STARWEST 2020 - General Management | TechWell

Conference archive

STARWEST Virtual+ 2020 - General Management

Customize your STARWEST 2020 experience with sessions covering general project management.

Monday, October 5

Chris_Loder
Upland InGenius
MF

System-Level Test Automation: Ensuring a Good Start

Monday, October 5, 2020 - 10:00am to 1:30pm

Many organizations invest a lot of effort in test automation at the system level but then have serious problems later on. 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 value? This tutorial covers both “theory” and “practice”. Chris Loder explains the critical issues for getting a good start and his experiences in getting good automation started at a number of companies. The tutorial covers the most important management issues you must address for test automation success...

Jennifer-Bonine
AI Appstore, Inc.
MQ

Testing Leadership IQ

Monday, October 5, 2020 - 2:00pm to 5:30pm

Have you ever needed a way to measure your testing 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 and the evolution of testing and testing leadership. Join Jennifer as she explores a set of eight dimensions of successful leaders, provides suggestions on how you can...

Tuesday, October 6

Jennifer-Bonine
AI Appstore, Inc.
TD

Testing Transformation: The Art and Science for Success

Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 10:00am to 1:30pm

Technologies, testing processes, and the role of the tester have evolved significantly in the past few years with the advent of agile, DevOps, and other new technologies. It is critical that we testing professionals evaluate ourselves and continue to add tangible value to our organizations. In your work, are you focused on the trivial or on real game changers? Jennifer Bonine describes critical elements that help you artfully blend people, process, and technology to create a synergistic relationship that adds value. Jennifer shares ideas on mastering politics, maneuvering core vs. context...

Chris_Loder
Upland InGenius
TH

Automation Framework Essentials

Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 10:00am to 1:30pm

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...

Kaushal_Dalvi
Ultimate Software
TM

Holistic Performance Testing for Modern Applications

Preview
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 2:00pm to 5:30pm

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...

Mike_Sowers
Coveros
TN

Quality and Testing Measures and Metrics

Preview
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 2:00pm to 5:30pm

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 Mike Sowers...

Tuesday, October 13

Allyson_Stuart
Refinitiv
SMT2

Staying on TRACC as a Leader

Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 1:00pm to 2:15pm

What kind of Leader are you? Do you have the Trust of those you lead? Do you coach people to achieving Results? Do you empower and give your Employees Accountability? Do you help manage and partner with your Team(s) through Conflict and do you have their Commitment? Allyson Stuart believes that great Leaders do not command and control, rather guide and coach – a philosophy she has been incorporating for over 30 years. However, the path to being able to answer yes to these questions was not always straight-forward.

Join Allyson as she facilitates this interactive discussion on the...

Adam_Auerbach
EPAM Systems
SMT3

Transforming a Testing Organization: An Exercise in Facilitation, Education and Courage

Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm

We are in a transformative wave, where companies across all industries are breaking down siloed IT departments and federating them into product 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 to stay relevant and add greater value to the business.

Join Adam Auerbach as he describes his...

Jeff Payne
Coveros
SMT4

Think Tank Discussion Part I—Problem Definitions

Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 3:45pm to 4:30pm

Join with your peers in an engaging and highly interactive session to discuss the issues that affect you most. Using answers to the question “As a Leader, What is Keeping You Up at Night?”, participants will form small groups to work on finding solutions to pressing test management issues. Discussions will review identified issues, barriers to change, and focus on innovative strategies and practical next steps. At the end of the think tank, all feedback will be collected and posted online to encourage further collaboration.

Wednesday, October 14

Jeff Payne
Coveros
SMT4

Think Tank Discussion Part II—Leadership Solutions

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 1:00pm to 2:15pm

Based upon the problem definitions developed during Part I of the Think Tank, small groups will brainstorm on how to best solve these challenges, leveraging the collective wisdom of peers and Summit speakers. Each group will designate a representative to present its results and practice delivery.

Jeff Payne
Coveros
SMT4

Think Tank Discussion Part III—Presentation of Results & Wrap-Up

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm

Small group representatives will each be given five minutes to present their leadership solutions. Summit participants will vote on which group produced the best solutions.

Thursday, October 15

Aprajita Mathur
Guardant Health
WWT1

Breaking the Glass Ceiling and our Biases

Thursday, October 15, 2020 - 1:00pm to 2:15pm

Gender bias exists not only in our workplace, but also in our personal lives. Companies and communities have been working hard to be more inclusive and diverse, yet this is a very difficult problem to solve. Why? Is it just a matter of time or can there be other factors involved? Let's take a dive into what is preventing women from progressing or reaching the top and how we can help bring the balance. To go beyond mere stereotypes, we will get familiarized with the basics of how our brain operates, how biases form, and other factors that contribute to a gender-biased system. We will work...

Dona_Sarkar
Microsoft
WWT2

How to Be a Today's Superhero (Yes, that's You) In Case You Haven't Noticed

Thursday, October 15, 2020 - 2:15pm to 3:15pm

The world has changed, so many people are out of jobs, so many people are wondering what will happen next. So many are feeling alone and like no one understands them. Instead of spending your days building your resume, let’s focus on building your legacy…the thing people remember you for. How? Join us and find out!

Jessie Shternshus
The Improv Effect
Alison Wade
TechWell Corp.
WWT3

The Year of Change!

Thursday, October 15, 2020 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm

We interrupt your regularly scheduled life to bring you 2020! A year of unprecedented unknowns and uncertainty. Many of us have faced countless challenges in our personal lives and in our careers and frankly, it is hard to not feel STUCK! In order to get unstuck, we must learn what to do to bring about personal change. How can we identify the changes we want to make and then find new ways to make those changes? Let’s talk about the steps we need to take to intentionally shift our mindset and habitual patterns that may be holding us back. Join Jessie and Alison for this interactive session...