Skip to main content

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 A Rapid Introduction to Rapid Software Testing
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

You're under tight time pressure and have barely enough information to proceed with testing. How do you test quickly and inexpensively, yet still produce informative, credible, and accountable results? Rapid Software Testing, adopted by context-driven testers worldwide, offers a field-proven answer to this all-too-common dilemma. In this one-day sampler of the approach, Michael Bolton introduces you to the skills and practice of Rapid Software Testing through stories, discussions, and "minds-on" exercises that simulate important aspects of real testing problems. The rapid approach isn't just testing with speed or a sense of urgency; it's mission-focused testing that eliminates unnecessary work, assures that the most important things get done, and constantly asks how testers can help speed up the successful completion of the project. Join Michael to learn how Rapid Testing focuses on both the mind set and skill set of the individual tester, using tight loops of exploration and critical thinking skills to help continuously re-optimize testing to match clients' needs and expectations.

More Information
Learn more about Michael Bolton.
MB The Challenges of BIG Testing: Automation, Virtualization, Outsourcing, and More SOLD OUT
Hans Buwalda, LogiGear
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

Large-scale and complex testing projects can stress the testing and automation practices we have learned through the years, resulting in less than optimal outcomes. However, a number of innovative ideas and concepts are emerging to better support industrial-strength testing for big projects. Hans Buwalda shares his experiences and strategies he's developed for organizing and managing testing on large projects. Learn how to design tests specifically for automation, including how to incorporate keyword testing and other techniques. Learn what roles virtualization and the cloud can play, and the potential pitfalls of such options. Take away tips and tricks to make automation more stable, and to deal with the numerous versions and configurations common in large projects. Hans also describes the main challenges with global teams including time zones and cultural differences, and offers seven common problem "patterns," and what you can do to address them.

More Information
Learn more about Hans Buwalda.
MC Getting Started with Risk-based Testing
Dale Perry, Software Quality Engineering
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

Whether you are new to testing or looking for a better way to organize your test practices and processes, the Systematic Test and Evaluation Process (STEP™) offers a flexible approach to help you and your team succeed. Dale Perry describes this risk-based framework—applicable to any development lifecycle model—to help you make critical testing decisions earlier and with more confidence. The STEP™ approach helps you decide how to focus your testing effort, what elements and areas to test, and how to organize test designs and documentation. Learn the fundamentals of test analysis and how to develop an inventory of test objectives to help prioritize your testing efforts. Discover how to translate these objectives into a concrete strategy for designing and developing tests. With a prioritized inventory and focused test architecture, you will be able to create test cases, execute the resulting tests, and accurately report on the quality of your application and the effectiveness of your testing. Take back a proven approach to organize your testing efforts and new ways to add more value to your project and organization.

More Information
Learn more about Dale Perry.
MD Hands On with Selenium and WebDriver NEW
Alan Richardson, Compendium Developments
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

Selenium WebDriver is an open source automation tool for test driving browsers. People sometimes find the API daunting and their initial automation code brittle and poorly structured. In this introduction, Alan Richardson provides hints and tips gained from his years of experience both using WebDriver and helping others improve their use of the tool. Alan starts at the beginning, explaining the basic WebDriver API capabilities—simple interrogation and navigation—and then moves on to synchronization strategies and working with AJAX applications. He covers tools and location strategies to find elements on web pages using CSS and XPath. Alan provides an introduction to abstraction approaches which help you build robust, reliable, and maintainable automation suites.

Hands-on exercises require a laptop computer with Firefox, Firebug, and Firepath installed. You will write code! Coding exercises require an IDE (IntelliJ), Java SDK, and Maven. Prior to the session, follow the Getting Started Guide at http://seleniumsimplified.com/get-started. Come ready to learn.

 

More Information
Learn more about Alan Richardson.
ME Management Issues in Test Automation
Dorothy Graham, Independent Test Consultant
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Many organizations never achieve the significant benefits that are promised from automated test execution. Surprisingly often, this is not due to technical factors but to management issues. Dot Graham describes the most important management issues you 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 what return on investment means in automated testing and what you can realistically expect. Dot also reviews the 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. 

More Information
Learn more about Dorothy Graham.
MF What’s Your Leadership IQ? NEW
Jennifer Bonine, tap|QA, Inc.
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Have you ever needed a way to measure your leadership IQ? Or been in a performance review where the majority of time was spent discussing your need to improve as a leader? If you have ever wondered what your core leadership competencies are and how to build on and improve them, Jennifer Bonine shares a toolkit to help you do just that. This toolkit includes a personal assessment of your leadership competencies, explores a set of eight dimensions of successful leaders, provides suggestions on how you can improve competencies that are not in your core set of strengths, and describes techniques for leveraging and building on your strengths. These tools can help you become a more effective and valued leader in your organization. Exercises help you gain an understanding of yourself and strive for balanced leadership through recognition of both your strengths and your “development opportunities.”

More Information
Learn more about Jennifer Bonine.
MG Take a Test Drive of Acceptance Test-Driven Development NEW
Jared Richardson, Agile Artisans
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

The practice of agile software development requires a clear understanding of business needs. Misunderstanding requirements causes waste, slipped schedules, and mistrust within the organization. Jared Richardson shows how good acceptance tests can reduce misunderstanding of requirements. A testable requirement provides a single source that serves as the analysis document, acceptance criteria, regression test suite, and progress-tracker for any given feature. Jared explores the creation, evaluation, and use of testable requirements by the business and developers. Learn how to transform requirements into stories—small units of work—that have business value, small implementation effort, and easy to understand acceptance tests. This tutorial features an interactive exercise that starts with a high level feature, decomposes it into stories, applies acceptance tests to those stories, and estimates the stories for business value and implementation effort. The exercise demonstrates how big requirement stories can be decomposed into business-facing stories, rather than technical tasks that are not understood by the business.

More Information
Learn more about Jared Richardson.
MH Rapid Software Testing: Strategy SOLD OUT NEW
James Bach, Satisfice, Inc.
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

A test strategy is the set of ideas that guides your test design. It's what explains why you test this instead of that, and why you test this way instead of that way. Strategic thinking matters because testers must make quick decisions about what needs testing right now and what can be left alone. You must be able to work through major threads without being overwhelmed by tiny details. James Bach describes how test strategy is organized around risk but is not defined before testing begins. Rather, it evolves alongside testing as we learn more about the product. We start with a vague idea of our strategy, organize it quickly, and document as needed in a concise way. In the end, the strategy can be as formal and detailed as you want it to be. In the beginning, though, we start small. If you want to focus on testing and not paperwork, this approach is for you.

More Information
Learn more about James Bach.
MI Measurement and Metrics for Test Managers
Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

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.

More Information
Learn more about Rick Craig.
MJ Exploratory Testing Explained
Paul Holland, Testing Thoughts
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Exploratory testing is an approach to testing that emphasizes the freedom and responsibility of testers to continually optimize the value of their work. It is the process of three mutually supportive activities—learning, test design, and test execution—done in parallel. With skill and practice, exploratory testers typically uncover an order of magnitude more problems than when the same amount of effort is spent on procedurally scripted testing. All testers conduct exploratory testing in one way or another, but few know how to do it systematically to obtain the greatest benefits. Even fewer can articulate the process. Paul Holland looks at specific heuristics and techniques of exploratory testing that will help you get the most from this highly productive approach. Paul focuses on the skills and dynamics of exploratory testing, and how it can be combined with scripted approaches.

More Information
Learn more about Paul Holland.
MK Testing the Data Warehouse―Big Data, Big Problems
Geoff Horne, NZTester Magazine
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Data warehouses have become a popular mechanism for collecting, organizing, and making information readily available for strategic decision making. The ability to review historical trends and monitor near real-time operational data has become a key competitive advantage for many organizations. Yet the methods for assuring the quality of these valuable assets are quite different from those of transactional systems. Ensuring that the appropriate testing is performed is a major challenge for many enterprises. Geoff Horne has led a number of data warehouse testing projects in both the telecommunications and ERP sectors. Join Geoff as he shares his approaches and experiences, focusing on the key “uniques” of data warehouse testing including methods for assuring data completeness, monitoring data transformations, and measuring quality. He also explores the opportunities for test automation as part of the data warehouse process, describing how it can be harnessed to streamline and minimize overhead.

More Information
Learn more about Geoff Horne.
ML Essential Test Management and Planning
Rick Craig, Software Quality Engineering
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

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.

More Information
Learn more about Rick Craig.
MM Apply Emotional Intelligence to Your Testing SOLD OUT NEW
Thomas McCoy, Australian Department of Social Services
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

As test managers and test professionals we can have an enormous emotional impact on others. We're constantly dealing with fragile egos, highly charged situations, and pressured people playing a high-stakes game under conditions of massive uncertainty. We're often the bearers of bad news and are sometimes perceived as critics, activating people's primal fear of being judged. Emotional intelligence (EI), the concept popularized by Harvard psychologist and science writer Daniel Goleman, has much to offer test managers and testers. Key EI skills include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Explore the concept of EI, assess your own levels of EI, and look at ways in which EI can help. Thomas McCoy discusses how EI can be useful in dealing with anger management, controlling negative thoughts, processing constructive criticism, and dealing with conflict—all within the context of the testing profession. This lively session is grounded in real-life examples, giving you concrete ideas to take back to work.

More Information
Learn more about Thomas McCoy.
MN Testing with Limited, Vague, and Missing Requirements SOLD OUT NEW
Lloyd Roden, Lloyd Roden Consultancy
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Requirements are essential for the success of projects―or are they? As testers, we often demand concrete requirements, specified and documented in minute detail. However, does the business really know what they want early in the project? Can they actually produce such a document? Is it acceptable to test with limited or vague requirements? Lloyd Roden challenges your most basic beliefs, explaining how detailed requirements can damage and hinder the progress of testing. Lloyd provides example applications that have no requirements, vague requirements, evolving requirements, complex requirements, and detailed requirements. You will assess and test each of these examples in turn and will establish what is the best approach in these situations and for what reasons. Learn how to question applications and provide feedback on their quality using your experience and appropriate techniques regardless of the level of detail provided in the requirements.

Laptops are required for this tutorial.

More Information
Learn more about Lloyd Roden.
MO Rapid Software Testing: Reporting NEW
James Bach, Satisfice, Inc.
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Test reporting is something few testers take time to practice. Nevertheless, it's a fundamental skill—vital for your professional credibility and your own self management. Many people think management judges testing by bugs found or test cases executed. Actually, testing is judged by the story it tells. If your story sounds good, you win. A test report is the story of your testing. It begins as the story we tell ourselves, each moment we are testing, about what we are doing and why. We use the test story within our own minds, to guide our work. James Bach explores the skill of test reporting and examines some of the many different forms a test report might take. As in other areas of testing, context drives good reporting. Sometimes we make an oral report; occasionally we need to write it down. Join James for an in-depth look at the art of the reporting.

More Information
Learn more about James Bach.
MP Alan Page: On Testing NEW
Alan Page, Microsoft
Monday, May 5, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

You name the testing topic, and Alan Page has an opinion on it, hands-on practical experience with it—or both. Spend the afternoon with Alan as he discusses a variety of topics, trends, and tales of software engineering and software testing. In an interactive format loosely based on discovering new testing ideas—and bringing new life to some of the old ideas—Alan shares experiences and stories from his twenty year career as a software tester. Topics may include philosophical rants about code coverage and test pass rates; thoughts on the developer/tester relationship and quality ownership; and insights on test leadership and the real future of test. Join Alan for a unique opportunity to participate in intriguing discussions about testing that will expand your testing knowledge, give you the insight you need to grow your own career, and help your organization succeed.

More Information
Learn more about Alan Page.
TA Testing Mobile Applications from All Angles NEW
Randy Rice, Rice Consulting Services, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

As the need for testing mobile applications increases, so does the need to understand and apply test practices that cover more than just functional correctness. Randy Rice leads you through techniques for designing the right tests for your mobile applications, whether they are on the device or on a website. Learn how to know which items of functionality are important to test based on relative risk. Randy presents his visual method of how to rank important attributes including usability, compatibility, accessibility, and security, and then how to design tests for them. Randy covers both manual and automated approaches to testing mobile devices. Learn the pros and cons of each test approach. See an array of tools from simulators and emulators to cloud-based testing on real devices. This is an interactive session, so bring your mobile device with you and learn mobile testing by doing it.

More Information
Learn more about Randy Rice.
TB Key Test Design Techniques SOLD OUT
Lee Copeland, Software Quality Engineering
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 4:30pm

All testers know that we can identify many more test cases than we will ever have time to design and execute. The key problem in testing is choosing a small, “smart” subset from the almost infinite number of possibilities available. Join Lee Copeland to discover how to design test cases using formal black-box techniques, including equivalence class and boundary value testing, decision tables, state-transition diagrams, and all-pairs testing. Explore white-box techniques with their associated coverage metrics. Evaluate more informal approaches, such as random and hunch-based testing, and learn the importance of using exploratory testing to enhance your testing ability. Choose the right test case design approaches for your projects. Use the test results to evaluate the quality of both your products and your test designs.

More Information
Learn more about Lee Copeland.
TC Critical Thinking for Software Testers
James Bach, Satisfice, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 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. James Bach 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 James 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.

More Information
Learn more about James Bach.
TD Test Management for Busy People NEW
Lloyd Roden, Lloyd Roden Consultancy
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

In today's fast-paced IT world we are often told to deliver higher quality systems to our customers under challenging time schedules, with fewer resources, and reduced budgets. As test managers and team leaders, we must become more effective and efficient with the resources we are given. We should begin questioning whether all those testing processes really must be executed and whether all that documentation should be produced, or whether some, if not all, can be streamlined. Are test plans really important? Are detailed scripts really useful? How can we create highly productive teams? Based on his upcoming book, Test Management for Busy People, Lloyd reveals how the important tasks can be determined and how time can be allocated to them, while minimizing working on multiple projects simultaneously (a real time waster). Lloyd shares a flexible framework showing which tasks can and should be streamlined so that valuable time can be restored to the busy test manager.

More Information
Learn more about Lloyd Roden.
TE Innovation Thinking: Evolve and Expand Your Capabilities NEW
Jennifer Bonine, tap|QA, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Innovation is a word tossed around frequently in organizations today. The standard clichés are Do more with less and Be creative. Companies want to be innovative but often struggle with how to define, implement, prioritize, and track their innovation efforts. Using the Innovation to Types model, Jennifer Bonine will help you transform your thinking regarding innovation and understand if your team and company goals match their innovation efforts. Learn how to classify your activities as "core" (to the business) or "context" (essential, but non-revenue generating). Once you understand how your innovation activities are related to revenue generating activities, you can better decide how much of your effort should be spent on core or context activities. Take away tools including an Innovation to Types model for classifying innovation, a Core and Context model to classify your activities, and a way to map your innovation initiatives to different contexts.

More Information
Learn more about Jennifer Bonine.
TF Testing Cloud Services: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS NEW Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Cloud computing has changed the environment of testing. Its use is increasing for hosting business applications (SaaS) and testing (TaaS). Martin Pol and Jeroen Mengerink focus on SaaS, describing the relevant infrastructure and platform services (IaaS and PaaS). How do we test performance of the cloud itself? How do we make sure that the continuity of services is guaranteed? How do we cope with elasticity and the philosophy of bring-your-own-device (BYOD)? Martin and Jeroen discuss the risks that arise when implementing cloud computing―some traditional, but others completely new. Learn how to mitigate these risks with current, modified, and new test techniques. As testers, we must be involved earlier in the cloud selection process. Testers should help to create and evaluate selection criteria to minimize risk. In addition, testers should be involved in the project longer as testing in production is needed to determine if the Service Level Agreements are being met.

Delegates will receive a free copy of the book Testing Cloud Services by Kees Blokland, Jeroen Mengerink, and Martin Pol.

More Information
Learn more about Martin Pol and Jeroen Mengerink.
TG Test Automation Patterns: Issues and Solutions NEW
Seretta Gamba, Steria Mummert ISS GmbH
Dorothy Graham, Independent Test Consultant
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

Automating system level test execution can result in many problems. It is surprising to find that many people encounter the same problems, yet they are not aware of common solutions that have worked well for others. These problem/solution pairs are called “patterns.” Seretta Gamba recognized the commonality of these test automation issues and their solutions and, together with Dorothy Graham, has organized them into Test Automation Patterns. Although unit test patterns are well known, Seretta and Dorothy’s patterns address more general issues. They cover management, process, design, and execution patterns to help you recognize common test automation issues and show you how to identify appropriate patterns to solve the problems. Issues such as No Previous Automation, High ROI Expectations, and High Test Maintenance Cost are addressed by patterns such as Maintainable Testware, Tool Independence, and Management Support. Laptop required (with USB access). An offline version of the wiki will be available to copy to your laptop from a USB stick to use during the session. 

More Information
Learn more about Seretta Gamba and Dorothy Graham.
TH Introducing Keyword-driven Test Automation
Hans Buwalda, LogiGear
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

In both agile and traditional projects, keyword-driven testing—when done correctly—has proven to be a powerful way to attain a high level of automation. Many testing organizations use keyword-driven 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 describes the keyword approach, and how you use it to can meet the very aggressive goal that he calls the "5 percent challenge"―automate 95 percent of your tests with no more than 5 percent of your total testing effort. Hans also discusses how the keyword approach relates to other automation techniques like scripting and data-driven testing, and in what way keywords can be used for specific situations like graphics, multimedia, and mobile. Use the information and the real-world examples that Hans presents to attain a very high level of maintainable automation with the lowest possible effort.

More Information
Learn more about Hans Buwalda.
TI Exploring Usability Testing NEW
Rob Sabourin, AmiBug.com
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

It is not enough to verify that software conforms to requirements by passing established acceptance tests. Successful software products engage, entertain, and support the users' experience. Goals vary from project to project, but no matter how robust and reliable your software is, if your users do not embrace it, business can slip from your hands. Rob Sabourin shares how to elicit effective usability requirements with techniques such as story boarding and task analysis. Together, testers, programmers, and users collaborate to blend the requirement, design, and test cycles into a tight feedback loop. Learn how to select a subset of system functions to test with a small group of users to get high value information at low cost. Learn how usability testers can take advantage of naïve questions from novice users as well as the tunnel vision and bias of domain experts. Rob shares examples of usability testing for a variety of technologies including mobile and web-based products.

More Information
Learn more about Rob Sabourin.
TJ Congruent Coaching: An Interactive Exploration NEW
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 8:30am - 12:00pm

We have opportunities to coach people all the time. Much of what we see as coaching is actually undercover training. Real coaching is richer—offering support while explaining options. In this interactive session, Johanna Rothman invites you to explore how to coach, regardless of your position in the organization. Teaching is just one option for coaching. You have many other options, depending on your coaching stance. You may select a counselor’s stance if you are managing up or a partner’s stance if you are a peer. You might even select a reflective observer’s stance or a technical advisor’s stance, depending on the situation. We will explore what to do when you see opportunities for coaching but you haven’t been asked to coach. Bring your coaching concerns, whether you are coaching onsite, or coaching at a distance, coaching one-on-one, or coaching teams. Let’s learn and build our coaching skills together.

More Information
Learn more about Johanna Rothman.
TK Seven Keys to Navigating Your Agile Testing Transition SOLD OUT
Bob Galen, Velocity Partners
Mary Thorn, ChannelAdvisor
Tuesday, May 6, 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 Bob Galen and Mary Thorn as they share lessons from their 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.

More Information
Learn more about Bob Galen and Mary Thorn.
TL Application Performance Testing: A Simplified Universal Approach
Scott Barber, SmartBear
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

In response to increasing market demand for high performance applications, many organizations implement performance testing projects, often at great expense. Sadly, these solutions alone are often insufficient to keep pace with emerging expectations and competitive pressures. With specific examples from recent client implementations, Scott Barber shares the fundamentals of implementing T4APM™, a simple and universal approach that is valuable independently or as an extension of existing performance testing programs. The T4APM™ 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.

More Information
Learn more about Scott Barber.
TM Security Testing for Testing Professionals
Jeff Payne, Coveros, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

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.

More Information
Learn more about Jeff Payne.
TN What's the Problem? A Workshop in Identifying, Clarifying, and Solving NEW
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Most of the time, as testers, our primary responsibility is to find problems. But, have we paused to consider what a “problem” is? In this interactive, hands-on workshop, Michael Bolton leads delegates in examining and mapping out ideas about problems. What constitutes a problem? How do we recognize one? What are the factors or dimensions of a problem? How do we describe it so our clients recognize the significance of what we’ve found?  Michael examines these questions and discusses how to decide whether something is a problem, why it is a problem, whether it's a problem that matters, and what should happen with a problem once we've recognized it. This workshop includes testing of an application, mind-mapping, discussions, and a role-playing simulation to probe the social, political, and emotional dimensions of declaring, evaluating, and resolving problems.

More Information
Learn more about Michael Bolton.
TO The Dirty Little Secret of Business NEW
Andy Kaufman, Institute for Leadership Excellence and Development, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Regardless of your role in the software lifecycle, challenges and roadblocks will stand in your way. How can you deal with difficult people who are obstacles to your ability to deliver? How can you influence someone to act on your priorities even when you don’t have organizational authority? How can you find time to network when you’re overwhelmed with day-to-day work? Andy Kaufman shares “The Dirty Little Secret of Business.” You won’t learn this secret in school, yet it is critical to your success. The secret is simple—it’s all about relationships. Andy describes the key relationships you must develop to advance your projects and career. Discover how understanding different personality types will improve your ability to build rapport, influence people, and control situations. Learn what networking is—and isn’t—and how to increase the effectiveness of your networks with less effort. Particularly in today’s challenging world, it’s critical that you invest in the power of relationships.

More Information
Learn more about Andy Kaufman.
TP Root Cause Analysis for Software Testers NEW
Alon Linetzki, Best-Testing
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

In many cases, we choose solutions to problems without sufficient analysis of the underlying causes. This results in implementing a cover-up of the symptoms rather than a solution to the real underlying problem. When we do this, the problem is likely to resurface in one disguise or another, and we may mishandle it again—just as we did initially. Getting to the root of the problem is the better way to solve the current problem, and save time and money in the future. Alon Linetzki identifies and explains a number of root cause analysis techniques widely used in the industry, gives examples of how to apply them in software testing, demonstrates how to implement them, and discusses how to connect them to our day-to-day testing context. Alon shares how root cause analysis can be an effective tool in defect prevention.

More Information
Learn more about Alon Linetzki.
TQ Getting Your Message Across: Communications Skills for Testers NEW
Thomas McCoy, Australian Department of Social Services
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Communication is at the heart of our profession. No matter how advanced our testing capabilities are, if we can’t convey our concerns in ways that connect with key members of the project team, our contribution is likely to be ignored. Because we act solely in an advisory capacity, rather than being in command, our power to exert influence is almost entirely based on our communication skills. With people deluged with emails and suffering information overload, it is more important than ever that we craft succinct and effective messages, using a range of communication modalities. Join Thomas McCoy as he draws on techniques from journalism, public relations, professional writing, psychology, and marketing to help you get your message across. Key themes include: non-verbal communication, presentation skills, persuasive writing, influencing skills, graphic communication, and communicating in teams and meetings. A range of hands-on exercises will be used to practice the concepts being discussed.

More Information
Learn more about Thomas McCoy.
TR Test Estimation in Practice NEW
Rob Sabourin, AmiBug.com
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

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. The key to good estimates is to understand the primary variables, compare them to known standards, and normalize the estimates based on their differences. This is easy to say but difficult to accomplish because estimates are frequently required even when very little is known about the project and what is known is constantly changing. Throw in a healthy dose of politics and a bit of wishful thinking and estimation can become a nightmare. Rob Sabourin provides a foundation for anyone who must estimate software testing work effort. Learn about the test team’s and tester’s roles in estimation and measurement, and how to estimate in the face of uncertainty. Analysts, developers, leads, test managers, testers, and QA personnel can all benefit from this tutorial.

More Information
Learn more about Rob Sabourin.
TS Influence and Authority: Use Your Personal Power to Get Things Done NEW
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:30pm

How often have you been in a situation where you could see the solution and yet did not have the authority to make a change? You tried persuasion; you tried selling your ideas; you might have even tried friendly manipulation to get your way. And nothing worked. Here’s a new plan. We can learn to develop and use personal power and influence to effect positive changes in our companies. Johanna Rothman describes how we can be specific about the result we want, look for what’s in it for everyone, and consider short- and long-term options to foster change while acting congruently and authentically. Although it’s not easy to do, with preparation and persistence you can transform yourself into a person with personal influence. When you’re influential, you build your power and, by extension, your informal authority in the organization. Join Johanna to examine what engenders personal power, how it might be affected by your company’s culture, and how you can become more influential in any organization.

More Information
Learn more about Johanna Rothman.