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Leadership Summit

     
How to Get What You Want: Navigating the Politics and Economics of Testing
Thursday, October 4 (evening) and Friday, October 5 (all day)

 


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Program Chair
, Linda Hayes,
Worksoft, Inc.

         


A tight economy increases the competition for budget and resources, making it vitally important to understand what your stakeholders key business drivers are and what testing can do to add the most value. Join in the conversation with your peers as experienced senior managers share ways to generate grass roots support and make a compelling business case for your testing strategy. Find out which tactics are most effective for delivering measurable value from testing efforts.

At the 2012 Testing & Quality Leadership Summit, program chair Linda Hayes brings together senior industry leaders—Lucy Liang, Information Technology Manager at The Clorox Company; Ronda McCarthy, Test Strategist at Wells Fargo Internet Services; and Shoeb Javed, CTO of Worksoft—for an interactive exchange of ideas and experiences.

Bring your biggest issues and challenges to the Test and Quality Leadership Summit where you can draw on the knowledge and experiences of these leaders and your fellow managers who may have already faced and solved some of your issues. You’ll hear what’s working—and not working—and have the opportunity to share your experiences and successes. The Test and Quality Leadership Summit is a perfect opportunity for you to:

  • Participate in insightful and informative sessions focusing on leadership issues
  • Meet and network with your peers in the industry
  • Join in the “think tank” discussion with industry veterans
  • Develop new ideas and action plans for innovation within your organization

Linda Hayes has more than twenty years of experience in software development and testing and is the founder of three software companies including AutoTester and Worksoft, her vision for next-generation automation solutions. She has been named one of Fortune Magazine's People to Watch.  A frequent industry speaker and a regular columnist and contributor to StickyMinds.com, Better Software magazine, and Automated Testing Institute magazine, Linda is the author of the Automated Testing Handbook and co-editor of Dare to be Excellent.  Her article "Quality is Everyone's Business" won a Most Significant Contribution award from the Quality Assurance Institute and was published as part of the Auerbach Systems Development Handbook.  You can contact Linda at [email protected].

 
Thursday, October 4
5:30 p.m. Reception — Think Tank Issues Identification: As a Leader, What Is Keeping You Up at Night?—Linda Hayes, Worksoft, Inc.

Friday, October 5
8:00 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
8:30 a.m. — Summit Session 
   
Reengineering Your Test Process: Business Drivers and  Politics
Ronda McCarthy, Test Strategist, Wells Fargo Internet Services

You're a busy QA manager, technically competent, and good at handling the day-to-day demands of the job. You maintain a constellation of working relationships with testers, developers, business analysts, project and program managers, and your own senior managers. So, if you want to re-engineer your test process, how do you tackle such a big challenge when your focus is tactical and your hands are already full? Ronda McCarthy shares her insights and invites discussion about how we can use company business drivers—together with strategic thought and political insight—to build a case for improving our testing. Discuss ways to identify what needs improving and how to assure that your initiatives continue to thrive over time. Learn from the wins and losses of other teams and projects to stimulate your own creativity and pave the way for success. Breaking into small groups, you’ll find and share new ways to raise your visibility and increase your political capital to improve both the quality of your products and your own job satisfaction.
 
Ronda McCarthy has spent the past fourteen years of her thirty-five-year IT career as a QA manager in the financial services sector. While working to keep embarrassing stories about company software off the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Ronda tries to squeeze in enough strategic thinking and political awareness to keep the QA discipline alive and moving forward. While bad press is a key business driver in the financial industry, every QA manager can be challenged to prove ROI on the QA investment when the most tangible result is “nothing bad happened.” Ronda has seen some approaches that have been successful, and some good initiatives gone bad. Believing we can learn from each other’s experiences, Ronda is ready to share her observations and insights with her peers and colleagues.  
     
9:30 a.m. Networking Break
9:45 a.m. — Summit Session
   

The New Economics of Quality Assurance Testing
Shoeb Javed, Chief Technology Officer, Worksoft, Inc.

Let’s face it. We live in a world where product release timelines for business critical projects are measured in days and weeks rather than in months and years. If you are holding on to some quaint notion that there will be sufficient time set aside toward the end of the project for testing, forget about it. How does quality assurance stay relevant and even flourish in this fast-paced, high-risk environment? Shoeb Javed leads a lively exploration of the new economics of QA and testing, challenging traditional QA models and old assumptions about how to measure success. Work with other participants and discover new ways to enthusiastically embrace the need for speed and operational efficiency. Make your organization indispensable to the business and, in turn, get greater mind share in strategic corporate objectives where most of the funding gets allocated. 

 
Shoeb Javed, chief technology officer at Worksoft, is responsible for the technology strategy, software development, quality assurance, and customer support for all Worksoft solutions. As CTO, Shoeb also works with quality assurance and the business leaders of some of the largest global Fortune 1000 corporations to help automate testing of complex packaged enterprise applications to speed up project timelines and improve operational efficiencies. During his diverse twenty-year career, Shoeb has successfully led the development of next generation enterprise software, digital media, and converged telecommunications solutions.  
     
10:45 a.m. Networking Break
11:00 a.m. Think Tank Discussion: Leadership Solution Brainstorm
12:30 p.m.  Networking Lunch Buffet
1:30 p.m. — Summit Session
   

Champion Your Test Organization
Lucy Liang, Information Technology Manager, The Clorox Company 

Do you find yourself struggling to get the budget, resources, and recognition you need for your test organization? Are you looking for ways to create a rewarding career path with compensation and incentives that attract and keep top talent? Could you use some fresh ideas for marketing the value of QA to top management? If so, this session is for you. Join Lucy Liang as she shares seven practical steps to get what you want—getting your initiatives passed, raises and promotions for your direct reports, and getting visibility for future initiatives. Find out how to clarify what you want and then pursue both formal and informal channels. Never give up—just make constant improvements until you get what you want. And last but not least, deliver on your promises and make sure everyone knows when you do.

  
Information technology manager in charge of quality management at The Clorox Company, Lucy Liang has been in quality management for twenty years and has solid experience leading high-performance teams to execute quality best practices and deliver results. She has laid the groundwork for the Quality COE at Clorox and designed a testing methodology framework for use by an international consulting firm. Lucy is the author of Powerful & Proven Techniques for Getting the Job You Want, which shares innovative and proven strategies for positioning yourself as the top contender for getting an interview and winning the job you want.  
     
2:30 p.m. Wrap-up and Ongoing Informal Discussion with Speakers and Attendees
     

 

 
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