Conference Presentations

What's That Supposed to Do? The Archeology of Legacy Systems

In testing utopia, all software products submitted for testing have thorough and comprehensive documentation describing how every program function should work. On planet Earth, however, test engineers usually have to make do under less-than-ideal circumstances. It's not uncommon for test engineers to be asked to verify the functionality of a critical legacy system which has no documented requirements whatsoever. While there are many reasons this can happen, the result is the same: You assume the role of an archeologist sifting through the layers of clues to reconstruct the specifications. Patricia Ensworth gives you instructions and tools so you'll be ready to roll up your sleeves and dig.

Patricia Ensworth, Moody's Investors Service
The Road to UML is Paved with Good Intentions

A picture is worth a thousand words. Does that mean that a model is worth a thousand requirements? A thousand test cases? Not exactly, but a model will tremendously aid in the development of requirements and test cases, and help facilitate inter-team communication of requirements and test cases; at least, that's always the intent. One way to help ensure that these good intentions come to fruition is to test the diagrams that the model is composed of, for 4C compliance-completeness, correctness, consistency, and clarity. There are different languages for producing models, but this presentation focuses on the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and methods of testing models that are created with UML.

Dion Johnson, Pointe Technology Group
Requirements Workshops: What, Why, and How

There's no standard formula for requirements workshops. Each project, business situation, and group of people will combine to make each workshop unique. Preparing for the requirements workshop requires collaboration. It permits you to tap into the collective wisdom of all of the
project stakeholders. In your workshops, participants are active, engaged, committed and task oriented. A well-run workshop builds trust and mutual understand among all the participants. Workshops are not new, but are proven best practices in software development. They can go a
long way not only in product delivery, but also in building a "jelled" team.

Ellen Gottesdiener, EBG Consulting, Inc.
IS and IT Benchmarking: Current Status

Are you having trouble making a business case for benchmarking at your organization? Mark Czarnecki delivers his benchmarking expertise in a presentation designed to help participants impact their corporate culture as well as their benchmarking abilities. He reviews the current status of information systems and technology benchmarking, and he explains current benchmarking theory. The presentation also covers generalized database sources for benchmarking.

Mark Czarnecki, The Benchmarking Network, Inc.
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.
Applying Development Best Practices to Automated Testing

Test automation is a specialized form of software development where executable code is produced for the validation and testing process. Many best practices have been identified to allow developers to code more quickly, efficiently, and correctly, but few test automators have adopted these practices. Learn about several of these "best practices"-including code reviews and coding standards-that can be applied to automated test development. Discover how you, as an automated test developer, can capitalize on the benefits provided by these practices.

Andy Tinkham, Spherion Technology Architects
Requirements-Driven Automated Testing

Studies have shown that over fifty percent of software defects are attributed to poorly defined requirements. From a process improvement perspective, it is imperative that project managers establish a more effective and efficient way of defining and tracking business requirements. Jeff Tatelman describes a "how to" approach for developing a practical automated regression testing process using a traceability matrix and business event scenarios. Learn how requirements-based testing-coupled with a data-driven approach to test automation-can solve problems that plague most software development projects.

Jeff Tatelman, Spherion Technology Architects
Achieving eBusiness Quality by Design

Testing can identify software defects, but it cannot prevent them. This presentation examines the opportunity for testers to engage in achieving eBusiness quality from the beginning of the development lifecycle. Architectural process and application of patterns can have a significant impact on eBusiness quality. Yet testing technology and testers' efforts have largely focused in the opposite direction-on deriving tests from the "as-built" system. Learn how to architect testable Web applications and develop test designs and test in parallel with the design and development of your Web-based application.

Sam Guckenheimer, Rational Software Corporation
Establishing Best Testing Practices in Your Organization

The path to best testing practices begins with communication. By building relationships with a product's key players-developers, analysts, and end users-your test team can achieve a higher level of both quality and customer satisfaction. Discover the link between effective communication and implementing critical step-by-step test processes such as test conditions, test case design, test data construction, and reporting.

Michelle Lynn Baldwin, Booz, Allen & Hamilton

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