STAREAST 2023 - Test Management | TechWell

Conference archive

STAREAST 2023 - Test Management

Customize your STAREAST 2023 experience with sessions covering test management.

Monday, May 1

Chris_Loder
Upland InGenius
MD

Test Automation: How to Start and Succeed

Monday, May 1, 2023 - 8:30am to 12:00pm

Many organizations invest a lot of effort in test automation at the system level but then have serious problems as their product matures and changes over time. As a leader, 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 added value? Chris Loder will explain the critical issues you need to know to get a good start, and he will share his extensive experience in building great automation. He covers the most important management issues you should address for test automation success,...

Melissa Benua
mParticle
MJ

Test Design for Fully Automated Build Architecture

Monday, May 1, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:30pm

Imagine this…as soon as any developed functionality is submitted into the code repository, it is automatically subjected to the appropriate battery of tests and then released straight into production. Setting up the pipeline capable of doing just that is becoming more and more common and something you need to know about. But most organizations hit the same stumbling block—just what IS the appropriate battery of tests? Automated build architectures don't always lend themselves well to the traditional stages of testing. In this hands-on tutorial, Melissa Benua introduces you to key test...

Adam_Auerbach
EPAM Systems
MK

Instill a DevOps Testing Culture in Your Team and Organization

Monday, May 1, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:30pm

The DevOps movement is here. Companies across many industries are breaking down siloed IT departments and federating them into product development teams. Testing and its practices are at the heart of these changes. Traditionally, IT organizations have been staffed with mostly manual testers and a limited number of automation and performance engineers. To keep pace with development in the new “you build it, you own it” environment, testing teams and individuals must develop new technical skills and even embrace coding to stay relevant and add greater value to the business. DevOps really...

Chris_Loder
Upland InGenius
ML

Automation Framework Essentials

Monday, May 1, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:30pm

Automation is critical in today’s software delivery lifecycle, and yet many organizations struggle to keep their automation running. How can we mitigate difficulties and get consistent automation runs and results we can trust? The secret is implementing a solid automation framework, but that isn’t as easy as it seems. Chris Loder has built several automation frameworks over his career and has learned what works—and, more importantly, what doesn’t. This tutorial will cover what an automation framework is, the benefits of having one, and the keys to a successful framework, including...

Tuesday, May 2

Jeff Pierce
Coveros
TE

Quality and Testing Measures and Metrics

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 8:30am to 12:00pm

To be most effective, leaders—including development and testing managers, ScrumMasters, product owners, and IT managers—need metrics to help direct their efforts and make informed recommendations about the software’s release readiness and associated risks. Because one important evaluation activity is to “measure” the quality of the software, the progress and results of both development and testing must be measured. Collecting, analyzing, and using metrics are complicated because developers and testers often are concerned that the metrics will be used against them. Join Jeff Pierce as he...

Tom-Stiehm
Coveros
TF

Web Security Testing: The Basics and More

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 8:30am to 12:00pm

Web applications are often security critical or serve as front-ends for security critical applications, making web testing for vulnerabilities an essential part of software testing. Unfortunately, most software testers have not been taught how to identify web security issues while testing applications. Join Tom Stiehm as he shares what you need to know to security test web-based applications as part of your overall testing process. Learn about the most common web security vulnerabilities and how they are introduced into web code and exploited by hackers. Explore test techniques for...

Jeff Payne
Coveros
TJ

Integrating Automated Testing into DevOps

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:30pm

In many organizations, agile development processes are driving the pursuit of faster software releases, which has spawned a set of new practices—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/continuous...

TK

Holistic Performance Testing for Modern Applications

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 1:00pm to 4:30pm

With the advent of frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue, the landscape of application performance has changed significantly in terms of testing and measurement. Gone are the days of measuring response time as a single value based on back-end performance. In modern web and mobile applications, additional layers need to be peeled apart at the front end to truly understand its performance characteristics. Traditional approaches to performance testing are no longer sufficient to provide a delightfully responsive user experience. Join Kaushal Dalvi as he details new developments in the...

Rob_Sabourin
AmiBug.Com, Inc.
TL

Test Estimation in the Face of Uncertainty

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 1:00pm to 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 keys to good estimates are understanding the primary variables, comparing them to known standards, and normalizing the estimates based on their 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 and a bit of wishful thinking,...

Wednesday, May 3

Zenergy Technologies
W2

Leveraging Machine Learning & AI for Quality Assurance

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

Machine learning, artificial intelligence… It’s everywhere. Everyone is talking about it. It’s the next “BIG” thing that is expected to bring in over 10 trillion into the economy by 2030. But what is it? And what can it do for you? Join David for an explanation on machine learning and AI and the many benefits each provides. Furthermore, you will dive deeper into three areas in which machine learning and AI can be utilized to improve the quality of your software and users’ experience, such as: 1. Utilizing machine learning to identify patterns in analytics to essentially provide enhanced...

FORT Robotics
W3

Debunking the QA KPI Myths and Make KPI Great Again

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

Everyone is focused on data and metrics to make major decisions. When it comes to software quality, KPI metrics can become a myth. Sometimes it works, sometimes you miss it. KPI metrics help determine the health of the product, as well as provide guidance for continuous improvement. In this session, Lisette will share what KPI have worked based on her experiences, and discuss how you can determine what KPI will work for your organization. Key takeaways from this session include:

Determining the purpose of QA KPI for your needsAdapting the KPI Metrics to your organizational...
W4

The 10 Steps for Effective Mainframe Testing

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 11:30am to 12:30pm

It is without a doubt that DevOps has come to the mainframe. Any company that currently runs a mainframe platform is either in the process of transforming mainframe development or has already transformed their mainframe development to using DevOps. While DevOps has come to the mainframe, automated testing is still lagging. Application teams have shiny new DevOps pipelines and automation, are using tools like Git to super charge their development but are still using manual testing procedures, bad test data, and antiquated testing processes. To get to that next level of DevOps maturity,...

Highlight Inc.
W9

Implementing a Whole Team Quality Approach to Software Development in a Startup Environment

Preview
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Most startups are working within tight budgets and timelines. Getting the product working and out the door is the main goal, while quality tends to fall by the wayside. This can cause a backlog in needed testing, automation, and even added tech debt. Even when QA exists, there is often a “throw it over the wall” mentality. In order to tackle this issue early on at Highlight, we focused on a Whole Team Quality approach of software development. By looking at everything through a lens of quality, including business requirements, it has helped to ensure that we are releasing high...

W10

Delivering Quality with the Correct Strategy

Preview
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

Usually we find that clients don't include quality inside their delivery process. But what happens when the release to production is ready and suddenly things are not working as expected? Quality calls! This process should start earlier and be included within the delivery process from the very beginning; even, during the initial call with the client to understand what they expect from us. This is where quality strategy lives: from the evaluation of client's requirements/expectation, going through the team that you will work with, planning the stages where the quality shall be...

Thursday, May 4

Iterable
T1

Feature Flags - The Good, The Bad, and How to Prevent The Ugly

Preview
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 9:45am to 10:45pm

More and more companies are using feature flags to get all types of changes – new features, configuration changes, bug fixes, and experiments – into production in a safer, faster, and most importantly, a sustainable way. Software companies that shift to deploying with feature flags benefit from low risk releases, faster time to market, higher quality, and in general happier teams. Sounds great, right? But what happens when your system isn’t implemented correctly, or worse, tested properly? This session will take attendees on a journey of why teams use Progressive Delivery, and the...

Enerflo
T3

Eating the Elephant: Being the First QA

Preview
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 9:45am to 10:45am

Congratulations, you have landed a position as the first QA Engineer at an exciting new company! Now what? Between trying to adjust to a new work environment and trying to establish quality driven rituals and habits, being the first QA for a new and/or small company can be a monumental and sometimes overwhelming task. In this session, we will discuss how communication, compartmentalization, and automation can make an immediate impact for your once QA-less team. First, we will examine how the simple act of being vocal and concise about risks and concerns can go a long way towards...

Auction Edge
T5

Small QA Team Survival Strategies

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 9:45am to 10:45am

Are you and your team having trouble managing your workload? Is your Dev to QA ratio completely out of whack? Do you need help convincing management that one or two extra hands would make a difference? Amanda will draw from her experience on teams of various sizes to provide examples of how to organize the QA workload into manageable pieces without losing your sanity. She will also give advice on how to outsource to other non-QA team members that can assist with getting stories to done and avoid potential bottlenecks. We’ll also discuss ways to get developer assistance with unit and...

State of Vermont
T11

Building Something from Nothing: How Changes in the Healthcare Industry Kickstarted a Testing Revolution for Medicaid Agencies

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 11:15am to 12:15pm

Every person in the United States will, in every stage of their life, interact with the Healthcare industry. In 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a modernization act which had a ripple effect for states. The State of Vermont, along with every other state and territory, needed to begin upgrading legacy systems - systems that are 30, 40, or even 50 years old - and bring Medicaid into the future. Given that Vermont’s legacy systems have no historical documentation of as-is process flows, no future-state, no requirements, no documentation of code or set up,...

DELMIAWORKS
T13

Successfully Converting Manual Test Teams into Test Automation Engineers

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

The need to convert manual test teams into test automation engineers is in large demand in many companies. This request is most prevalent in organizations using Agile Scrum that have short sprint cycles. In implementing solutions to this demand, Andy Sidney has found two effective strategies that have worked at two different companies in the past five years. In both situations the strategies were challenged by the Scrum teams and the QA teams because it would slightly modify the Scrum process, and initially increase the workload for the QA testers until the learning curve diminished. Once...

GSPANN Technologies, Inc.
T18

Women in QA: Challenges Faced by Women at Work and How to Solve Them

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm

One of the major concerns faced by working women in technology these days is work‐life prioritization and resource management. Many women tech leaders have to make bolder decisions in life, leading to a career break or ending their professional careers early in their life due to their personal commitments towards their families. However, there can be a “best‐fit” for these women who seek support from their organizations, especially leadership and their teams. There are a lot of organizations that support women to grow and become impactful tech leaders, while also providing programs to...

EPAM Systems
T20

Ukrainian Lessons Learned: How to Build Continuous Testing and Project Management from the Trenches

Preview
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

On the 24th of February, life in Ukraine changed dramatically, and it hasn't stopped. Projects had to be delivered according to release schedules and Business Continuity Plans (BCP) had to be built in parallel with deploying shelters and evacuating teams to safe zones. Despite risk mitigation plans, the war was such a critical factor that the existing hierarchal management structure began to show inefficiency. As two Directors of Software Quality in a company with 14,000 employees in Ukraine, Maryna will share their approach to governance of software quality, release management, and...

CGI Federal, Inc
T21

Agile and Earned Value Management

Preview
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

The Agile Earned Value Management (A-EVM) approach provides effective scope variance analysis, comprehensive performance reporting, and predictability that aid in keeping the program on time and on budget. A-EVM is an adapted implementation of the traditional EVM method. In A-EVM, we use the agile framework artifacts as inputs, use traditional EVM calculations, and value delivery is expressed in traditional EVM metrics. The A-EVM approach leverages the iteration or program increment time-boxes, in place of the traditional PMI Release, to provide boundaries around a set of epics or...

State Farm Insurance Companies
T23

Transformation to an Agile Based Performance Testing Model

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

The Transformation to an Agile Based Performance Testing Model session will take attendees through an IT transformational effort from waterfall delivery to agile, and from project management to product management. This session will chronical the real-world transformational journey of a manager and a six-person horizontal capacity and performance testing team that created a new testing model that balances the performance testing needs for nearly 20 product teams. Attendees will learn how this small team was built, and the roles and skills necessary to staff this new testing model....