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Concurrent Sessions
THURSDAY, NOV. 1
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Topical Tracks–Real World Experiences
The STARWEST conference program is
designed to serve the needs of software testing and quality engineering managers
and professionals. At STAR, you’ll learn about the latest strategies, ideas, and
techniques being used by leading software organizations. STAR’s unique, real-world
approach provides you with the knowledge and practical skills you need to
ultimately build and deliver better software.
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| THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 10:30 AM Go to 11:30 AM Go to 1:30 PM Go to 2:30 PM | T1 Test Management
Is Quality Negotiable? Experiences of an eXtreme Programming Tester
Lisa Crispin, BoldTech Systems
If you want a higher quality product in an eXtreme programming (XP) project, you must be prepared to pay a higher price. We make decisions and compromises based on quality versus cost every day. Extreme programming teams are driven to do their best work, but customers have the right to specify and pay for only the level of quality they require. This presentation explores ways to resolve these two potentially conflicting points of view.
• How to negotiate quality with your customer
• Ways to resolve internal versus external quality on an XP project
• The role of quality assurance in XP |
| T2 Test Techniques
Internationalizing Your QA Process
Benson Margulies, Basis Technology
PIs your company planning to release its English-language product to other countries? Companies taking their products to global markets must know how to provide first-rate quality for those products. This session provides an in-depth look at the technical and process-oriented requirements for entering global markets. Benson Margulies covers what internationalization is and what the critical considerations are when preparing for non-English QA efforts.
• Assess best methods for proactively planning internationalized QA
• Decide how to select the proper tools for implementing global QA
• Learn how to overcome language-specific testing challenges |
| T3 Test Automation
Designing Reusable Test Automation
Edward Smith, Mangosoft Incorporated
The ability to share and reuse scripts can often make the difference between the success or failure of an automated test project. Using simple design techniques, this presentation illustrates how to use framework architecture to carve up your product into bite-sized reusable operations. Edward Smith presents data on the effectiveness of this approach to automated test design. Learn how to apply framework architecture to maximize code reuse, speed development, and improve the maintainability of your automated tests.
• How to divide your product into reusable objects in shared test libraries
• How to construct a general-purpose test driver to implement a data-driven design
• Use layered design techniques to apply this approach to client/server and peer-to-peer testing |
| T4 Web/eBusiness Testing
How to Establish a Rapid QA Process for Web Development
Patricia Humphrey, Neoforma.com
The majority of Web development projects incorporate a start-up scenario that slowly evolves a small group of test engineering roles made up of people with little or no QA experience. However, once management sees that their start-up site demands professionalism to meet user and investor expectations, they begin a desperate search to assemble a competent QA department. Patricia Humphrey presents methods to rapidly launch a productive and effective QA department without adding burdensome processes that slow deployment of products and applications.
• Implement change control without devastating your delivery schedules
• Acquire techniques to stabilize the Web development cycle
• Discover tools and procedures that expedite regression test activity |
| | Double Track Session! (This track fills two time blocks.) | T5 Advanced Topics
Theory and Practice in Test Process Improvement at Barclays Bank
Kath Harrison, Barclays Bank Plc. and Martin Pol, POLTEQ IT Services B.V.
How do you obtain buy-in on a test process improvement project in an organization with nearly 2,000 developers? Attend this special double-track presentation and get the inside story of how Barclays Bank Plc. set out to improve their test process, and how they succeeded. Kath Harrison and Martin Pol discuss their first-hand experience, offer recommendations for dealing with obstacles, and put the spotlight on possible pitfalls to avoid. They also detail the method used by Barclay’s to implement best process improvement on one of its major Internet applications.
• How to develop, implement, and sustain your test process improvements
• Set the priorities for your improvement activities
• How to measure the benefits |
| | THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 11:30 AM Go to 10:30 AM Go to 1:30 PM Go to 2:30 PM | T6 Test Management
User Acceptance Testing: The Overlooked and Underplanned
Kevin Au, Experio
User acceptance testing is sometimes regarded as the red-headed stepchild of testing. Most of us tend to focus on functional and performance testing, and in doing so forget who it is we’re actually developing the application for. Kevin Au makes the case that a formal process for user acceptance testing should be instituted on almost every project. Because no matter how well developed a product is, if the user doesn’t like it, it’ll soon be shelfware.
• The principles and strategy of user acceptance testing
• Real-world experience and lessons learned from user acceptance testing
• Expected results and exit criteria |
| T7 Test Techniques
The Dangers of Use Cases Employed as Test Cases
Bernie Berger, Test Assured, Inc
Use cases can often help jump start a testing effort, but there can be serious side effects when testers rely solely on use cases as a testing guide. In fact, using use cases can foster the idea that the goal of testing is to ensure that the software works, rather than to find its defects. This is a dangerous precedent to set. This session will dispel the myths and highlight the risks of using use cases.
• Types of defects you’ll never find by following a use case
• How use cases can interact with exploratory testing
• Whether use cases can be cross-functional |
| T8 Test Automation
The Path to Universal Automated Testing
Celestina Bianco, NTE s.a.
The adoption of a universal automated testing methodology (UAT) can seem a complex and costly prospect at first glance. However, this session describes the many benefits that come with adopting such a tactic, including repeatability, reduced execution time, and relevant documentation. It seeks to prove that though definition and development takes time, in the long run it will deliver a positive return. The presenters walk participants through a “stepped solution” to universal automated testing.
• Measure automated test quality: coverage, reliability, and defect detection
• Liberate test procedures and reports from the tool
• Extract acceptance testing criteria from the automated tests |
| T9 Web/eBusiness Testing
A White Box Approach to Testing an eCommerce System
Andrew O. Mellinger, Critical Path Software
As the demand for online business and retail commerce grows, so does the eCommerce supply chain system — in complexity. Testing methods and tools lag behind implemented technologies, making quality assurance a constant challenge for eCommerce system developers. Andrew Mellinger presents critical investigation tools that can eliminate the risk of misinterpretation, or loss, of data that’s imperative to successful eCommerce systems. He offers participants solutions that have been tested in multi-gateway, transaction-based systems.
• Learn tool design methodology
• Explore testing method adaptation
• Obtain techniques for effective tool selection |
| | THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 1:30 PM Go to 10:30 AM Go to 11:30 AM Go to 2:30 PM | T10 Test Management
How to Break Out of the Same Old Routine with Retrospectives
Randy Slade, Kaiser Permanente Information Technology
In a rut with software release problems? This presentation shows you how to use the “Lessons Learned” retrospective process to keep the same old problems from recurring with every new release. Learn from your mistakes; don’t repeat them. The Lessons Learned process can be used to evaluate your test process, a completed project or phase, or any event that needs improvement.
• Find out who should be involved in a Lessons Learned session
• Set problem priorities and identify the “big hitters”
• Determine the steps required to develop and implement effective solutions to recurring problems |
| T11 Test Techniques
Software Code Inspection for Defect Prevention
Jasper Kamperman, Reasoning
Thousands of hours are spent testing, but most software professionals find that traditional testing simply isn’t enough to ensure code quality. This presentation gives software professionals a complementary approach: software inspection. Learn how software inspection differs from traditional testing, and gain an understanding of principal inspection techniques.
• Types of software defects found through code inspection techniques
• Advantages and disadvantages of the various inspection techniques
• Explore the uses of automated inspection tools and services |
| | Double Track Session! (This track fills two time blocks.) | T12 Test Automation
The Simplest Automated Unit Test Framework That Could Possibly Work
Chuck Allison, Utah Valley State College
Everyone pays lip service to the importance of unit testing, but rarely do developers actually integrate unit testing into their daily routine. In the spirit of eXtreme programming, this presentation offers a simple two-class framework for automating unit tests in three popular languages: C++, Java, and C. No GUI, no templates, just a fast and productive way of organizing and running suites of unit tests. You’ll walk away wondering how you have done without this simple technique for so long
• See how to implement automated unit testing in an object-oriented development environment
• Make the technique work for you politically and technically
• Get step-by-step illustrations in three popular programming languages: C++, Java, and C |
| T13 Web/eBusiness Testing
Testing an eCommerce Shopping Cart Site
Karen N. Johnson, Peapod, Inc.
Karen Johnson takes attendees through a shopping session that recreates a number of possible scenarios — and highlights what can go wrong. She'll also explain how to prevent defects from going live on your production Web site. From securing transactions to managing cart contents, this talk is a must for anyone involved in the eCommerce arena.
• Practical insights for testing an eCommerce site
• Identify the “parts” that make up a shopping session
• Employ regression testing by user scenarios |
| T14 Advanced Topics
Enjoying the Perks of Model-Based Testing
Ibrahim K. El-Far, Florida Institute of Technology
For certain applications, a model-based testing approach offers many advantages, including the ability to generate high volumes of non-repetitive tests, methods to evaluate test regression suites, and the computation of a number of statistical results. It’s also able to expose defects that are normally found only with complex sequences of inputs. But all this doesn’t come cheap. This presentation helps you understand the resources, training, and tools required to launch this type of testing.
• How finite state machines are used to generate model-based tests
• When to use model-based testing and the tools you’ll need
• Potential problems and how to avoid them |
| | THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 2:30 PM Go to 10:30 AM Go to 11:30 AM Go to 1:30 PM | T15 Test Management
DAST: The Diagnostic Approach to Software Testing
Hung Nguyen, LogiGear Corporation
Every test manager knows the pain of testing in a chaotic environment. The DAST (Diagnostic Approach to Software Testing) process allows you to cut through the chaos by implementing a strategic way to test products and releases, even when you don’t have good product requirements or documentation. Founded on the premise of asking systematic questions to build test cases, Hung Nguyen takes participants through the process, which ultimately leads to valid requirements, specifications, and test cases.
• Build a testing framework for reusing questions to eliminate redundant work
• Keep the focus on your team’s deliverables
• Work from an expert position regardless of process maturity, people’s capabilities, and project stability |
| T16 Test Techniques
Flight Recorders: Analyze and Fix Defects Quickly
Oliver Cole, OC Systems, Inc.
Users find 25% of your defects after your software goes live, according to a recent study. In addition to being expensive to fix, these post-ship defects often prove impossible to find due to the many potential user environments out there. Flight recorders are new tools, named after those already present on aircraft, that trace the execution of an application in or before production. Their job is to collect information while the system runs. Then, if a problem or failure occurs, you can examine the trace file and discover what operations led to the problem without actually having to recreate the problem. Attend this session to find out:
• When to use a flight recorder and how to deploy it correctly
• What types of flight recorders are available
• How to effectively implement a flight recorder |
| T17 Web/Ebusiness Testing
Learning to Test Wirelessly
Geraldine Conley, Golden-Gate Technologies, Inc.
Wireless testing is closely related to Web testing, but they are not twins. While wired Web access has settled on a handful of platforms with a few dominant operating systems, the wireless world is still a riot of platforms with a small number of operating systems and a myriad of browsers. There’s also no way to test a wireless tool directly the way you can a Web site, because the tools rely primarily on emulators. Geraldine Conley talks about these and other surprising experiences in the wireless testing arena. She also covers the testing processes most affected by wireless technology: document reviews, the change control board, and configuration management.
• Identify the testing areas that are specific to wireless
• Review design documentation developed to communicate for black box test planning
• Where wireless technology complicates the process |
| T18 Advanced Topics
Bottlenecks Exposed: The Most Frequently Found Performance Problems
Dan Downing, Mentora
Dan Downing’s experience with stress testing projects has revealed a handful of common denominators present in most Web site performance problems. These include memory starvation; a CPU-gobbling database access; improperly sized heaps, caches, and pools; poor application design; and load balancing that doesn’t balance. This presentation uses actual B2C and B2B project examples to show you a symptom-measurement-diagnostic approach to understanding, exposing, and documenting these common problems.
• Identify the top causes of Web site performance bottlenecks
• Learn about tools and techniques for identifying bottlenecks
• Understand where to look first for bottlenecks |
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