STARWEST 2021 - Project Manager
Customize your STARWEST 2021 experience with sessions covering project management.
Tuesday, October 5
Automation Framework Essentials
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...
Quality and Testing Measures and Metrics
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...
Thursday, October 7
Conducting an Agency Accessibility Audit
Often it is up to IT to conduct an accessibility audit. Most government organizations (and private ones for that matter) are hopelessly behind in digital accessibility and vulnerable to litigation. In addition to the legal requirements to be WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 compliant, being digitally accessible is simply the right thing to do. This is our success story of conducting an organization-wide audit, establishing a baseline, conducting a gap analysis, and recommending a remediation plan, all within six months in the one of the largest agencies in Washington State government. No...
Friday, October 8
Opening Remarks
Welcoming remarks from Leadership Summit Moderator, Jeffery Payne to kick the Summit off and discuss the days agenda.
Do Not Assure Quality, Advocate for it!
As software testing professionals, we know there is never enough time for testing. There are always going to be those issues and bugs that slip through the cracks and out into production. Many times, this is because there was something that we could just not control in order to assure quality. Even if we could control everything, could we still really assure quality? Exhaustive testing is never possible for large-scale applications meaning we will always have to assume some amount of risk. As testing leaders, it's time to stop trying to assure quality and start advocating for it. Only...
Perceptive Leadership
When I was a new leader, I spent a considerable amount of time figuring out what I needed to learn to become the type of leader who created the best experiences possible for my team. Many books, articles, and speakers emphasized having empathy and high emotional intelligence. These were often described as fundamental traits you either had or didn’t have. It took years of practice and experience to fully understand not only why these skills matter for great leaders, but also how to develop them, apply them, and get better using them every day. I learned these skills (and more) were at the...
Think Tank Discussion Part I—Problem Definitions
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.
Think Tank Discussion Part II—Leadership Solutions
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.
Think Tank Discussion Part III—Presentation of Results
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.