STARCANADA 2018 - Test Transformation | TechWell

Conference archive

STARCANADA 2018 - Test Transformation

Tuesday, October 16

Rob_Sabourin
AmiBug.com
TB

The Tester's (New) Role in Agile Development

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Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - 8:30am to 12:00pm

Avoiding siloed development is a tricky business. It’s so easy for agile teams to fall into the rut in which testers only do traditional testing activities, and programmers strictly do their time-worn coding activities. Rob Sabourin shares a number of examples of how testing skills can be applied to a wide variety of activities in an agile project. Testers are among the most skilled team members in story grooming, elicitation, and exploration. Risk analysis in self-organized agile teams empowers testers to drive design decisions. A tester’s affinity analysis skills help clear the way for...

Jeff Payne
Coveros
TE

Agile Leadership: Tips and Techniques

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Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - 8:30am to 12:00pm

Leading agile teams and organizations is much different than leading more traditional software development efforts. The emphasis on self-directed teams shifts a leader's role from that of a line manager who tells everybody what to do, to a mentor, facilitator, coach, and servant leader. This tutorial discusses how to effectively lead self-directed teams either as a ScrumMaster or staff manager. Jeff Payne also addresses how management roles are defined in agile, as well as various organizational structures that support agile leadership. He will also give you practical tips and techniques...

Wednesday, October 17

Janna_Loeffler
Carnival Corp.
K1

The Life of a Tester, from Once Upon a Time to Happily Ever After

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 8:30am to 9:45am

Most fairy tales start out with a scary premise and move to a happy ending. Lately, we have heard lots of scary stories about the future of testing. As machine learning and artificial intelligence continue to gain prominence, we see even more concerns about the tester’s career. With the help of a famous animation team, Jennifer and Janna will take you through a wild animated journey from what it was like in the early days of software to where we are today. We’ll explore the evolution of the testing profession, as well as what it will become in the future. As this story moves from...

Seretta Gamba
Freelancer
W1

7 Sure-fire Ways to Ruin Your Test Automation

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 10:15am to 11:15am

Test automation projects fail, but why? Could you stop it from happening? In this tongue-in-cheek talk, Seretta Gamba will share seven proven methods to disrupt or utterly ruin a test automation project, including letting a lone champion keep important knowledge to themselves, ignoring good programming practices, setting impossible goals, and feigning support. Seretta’s humorous recommendations provide managers, testers, and automators alike with the early signs of an automation project in danger. By “warning” that the most effective defenses are found using the test automation...

Raj Subramanian
Testim.io
W6

How AI Is Transforming Software Testing

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning concepts are rapidly being integrated into IT systems. Companies like Apple, Tesla, Google, Amazon, and Facebook have started investing more in AI to solve different technological problems in the areas of health care, autonomous cars, search engines, predictive modeling, and much more. Applying AI is real, it’s coming fast, and it’s going to affect every business, no matter how big or small. So, how do we as testers adapt to this change and embrace AI? Where should we start? And once we get to the era of wanting to automate...

Jerry Penner
Waterloo Hydrogeologic
W11

Ditch Your Bug-Tracking Tool: 3 Solid Tactics to Minimize Bug Counts

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

A bug-free product release is an ideal that testers, developers, and project managers strive for, but when it comes to the go/no-go decision, the balance is often struck between "good" and "good enough," leaving behind a rotting to-do pile in the bug-tracking tool that is rarely acted upon in the next release. How can testers stop adding new bugs to the ever-growing list and clean up the “bug dump”? Is it possible to speed development and deliver better software by sidestepping the bug-tracking tool? Join Jerry Penner as he shares his experiences in reducing the wasted time and effort of...

Fiona Charles
Quality Intelligence
W9

Gaining Consciousness

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Testers make difficult decisions with minimal information in turbulent times on critical projects.  Independent consultant, Fiona Charles, suggests that testers must learn to draw a line in the decision-making process between trained intuition and careless assumption.  In this presentation, Fiona shares her experience with helping testers train their instincts leading to better decision making. Skilled practitioners naturally make some decisions purely on instinct. For example, an expert medical doctor makes a dazzlingly accurate diagnosis in a complex case that baffles other physicians...

Fiona Charles
Quality Intelligence
K2

Reinventing Test Leadership

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Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 4:15pm to 5:15pm

In the age of agile and DevOps, many organizations are eliminating the role of test manager. Fiona Charles, a people- and project-focused leadership consultant, reviews what this means for testing and test leadership. Fiona shares her experience working with skilled test leads in adapting and inventing test methodologies and selecting techniques to fit evolving organizational frameworks, new technologies, and increasingly streamlined software delivery methods. Fiona has helped develop test coaches and mentors who inspire testers to grow their skills, and with her guidance, many agile test...

Thursday, October 18

Alexandre Bauduin
House Of Test
K3

Automation in Aviation and Mission-Critical Software

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 8:30am to 9:30am

Are you confronted with automating tests of large, complex systems? Are there more conditions to test than you can do in a lifetime? Are auditors demanding compliance to a never-ending collection of regulations? Do stakeholders want slick dashboards tracking abstract key process indicators? Join Alexandre Bauduin as he shares his experience leading the complex system testing challenges of a real-time Boeing 777 Flight Simulator. Alexandre will outline how he overcame the many challenges faced by combining his skills in test design and his expertise as an airline pilot, including...

Julie_Gardiner
Independent Consultant
T3

The Importance of When: How to Effect Change in Your Team

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 10:15am to 11:15am

Have you ever had lots of ideas to improve software quality, but your project team seemed less than responsive? Does your team struggle to work well together? Do you already have lots of actions to take from the conference and you don’t know how these changes will be received? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then this session is for you. Join Julie Gardiner as she shares ways of getting your message across and how to play to people’s strengths to make your team work more efficiently and effectively. She will demonstrate an effective communication style model and explain why...

Rob_Sabourin
AmiBug.com
T4

Testing in the Dark: Improving Quality when You Don't Know the Product

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 10:15am to 11:15am

Stakeholders drop software on our desks and expect us to test it without any requirements, design, or product knowledge whatsoever. About the only clear thing is the absurd and unrealistic deadline. We are expected to bend over backward, spread magic pixie dust, and heroically test quality into a product we have never heard of before. But testing in the dark is not impossible, and as Rob Sabourin shows, it can even be a very valuable and fun experience. Learn strategies to emerge from a murky fog into clear, meaningful quality insights and leverage unlikely sources about what...

Isabel Evans
Independent Consultant
T5

Devices and Desires: As Humans How Do We Experience Software?

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

We consume and still we desire more. More devices, more apps, more data, more bandwidth, more connectivity. The more we have, the more we want …. We assume that to be true – those of us who work in the software industry. But is that true? To understand what is really required of our products, we need to design and test a pyramid of interlocking quality attributes, that build together to make an optimum experience for the people who use our products, matching their needs, and their desires. It is not enough to test functional suitability, performance, and reliability. People also require...

Brenda Hall
Bridge360
T7

Why Military Veterans Make Exceptional Testers

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

Hiring trained talent has been a challenge for IT organizations for several years now. How do you find a steady source of qualified candidates for entry-level QA and QE positions, especially considering colleges and universities don't include a software quality assurance curriculum? Enter the returning veteran! Our veterans often find the search for jobs a daunting challenge, but Brenda Hall discovered just how well veterans are suited for work in software quality. She will share her insights into solving two challenges—our companies needing talent, and returning veterans needing...

Coveros
T8

Behavior-Driven Testing Using Page Object Models

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

Does it feel like you spend half of every sprint fixing failing automated functional tests? Are programmers unwilling to work with automation code? Is test automation a maintenance nightmare? There is a better way. The Page Object Model (POM) is a powerful design pattern for building test automation. A lack of design discipline can lead to test automation code that is buggy, brittle, and almost impossible to maintain. Focusing on the fundamentals of the POM pattern, combined with some disciplined behavior-driven practices, leads to high-quality, maintainable automation code, saving teams...

Jeff MacBane
TechSmith
James Fogarty
TechSmith
T10

Mobbing for Test Design: Connecting with Your Colleagues’ Test Ideas

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Do you have trouble generating test case ideas? Are there seemingly obvious bugs getting through your test plan? Are you considering revamping your current test analysis and design? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this session is for you. You may have heard of mob programming as an extension of pair programming. Mob testing is the same principle: having the whole team test together on one computer, collaborating and throwing out ideas. You end up getting the best from everyone. Join Jeff MacBane and James Fogarty as they show you how to leverage mob test design...

Chris Blain
Medidata Solutions, Inc.
T9

Troubleshooting and Understanding Modern Systems: Tools Testers Need

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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Successful agile testers collaborate with programmers as code is written, isolating problems, troubleshooting defects, and debugging code all along the way to getting the product to done. But modern systems are scaling beyond what traditional teams are able to understand using familiar tools. New appreciation for systems and complexity theory, as well as disciplines and tools around emerging areas such as observability and resilience engineering, are offering solutions that allow teams to actively debug their systems and explore properties and patterns they have not defined in advance....

Friday, October 19

Alison Wade
TechWell Corp.
Jessie Shternshus
The Improv Effect, LLC.
WWT3

The Power of Collective Experience

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Friday, October 19, 2018 - 10:45am to 12:30pm
Bring your biggest challenges to this session and tap the wisdom of others. In this immersive session, you will tackle some of the most widely mentioned challenges brought to light from the group. We will use experiential techniques to unlearn outdated mental models, uncover assumptions and break through obstacles with new ideas. Whether it’s a software testing conundrum, a project setback, a management blocker, a group or team dysfunction or an interpersonal hurdle, all of these can slow our progress and reduce our effectiveness. When we hunt for options, we all have blind spots and biases...
Tania_Katan
Creative Trespassing
WWT4

Creative Trespassing: Sneaking your Spark into your Work Without Getting Busted

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Friday, October 19, 2018 - 1:15pm to 2:15pm

As co-creator of the internationally viral campaign #ItWasNeverADress, Tania Katan knows the power of sneaking creativity into spaces where it belongs but isn’t always a priority in order to start a creative revolution! She will share uniquely developed exercises for flexing your creative muscles, funny stories from the frontlines of a productive disruptor and enough inspirational shouting to make your high school soccer coach crack a smile. You will leave this talk with tools for embracing your inner cape crusader and engaging in your everyday work and life with more gusto, curiosity,...

Alison Wade
TechWell Corp.
WWT5

Panel–Career Superpowers

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Friday, October 19, 2018 - 2:15pm to 3:15pm

Let’s discuss and define the most important career superpowers for women. Hear what industry professionals, leaders, and idea disruptors think the important career superpowers are for women in 2018 and going forward.

 

WWT6

Building Your Personal Brand for Success

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Friday, October 19, 2018 - 3:15pm to 4:15pm
Building the right personal brand is one of the critical success factors in today’s workplace. Organizations develop a brand and image, but not many individuals think about their personal brand and how it can affect their career. As we interact with people, we want to influence them to support our efforts—approving projects, budgets, and funding; supporting our next career move; or recommending us for that promotion or raise we want. As a professional, it is critical to understand how you are being perceived by your “target audience.” During this interactive session...