Conference Presentations

Interpreting Graphical Defect Trend Data

Evaluation of graphical defect trend data can dramatically increase your ability to predict current project quality, schedule milestone compliance, and provide historical data for proper test and development scheduling of later revisions. Jim Olsen will explore some of the complexities in analyzing graphic defect trending in this presentation (winner of the Best Presentation award for ASM'99). Learn ways to determine how much time establishes a trend, when the appropriate time to start taking data occurs, what type of data to track, and how to estimate the amplitude of defect oscillations at the end of the product cycle.

Jim Olsen, Novell, Inc.
Testing Your Software's Requirements

Many testing organizations focus primarily on software executable code, but that's not the only thing you can test. For instance, did you ever consider testing your software requirements? When you test only code, you face some big disadvantages, not to mention that design defects often aren't even fixable because they demand too much effort, too late in the release cycle. In fact, it's difficult to even report some requirements defects since the developers have already committed to the design strategy. But if you test your requirements early in the game, you can discover defects before they're cast into designs and code, consequently saving your organization potentially huge rework costs.

Brian Lawrence, Coyote Valley Software
STAREAST 2002: Writing Better Defect Reports

Why is it some testers get a better response from developers than others? Part of the answer lies in their defect reports. But following a few simple guidelines can smooth the way for a much more productive environment. That's because the objective shouldn't be to write the perfect defect report, but to write an effective defect report that conveys the proper message, gets the job done, and simplifies the process for everyone. It's important that you use this report to ask and answer the right questions. Kelly Whitmill gives you a quick mental inspection checklist you can reference each time you write a defect report. You'll walk away with information that can make a significant difference the day you get back to work, on a topic that's often overlooked in the industry.

Kelly Whitmill, IBM
Requirements Are Requirements Are Requirements - Not!

"This isn't what I need," states Customer Bob. "But it's what you said you wanted," replies Engineer Joe. "It's not right. I need something else." We've all encountered this classic users-don't-know-what-they-want scenario. The fact that software professionals continue to have this same experience over and over again suggests that we're overlooking the real reasons for the user/engineer disconnect. This presentation contrasts the different uses of the term "requirements" as it explores the possible solutions to improving understanding between business people and technical people.

Robin Goldsmith, GoPro Management, Inc.
Get Real! Creating Realistic, Actionable Project Schedules

The preparation of a realistic, practical project schedule is an essential management function for obtaining stakeholder commitment, setting expectations, and communicating within the team and organization what is achievable. Doing this preparation well is another challenge-one that must be conquered. Rex Black helps participants see the bigger project scheduling picture by focusing on issues such as constituent tasks, the underlying dependencies between them, and the risks attached to the completion of those tasks.

Rex Black, Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.
Test Progress Reporting Using Functional Readiness

Are you looking for a way to effectively set the expectations of senior management? The Functional Readiness Matrix (FRM) is a decision-making tool that offers a simple way to represent test progress based on the functional areas or features of an application. By enabling the test team to track actual test progress against the implementation goals established early on, the FRM allows for the presentation of valid test metrics to management in a way they can understand.

Robyn Brilliant, Fannie Mae
User Acceptance Testing: The Overlooked and Underplanned

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.

Kevin Au, Experio
Flight Recorders: Analyze and Fix Defects Quickly

Users find 25 percent 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.

Oliver Cole, OC Systems, Inc.
Testing an eCommerce Shopping Cart Site

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.

Karen N. Johnson, Peapod, Inc.
The Simplest Automated Unit Test Framework That Could Possibly Work

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.

Chuck Allison, Utah Valley State College

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