For test managers and testers, credibility is everything. Without credibility, people won't take you seriously or believe your findings. There are very specific and achievable things every test manager can and should do to make sure the information conveyed to stakeholders is accurate and reliable. Randall Rice talks about the credibility factors you need to exhibit for success: knowledge, attitude, objectivity, accuracy, trust, and attention to detail. With real-world examples, Randall teaches you to build long-term trust with creative ways to document test findings and present to your stakeholders the information they want-when they need to know it. Take away a list of eight credibility killers, and learn how to rebuild you team's credibility once it is lost.

• A template for assessing your team’s present credibility rating
• Ways to deliver accurate and timely information to all project stakeholders

Powerful lessons can be learned from some of the great epic movies of our day: "Star Wars" and bug triage, "Indiana Jones" and requirements, "Monty Python" and configuration management, "Jurassic Park" and unit testing, "The Usual Suspects" and teamwork, and "Star Trek" and SLAs. There are important metaphors within these movie stories that you can apply to real test management problems. Robert Sabourin's entertaining talk ties practical real-world experiences to lessons learned from the movies, offers tips to manage your team, and provides his unique insight into how to get things done!

As a test manager, are you struggling at work with a BIG test management issue or a personnel issue? If so, this session is for you. "Testing Dialogues--Management Issues" is a unique platform for you to share with and learn from test managers who have come to STARWEST from around the world. Facilitated by Esther Derby and Elisabeth Hendrickson, this double-track session takes on management issues-career paths for test managers, hiring, firing, executive buy-in, organization structures, and process improvement. You name it! Share your expertise and experiences, learn from others’ challenges and successes, and generate new topics in real time. Discussions are structured in a framework so that participants will receive a summary of their work product after the conference.

Simply put, exploratory testing means designing your tests as you perform them. When it's done well, it's a fantastically productive and rewarding approach to testing. However, to do it well requires training, practice, and discipline. Lecture presentations about exploratory testing are a poor substitute for seeing it and doing it. So ... plan to bring your laptop to this session and test along with James Bach and Jon Bach as they demonstrate exploratory testing in a live testing workshop. Participate or just observe as exploratory testing is performed in real time with play-by-play and color commentary. Learn how to bring structure to this apparently unstructured testing method. See if you can find bugs that they do not find as you test "outside the Bachs"!