Unlike traditional requirements-formal specification documents produced mostly up front-agile requirements are elicited and recorded in smaller units-called stories or user stories that are generated quickly with a just-in-time approach. Through the INVEST approach-Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable-Ken Pugh shows agile teams how to produce stories that offer the most value with the least effort. He explains the relationship between stories and traditional requirements models, such as use cases and state-event-response tables, and describes how to develop more details for stories only on an as-needed basis. Ken demonstrates ways to break large stories down into smaller, easier-to-estimate ones that address the needs of business analysts and developers.

You are probably familiar with maturity models for software development such as CMMI. In this thought-provoking session, Default.aspx Pope and Ellen Hill describe a corresponding five-stage maturity model for software quality engineering-not just testing-which addresses the challenges organizations face when attempting to improve the their software’s quality. Default.aspx and Ellen introduce their model for software quality maturity and discuss how you can use this model to baseline your organizations' current level and map out a path for improvement. You'll learn how to assess where you are now on the ladder: (1) do nothing, (2) write documents and create forms, (3) measure the process, (4) improve based on metrics, or (5) automate tools and process.

Whether it is controlling interplanetary spacecraft, managing medical records, or "merely" staying in business, it seems that more of us are facing the pressure of building and managing mission-critical systems and teams. Although it's tempting to think that reliability is all that matters, we're also forced to adapt to constantly advancing technologies, shifting priorities, and relentless competitive pressures. What can we learn about agility from great inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and the pioneers at NASA who risked everything to change the world? Is it wise to embrace innovation and take risks when so much is at stake? Can you afford to be agile when failure is not an option, or can you afford not to? Jeff Norris explores key principles of agility from a fresh and entertaining perspective by drawing on inspiring stories of people who demonstrated agile work practices long before anyone had heard of a ScrumMaster.

Testers and managers have wrestled with the problem of evaluating software products and testing efforts, often using approaches derived from manufacturing, construction, and physical sciences. These approaches have been partially successful because software products aren't physical products.