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Industry Practices Sessions

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 - MORNING

Managing Software Quality Throughout the Lifecycle
James Over, Software Engineering Institute

Track 1: 9:45 - 10:45

"How do you know that you've found the last defect in system test? You never find the first one." It has been more than 20 years since IBM's Dr. Harlan Mills provided this personal insight into quality management and testing. Yet, the software industry still relies heavily on testing to improve the quality of its product. Dr. Mills' message was simple, if you want a quality product out of test; you have to put a quality product into test. This presentation will address this concept introducing lifecycle quality management principles, methods, and metrics that have been proven effective on software development and enhancement projects in many domains and settings. Starting with software project planning, Jim will describe metrics and benchmarks that can be used to evaluate plans, software components, and software processes to economically manage quality throughout the lifecycle.

About the speaker...
Jim Over is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Software Engineering Process Management, Carnegie Mellon University. Jim has led SEI's TSP Initiative since its inception, transitioning the TSP into organizations in the United States and abroad. He joined the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in 1987 and has been manager of the Team Software Process Program at the SEI since 1994. Jim has more than 35 years of technical and management experience in the software engineering industry. He received an award in March 2000, from Boeing Corporation for innovation and leadership in software process improvement. Jim is the co-author of several SEI publications on software process definition and improvement.

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Testing in the Enterprise Using Scrum
Robert Galen, RGCG, LLC

Track 2: 9:45 - 10:45

Scrum has become one of the most used Agile Methodologies for scaling agility toward larger projects and teams with its hierarchical Scrum-of-Scrums model. However, there are challenges within the approach. One of the more critical problems is guiding the testing effort as project size and complexity increases, particularly for enterprise level projects. In this presentation, Bob will show you how to face some of these scaled testing challenges including handling legacy and non-green field projects, managing distributed testing, integration testing of large-scale systems, coordinating with multiple product owners, and successfully marrying traditional testing expectations and techniques with those of the agile teams. Additionally, you'll explore strategies for traditional testers to successfully integrate their skills and experience into their agile teams to make a high quality impact.

About the speaker...
Bob Galen is an agile methodologist, practitioner, and coach who helps to guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards Scrum and other agile practices. He is currently the Director of R&D and Agile Coach at iContact, an email marketing SaaS provider. He is also President and Principal Consultant for RGCG, LLC. Bob has over 25 years of experience working in a wide variety of companies. He is a Certified Scrum Master Practicing (CSP), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance. Is the author of several books including Scrum Product Ownership – Balancing Value from the Inside Out.

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Reusable Test Designs: Leverage Your Test Case Effort
Robin F. Goldsmith, JD, Go Pro Management, Inc.

Track 3: 9:45 - 10:45

Would you like to be an instant testing expert, able to start testing effectively in new situations without delay? And would you like to spend more of your time running tests and less of your time creating the tests? Reusable test designs are a little-known but powerful test planning/design tool that make it possible for you to run more effective test cases in less time. This presentation shows you how to apply a systematic structured Proactive approach that first enables you to design much more thorough tests than traditional methods. Then, you'll discover how to convert your test designs into reusable test designs that you can apply instantly in new situations. You'll develop several reusable test designs and be ready to add more to your toolkit back on the job.

About the speaker...
Robin F. Goldsmith, JD is President of Go Pro Management, Inc., consultancy. He works directly with business and systems professionals in requirements, quality and testing, metrics, ROI, software acquisition, and project and process management. Previously, he has held development, quality, and lead roles with the City of Cleveland, leading financial institutions, and a "Big 4" consulting firm. A member of the IEEE Software Test Documentation Std. 829-2008 Revision Committee, IIBA BABOK subject expert and reviewer, and formerly International Vice President of the Association for Systems Management, and Executive Editor of the Journal of Systems Management, Robin is the author of the Proactive Testing™ methodology and the recent book, Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success.

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Agile Estimation Using Functional Metrics
Thomas Cagley, David Consulting Group

Track 4: 9:45 - 10:45

Estimation is a lightning rod for conflicts between agile and process driven methodologies. However, times are changing and agile is maturing. Part of the process of maturation is the incorporation of best practices from other methods and frameworks. In this presentation, Tom will explain how functional metrics allow you to incorporate additional process discipline into the estimation processes typically used by agile teams. Join Tom and review current approaches to agile estimation, learn an approach to incorporate functional metrics into agile estimation, and understand why process discipline in estimation is important to gauge improvement. This process can be used to estimate whole projects or specific components.

About the speaker...
Tom Cagley leads DCG's Software Process Improvement and Software Measurement Consulting Practices. He has over 20 years of experience in the software industry. Tom has held technical and managerial positions in different industries as a leader in software methods and metrics, quality assurance, and systems analysis. He is a frequent speaker at metrics, quality, and project management conferences. His areas of expertise encompass methods and metrics, quality integration, quality assurance, and the application of the SEI's CMMI® to achieve process improvements. Tom is the current President of the International Function Point Users Group. He also is an active blogger and podcaster, hosting and editing the Software Process and Measurement Cast.

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Regression Testing Regresses
Christopher Manuel, Wipro

Track 5: 9:45 - 10:45

As organizations aspire to enter the world of the cloud in addition to embarking upon virtualization, all the while remaining rooted in their "alive-and-well" legacy technology, new models of support and maintenance are emerging. This is creating the need for new regression testing models, frameworks and processes that address the challenges around maintenance and reusability, better application of test automation, and more mature metrics to measure success. In this presentation, Christopher will focus on the challenges that organizations face both in defining the right regression testing strategy and implementing that strategy without impacting their ongoing release schedules. He will discuss best practices around strategy and tactical implementation as well as the newest regression testing methods that organizations are employing along with creative measures to gauge success. The evolution in test automation tool sets that support regression testing will also be covered. Finally, Christopher will review a case study of an organization that has managed to actively adapt their regression test strategy to better support their technical transformation.

About the speaker...
Christopher Manuel is Senior Practice Manager for Wipro Testing Services. Prior to taking up this role, he was an Application & Integration Services Director for Fujitsu. Christopher was responsible for sales, solution development, mentoring practitioners and cultivating client relationships. Chris also established and led Fujitsu's Quality Assurance & Testing practice, taking it from its infancy to a solid service line and revenue generator for Fujitsu. He has started and managed many large and complex testing engagements with special focuses on ERP testing as well as the establishment of centralized testing CoE's, leveraging both the onshore and offshore model.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 - AFTERNOON

Optimizing Your Testing Center of Excellence
James Campbell, Tulkita Technologies

Track 1: 1:00 - 2:00

Testing Centers of Excellence are becoming more and more common today. However, do you know how to take your TCoE from average to world-class? In this session, James will discuss the winning formula for taking your TCoE to the next level. Understand how to sell and grow an enterprise TCoE. To "up your game," it is important to remain relevant to the business and show ongoing value and efficiency savings. Learn to examine the business aspects related to running a TCoE and how to best optimize operations. James will discuss the value levers and cost savings that can be measured by the TCoE. He will talk about the 'extra' non-testing activities required to be implemented to motivate staff, and empower rapid growth and maturity. Finally, he will reveal how to remain competitive and relevant to the organization to meet changing business priorities.

About the speaker...
James Campbell has architected and designed over 45 unique TCoEs across the globe. He has completed testing strategies and roadmaps for over 120 organizations and has overseen the successful implementation of over 20 large-scale testing engagements. James previously launched and managed a North American Testing Centre of Excellence for a large global management consulting and technology company. Currently, James is the Director of Strategic Sourcing at Ontario Teachers Pension Plan where he is an industry expert in sourcing and offshore delivery, including testing. James also is the founder and executive director of Tulkita Technologies Inc., a specialized services company focused on the strategy and effectiveness of Quality Assurance. Tulkita provides its customers with specialized solutions in Test Strategy & Planning, Optimization and Training.

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Let Go of the Reins: Management in an Agile Organization
Selena Delesie, Delesie Solutions

Track 2: 1:00 - 2:00

Your organization has gone agile, and you are a test manager. You'll find that there is little, if any, information about how a test manager fits into an agile organization. Some people may even tell you that your role is obsolete! The good news is that a truly agile, empowered, self-directed, collaborative, and silo-eradicated organization takes a long time to form, which means that many agile organizations benefit in having managers as they evolve. To thrive as an agile manager though, your role and responsibilities need to change as the organization does. You must learn to be a coach, removing obstacles and promoting communication. Attend this session to learn how to develop as your organization goes agile and how to ensure you consistently add value for your company. You will leave with insights, techniques, and approaches you can readily apply when you return to work, so that you thrive as an agile manager.

About the speaker...
Selena Delesie is a consulting software tester and agile coach, the owner of Delesie Solutions. Selena has been managing and coaching on software, testing, and agile practices for a range of leading-edge technologies for 10 years. She facilitates the evolution of good teams and organizations into great ones using individualized and team-based coaching and interactive training experiences. Selena is an active speaker, participant, and leader in numerous industry-related associations and conferences. Selena is a published author and writes her own blog.

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Modernizing QA: The Relentless Pursuit of Business Alignment
Pete DuPré, Micro Focus

Track 3: 1:00 - 2:00

Your business is built on software. It is critical that you deliver. The reality is, however, that 68% of software projects struggle. They are late, over-budget, or result in missed expectations. Sadly, 40% of development effort spend is typically wasted on rework. Why is this tolerated? Quality practices are partly to blame. Business expectations are often overlooked, resulting in development and test plans that are out of alignment with business needs. Change is often poorly managed, impeding your business agility. Testing comes late in the lifecycle; often vital tests are sacrificed in the rush to go live. The net effect is that millions of dollars are wasted developing software that's simply not fit. It's time to move beyond this outdated practice. Join us as we discuss emerging concepts and benefits of a modernized QA approach managing quality from the inception of the project, instead of at the end of the lifecycle.

About the speaker...
Pete DuPré has 23 years of experience in applications development and in management of software and systems. Pete holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering. In a career distinguished by rapid advancement, he has created complex technical solutions, managed worldwide development organizations, and is a former CIO of a Fortune 100 company. Well acquainted with international business, Pete has developed relationships and built organizations throughout Asia, South America, North America, and Europe. His speaking engagements have included multiple industry events worldwide, including many Gartner Symposiums and PMI events.

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Managing with Metrics: The Saga of a Test Effort
Shaun Bradshaw, Zenergy Technologies

Track 4: 1:00 - 2:00

Some consider test metrics a thorn in the side of software development and testing, but when used properly, they provide valuable insights into what occurs during projects and what strategic and tactical adjustments must be made on a daily basis. This presentation describes how a small set of test metrics were used to successfully manage a major test acceptance effort at the conclusion of a two and half year ERP implementation. Attendees will learn how key metrics drove test management decisions and how these same metrics can benefit their organizations. In relaying the story, Shaun will lead a discussion of the background, planning, effort, and results, all from the point of view of what the metrics revealed and how the management of the entire project effort was altered as a result.

About the speaker...
Shaun Bradshaw has spent the last 14 years working with a variety of clients to improve their QA and test processes by advising, teaching, and mentoring them on the use of effective testing and test management techniques. He is the co-author, editor, and trainer of a suite of methodologies covering testing, test management, and test metrics. Shaun speaks at many of the major industry conferences and is well-known for his presentations on test metrics, the S-Curve, and the Zero Bug Bounce. Shaun is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems.

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Performance Engineering: Strategy, and Delivery
Shekhar Bhole, Scalar USA, Inc.

Track 5: 1:00 - 2:00

With complex environments and distributed system structures it is very difficult to proactively predict and diagnose performance issues. Most organizations purchase performance tools with an understanding that they will pinpoint all the potential problems. But, in reality, a performance tool is just a medium to push the desired load. The real solution to this problem is the strategy and processes surrounding the area of performance. In his presentation, Shekhar will provide information on how performance testing should be driven to achieve maximum maturity and ROI in shortest amount of time. He will explain a step by step approach for organizations to adapt performance methodology and toolsets, and to standardize and improve their existing performance strategy and delivery. Finally, Shekhar will discuss how the development of centralized expertise in an organization can save money by managing performance initiatives in a truly cost effective manner.

About the speaker...
Shekhar Bhole is Chief Technology Officer at Scalar USA. He is an innovative, result-driven, QA practitioner with over 15 years of professional experience in the IT industry. Shekhar is responsible for managing QA automation projects across e-Business, ERP, and legacy applications nationwide. He is certified in HP Software Applications Solutions and has helped to establish Center of Excellence (CoE) test organizations for many clients nationwide.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 7 - MORNING

It's the People It's Always the People
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.

Track 1: 9:45 - 10:45

Why do we insist on calling people "resources?" If software projects were a factory, people would be fungible, interchangeable resources just like desks and computers. But software is creative work. That means we need to manage people as if they are human, not as tasks or resources. Join Johanna and learn how to find the right people by recognizing candidates who fit your culture. Understand how to hire using team consensus and how to prevent one person from holding your hiring process hostage. Johanna will explain what makes a team great, interpersonal skills. Great managers model those skills and value them by rewarding people who use those skills to help the team succeed. Explore how to empower the team, including protecting it from bad influences, making sure the team has what they need, and helping people learn to be accountable to each other, not to their manager. People, working in teams, make projects succeed. Learn how you can help them.

About the speaker...
With over 30 years of experience in software and hardware product development, Johanna Rothman helps managers and leaders solve problems and seize opportunities. She consults, speaks, and writes on managing high-technology product development. She enables managers, teams, and organizations to become more effective by applying her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project, risk, and people management. Johanna publishes The Pragmatic Manager, a monthly email newsletter and podcast, and writes two blogs. She is the author of several books and a host and session leader at the Amplifying Your Effectiveness Conference.

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Top 25 Most Dangerous Application Security Weaknesses
Robert Martin, MITRE Corporation

Track 2: 9:45 - 10:45

Robert's talk will focus on the 2010 update to the SANS/CWE list of the Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Errors, which is the "minimal due-care standard" for developing secure applications in many large enterprises. It is used by the State of New York and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation to mandate what application security must be addressed in procurement contracts. The Top 25 CWE list can and should be a basis for creating automated tests and testing tools. Common themes in each of the 25 errors can be used to craft lessons to apply to future development activities. Applying techniques mentioned throughout the 25 issues can aid development and testing teams to create more secure software and reduce downstream effects on companies and customers alike. No matter your project role, your mandate is clear, safeguard your applications and make sure your team has avoided the Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Errors.

About the speaker...
Robert Martin is a Principal Engineer at MITRE, a company that works in partnership with the government to address issues of critical national importance. For the past 18 years, Robert's efforts have focused on the interplay of risk management, cyber security, and quality assessment. The majority of this time has been spent working on the CVE, OVAL, CAPEC and CWE security standards initiatives in addition to basic quality measurement and management. Robert is a frequent speaker on the various security and quality issues surrounding information technology systems and has published numerous papers on these topics. Robert holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, and an MBA from Babson College.

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Transforming Outsourcing Relationships
Yann Gloaquen, SQS Group

Track 3: 9:45 - 10:45

When testing functions are outsourced, the various partners and stakeholders often perceive success differently. Typically, the outsource provider believes its performance is good, testers in the development organization are ambivalent, and the parent business is unhappy. In this presentation, Yann will discuss common engagement challenges often resulting from inadequate governance models where measurements drive unwanted behavior. He will cover ways of turning around such engagements, creating value generating partnerships for all stakeholders. Yann will explain how to set up governance models to ensure no gaps between expected and actual service levels and outcomes. Finally, he will outline what is shaping up to be the next generation of governance model as outsourcing matures and organizations seek innovation and value-add from their outsourcing partner.

About the speaker...
Yann Gloaquen's primary responsibilities within SQS are setting and governing global delivery policies for The United Kingdom, Ireland, Northern Europe, India, and Africa. Additionally, he heads the Test Automation Practice for the region. Before SQS, Yann held presales and consulting positions at Mercury and Hewlett-Packard. Yann has always placed great emphasis on being client-facing, innovative yet pragmatic, and on creating attractive and profitable consultancy services. In the last two years, he has focused on developing Managed Testing Services, a strategic realignment toward larger longer-term contracts serviced from SQS' low-cost locations which currently include Egypt, India, South Africa, and Eastern Germany.

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Best Practices for Testing Mobile Applications
Mike Ennis, Accenture

Track 4: 9:45 - 10:45

With the emergence of the smart phone mobile application era, a whole new set of challenges are converging on existing test teams. Along with access to unlimited information comes a dilemma in determining how best to test the thousands of applications across the many devices, networks, carriers, and languages they support. In this presentation, Mike will guide you to an understanding of the key methods for tackling this issue. You will learn the major differences between testing mobile applications versus web applications and why mobile testing is so challenging. You will leave this session with important techniques for customizing your own mobile testing strategy.

About the speaker...
Mike Ennis is a Senior Manager in Accenture's Technology practice specializing in planning and executing testing efforts. Mike has deep technology and testing background and has led numerous test teams both on and off-shore. Additionally, Mike has conducted test assessments, created process improvement initiatives, test strategies, test plans and has led execution efforts at various clients such as IBM, BMC Software, and Intuit. He has over 20 years of experience with all phases of testing. Mike is a Certified Software Testing Engineer, Certified Software Quality Analyst, a Certified Foundation Level Tester as well a respected speaker, mentor and coach. Mike also drives Accenture's Global Testing & Certification Program.

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Gaining Control of Your Test Data
Stephanie Chace, Meridian Technologies

Track 5: 9:45 - 10:45

As a software testing professional, developing and managing your test data as soon as possible within your project lifecycle will improve the quality of your product and lower the cost of producing that product. Why? Well managed and effective test data will ensure you overcome failures and setbacks caused by data that is ineffective for your testing. Join Stephanie as she uses real world project examples to show you the impact of poor data choices. She will review the fundamental issues affecting the ability to make good data choices and help you understand how to choose the right data in the right amounts ensuring robust coverage. She will address data integrity issues and discuss how to handle test data complexity including how to create and maintain effective data. Finally, she will cover automation of the test data management process.

About the speakers...
Stephanie Chace has worked in the software and technology industry for 23 years and has accumulated a wide range of experience in hardware manufacturing, software development, quality assurance, research, and data modeling. She has had the opportunity to work in many different roles, including hands on software, hardware, and infrastructure development with over six years focused on people, process, and program management. Her experience spans a number of industry sectors including defense and finance and companies from small to mega in size. For the past 12 years, Stephanie's focus has been developing and leading teams responsible for test automation, automation infrastructure, and quality best practice.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 7 - AFTERNOON

Making a Difference as a Change Agent
Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, PhD, Advantage Leadership, Inc.

Track 1: 1:00 - 2:00

Most attempts at organizational change fail since the old culture is so strong that it generally overcomes the new initiative. Not to mention that the very thought of adding the burden of change is often just too much…it's the last straw. Often the change agent, the person trying to drive or facilitate the change, gets 'destroyed' in the process. These results are not inevitable, however. There are some proven, practical practices you can apply whether trying to change a process or move some portion of the organization in a different direction. Learn successful techniques, deadly sins, and how to avoid making classic mistakes. Learn to take a strategic, rather than tactical, approach to change as you develop and deploy a plan. Learn why introspection, changing yourself, and a little bit of humor are key ingredients to getting change to overcome the odds and stick. Walk away with the resources you need to make a difference.

About the speaker...
As President of Advantage Leadership, Inc., Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, Ph.D., CSQA, works with companies to improve the quality and productivity of software-related efforts. She helps IT organizations assess the current situation and create strategic plans to engineer successful processes, establish business-oriented measurement, and improve bottom-line results. She works with both technical and managerial staff to discover hidden costs and demonstrate ROI. Rebecca has successfully established three QA organizations; she has an international client base, and is the author of books on improving software quality and strategic planning including Get Great Requirements, The Hard Job of Making Software Work: Building the QA Function Step-by-Step, Success Planning: A 'How-To' Guide for Strategic Planning, and Conventional Wisdom: How Today's Leaders Plan, Perform, and Progress Like the Founding Fathers.

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As Requirements Go, So Goes the Project
Charlene Gross, Software Engineering Institute

Track 2: 1:00 - 2:00

Nowhere is the opportunity greater or the cost of a project more likely to be impacted than at the beginning, when requirements are gathered, refined, and translated into specifications. This area is well-recognized as the point at which costly and damaging defects are introduced. Unfortunately, when the subject of requirements arises, it is usually met with a shrug and some statement to the effect that requirements are always a problem. This session attacks the giant shrug in three ways: through discussion of facts and figures that can "sell" the need for better requirements formulation, through a mapping of classical requirements categories to CMMI terms for a better understanding of how CMMI applies, and through a discussion of the important elements of sound requirements engineering. Charlene will also discuss the rights of the customer and the analyst gathering the requirements.

About the speaker...
Charlene Gross is a senior member of the technical staff at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute. Her primary work assignment is in the Acquisition Support Program, with focus on the US Army. She is an authorized instructor for CMMI and is certified to teach Implementing Goal Driven Measurement. Charlene has over 30 years of experience in both commercial and government environments. Her roles have included director, program and project manager, consultant, and business analyst. Most recently, she has edited a publication entitled "Incorporating Software Requirements into the System RFP: Survey of RFP Language for Software by Topic, v. 2.0."

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Incorporating Unit Level Automation with Traditional Regression Testing
David Dang, Zenergy Technologies

Track 3: 1:00 - 2:00

Quality assurance groups have recognized the need to implement regression test automation to effectively and efficiently test applications. Most of the test automation tools used by QA are full-feature tools that require licensing fees. On the other hand, development groups need a lightweight test automation tool to help them expedite unit testing. Most of these lightweight test automation tools come with their own programming language or are open-source. Meeting both these needs with an integrated solution will provide benefits to both groups. The challenge then is to identify solutions to bridge test automation between the needs of the development group and the QA group. In his presentation, David will address two potential solutions to this problem.

About the speaker...
David Dang is an IT professional with over 15 years of experience focusing on test automation and QA/test process improvement. He has extensive experience in test automation, management, planning, analysis, execution, and metrics. David has proven ability to assess, design, and implement test automation frameworks having worked with over 100 companies to assist and drive their test automation and QA projects. David is a HP Certified Instructor (CI) for QuickTest Professional, WinRunner, and QualityCenter. He is a featured speaker on test automation and related topics at local and national QA and Testing conferences. David received his BS in Management Information Systems and BA in Psychology from the University of Buffalo.

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Top 10 Tech Trends: How They are Altering the Testing Landscape
Doron Reuveni, uTest

Track 4: 1:00 - 2:00

New and emerging technologies like mobile apps, 4G, cloud computing, HTML5, and NoSQL are making big headlines. These technological innovations are allowing sensitive data to be accessed through the web and on mobile devices more than ever before. With so much critical data flowing to smartphones and tablets, there is immense pressure to ensure that apps are reliable, scalable, private, and secure. This evolution, or in some cases, revolution of technologies and user behavior dramatically impacts those who are responsible for developing and testing applications. The ways web and mobile apps are designed, developed and delivered are changing dramatically, and therefore the ways these apps are being tested are being taxed and stretched to the breaking point. Using real-world examples, Doron Reuveni identifies the top ten technology trends that have transformed the software industry and outlines what these new technologies mean for web and mobile testers.

About the speaker...
Doron Reuveni, co-founded uTest in February, 2007. Since its inception, uTest has provided functional and load testing services through a community that includes more than 30,000 professional testers from 165 countries around the globe. He is a published author and expert in testing methodologies for web, desktop, and mobile applications. Prior to uTest, Doron was the Senior Vice President of Technology at Enigma, Inc., delivering large-scale software implementations through his global team of product managers, developers, QA professionals, and project managers. He has more than 20 years of experience delivering software applications to Fortune 500 companies as well as young, agile startups.

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Integrating Exploratory Testing with Discipline Testing
Tim Korson, PhD, Qualsys Solutions

Track 5: 1:00 - 2:00

Traditional approaches to testing are organized around the distinct phases of test planning, test design, and test execution performed as sequential activities. Exploratory testing is the interleaving of test planning, test design, and test execution in real time taking learning into account. In exploratory testing, the results of one test case often influence the design of the next test case. Exploratory testing is designed to minimize overhead spent on detailed test planning and design so as to maximize the time that responsible, intelligent, well trained, and engaged test professionals spend actually testing a system. However, exploratory testing is not ad hoc. A set of exploratory tests can be planned and designed. Coverage data can be reported. Join Tim and see how projects are best served by an appropriate blend of scripted and exploratory testing, as well as by having the right mix of manual and automated testing.

About the speaker...
Timothy Korson, PhD has over a decade of significant experience working on a large variety of systems developed using modern software engineering techniques. This experience includes distributed, real time, embedded systems as well as business information systems in an n-tier, client-server environment. Tim's typical involvement on a project is to ensure high quality, robust test and quality assurance processes and practices. Tim has authored numerous articles, and co-authored the book Object Technology Centers of Excellence. He has given frequent invited lectures at major international conferences and has contributed to the discipline through original research. He has helped design and taught in a Master of Software Engineering program and serves as an international industry consultant.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 8 - EARLY MORNING

The Application of Lean IT Principles to Testing
Phil Ruth and Michael Van Boven, Deloitte Consulting, LLP

Track 1: 9:45 - 10:45

Organizations today are rapidly changing their project delivery models, focusing on increasing speed to market to manage regulatory changes as well as to support new products and services. This has necessitated the need for a refined thinking of IT deployments and has resulted in Lean IT, a concept centered on improving efficiencies and reducing waste within IT organizations and processes. This session will examine how Lean IT is being applied in different industries. Phil and Michael will focus particularly on the application of Lean IT principles to testing including testing early, risk based testing, metrics and management, tools and automation, and focusing on the primary value stream. They will walk you through leading practices in Lean IT testing, the mindset shift required, and a real life case study of Lean IT.

About the speakers...
Phil Ruth is a director in Deloitte's Technology Integration Practice and leads the Functional and Test Capability for Deloitte's Technology Practice. He has over fifteen years of IT delivery leadership experience focused on large scale systems implementation including strategic planning, enterprise architecture and application development services, electronic commerce, multi-channel enterprise services, and end-to-end testing. Phil has experience across health care/ life sciences, communications/media, and public sector industries.

Michael Van Boven is a Senior Manager in Deloitte's Technology Practice and has over nine years of experience in managing large, complex system integration engagements and over six years of testing focused experience.Michael's testing experience includes conducting testing assessments, designing test strategies, managing end to end complex test program efforts, and establishing comprehensive Testing Centers of Excellence (COE) for large clients in the telecommunications/media, financial services, and utilities industries.Outside of current client and project delivery commitments, Michael is also serving as the operational lead for Deloitte's Global Testing Practice.

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Tackling Agile Testing with Global and Distributed Teams
Darshan Dave, Syntel, Inc.

Track 2: 9:45 - 10:45

Agile methodologies are popular as they promise a faster life cycle and product realization. Testing in an agile environment is a challenging task, however, and adapting traditional methodologies and approaches to agile processes is not easy. One of the most important keys to success of any agile project is close collaboration between functional teams. This is especially true for testing teams as they are required to be embedded tightly into the scrum cycles. Darshan's presentation will discuss well defined test protocols and procedures that closely integrate testing within agile cycles and provide the flexibility of engaging virtual and global teams. He will also discuss changing roles, responsibilities, communication models, process, and operating framework for testing within an agile world. From this talk, you will gain a clear understanding of testing techniques required for different agile methods and be able to create a framework for successfully tackling agile testing projects with global teams.

About the speaker...
Darshan Dave is a Practice Director for testing services at a leading global technology services organization. He is an accomplished testing practitioner with over 16 years of industry experience specializing in setting-up and managing testing business units, centers of excellence and competency centers. He has global experience having worked in The United Kingdom, The United States, and Continental Europe on a variety of initiatives including governing and managing testing services and evolving innovative testing models and strategies. He has rich cross domain experience in the financial services, insurance, health care, travel, and logistics industries. Darshan holds a degree in Engineering.

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Virtuology: Testing in a Time Machine
Yaron Kottler, QualiTest

Track 3: 9:45 - 10:45

What if you could go back in time to the exact moment when a bug occurred? Or, even better, just before it occurred, yet empowered with the knowledge that the bug exists and the ability to continue testing different scenarios. This presentation is not about the known efficiencies virtualization and cloud computing bring to QA and testing. It is about "Virtuology" - using virtualization tools & methodologies to transform the way we test. Recent advances in virtualization technology have created the ability to record and replay complete testing sessions. This includes everything from OS and application conditions to network traffic and the actual lines of code leading to those hard to reproduce bugs. You now have a time machine that enables testers and developers to see precisely what went wrong with the software, including the ability to rewind, pause, and fast forward. Regardless the testing methodologies you practice, virtuology can significantly improve your testing process.

About the speaker...
Yaron Kottler is CEO & QA Specialist at the QualiTest Group. He has over ten years of experience in the QA and testing industry holding technology, business development and management positions. Yaron has a strong international background with a proven track record in identifying and penetrating new markets, establishing new business operations, management of subsidiaries, business units and major projects. He is a frequent speaker and instructor at testing conferences as well as training sessions on subjects including testing methodologies, load & performance testing, and test automation.

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Software Quality Assurance: A Critical Look at the State of the Art
Steve Rakitin, Software Quality Consulting, Inc.

Track 4: 9:45 - 10:45

Software Quality Assurance, as a profession, has been in existence for about 50 years. In this talk, Steve will look back at the history and evolution of the profession over the past five decades. You'll see how SQA was born from the concept of Independent Verification and Validation. Steve will discuss some examples of software quality issues first raised at the 1968 NATO Software Engineering Conference where the term "software engineering" was coined. Oddly enough, companies today, some 40 years later, are struggling with some of the same quality concerns raised back in 1968. Then, Steve will look ahead to the future to see how the profession is likely to change and what these changes may mean to those of us who are SQA practitioners. You'll hear about methods such as assurance cases, virtual test labs, and other cutting edge SQA techniques that will add more value to the work SQA professionals perform now and into the future.

About the speaker...
Steve Rakitin has over 30 years of experience as a software engineer and software quality manager. He frequently speaks on topics related to software development and software quality at conferences worldwide. He's published several papers on the subject of software quality and a written a book titled Software Verification & Validation for Practitioners and Managers. As President of Software Quality Consulting, Inc., he works with clients who are interested in improving the predictability of their development processes and the quality of their products.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 8 - LATE MORNING

Improving Business Results with CMMI for Services and Development
Eileen Forrester, Software Engineering Institute

Track 1: 11:00 - 12:00

Both the CMMI for Services and the CMMI for Development are reference models for process improvement meant to enhance the business performance of organizations. CMMI-SVC is the newer model and, in early use, is producing promising results reported as increased income and capacity to deliver. Among the surprises in CMMI-SVC is its use in development settings. CMMI-DEV has a longer history and recent data shows the quality and business results that capable organizations get, such as defect reduction, on-time performance, and decreased costs. Many organizations perform both development and service missions, and these two modes together cover the entire mission landscape. With the new versions of both models published in October of 2010, ties among business goals, performance, and process improvement are even stronger. In this session, the lead author of CMMI-SVC will overview both models, compare them, describe the quality results already achieved by some organizations, and discuss best practices to accelerate improvement.

About the speaker...
Eileen Forrester is the manager of the CMMI for Services program at the Software Engineering Institute and the lead author of the Addison Wesley book, CMMI for Services, Guidelines for Superior Service. She was the co-chair of the International Process Research Consortium and the editor of the IPRC Process Research Framework. Eileen is the developer of TransPlant, a transition-planning process, and her current research area is in process-oriented approaches to service delivery, technology change, risk management, and emergent system types. She has more than 35 years of experience in teaching, technology transition, strategic planning, process improvement, research, communication planning, and managing product, service, and non-profit organizations.

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Testing as a Service: Tomorrow’s Answer to the Quality & Flexibility Challenge
Christopher Duro, Cognizant

Track 2: 11:00 - 12:00

As business agility becomes more of a predictor of an organization’s success, the way the quality is delivered has to adapt to the faster pace. Applications today are rendered to run on a multiplicity of new platforms, such as mobile and virtual environments. Validating functional and non-functional aspects of these applications on a wide range of devices requires a variety of tools, which makes testing more complex and costly. Testing as a Service (TaaS), a new cloud-based delivery model, can help businesses address these challenges more effectively. With the TaaS model, businesses can test their applications on any desired platform and while using their testing tool of choice, thus ensuring higher levels of software quality without having to license the software, procure or provision new hardware and hire people. TaaS is governed by principles of service componentization and managed service delivery and thus offers the highest levels of flexibility and cost optimization.  In this session you will explore ways to create an on-demand virtual testing platform.

About the speaker...
Chris Duro is a Principal in Cognizant’s Process and Quality Consulting practice.  He has extensive experience in IT strategy, organizational change, and business process reengineering.  On Wall Street he worked as a management consultant for BusinessEdge (now EMC) and for Valtech as an agile testing coach.  At Cognizant, Chris and his team work as Requirements and Test Architects, helping highly complex projects become more agile through improved requirements, automation, environments, and knowledge management.  An expert in full lifecycle quality and SQA process, his broad industry experience includes banking, insurance, health care, life sciences, utilities, media, communications, and education.

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Parallel Data Testing: The Next Frontier of Quality Assurance
Daniel Dopp, Infogix

Track 3: 11:00 - 12:00

Several methods exist for functional and performance testing (F&PT) of software systems and processes. However, fewer options are available to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of the data itself. Unlike F&PT, data testing cannot be performed prior to the data conversion or movement. Post conversion data testing is costly due to the time and effort it takes to correct an issue and retest new results. Therefore, Parallel Data Testing (PDT) is the most efficient and effective approach to ensure quality. This presentation will cover PDT concepts and framework, common PDT controls in addition to a case study where you can participate in a facilitated discussion of the appropriate PDT required for the case.

About the speakers...
Daniel Dopp is a thought leader in the emerging information integrity space and has assisted numerous Fortune 500 enterprises in developing and implementing strategies to ensure integrity of data testing through the implementation of information controls. He specializes in assessing information risks and performing cost benefit analysis. In his current role, Dan is responsible for market awareness of automated independent controls to prevent and detect information errors. Before Infogix, Dan held positions at Zurich American Insurance, SunGuard Investment Systems, and The Northern Trust Company. Dan earned BS.in Finance from Illinois State University and an MBA from DePaul University.

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A Practical Approach to Determining Application Deployment Readiness
Peter Varhol, Seapine Software

Track 4: 11:00 - 12:00

When do you ship an application under development? The question seems simple; you ship it when it's complete. But, that begs the question of what it means to be complete. There are many possible definitions of complete and it is critical that teams and users agree on a definition before any work is done. However, leading up to deployment, the team may have to make difficult decisions on tradeoffs necessary to ensure the application meets users' needs. In this presentation, Peter will provide practical examples of different approaches to determining when an application is ready to ship. He will also discuss how to create objective measures of completeness and how to collect data and track progress toward that end. He will explain how testers and quality professionals should work with application stakeholders to contribute to both the definition and measurement that determines if an application is fit for its intended purpose.

About the speaker...
Peter Varhol is a technology manager and writer with extensive knowledge and experience in computer software and the management of computer products. As a technology product manager, Peter led the market-driven development strategy of several tools for professional developers. As a technology writer, editor, and manager, he has investigated and written hundreds of articles on advances in the Internet and Web, software development, embedded systems, operating systems, networking, and other technical software and hardware. As a college professor and industry speaker, Peter has explained and demonstrated fundamental and advanced techniques in computing and information systems. Peter is currently Software Quality Evangelist for Seapine Software.

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