Mullen, Cisco Systems
Thinking About People, Process, and Product: A Principle that Works at Work

All projects involve the three P's: people, process, and product. People includes everyone who influences the project. Process is the steps taken to produce and maintain software. Product is the final outcome of the project. To keep these three in harmony, you must observe who is trying to do what to deliver what. Usually, two of the three P's are mandated, and the third one is chosen appropriately. Although this is common sense, it is not common practice. Dwayne Phillips discusses the issues and challenges that affect us all on every project. Learn about the ideas and questions to consider to help you work through these issues.

Dwayne Phillips, U.S. Department of Defense
The Story Software Defects Tell about Project Management

We often evaluate and design software processes and activities as if putting them on lists and schedules will automatically make them happen. Yet software development also includes complex human interactions that must be planned and managed in order to gain best results, or to even survive. Drawing upon over one hundred candid engineers' comments from twenty root-cause analysis brainstorming sessions of frequently occurring defects, Bob Grady reveals fascinating insights into project management backgrounds, methods, training, and weaknesses. Into these insights, he weaves the use of personality preferences with project management methods to help you avoid common pitfalls in ways that engineers themselves prefer.

Robert Grady, Hewlett-Packard Co., Retired
System Architectures-An International Viewpoint

The software engineering industry has invented a wide variety of architectures and technologies for building applications, yet all of these architectures have some common features and issues. One such common issue is internationalization. No matter how you build your application, it will more than likely be viewed and used by people from different cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds. This presentation gives you a lighthearted tour of the common application architectures. Examine how some of these architectures make internationalization and globalization easier, harder, or just plain peculiar. If you have always wondered what an n-tier architecture is or how it plays internationally, thie session is for you!

Benson Margulies, Basis Technology
Extreme Programming and CMM

This presentation explains the Capability Maturity Model and Extreme Programming, compares the two, and shows how they can be compatible.

Mark Paulk, Software Engineering Institute

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