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Julie Gardiner

Hitachi Consulting

As director of consultancy for Hitachi Consulting, Julie Gardiner provides consultancy and training in all aspects of testing, management, and agile, and specializes in risk, test management, and usability. Julie has more than twenty years of experience as a developer, DBA, project manager, head of operations management, and head of R&D. She has held positions of test analyst, test team leader, test consultant, and test manager in the public sector and in the financial, broadcasting, insurance, utilities, retail, web, and telecom industries using both traditional and agile methodologies. Julie is a certified ScrumMaster and agile coach.

Speaker Presentations
Monday, May 4, 2015 - 8:30am
Half-day Tutorials
Applying Emotional Intelligence to Testing

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. Julie Gardiner 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.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015 - 8:30am
Half-day Tutorials
Getting Your Message Across: Communication Skills for Testers

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 suffering information overload and deluged with emails, it is more important than ever that we craft succinct and effective messages, using a range of communication modalities. Join Julie Gardiner as she 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.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - 12:30pm
Industry Technical Presentations
Testing in the Digital Transformation Age

Digital transformation is one of the latest buzzwords and on the lips of most management consultants and consulting companies today. What is digital transformation? And what does it mean for your business and more important, what does it mean to you as a tester? This session will cover what digital transformation is, what it means and what challenges you might have with digital transformation as well as how different tools and approaches can help you in not only surviving, but coming out with flying colors. Join Oracle and Hitachi Consulting to learn more.