STARCANADA - Conference List Schedule | TechWell

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Conference Schedule

Sunday, October 15

Registration Desk Hours—7:30am–10:00am
7:30 am to 10:00 am
Continental Breakfast—7:30am–8:30am
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Multi-day Training Classes Begin—8:30am–5:00pm
8:30 am to 5:00 pm
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Fundamentals of DevOps Certification—ICAgile (2-Day)
Arjun Comar
8:30 am to 5:00 pm

DevOps combines development, testing, and operations and includes continuous integration, automated testing, continuous delivery, and rapid deployment practices. Because DevOps practices require confidence in nearly all changes, automated testing is an essential ingredient that is integrated into the process and relied upon for enforcement of quality gates and to ensure overall delivery quality. This two-day course will teach you how to avoid the common mistakes of DevOps implementations and to leverage DevOps best practices. Test professionals, operations engineers, developers, project managers, and business owners will all benefit from this curriculum.

 

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Agile Test Automation—ICAgile (2-Day)
Rob Sabourin
8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Explore the many ways automation supports agile testing in this two-day course with real-world, vendor-neutral examples of agile test automation approaches and tools. In addition, successful attendees are awarded the ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Test Automation (ICP-ATA).

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Software Tester Certification—Foundation Level (3-Day)
Conrad Fujimoto
8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Delivered by leading experts in the testing industry, Software Tester Certification—Foundation Level is an accredited training course to prepare you for the ISTQB® Certified Tester—Foundation Level CTFL) exam. ISTQB® is the only internationally accepted certification for software testing and has granted more than 450,000 certifications in more than 110 countries around the world. In this three-day course, you’ll learn the basic skills required of a software test professional and how testing fits into software development. This course is appropriate for those new to the testing profession and those seeking ISTQB® certification in software testing. 

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Agile Tester Certification (2-Day)
Mike Sowers
8:30 am to 5:00 am

Agile software practices are being employed within many development organizations worldwide, and as a result, many testers struggle to understand the agile development process and their place in it. In Agile Tester Certification, both novice and experienced testers learn the fundamentals of agile development, the role of the tester in the agile team, and the agile testing processes. Learn technical and team skills testers need for success in the world of agile development, as well as the techniques of Test-Driven Development (TDD), Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) during this two-day course. All participants are expected to have experience in or knowledge of agile development fundamentals.  

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Mobile Application Testing (2-Day)
Brian Hicks
8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Many testers attempt to apply what they know to mobile testing, and while that may work for some functional testing, it often leaves many critical features untested. Critical errors that go untested can mean a swift end to a mobile application. Learning how to identify common issues in mobile applications and how to test the unique aspects of a mobile application is the only way to be truly successful. This two-day course will cover usability across multiple platforms and resolutions, network and security testing, creating application unit tests, mobile UI automation, and performance testing for various devices over various networks and carriers.

Lunch 12:00pm-1:00pm
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Training Classes Continue—1:00pm–5:00pm
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Monday, October 16

Continental Breakfast—7:30am–8:30am
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Registration Desk Hours—7:30am–10:00am
7:30 am to 10:00 am
Multi-day Training Classes Continue—8:30am–5:00pm
8:30 am to 5:00 pm
Lunch 12:00pm–1:00pm
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Training Classes Continue—1:00pm–5:00pm
1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Tuesday, October 17

Registration Desk Hours—7:30am–5:00pm
7:30 am to 5:00 pm
Continental Breakfast—7:30am–8:30am
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Multi-day Training Classes Continue—8:30am–5:00pm
8:30 am to 5:00 pm
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Tutorial TA Selenium Test Automation: From the Ground Up Preview
Jeff "Cheezy" Morgan
8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Knowledge of Selenium, the industry-standard tool for testing web applications, is a much sought after skill in today’s world of test automation. If you want to learn Selenium, then this full-day tutorial provides a great start. Cheezy Morgan shows you how to build test automation using Selenium. But he doesn’t stop there. He uses his years of experience to show you how to build automation that is clean and easy to maintain. Cheezy introduces other tools that work with Selenium to help manage the data used to drive your tests, evaluate JavaScript-heavy applications, manage your test...Read more

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Tutorial TB Critical Thinking for Software Testers Preview
Michael Bolton
8:30 am to 4:30 pm

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...Read more

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Tutorial TC Test Estimation in the Face of Uncertainty Preview NEW
Rob Sabourin
8:30 am to 12:00 pm

Anyone who has ever attempted to estimate software testing effort realizes just how difficult the task can be. The number of factors that can affect the estimate is virtually unlimited. Rob Sabourin says that the keys to good estimates are understanding the primary variables, comparing them to known standards, and normalizing the estimates based on the differences. This is easy to say but difficult to accomplish because estimates are frequently required even when we know very little about the project—and what we do know is constantly changing. Throw in a healthy dose of politics, add a bit...Read more

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Tutorial TD System-Level Test Automation: Ensuring a Good Start Preview NEW
Dorothy Graham
8:30 am to 12:00 pm

Many organizations invest a lot of effort in test automation at the system level but then have serious problems later on. As a manager, how can you ensure that your new automation efforts will get off to a good start? What can you do to ensure that your automation work provides continuing value? Dot Graham describes the most important management issues you must address for test automation success, particularly when you are new to automation. Dot helps you understand and choose the best approaches for your organization—no matter which automation tools you use. Focusing on system level...Read more

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Tutorial TE Measurement and Metrics for Test Managers Preview
Mike Sowers
8:30 am to 12:00 pm

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 are complicated because many developers and testers are concerned that the metrics will be used against them. Join Mike Sowers as he addresses common metrics—measures of product quality,...Read more

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Tutorial TF Agile Test Team Leadership: From Concept to Product Preview NEW
Bob Galen
8:30 am to 12:00 pm

Today, many agile organizations are making a terrible error. They are assuming there is no place for test management and leadership in agile, self-directed team contexts. We beg to differ with this view and believe a strong need exists for testing leadership in agile organizations—just not the way we’ve typically approached it. Join Bob Galen as he explores what excellent test team leadership looks like in agile contexts. Explore the aspects of self-directed teams and the implications to your previous leadership styles. Look under the covers of Scrum and see where you should be...Read more
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Tutorial TG Integrating Automated Testing into DevOps Preview
Jeffery Payne
8:30 am to 12:00 pm

In many organizations, agile development processes are driving the pursuit of faster software releases, which has spawned a set of new practices called DevOps. DevOps stresses communications and integration between development and operations, including rapid deployment, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. Because DevOps practices require confidence that changes made to the code base will function as expected, automated testing is essential. Join Jeffery Payne as he discusses the unique challenges associated with integrating automated testing into continuous integration/...Read more

Lunch 12:00pm–1:00pm
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Full-Day Tutorials Continue —1:00pm–4:30pm
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
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Tutorial TH Human Factors for Test Automation: How People Affect Project Success Preview NEW
Isabel Evans
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Successful test automation is not just about selecting and implementing tools and a technical infrastructure. People in teams make the changes that are required. People ensure the success or failure of the automation project. Understanding and managing expectations, attitudes toward change, teamwork, motivation, and communication are all vital if automation projects are to succeed. Isabel Evans identifies and discusses human factors around automation, teamwork, and human behavior to enable you to understand resistance to change, overcome mistrust of automation, and moderate inflated...Read more
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Tutorial TI Innovation: Evolving and Expanding Your Creative Capabilities Preview
Jennifer Bonine
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Innovation is a word frequently tossed around in organizations today. The standard cliché is “Do more with less.” People and teams want to be innovative but often struggle with how to define, prioritize, implement, and track their innovation efforts. Jennifer Bonine shares the Innovation Types model to give you new tools to evolve and expand your innovation capabilities. Find out if your innovation ideas and efforts match your team and company goals. Learn how to classify your innovation and improvement efforts as core (to the business) or context (essential but non-revenue generating)....Read more

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Tutorial TJ Security Testing for Test Professionals Preview NEW
Jeffery Payne
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Today’s software applications are often security critical, making security testing essential in a software quality program. Unfortunately, most testers have not been taught how to effectively test the security of the software applications they validate. Join Jeffery 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...Read more

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Tutorial TK Test Automation in Agile: The Path to Faster, Better Releases Preview NEW
Janet Gregory
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Agile teams deliver “potentially” shippable software at the end of every iteration (one to four weeks) or possibly every day. Janet Gregory says that this goal can't be achieved without automated tests, and many teams struggle with test automation. The challenge of automating functional regression tests frightens many testers, who feel their skills aren’t up to the job. So, how can you deliver good quality when you have to release so often? By combining a collaborative team approach with appropriate tools and design approaches, you can not only automate your regression tests but also use...Read more

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Tutorial TL Agile Testing: Team Tactics that Deliver the Goods Preview NEW
Bob Galen
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Let’s face it—agile testing is different. Challenges exist in successfully integrating within the teams themselves. Scrummerfall continues to run rampant. The dichotomy of testing v. quality and balancing both the team’s and your focus still exists. Delivering value is both an imperative and a challenge. In this dynamic workshop, join agile coach Bob Galen to explore the tools, techniques, and mindset you need to bring to the table to successfully test in agile contexts. Bob examines risk-based testing, iterative test planning, exploratory testing, agile automation strategies, test...Read more
Welcome Reception—4:30pm–5:30pm
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

Wednesday, October 18

Continental Breakfast—7:30am–8:30am
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Registration Desk Hours—7:30am–4:30pm
7:30 am to 4:30 pm
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Keynote K1 Blunders in Test Automation Preview
Dorothy Graham, Software Test Consultant
8:30 am to 9:30 am

In chess, the word blunder means a very bad move by someone who should know better. Even though functional test automation has been around for a long time, people still make some very bad moves and serious blunders. The most common misconception in automation is thinking that manual testing is the same as automated testing. And this misguided thinking accounts for most of the blunders in system level test automation. Dorothy Graham takes you on a tour of these blunders, including the Stable-Application Myth (you can’t start automating until the application is stable), Inside-the-Box...Read more

Networking Break in the Expo—9:45am–10:15am
9:45 am to 10:15 am
Concurrent Sessions—10:15am–11:15am
10:15 am to 11:15 am
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP1 Quality Engineering Transformation in the Digital World Preview
Pradeep Govindasamy, Cigniti Technologies, Brett Fawbert, Aviva Canada
10:15 am to 11:15 am
Quality Transformation is indispensable in the digital space, where customer experience is integral to the overall product development process. Achieving complete customer experience is impossible without ensuring the required quality metrics and parameters. Launching applications in the digital world implies end-to-end integration with various technologies and seamless experience for the digitally-engaged users. Quality Transformation is not just confined to the technical decisions it has to holistically involve various segments of the organization and lead to cultural shift in perspective.Read more
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Concurrent Session W1 The Secret Life of Testers: Where Your Time Really Goes Preview
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Testing is on the schedule. Your title is Tester. It is time to test. The team is waiting for you. Everybody thinks you spend your time testing. So, why does it seem that you spend so little time actually testing? Michael Bolton will show you a training and research tool to visually animate the progress of testing has been developed. Through the use of testopsies and session-based test management data, patterns have been collected on how context-driven testers use their time—from the micro to the macro level. Among the findings are that a good tester can spend a whole week in earnest work...Read more

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Concurrent Session W2 Test-Driven Everything—with Deliberate Collaboration Preview
Jeff "Cheezy" Morgan, LeanDog
10:15 am to 11:15 am

You've heard that quality belongs to everybody on an agile team. You've heard that testers and developers should collaborate in order to drive quality higher. You've heard that automated tests help a team continuously validate the quality. Well, it's time to stop just thinking and talking about these things! It's time to make them happen! Watch “Cheezy” Morgan do this in front of your eyes. Watch him build a web application, driven by acceptance and unit tests. Discover how a product owner, tester, and developer collaborate closely and deliberately to create executable user stories that...Read more

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Concurrent Session W3 The Three Pillars Approach to an Agile Testing Strategy Preview
Bob Galen, Zenergy Technologies
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Far too often, organizations focus solely on the development teams and their technical practices as their agile adoption strategy. And then there’s the near constant focus on acquiring development tools. Often the testing activity and the testing teams are left behind in agile adoption, or even worse, they’re simply along for the ride. This is not an effective transformation strategy. Join experienced agile coach Bob Galen as he shares the Three Pillars framework for establishing a balanced strategic plan for quality and testing. The Three Pillars focus on development and test...Read more
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Concurrent Session W4 Defining the Optimal Level of Test Automation Preview NEW
Jim Trentadue, Independent Consultant
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Test automation scripts are largely run against stable functionality with repeatable results. But automation does not have to be just about running reliable tests against a fixed code base to make them effective; rather, you can determine the right level of automation you need to meet your project’s needs. Three levels of test automation will be discussed in this presentation: Level 1 tests exercise the simplest aspect of functionality in a module, Level 2 tests explore all module aspects except interfaces to other components, and Level 3 tests examine the deepest level of functionality in...Read more

Concurrent Sessions—11:30am–12:30pm
11:30 am to 12:30 pm
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP2 Continuous Testing or Continuous Confusion? 4 Ways to Modernize Your Testing Practice Preview
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Success can be achieved by:

Testing early Testing faster Testing frequently Testing continuously

Join CA Technologies as they define continuous testing in real world terms and highlights the four key focus areas that will help your testing team reach your version of Continuous Testing success. Learn how you can align these four components to adopt a continuous testing strategy that aligns your user stories, test cases, test data, virtual services and deployment using CAs Continuous Delivery solutions.Read more

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Concurrent Session W5 Applying Earned Value Management to Testing Preview NEW
Bernd Bornhausen, TD Insurance
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Project managers have two main goals when it comes to their projects: deliver on time, and deliver within the budget. To track progress against these two objectives, the project management profession has developed a technique called earned value management (EVM). This method allows you to objectively measure project performance, predict cost and time, and evaluate the general health of a project. Join Bernd Bornhausen as he shares his experience with applying EVM to testing and how it changed his approach to reporting the test status of his projects. Bernd provides real-life examples...Read more
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Concurrent Session W6 Improve Test Strategies and Outcomes with Mind Maps Preview
Jennifer Bonine, tap|QA
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Do you ever sit in test strategy or test plan review sessions and get little or no participation from others? Are you looking for a better way to communicate important information around the test plan or strategy? Do you want your stakeholders to understand and engage in providing feedback and suggestions? Jennifer Bonine has a solution for you—a mind mapping tool that can help you address these questions. A mind map is a visual approach used to help organize information rather than a text outline or list. Jennifer helps you download a free mind mapping tool, trains you how to use the tool...Read more

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Concurrent Session W7 Machine Learning: Will It Take Over Testing? Preview NEW
Paul Merrill, Beaufort Fairmont
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Machine learning (ML), a branch of artificial intelligence, is gaining widespread adoption and interest on software development projects. Paul Merrill says that ML isn't typical programming. Algorithms can be changed and checked for accuracy at runtime to “learn” from data. Some companies are already generating and executing test cases using machine learning algorithms. It is projected that significant areas of the labor force—16 percent in transportation and 9 percent of healthcare—could see job cuts in the next few years. So it's time to start thinking: Might testing be on that...Read more
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Concurrent Session W8 Automating Performance Testing at Every Step Preview NEW
Obbie Pet, Independent Consultant
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

A major insurance company is building its next-generation claims system and has fifty new APIs to test in twelve months. The entire effort is launched as a first-time agile project with continuous integration. Will the load test, which worked so well with waterfall, serve us when we build production candidates many times per day? How do we test the performance of a system made up of many independent services when any service can be released instantly? In other words: How do we adapt waterfall performance testing to work in an agile DevOps environment? Join Obbie Pet as he shares his...Read more
Lunch—Meet the Speakers 12:30pm–1:30pm
12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions—1:30pm–2:30pm
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP3 Testing as a Path to Social Impact Preview
Keith Mcintosh, PLATO Testing
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

This year, PLATO Testing is a Gold Level Sponsor for the STARCANADA 2017 conference. This is a great opportunity for the company and it provides a chance to spread the message about PLATO and its mission to another audience. Keith has told the PLATO birth story many times over the past few years but the one thing about it that never gets old or tiresome is the driving passion that started the program in the first place. How can the tech industry step-up and make a meaningful change for Indigenous people? How can reconciliation become more than just lip-service and become part of the day-to-day way of doing business in the Canadian tech community? Talking about the core concept of “Work = Dignity” and how his company has made a change since its inception, Keith will demonstrate through example how software testing can be a path to social impact. After more than two years down this path, he has some very real stories of individual impact to share with the audience.Read more

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Concurrent Session W9 Transforming Your QA and Test Team Preview NEW
Sophie Benjamin, Videotron
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

QA and test departments often are composed of employees with business backgrounds who have little training when it comes to software testing. Though they are engaged, these team members can get overwhelmed by the thousands of test cases they have to execute over and over, and they don’t see a future career path in testing. What can be done to address these challenges? Join Sophie Benjamin as she presents her personal step-by-step recipe to transform QA and test teams and position them for success within IT. She talks about the essential roles in QA and test teams, their skills and...Read more
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Concurrent Session W10 Are Your Tests Well-Traveled? Thoughts on Test Coverage Preview
Dorothy Graham, Software Test Consultant
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

There are many places to visit it the world and it can be interesting to see “where you’ve been”. There are many places in software for tests to visit, and seeing “where the tests have been” can be very interesting for testers. Dot Graham explains what coverage is, and why it can be misleading to talk about 100% coverage. Coverage is a relationship between the tests and the software being tested, and is an objective measurement of some aspect of thoroughness of the testing. Dot will discuss the ways in which the term coverage is mis-used, and the four caveats of coverage which every tester...Read more

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Concurrent Session W11 World-Class Test Automation: You Can Build It Too Preview NEW
Chris Loder, InGenius Software
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Join Chris Loder as he describes the test automation framework they have created from the ground up. Chris shares the environment they have put together to run in virtual machines, physical hardware, and mobile devices—with Jenkins keeping track of it all. He explains their use of the keyword driven and page object approaches, and how that has allowed a high rate of automated test case development from all members of the quality team. Using this framework, they run over 7,000 unique regression web tests daily—quickly and consistently. Chris shows how they built their automation with both...Read more

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Concurrent Session W12 Flaky No More: Find the Right Framework for Your Selenium Tests Preview NEW
Craig Schwarzwald, Vanguard
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Selenium has an industry reputation of being a flaky tool where individual tests pass, then fail—sometimes with no production changes at all. Such flakiness in your test suites can be extremely difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating to debug. The vast majority of these issues come from using either bad locators or bad wait conditions. Both of these root causes can be addressed by implementing the right framework for your Selenium tests. Craig Schwarzwald shares the most important concepts in creating a more reliable Selenium framework, such as using a base page object that wraps core...Read more

Networking Break in the Expo—2:30pm–3:00pm
2:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Concurrent Sessions—3:00pm–4:00pm
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP4 Shifting Left: Evolution of Automation Preview
Michael Faulise, tap | QA
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Attendees will learn growing changes in Automation and Continuous Integration Audience will learn how Open Source tools can be used and how to integrate with your Software Development and Business Needs Session will demonstrate what new requirements are for Test Engineer skills within CI automationRead more
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Concurrent Session W13 Story Time for Testers Preview
Isabel Evans, Independent Consultant
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Stories help us learn. They can be fun or scary, exciting or relaxing. People worldwide tell and listen to stories. We access them through books, film, TV, and computers. But direct, face-to-face storytelling is still a powerful experience. When Isabel Evans was young, there was a program on the radio called Listen with Mother. For fifteen minutes, mothers and children across the land would sit and listen to a story. Join Isabel and become your younger child, bring your testing parent, and listen to her stories. In fifteen-minute sections, Isabel recounts stories drawn from myths, legends...Read more

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Concurrent Session W14 Discovering What Matters, Fast: Combination Testing Case Studies Preview NEW
Rob Sabourin, AmiBug.com
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Even the simplest application depends on a vast, rich, and complex set of variables interacting and collaborating to drive behavior. Each variable has many options, and the number of ways these variables can be combined can be astronomical, making it next to impossible to test them all. Combination testing—combining individual test values to form complete test cases—can help. Rob Sabourin shares three real-world case studies that show how combination test design helped testers focus on a manageable subset of combinations to find critical bugs, quickly. Rob will share examples of some...Read more

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Concurrent Session W15 Testing RESTful Web Services Preview NEW
Hilary Weaver-Robb, Quicken Loans
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

A lot of folks doing testing (QAs, BAs, and Devs alike) are experienced with testing applications through the front end—a graphical user interface or a mobile app. However, Hilary Weaver-Robb says that with this type of testing we often miss the internal web services and APIs that power those applications. Integration or web service tests are right in the middle of the Testing Pyramid, so to ensure adequate coverage it’s vital for testers to know how to test at that level. Thankfully, to test web services we can apply many of the same principles we already know. Hilary focuses on...Read more
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Concurrent Session W16 Combine Automation and Exploratory Testing for Quality Coverage Preview
Dawn Jardine, Independent QA Consultant
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

With the pressure of decreased time to market and the demand for error-free web applications, some people erroneously believe that test automation can solve all our defect woes. Dawn Jardine believes that neither test automation nor exploratory testing alone can solve quality issues. So, what is the best approach? Where do we invest our resources, time, and money so clients are happy with our product? How can automation and exploratory testing work together to obtain maximum test coverage? Join Dawn as she shares her experience of moving from a solely manual test case execution...Read more
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Keynote K2 Succeeding with Rapid and Continuous Testing Preview
Jeffery Payne, Coveros, Inc.
4:15 pm to 5:15 pm

All organizations are running to keep pace with the transformative changes in software development and delivery. You’re on the hook for immediately automating more and more tests to support a more rapid or continuous flow of new features, delivered into production. So, where do you start? Must testers become coders and automate to survive? Must everything be automated? Jeffery Payne argues that the need to automate almost all tests is a misconception. Jeffery explores how automated testing and manual testing are best balanced during rapid and continuous testing. See how you can employ...Read more

Expo Reception—5:15pm–6:15pm
5:15 pm to 6:15 pm
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Bonus Session B1 Robotics vs. Headcount - Stretching your testing Dollar and Improving quality Preview
George Kongalath, Ideabytes Inc.
6:15 pm to 7:15 pm
Shorter Product Life Cycles – Impacting Test Practices In-house Robotics vs. Outsourcing testing headcount Robotics – Faster TTM, Higher Quality, Lower MaintenanceRead more

Thursday, October 19

Continental Breakfast—7:30am–8:30am
7:30 am to 8:30 am
Registration Desk Hours—7:30am–4:00pm
7:30 am to 4:00 pm
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Keynote K3 Leading, Following, or Managing? You Can Help Your Group Thrive Preview
Isabel Evans, Independent Consultant
8:30 am to 9:30 am

As testers or test managers, being effective mentors, coaches, and leaders is critical to our team’s success. Quite often we also play important roles in driving change, influencing others, and helping individuals, teams, and the business move from where they are to a higher level of excellence. We must interact with many people and work together in project teams made up of individuals with diverse perspectives. Join Isabel Evans as she reviews the range of interaction approaches of leadership and management, explores what styles we feel most comfortable with, discusses how we react to...Read more

Networking Break in the Expo—9:45am–10:15am
9:45 am to 10:15 am
Concurrent Sessions—10:15am–11:15am
10:15 am to 11:15 am
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP5 Automated Testing Made Awesome with Sauce Labs Preview
Harry Roberts, Sauce Labs
10:15 am to 11:15 am
Overview of how to run your automated Selenium tests in the Sauce Labs cloud Decrease the amount of time it takes your suite to run by executing tests in parallel Ensure your apps work all of the time with functional testing on real devicesRead more
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Concurrent Session T1 Seven Questions to Ask for Successful Change Management Preview NEW
Peter de Jager, de Jager and Company Ltd.
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Effective communication is key to driving change, and it should be a constant activity before, during, and after any change initiative. This isn’t exactly news. The problem arises when the questioning becomes a bit more detailed. What, exactly, should we be communicating? Successful change management requires answers to more than simply the old reporter’s standby of who, what, when, where, and why. Join Peter de Jager as he shares seven more relevant questions for driving change: Why is this particular change necessary now? What if we don’t address this? What will we be doing...Read more
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Concurrent Session T2 Leverage Big Data and Analytics for Testing Preview
Geoff Meyer, Dell EMC
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Sabermetrics turned the baseball world upside down by challenging decades-old measures of individual performance and their perceived linkage to team success. After cementing their legacy as the Lovable Losers for 108 years, the Chicago Cubs were able to leverage a data-driven approach to finally win a World Series. An Arkansas high school football coach, devoted to statistical analysis, has won three state championships—by never punting. Formula 1 racing teams collect staggering amounts of telemetry data from their race cars for the purpose of eking out seconds during the course of a race...Read more

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Concurrent Session T3 Accessibility Standards and Testing Techniques: Be Inclusive or Be Left Behind Preview
David Best, Inclusive Media Design, Sandy Feldman, Inclusive Media Design, Rob Harvie, Inclusive Media Design
10:15 am to 11:15 am

While Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility for a wider spectrum of users—including the blind—and their interfaces is being required by law across more jurisdictions, testing for it remains limited, naïve, and too late. The consequences of staying ignorant include increased exposure to litigation, penalties, and loss of contracts and revenue. Join David Best, Sandy Feldman, and Rob Harvie to learn why accessibility is now becoming a valued, integral part of the design process and much different from usability of twenty years ago. Ensure compliance for your...Read more
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Concurrent Session T4 Jump Start Agile Testing with Acceptance Test Driven Development Preview
Susan Brockley, Independent Consultant
10:15 am to 11:15 am

Does your agile team struggle to find the right level of detail prior to beginning development? You may be suffering from “chunky” user stories—those that are too large or insufficiently defined to implement or test efficiently. Acceptance test driven development (ATDD) can help you quickly slice those user stories down to a testable size and provide the necessary detail for your developers to begin coding. Join Susan Brockley as she discusses the difference between agile user stories and traditional requirements, and why both are necessary for effective testing. Through real-world...Read more
Concurrent Sessions—11:30am–12:30pm
11:30 am to 12:30 pm
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP6 Test Automation for IoT solutions - A Paradigm shift Preview
Srinivas Reddy Katta, Ideabytes Inc.
11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Test Automation: Remote sensors, mobile devices and web services Corner Test Cases: Cross network conditions and asynchronous events Solution Robustness: Real time field data and AIRead more
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Concurrent Session T5 Implementing a Test Dashboard to Boost Quality Preview
Scott Acker, Likha Solutions, Inc.
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

You are responsible for addressing quality problems that are plaguing your product and having an adverse impact on the business. Have you been challenged to provide a simple mechanism for quantifying and tracking key performance indicators selected by your organization. The ultimate goal is an approach that will enable the cross-functional team to identify problem areas so they can take corrective action. Where do you start? Attend this session to learn how you can develop a quantifiable approach to assessing testing effectiveness and addressing quality. Scott Acker shows you a...Read more
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Concurrent Session T6 Behavior Driven Development—A Guide to Agile Practices Preview
Josh Eastman, Experis
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

It seems as if the agile methods have lots of DD’s going on. BDD – Behavior Driven Development, ATDD – Acceptance Test Driven Development and several others. Adopting BDD allows for testing to be done as early as possible in the software development life cycle, promoting accurate testing, ensuring proper test coverage, and supporting the introduction of automation testing. One challenge is understanding the characteristics and benefits of “driven” approaches. Join Josh Eastman to discover ways that BDD can be employed to describe and test system behavior, user stories, and user acceptance...Read more

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Concurrent Session T7 Getting a Grip on Cognitive Adaptive Testing Preview NEW
Julie Gardiner, CA Technologies
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Cognitive Adaptive Testing means harnessing the power of analytics and autonomics in support of continuous delivery. The emergence of cognitive adaptive testing is driven by trends towards omni-channel content delivery, utilization of big data and an improved customer experience. Digital business systems need to be extremely responsive to customer sentiment, work across a variety of devices, be resilient in the face of unpredictable failure modes, and process huge amounts of unstructured data. Such scenarios put extreme pressure on IT systems and processes to be not only more responsive,...Read more

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Concurrent Session T8 Scale Your QA & Test: Testing with Multiple Teams in Large Agile Organizations Preview
Pablo Garcia Munos, Quality Point AB
11:30 am to 12:30 pm

Agile practices are maturing, and more agile teams are making development and testing work in an effective way thanks to TDD, BDD, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment. However, there are many challenges still to conquer in agile practices, such as the lack of accountability for systems developed outside the team, environments with multiple teams where some teams practice agile and others do not, and organizations where testers are not well integrated into the team. Join Pablo Garcia Munos as he shares his experience testing in large agile organizations with ten teams or...Read more
Lunch—Meet the Speakers 12:30pm–1:30pm
12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions—1:30pm–2:30pm
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
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Industry Technical Presentation ITP7 We’re Starting with Appium ... Now What? Preview
Jamie Moore, Mobile Labs
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Writing an Appium script, including object identification Running the Appium script on real devices Appium Script execution on multiple devices in a continuous delivery modelRead more
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Concurrent Session T9 Architecting an Agile Test Transformation Program Preview NEW
Klaudia Breslavets, Vanguard
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Transitioning test automation efforts from traditional to agile approaches is challenging because it requires cultural, process, technology, and people changes to create a sustained mindset shift and drive desired outcomes. Join Klaudia Breslavets to learn how a complex organization scaled its test automation transformation and “shifted left” enterprise-wide to support agile practices and continuous delivery. Learn the specific ways Vanguard fueled the transformation and structured its program to help IT delivery teams achieve faster speed to market, greater confidence in their tests...Read more
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Concurrent Session T10 Amp Up Your Testing by Harnessing Test Data Preview
Steve Rowe, Microsoft
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

The data tsunami is coming—or maybe it’s already here. Data science, big data, and machine learning are the buzzwords of the day. Data is changing our products and the way we build them, so we should also change the way we verify our products. In a world of increasing connectivity and accelerated deadlines, data can provide an edge. But what role should data play in assessing the quality of software? Where does it make sense to use data, and where is it inappropriate? Steve Rowe covers the history of how data fits into testing, explains why data is an important tool to have in your quality...Read more

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Concurrent Session T11 A Journey from DevOps to DevTestOps: Infusing Continuous Quality Preview
Gajan Pathmanathan, Quicken Loans
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

As companies realize the need for rapid application development, they are embracing DevOps methodologies. But implementing DevOps practices without establishing a culture of quality often results in lower quality software or a poor customer experience, which impacts the business bottom line. Join Gajan Pathmanathan as he shares proven approaches for ensuring quality and testing throughout the software development and delivery pipeline, while still maintaining agility and speed. Gajan presents a roadmap for building quality into the fabric of DevOps and fostering a quality-driven mindset,...Read more

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Concurrent Session T12 Great Scripts I Have Known Preview NEW
Rob Sabourin, AmiBug.com
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Are there any great scripted tests? Rob Sabourin shares dozens of examples of test scripts from software development projects. In this talk you will be exposed to the good, the bad, and the ugly side of test scripting. You will see some test scripts which have helped to drive profitable businesses, and other test scripts which have almost brought about corporate ruin. Rob explores the many context drivers behind testing, highlighting when and how they can help you focus on what matters. You will see many types of test scripts: smoke tests, FAST tests, business facing regression tests,...Read more

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Keynote K4 Key Skills and Attributes for Everyone Who Tests Software Preview
Janet Gregory, DragonFire, Inc.
2:45 pm to 3:45 pm

As organizations continue to refine their software development and testing approaches, the skills and attributes for the tester role must keep pace with these rapid changes. Many people other than traditional testers are now being asked to conduct testing. Whether you’re a lifelong tester or are just embracing testing from another discipline, there are key skills everyone requires. Janet Gregory presents some key skills and attributes testers need, whether they are practicing agile or more traditional methods. She explores skills such as effective communication as well as technical and...Read more

Friday, October 20

Continental Breakfast—8:00am–8:30am
8:00 am to 8:30 am
Women Who Test Bonus Session 8:30am–3:45pm
8:30 am to 3:45 pm
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Women Who Test
8:30 am to 3:45 pm

Women Who Test is a full-day event on Friday, October 20 for women to network with other women who work in software testing. It is also a day to learn from and be inspired by each other. The program will cover testing topics and will support women’s personal and career journeys and include content like: reengineering your life, growing your personal brand, setting goals, discovering your career superpowers, and how to problem-solve when you are a female in the tech industry where your gender is out numbered 7:3. Join women test engineers, managers, CEOs...Read more

Lunch 12:00pm–1:00pm
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Women Who Test Bonus Session Continues 1:00pm–3:45pm
1:00 pm to 3:45 pm