DRAFT PROGRAMME

London, 20-21 May, 2009

Next Generation Testing Conference:

Achieving Balance in an Agile World
www.unicom.co.uk/softwaretesting

Organised by:

Supported by:

EdistaTesting
INSTITUTE

Specialist Group in
Software Testing
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The testing community today, and test managers in particular, are facing
a number of new problems, such as
! Increasing complexity
! Ever- increasing demands to reduce time-to-market
! The need for testers to take on more varied roles in the organisation

With 70% of IT projects in the UK using some form of Agile

methodology, it may appear that traditional methods are losing favour –
yet there are situations where the traditional approach or a “blended”
approach, may be the right and most effective way.

The focus of this event will be how best to address the problems and
cope with changing conditions and the need to optimise every effort.

! For those seeking a top level view of the various schools of thought,
this will be the ideal forum for exchanging views, sharing experiences
and seeking guidance.

! For those who have already taken the Agile route, there will be the
opportunity to share their experiences and stories of successes – or
otherwise.

! For those who prefer and feel most comfortable with traditional
methods, and who need to test their stance against the growing tide of
Agile proponents, this will be their time to question, to demonstrate
and maybe to champion their chosen way of working.

As we learn from each other, from industry experts and from user case
studies, we will be empowered to find the right balance in order to
achieve success in testing projects – agile, traditional, or blended.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The Conference targets testing practitioners, in

particular test managers and test team leaders;
software developers, software testers, project
managers, software customers and users.
TESTING CONFERENCE DRAFT PROGRAMME
Chairperson’s Introduction & Welcome
DAY 1
Keynote 1 - ISO 29119 – The New International Software
Testing Standard Keynote 2 - How to Evaluate if Requirements
Stuart Reid, CTO, Testing Solutions Group; Chair of the BCS
Specifications are good enough for Testing: The Agile
Specialist Group in Software Testing Inspection Measurement Process and Numeric Exit
! Introduction to the new international software testing standard;
! The content of the new standard: testing concepts, test process,
documentation & techniques;
! How you can use ISO 29119 in your organization;
! Learn how you can contribute to the development of the standard;
! Next steps in progress of the standard.
Becoming Agile - Reshaping Testing for an Agile
Team
James Lyndsay Workroom Productions Ltd.
It is hard to find a practical approach that allows a professional tester
to achieve their full potential in an agile environment. Typical agile
practices have characteristic effects on the work of a tester - and the
expectations of experienced testers can be at odds with those of
other experienced members in an agile team. How can a tester fit into
an agile team and offer the best of his or her skills and insight? How
does one make - or become - an 'agile tester'?
Using real-life examples, this talk attempts to give a flavour of what it
is like to bring a test perspective into an agile project - and what it is
like to be on an agile project that has a sudden need for testing skills.
The talk will help testers recognise where they are bringing friction to
an agile environment, help agile team members recognise where they
may be incurring a 'testing debt' and identifies ways that testers can
facilitate learning and bring value to an agile project.
Hearing the Voice of the Customer
Wayne Mallinson, Test and Data Services (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
This presentation introduces an important Lean concept, ‘Hearing the
voice of the customer’, for testing in Agile and more traditional
contexts.
! A specific technique used in Lean, is introduced to help hear and
process the voice of the customer, namely Software Quality
Function Deployment (SQFD).
! A brief history of SQFD is outlined.
! A general IT example of the SQFD technique is used for illustration.
! Specific test-use examples are then provided to encourage the
audience to look deeper into the method.
! The ‘fit’ of SQFD in both Agile and more traditional environments is
suggested.
! The learning is summarised and concluding points are presented.
Agile Testing Best Practices: The good, the bad and
the ugly
John Watkins IBM Software Group
This presentation reports on the analysis of 30 real-world agile testing
projects. It will provide guidance on those practices that have been
found to be successful; those that may need to be used with caution,
and those whose use may need to be challenged.
The conclusion of the presentations will provide pragmatic guidance on
which best practices to employ in projects of different sizes and
complexities, including off-site and off-shore projects.
Platform Transformation Testing – A case study from
HBOS
Dave Pavey, Freelance Test Manager
! HBOS recently converted 47 legacy systems (over 6 million lines of
code) into C# .net running on new hardware. The implementation
has been a great success.
! Using traditional testing methods to test this number of systems
would have taken too long and been too expensive.
! In Dave’s talk, he will be walking through the risk based test
approach he adopted, outline some of the issues encountered and
discuss some lessons that can be learnt.
Interactive Panel Session
Chairperson’s summary of Day One
Networking and Drinks Reception
DAY 2
Tom Gilb
! Basic Standards for Testable Requirements
! The 30 minute agile review for requirements: how to measure defect
density of requirements
! the notion of numeric exit: when are requirements good enough to
build tests on
! dealing with your wayward requirements writers: how to get them to
write decent requirements
Lean & Clean for Agility in Testing
Pradeep Chennavajhula, CEO, Edista Testing Institute, India
! Understand contributors to waste in Testing
! Understand how Lean Methods, and Clean Software Engineering
Practices contribute to Agility
! Understand the alignment of the practices with Agile Manifesto
! Understand through a construct on the application of the same for
an enterprise
! Understand the ways to reduce waste, and improvement of Agility
Balancing SDLC Value Flow for the next generation
– “It’s testing Jim, but not as we know it”
Neil Thompson, Thompson Information Systems Consulting Ltd & Mike
Smith, Testing Solutions Group
This presentation is based on Value Flow ScoreCards, our synthesis of
Kaplan & Norton’s Balanced Business ScoreCards & Strategy Maps
with agile / lean principles.
! Enhanced incorporation of testing into the SDLC, including lifecycle
choices;
! Measured test coverage which is properly stakeholder-driven and
understood in terms of features, quality and risks;
! Blending of scripted and exploratory testing.
People Skills for Testers
Stephen Allott, Principal Consultant, ElectroMind
Software testers are increasingly stressed, as time to market, the
sheer volume of work and increased application complexity threaten to
swamp testers and their managers. When worrying about the many
technical challenges, we often forget that testing is about more than
browsers, time to first byte and benchmarking. People are involved
too and are coming under enormous pressure as managers try to do
more with less. It’s time to push back; in this presentation Stephen
explores the people challenges testers face and suggests some
interpersonal skills that may make a difference to the effectiveness of
you and your team e.g. active listening, effective questioning and
assertive negotiation.
Presentation Details to be announced
Chris Ambler, Microsoft
Assessing Test Process Capability using TMMi
Brian Wells, Software Quality Consultant , Experimentus Ltd
The Test Maturity Model integrated (TMMi) look specifically and in
depth/detail at the development/delivery process concerned with test
and test-related quality activities (30%-50% or more) of the delivery life
cycle. This presentation outlines the origins of the TMMi standard
reference model and an overview of its structure and content, how it
supports Software Engineering capability models and, using case
studies and other sources, explains the benefits of TMMi and why it is
needed.While the TMMi model is specific to all elements of test and
quality activities, it is sufficiently generic to be applicable to all software
delivery methods; including Agile development.
Chairperson’s final remarks; Close of conference
 Next Generation Testing Conference:
Achieving Balance in an Agile World
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Associated 19 May Agile Testing
Events
22 May People Skills Workshop
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