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Scott Barber

SmartBear

Chief performance evangelist for SmartBear Scott Barber is a respected leader in the advancement of software testing practices, an industry activist, and load testing celebrity of sorts. Scott authored several books―Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications, Beautiful Testing, How to Reduce the Cost of Testing, and Web Load Testing for Dummies―and more than 100 articles and blog posts. Founder/president of PerfTestPlus, Scott co-founded the WOPR, served as director of the AST and CMG, and is a founding member of ISST. His industry writing, speaking, and activism focus on improving the effectiveness and business alignment of software development practices. Learn more about Scott Barber.

Speaker Presentations
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 1:00pm
Half-day Tutorials
Managing Application Performance: A Simplified Universal Approach
NEW

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.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 12:45pm
Special Topics
How Metrics Programs Can Destroy Your Soul
NEW

Testers are often evaluated by metrics that don’t really quantify the value of their work. Metrics such as tests planned, tests executed, coverage achieved, and defects reported all measure effort rather than results. Since people generally want to meet metrics goals, measurements that focus on activity rather than effectiveness often encourage unintended behaviors. Since the true value of testers lies in their ability to analyze and communicate risks and impacts, we must change the focus of metrics from numbers to insights. Scott Barber shares what stakeholders are really looking for when they request specific metrics, how the metrics they request frequently fail, and how to help your organization create metrics that do provide real insight. Discover the tools you need to explain what can be measured, what those measurements mean, and how to combine measurements into metrics that tell insightful stories about your testing.