Lean Management

Concurrent Sessions

W13 Manage a Complex Test Effort with Lean and Kanban

Mike Duskis, 10-4 Systems

Wed, 09/30/2015 - 3:00pm

“How absurd! She swallowed a bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die.” The silly nursery rhyme teaches a serious lesson. Because software products are complex, we seek to manage them by spinning a complex web of processes and tools. Thankfully, not all complex problems demand complex solutions. Join Mike Duskis as he demonstrates how his test team employed kanban practices to manage the test work of a multi-national, multi-project department with a system of index cards on the wall. With the kanban system in place and lean practices driving decisions, the team simplified the prioritization process, improved test visibility, which led to better testing choices. Lean-kanban produced strong results at Mike's shop and could do the same for yours. Join Mike to learn how you can clarify and communicate your test effort—without swallowing any spiders.

T13 Lean Test Management: Reduce Waste in Planning, Automation, and Execution

Tariq King, Ultimate Software

Thu, 10/01/2015 - 1:30pm

Testing enterprise software requires effective resource management to prevent costly delays, budget overruns, and failed projects. In many software projects, more than 50 percent of development costs are attributed to software testing activities. With testing accounting for such a large portion of development efforts, it is critical for software engineering teams to avoid and eliminate wasteful testing tasks. Tariq King applies lean and agile principles to test management as a way of reducing waste in the testing process. Join Tariq as he describes an integrated approach for identifying and eliminating waste in test planning, automation, and execution. He demonstrates how to combine tools and techniques for test case management, exploratory testing, test automation, continuous integration, and impact analysis to keep testing activities lean and lightweight. Learn how to avoid common sources of waste such as over-documentation, redundant tests, brittle automation, and testing unimportant or unaffected parts of the system.