Association for Software Testing

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Comment by Ben Simo on 2 July 2009 at 5:48am

Welcome to CAST 2009 - The 4th Annual Conference of the Association for Software Testing - July 13-16, 2009
Held in Colorado Springs, CO at the Antlers Hilton


"Serving Our Stakeholders"

Welcome to CAST 2009 - an informational conference for software testers around the world! Over the past 40 years, software design and construction techniques have evolved spectacularly. Each year, we build larger and more complex programs than we could the year before.

Unfortunately, many of our test techniques and management maxims come from decades past -- a time when software was simpler and computer time cost more than people. We must foster significant advances in both theory and practice of testing to catch up with the progress in technology and programming. CAST brings together testers from around the globe in hopes of advancing the understanding and practice of software testing.

Why you should attend CAST 2009?

This year's keynote speaker will be Dr. Jonathan Koomey, Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Consulting Professor at Stanford University, and author of Turning Numbers Into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving.

Dr. Koomey holds M.S. and PhD degrees from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, and an A.B. in History of Science from Harvard University. He is the author or coauthor of eight books and more than 150 articles and reports on electricity used by data centers, energy efficiency and renewable power technologies, energy economics, energy policy, environmental externalities, and global climate change.

But that's only the beginning of what we have in store for you this year! Unlike other conferences in our industry, CAST is set apart by the fact that we involve YOU in each and every discussion and tutorial...

What Makes CAST special?

Not your typical software testing conference, CAST sets itself apart from the rest through excellence in the following areas:

* CAST puts the CONFER back in conference - At least one third of every session is reserved for facilitated conversation. Conferring with testing practitioners and leaders is part of the program - not just something that happens in the hotel bar after hours (though you're certainly welcome to engage there as well!)

* CAST presentations are theme oriented - This year's theme is "Serving Our Stakeholders". Rarely do we test software solely for the joy of finding a bug. We test software because someone wants us to provide them with quality-related information about their software so that they can make better decisions, fix important bugs, and/or assess regulatory compliance. These people we test for are our stakeholders, and CAST 2009 invites you to come learn how to better serve them.

* CAST is free from thinly veiled sales pitches - CAST sessions are about experience, practice and ideas - not just products. Any vendor sessions are clearly identified, and allocate a third of the time strictly for your questions.

* CAST contains up-to-date content - Most of the presentations and tutorials you're going to find at CAST are first-run material. We've assembled a panel of leading practitioners and idea innovators to regale you with their interactive stories and thought-provoking ideas. We've lined up eight unique, one-day tutorials - each of which are presented by leading experts in their particular areas of expertise

When you attend CAST, you're helping advance the understanding and practice of software testing, not only within your organisation, but around the globe!

CAST 2009 has been designed to bring people together so that they can learn from each other. You'll have the opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas with idea innovators, trainers, authors and your peers from all over the world!

Visit http://CAST2009.org to Register Now - Or keep reading for more info...

Cast 2009 Presenters...

The CAST 2009 presenters have been carefully chosen not only for the uniqueness of the material they'll be bringing to the conference, but for the innovative ideas they have in the field of software testing. Our panelists this year are as follows:

Dr. Jonathan Koomey - As we already mentioned, Dr. Koomey is a project scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a consulting professor for Stanford University's Civil and Environmental Engineering department, and the author of Turning Numbers Into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving. His presentation this year is taken from his recent book, and is entitled Turning Numbers Into Knowledge - Getting The Numbers You Need.

This interactive workshop will teach how to create and present quantitative information, using exercises and modest amounts of lecture. It will summarize some of the basic principles and most common pitfalls in analysis and information presentation and then describe techniques for teaching those principles and pitfalls to your staff, and it will help you hone your own analytical skills. In this tutorial you will learn:

* Some ideas for getting your staff’s attention on this issue and letting them know how important it is to you and to their future professional development;
* Why focusing data collection and analysis on specific decisions is the key to success;
* How best to teach the key principles of effective data collection, analysis, and information presentation;
* How you can most effectively promote back of the envelope thinking;
* How to become more effective in your own use of quantitative information; and,
* Which key books and other resources can help you and your staff find out more


Gerald Weinberg - In 1956, Gerald Weinberg established the very first specialised software testing group to aid in the development of life-critical software for Project Mercury. Mr. Weinberg has spent the last 50 years transforming software organisations, and has co-authored many books, including The Psychology of Computer Programming and the Quality Software Management series. His presentation at CAST 2009 is entitled Ensuring Testing's Proper Place In The Organisation, and is an interactive exercise designed to help you:

* Demonstrate the value of testing vs. cost;
* Find point of influence within your organisation and learn how to cope with them;
* Communicate with executives; and,
* How to evaluate risk and make it real


Mike Dwyer - Mike Dwyer is a Principal Agile Coach with BigVisible Solutions, and the founder of 3SidedCoin - an Agile innovation company where he developed his ground breaking work in bringing Agility to operations and support. He holds an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and an undergraduate degree from Clark University.

Mr. Dwyer's tutorial is entitled Experiencing Agile Integration and will investigate the questions of what it is like to integrate Agile into a large project, as well as what it is like to integrate testers into an Agile team. Using a simulation based on experiences working with large organisations, you will be able to see first-hand what it feels like to apply the Agile principles. From this workshop you will receive:

* A brief introduction to Agile and Scrum;
* Hands-on experience of being part of an Agile team to meet changing objectives in a time-constrained environment;
* Hands-on experience integrating testers and testing into an Agile team;
* Participation in a simulation scaling small Agile teams into a larger, more complex "team of teams";
* Active participation in discussions about the experience with your peers as well as with Mr. Dwyer

Visit http://CAST2009.org to Register Now - Or keep reading for more info...


Dr. Cem Kaner - Dr. Kaner has pursued a multi-disciplinary career centered on the theme of the satisfaction and safety of software customers and software-related workers. He has practiced law in the field of software quality law, holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology, and spent 17 years in the Silicon Valley software industry. He is also the professor of Software Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology; and is the author of three books - Testing Computer Software (co-authored with Jack Falk and Hung Quoc Nguyen), Bad Software (co-authored with David Pels), and Lessons Learned In Software Testing (co-authored with James Bach and Bret Pettichord).

Dr. Kaner's tutorial Metrics, Qualitative Measurement, and Stakeholder Value will focus on how to develop better software-related measurements which provide genuine value, and which are worth their costs - both direct and indirect. The tutorial consists of four parts:

* A facilitated discussion which yields a list of important questions;
* A brief review on traditional measurements relating to these questions;
* A review of tradition measurement theory, with an emphasis on validity and threats to validity as they apply to the questions asked; and
* An overview of qualitative measurement as it applies to those questions, as well as closing with recommendations on how to apply this measurement on the job.


James Bach - James Bach is one of the most impressive presenters at CAST 2009 for the simple fact that he is a high school dropout who taught himself software programming and testing. This natural talent in the field has enabled him to be a tester, test manager and consultant since 1987. He is a founding member of the Context-Driven School of Testing, and has taught his course Rapid Software Testing around the world. Mr. Bach is a co-author of Lessons Learned in Software Testing, and the author of Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar.

Mr. Bach's tutorial Teach YOURSELF Software Testing will focus specifically on testing self-education. It is a system of analyzing experiences and questioning conventional wisdom, and is based on his upcoming book Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar. In this tutorial James Bach will cover:

* How to sort through differing schools of testing;
* The entry points for personal testing education;
* A syllabus of software testing concepts;
* How to identify, articulate, and test your own heuristics; and,
* How to assess your progress

This tutorial is the perfect choice for anyone who wants to super-charge your career in software testing and stay on top of their testing education. Bach's tutorial will help anyone who is serious about being a tester, whether you are new to testing, trying to be a great test lead, or want to become a more effective testing consultant.

Visit http://CAST2009.org to Register Now - Or keep reading for more info...

Scott Barber and Dawn Haynes - What happens when you get Scott Barber, the executive director of the Association for Software Testing, and Dawn Haynes, a director of the Association for Software Testing together in one room? You get a powerful tutorial on how to improve your ability to translate stakeholder desires.

As well as being the executive director of AST, Scott Barber is also the chief technologist of PerfTestPlus, the co-founder of the Workshop on Performance and Reliability, and the lead contributing author of Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications. His particular specialties are testing and analyzing performance for complex systems, testing in Agile environments, developing customised testing methodologies, embedded systems testing, and authoring instructional materials.

Dawn Haynes is a senior trainer and consultant for PerfTestPlus, as well as the director of AST. Her unique blend of humor and experience allows her to provide testers of all levels with the tools and techniques they need to generate new approaches to common and complex software testing problems.

She is a highly regarded trainer, and is passionate about improving the state of performance testing industry-wide.

Their tutorial Translating Stakeholders' Performance Desires will focus on the fact that very few users truly understand how to articulate their software performance needs and desires. Unfortunately, for many testers this only becomes painfully clear after the performance desires we thought they wanted are reached, and the stakeholders are still unhappy. In this interactive tutorial Scott and Dawn will teach you how to take what a stakeholder says and translate it into their actual performance desires.

Visit http://CAST2009.org to Register Now - Or keep reading for more info...


Fiona Charles and Michael Bolton - When two of the greatest minds in teaching software testing come together, you get an explosion of passionate education on software testing!

Fiona Charles teaches organisations how to match their software testing to their business risks and opportunities. She has 30 years experience in software development and integration projects, and has managed testing and consulted on testing for clients in the retail, banking, financial, health and telecommunication industries. In addition to being a frequent contributing author in Better Software Magazine and on Stickyminds.com, Fiona is also the co-founder and host of the Toronto Workshop on Software Testing.

Michael Bolton comes to us with eight years of teaching software testing around the globe under his belt. He is the co-author of Rapid Software Testing, a course which presents a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time constraints. He is co-founder of the Toronto Workshop on Software Testing, has a regular column in Better Software Magazine, writes for Quality Software, and produces his own newsletter.

This tutorial Testing Your Testing: Determining Risks addresses the issues stakeholders have when trying to understand software risks in their businesses, and how we as testers can help them to assess those risks. In this tutorial you will:

* Explore strategies for identifying stakeholders and how they tell us about their risks;
* Discuss the kinds of questions that need to be asked in order to better assess those risks, as well as look at sample questions to better understand different contexts; and,
* Examine a process for conducting a risk assessment workshop that has been proven useful in the banking, retail, and health care industries

BBST Instructor Training (Special Thursday Tutorial) - You've read about the Association for Software Testing’s free software testing courses. Maybe you've even completed a course or two. Now find out how you can get involved in teaching these for AST, for your company, or independently. This workshop will use presentations, lectures, and hands-on exercises to address the challenges of teaching online: Becky Fiedler, Scott Barber and Cem Kaner will host the Live! AST Instructors Orientation Course Jumpstart Tutorial On July 17, 2009.

AST is developing a series of online courses, free to our members, each taught by a team of volunteer instructors. AST will grant a certificate in software testing to members who have completed 10 courses. (We hope to develop our 10th course by July 2010). AST trains and certifies instructors. The main requirements for an AST member to be certified to teach an AST course are:

* Completing the AST course on teaching online
* Teaching the same course three times under supervision
* Approval by the currently-certified instructors for that course, and agreement to teach the course a few times for AST (for free).

As a certified instructor you can offer the course for AST credit (through AST for free), for your company, or on your own. You or your company can charge fees without paying AST any royalties or other fees. (AST can only offer each free course a few times per year–if demand outstrips that supply, instructors will have a business opportunity to fill that gap.)

(This is a special tutorial held on Thursday only, and must be registered for separately.)

Visit http://CAST2009.org to Register Now - Or keep reading to learn more about the CAST 2009 program...


And that's just the tutorials!

In addition to these amazing tutorials, CAST 2009 is going to be jam-packed with the amazing sessions you see to the right of the screen. More than 30 speakers in all will be sharing their expertise with you and other attendees during the CAST 2009 conference, complete with interactive sessions, Q&A sessions, and attendee-chosen sessions on Thursday morning.

Cost To Attend...

Considering the sheer amount of information and education you'll be getting when you attend the CAST 2009 conference, participant pricing is extraordinarily affordable...

There are three levels of pricing available - AST Member, Non-Member and Student Rates. Group discounts are also available, and are as shown below:

Member Non-Member Student
Conference Only $655 $795 $425
Tutorial Only $745 $895 $515
Conference & Tutorial $1135 $1295 $875


Visit http://CAST2009.org to register now, and don't forget to book your reservations at the elegant Antlers Hilton!

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About the Association for Software Testing

The Association for Software Testing is a professional association dedicated to improving the practice of software testing by advancing the science of testing and its application.

Over the past 40 years, software design and construction techniques have evolved spectacularly. We can build much larger and more complex programs now. Unfortunately, many of our test techniques and test management maxims come from the 60's and 70's. We must foster significant advances in both theory and practice of testing to catch up with the progress in development.

AST works on both theory and practice, but concentrates more on practice. Our objective is to build a community of testing practitioners, academics, managers and consultants who view the role of testing as skilled, relevant, and essential to the production of faster, better, and cheaper software products. We value a scientific approach to developing and evaluating techniques, processes, and tools. We believe that a self-aware, self-critical attitude is essential to understanding and assessing the impact of new ideas on the practice of testing.

In pursuit of these goals, AST holds an annual conference and sponsors workshops, such as the Los Altos Workshop on Software Testing, Software Test Managers' Roundtable, and the Workshop on Teaching Software Testing. The distinguishing characteristic of these events is that ideas presented are subject to scrutiny of those present, both academics and practitioners.

To learn more about AST, or for information on how to join AST, visit http://join.associationforsoftwaretesting.org .

Comment by Scott Barber on 6 October 2008 at 4:57am

If you are an AST member, you can join http://www.cast247.org. Hope to see you there!