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Tutorials

Begin your experience by attending half- or full-day tutorials. Please note that you must register for the tutorial(s) you want to attend as space is limited and many sell out quickly.

Tutorials
MA Critical Thinking for Software Testers
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

Critical thinking is the kind of thinking that specifically looks for problems and mistakes. Regular people don't do a lot of it. However, if you want to be a great tester, you need to be a great critical thinker. Critically thinking testers save projects from dangerous assumptions and ultimately from disasters. The good news is that critical thinking is not just innate intelligence or a talent—it's a learnable and improvable skill you can master. Michael Bolton shares the specific techniques and heuristics of critical thinking and presents realistic testing puzzles that help you practice and increase your thinking skills. Critical thinking begins with just three questions—Huh? Really? and So?—that kick start your brain to analyze specifications, risks, causes, effects, project plans, and anything else that puzzles you. Join Michael for this interactive, hands-on session and practice your critical thinking skills. Study and analyze product behaviors and experience new ways to identify, isolate, and characterize bugs.

Note: A laptop computer is recommended (but not required) for this session.

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Learn more about Michael Bolton.
MB Mobile Applications Testing: From Concepts to Practice
Max Saperstone, Coveros
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

As applications for smartphones and tablets become incredibly popular, organizations encounter increasing pressure to quickly and successfully deliver testing for these devices. When faced with a mobile testing project, many testers find it tempting to apply the same methods and techniques used for desktop applications. Although some of these concepts transfer directly, testing mobile applications presents its own special challenges. Max Saperstone says if you follow the same practices and techniques as you have before, you will miss critical defects. Learn how to effectively test mobile applications, and how to add more structure and organization to generate effective test ideas to exploit the capabilities and weaknesses of mobile devices. Max shares first-hand experiences with testing mobile applications and discusses how to address various challenges. Work on real problems on your own device and learn firsthand how to be productive while testing mobile applications.

Note: This is a hands-on course. Participants must bring their own mobile device for course exercises.

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Learn more about Max Saperstone.
MC Management Issues in Test Automation
Dorothy Graham, Independent Test Consultant
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Many organizations never achieve the significant benefits that are promised from automated test execution. Surprisingly often, this is due not to technical factors but to management issues, especially at system testing level. Surprisingly often, this is due not to technical factors but to management issues. Dot Graham describes the most important management concerns the test manager must address for test automation success, and helps you understand and choose the best approaches for your organization—no matter which automation tools you use or your current state of automation. Dot explains how automation affects staffing, who should be responsible for which automation tasks, how managers can best support automation efforts leading to success, and why return on investment can be dangerous and what you can realistically expect. Dot also reviews a few key technical issues that can make or break the automation effort. Come away with an example set of automation objectives and measures, and a draft test automation strategy that you can use to plan or improve your own automation.

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MD Seven Keys to Navigating Your Agile Testing Transition NEW
Bob Galen, Velocity Partners
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

So you’ve “gone agile” and have been relatively successful for a year or so. But how do you know how well you’re really doing? And how do you continuously improve your practices? When things get rocky, how do you handle the challenges without reverting to old habits? You realize that the path to high-performance agile testing isn’t easy or quick. It also helps to have a guide. So consider this workshop your guide to ongoing, improved, and sustained high-performance. Join seasoned agile testing coach Bob Galen as he share lessons from his most successful agile testing transitions. Explore actual team case studies for building team skills, embracing agile requirements, fostering customer interaction, building agile automation, driving business value, and testing at-scale—all building agile testing excellence. Examine the mistakes, adjustments, and the successes, and learn how to react to real-world contexts. Leave with a better view of your team’s strengths, weaknesses, and where you need to focus to improve.

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Learn more about Bob Galen.
ME Essential Test Management and Planning
Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

The key to successful testing is effective and timely planning. Rick Craig introduces proven test planning methods and techniques, including the Master Test Plan and level-specific test plans for acceptance, system, integration, and unit testing. Rick explains how to customize an IEEE-829-style test plan and test summary report to fit your organization’s needs. Learn how to manage test activities, estimate test efforts, and achieve buy-in. Discover a practical risk analysis technique to prioritize your testing and become more effective with limited resources. Rick offers test measurement and reporting recommendations for monitoring the testing process. Discover new methods and develop renewed energy for taking your organization’s test management to the next level.

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MF Security Testing for Testing Professionals NEW
Jeff Payne, Coveros, Inc.
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Today’s software applications are often security-critical, making security testing an essential part of a software quality program. Unfortunately, most testers have not been taught how to effectively test the security of the software applications they validate. Join Jeff Payne as he shares what you need to know to integrate effective security testing into your everyday software testing activities. Learn how software vulnerabilities are introduced into code and exploited by hackers. Discover how to define and validate security requirements. Explore effective test techniques for assuring that common security features are tested. Learn about the most common security vulnerabilities and how to identify key security risks within applications and use testing to mitigate them. Understand how to security test applications—both web- and GUI-based—during the software development process. Review examples of how common security testing tools work and assist the security testing process. Take home valuable tools and techniques for effectively testing the security of your applications going forward.

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Learn more about Jeff Payne.
MG Measurement and Metrics for Test Managers NEW
Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

To be most effective, test managers must develop and use metrics to help direct the testing effort and make informed recommendations about the software’s release readiness and associated risks. Because one important testing activity is to “measure” the quality of the software, test managers must measure the results of both the development and testing processes. Collecting, analyzing, and using metrics is complicated because many developers and testers are concerned that the metrics will be used against them. Join Rick Craig as he addresses common metrics—measures of product quality, defect removal efficiency, defect density, defect arrival rate, and testing status. Learn the guidelines for developing a test measurement program, rules of thumb for collecting data, and ways to avoid “metrics dysfunction.” Rick identifies several metrics paradigms and discusses the pros and cons of each. Delegates are urged to bring their metrics problems and issues for use as discussion points.  

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MH Managing Application Performance: A Simplified Universal Approach NEW
Scott Barber, SmartBear
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

In response to increasing market demand for well-performing applications, many organizations implement performance testing programs, often at great expense. Sadly, these solutions alone are often insufficient to keep pace with emerging expectations and competitive pressures. Scott Barber shares the fundamentals of implementing T4APM™ including specific examples from recent client implementations. T4APM™ is a simple and universal approach that is valuable independently or as an extension of existing performance testing programs. The approach hinges on applying a simple and unobtrusive "Target, Test, Trend, Tune” cycle to tasks in your application lifecycle—from a single unit test through entire system production monitoring. Leveraging T4APM™ on a particular task may require knowledge specific to the task, but learning how to leverage the approach does not. Scott provides everything you need to become the T4APM™ coach and champion, and to help your team keep up with increasing demand for better performance, regardless of your current title or role.

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MI Introducing Keyword-driven Test Automation NEW
Hans Buwalda, LogiGear
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

In both agile and traditional projects, keyword-driven testing has proven to be a powerful way to attain a high level of automation—when it is done correctly. Many testing organizations use keyword testing but aren’t realizing the full benefits of scalability and maintainability that are essential to keep up with the demands of testing today’s software. Hans Buwalda outlines how you can meet what he calls the 5 percent challenges—automating 95 percent of your tests with no more than 5 percent of your total testing effort—using the proven, keyword-driven test method he uses. Hans discusses how keywords relate to other automation techniques like scripting and data-driven testing. The information and real-world application Hans presents enables you to attain a very high level of automation with the lowest possible effort.

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MJ Team Leadership: Telling Your Testing Stories NEW
Bob Galen, Velocity Partners
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

It used to be that your work and results spoke for themselves. No longer is that the case. Today you need to be a better collaborator, communicator, and facilitator so that you focus your teams on delivering value. Join Bob Galen to explore the power of the story, one of the most effective communication paradigms. You can tell stories that create powerful collaboration. You can tell stories that communicate product requirements and customer needs. You can tell stories that inspire teams to deliver results. And you can tell stories that explain your value and successes to your customers and stakeholders. Explore basic storytelling techniques, specific techniques for framing stories for software testing activities, and test leadership storytelling that energizes and guides your teams. Take time to practice telling your stories—and become a much better storyteller and leader within your testing efforts.

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Learn more about Bob Galen.