STARWEST 2024 - Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent sessions offer attendees the flexibility to explore a variety of topics throughout the conference on Wednesday and Thursday in order to customize their learning experience. Learn both enterprise foundations and new methodologies to grow your skills, supercharge your knowledge, and re-energize your career growth.
Wednesday, September 25
The Rise of the Virtual QA Engineer: Harnessing GenAI
In this talk, Dmitriy will delve into the transformative journey of integrating GenAI, into the core of his team's testing and development processes. This integration has not only enhanced their productivity by 15% but also yielded a 20% time saving and a significant cost reduction per test case. Want to know how? The session will explore his team's strategic implementation of GenAI, overcoming security challenges, leveraging diverse (LLMs), and the meticulous design of prompts that culminated in a prompt library. See how tailored extensions for the code editors and corporate chats...
Build Your Career and Your Worth, Not Just Your Relationship with Your Manager
Change in organizational structure, especially your direct manager, can be very stressful and life altering. After all, people leave managers, not companies right? Aprajita Mathur would disagree. Change is hard for all of us and sometimes losing the person with whom we were so closely aligned and working can be hard to successfully navigate. Aprajita has been blessed to have had over 15+ managers in her career, an average burn rate of 1.5 years or less. Though this was a challenging path at the start of her career, having this vast experience has taught her what really matters in the long...
Building and Testing Serverless API Applications with AWS SAM
The primary draw for implementation of AWS serverless applications is the supposed simplicity. Anyone that has attempted to implement testing on a serverless application, however, knows that it is anything but simple. Serverless technologies allow for the faster construction of more complex applications with more complex integrations while also providing new technologies and execution environments, all of which pose a challenge to those used to testing in a more traditional way. This presentation looks at an API-based serverless application as an example and introduces how the application...
Flowstate, Automation, and LLMs: Don’t Let Tests Block Productivity
It is known that developers are most productive when they can stay in flow, but also that delaying or omitting tests can cause disruption, breakage, and security issues down the line. By properly leveraging background automation, team collaboration, and machine learning in your native DevOps workflow, you can get the best of both worlds: productive flowstate AND safe code. In this talk, Jon Peck will take a look at ways to take advantage of asynchronous test notifications, single-pane-of-glass reviews, and GPT-based tools for faster coding, test generation, and vulnerability remediation....
Delete Responsibly: A Guide to Managing Flaky Tests in iOS UI Automation
Flaky tests pose a significant challenge in maintaining the reliability and efficiency of UI test suites. This talk delves into practical approaches for handling flaky tests, emphasizing the importance of responsibly removing or rewriting tests that consistently demonstrate flakiness. Join Zhanat to explore strategies such as implementing retries judiciously, utilizing monitoring tools for better oversight, and engaging in collaborative problem-solving sessions with iOS teams to address ambiguous failures. Through real-world examples, attendees will learn how to avoid common pitfalls that...
Automation Face-Off
What do you think about when you hear the words "test automation"? Are you considering developing your own tools to help you probe the product deeply, or will you apply a commercial tool for automated checking? Are you excited by new, powerful, enabling technologies, or do you worry that a robot will replace you? One thing is for sure: when we apply tools, we fundamentally change the context and the nature of the work we do.Our panelists are software testing experts who will discuss all this and more with you! Together, we'll probe what people mean by automation, the power that tools can...
Generative AI is Transforming Software Testing: What Testers Need to Know
We have all seen it. The word AI is appearing next to every test tool, and the promises are coming thick and fast. AI seems like the perfect addition to increase the quality of the tests we run, but what if the opposite is true, and it’s the death of quality engineering as we know it? There has been no greater transformation in test quality than test automation in the last decade. We have gone through the horrible years of record and replay automation that never provided the ROI that was promised, and we finally settled on automation engineering, where we treat our automation code with the...
Testing Retrospective: Lessons from the Past
We prepare for the future by learning from the lessons of the past. During this session, you will look back at some of the craziest bugs John Jenkins has run across during his career, and see what lessons can be gleaned from them to help tackle the problems of tomorrow. Bugs come in all shapes and sizes, and can exist in processes just as easily as they can exist in code. In this session, both types will be examined, including: the too much free space bug, the V1 bug, the too much test data bug, and more. The session will also explore some of the best practices John has developed in his...
API Automation Mastery: From Novice to Ninja
APIs are vital for modern software and tech. Why? Because apps are becoming more complex due to: rapid tech advancements, the need to integrate various components, and demand for sophisticated features. But more complexity means more risks of bugs, security flaws, and performance issues. To tackle these risks — API testing is crucial to ensure software reliability, security, and performance. Also, API testing helps developers save time. How? By finding issues early in development rather than fixing them in production. So…teams NEED to improve their API testing skills in today's fast tech...
Enabling a DevOps Culture with Embedded Systems
In today's technology-driven landscape, where software and hardware intertwine seamlessly in embedded systems, adopting a DevOps culture becomes imperative. This talk delves into the dynamic world of embedded systems and explores how organizations can successfully implement and nurture a DevOps culture within this unique domain. DevOps, with its emphasis on collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement, has revolutionized software development. However, adapting these principles to the realm of embedded systems presents distinct challenges and opportunities. Our discussion will...
Efficiency Matters: Mastering Dockerized, Scalable Grid for Selenium and Playwright Test Suites
UI testing tools offer a robust solution for web application assessment, yet face a bottleneck when scaling up to handle extensive UI test suites that require hours to complete. In this talk, Sargis will address this challenge by guiding you through the creation and deployment of a Dockerized Selenium grid, enhanced with autoscaling and video recording features. Capable of efficiently executing several thousand tests in a limited period, this advanced setup optimizes speed and reliability for UI tests. This deep dive will cover the strategic implementation of a high-performance Selenium...
Performance Assurance and SRE - Panel
Delivering performance applications is a multi-layered challenge these days. Teams must assure that the application performs on multiple fronts. Each new function must have quick responses and be as slim as possible from the coding moment. It must be quick and light for a single request, handle concurrency, and coexist with multiple other processes even in micro-serviced applications spread all over the place. Not to mention, it must handle lots of loads once in production. It must stay performant and available within the agreed thresholds. The impressive amount of tasks to tackle and co-...
Reinventing the Art of Software Testing with Google Cloud AI Platform
This session explores the innovative ways to approach and revolutionize the art software testing by harnessing the full power of Google Cloud AI Platform. Utilizing AI-powered regression testing and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, developers can automate mundane and repetitive tests while also analyzing software functionality and usability. Predictive analytics and custom machine learning models can be used to anticipate and identify potential issues, improve testing efficiency, and provide actionable insights. Applying reinforcement learning algorithms for GUI testing,...
Quality Is More Than Testing—How to Build a Test Team with a Customer-Centric Mindset
Testers are not part of the process; they don’t have sufficient knowledge of the client’s business to understand the big picture. This failure to understand leads to unsatisfactory outcomes that leave the client with unanswered questions. For a client to feel testing is of value, the software must work seamlessly and exceed their expectations. The solution is to shift testing left towards discovery and include testers early in the process so they have a stake in end-to-end results. Testers must understand the subject matter, ask questions, and be a valued part of the core team. Testing is...
Cautionary Tales in Integration Testing
Integration tests are often rife with pitfalls that can result in confusing, flaky, or otherwise completely unmaintainable tests. Those pitfalls can often be mitigated by testing in containers, as this usually provides the most straightforward path to creating ephemeral test environments. Containerized tests typically provide isolation and reproducibility, but they can be costly to initially set up, especially if the system under test is not built for a containerized environment. Nonetheless, there are many benefits to containerized testing, even if the system under test won’t ultimately...
Kafka and Kafka Testing: Streamlining Real-time Data Processing
In today's data-driven landscape, real-time data processing is the backbone of modern applications. Kafka, a distributed event streaming platform, has emerged as a critical component in building data-intensive systems. This presentation provides an in-depth exploration of Kafka and the essential practice of Kafka testing, offering attendees valuable insights into harnessing the power of real-time data streams while ensuring robust system reliability. Key topics to be covered are: an introduction to Kafka to understand Kafka's architecture and core components, importance of Kafka Testing,...
BiDi-Powered Selenium: Shaping Tomorrow's Automation
Explore the power of W3C BiDi protocol in Selenium. Join Puja to see how this new-age protocol transforms browser automation, bringing massive performance gains. BiDi taps into the event-driven nature of browsers to expose fine-grained automation functionality. This session will cover: W3C BiDi protocol basics, upgrading current browser automation, new automation possibilities, practical applications of BiDi in action, Selenium's ongoing BiDi journey, and how you can contribute to Selenium's BiDi development. Take a peek into the future of Selenium automation with BiDi, unlocking advanced...
AI in Testing: A Moderated Panel Discussion
Artificial intelligence is the newest trend in software testing. But what is it, and how will it impact the tester's role, both today and in the future? What do you need to do to embrace this emerging technology? Tariq King will moderate this panel discussion to give you an opportunity to hear the opinions of industry leaders about AI in testing. You will have a chance to drive the debate, so come prepared with all your AI questions.
Thursday, September 26
Bridging AI-Generated Acceptance Criteria with Comprehensive Test Scenarios
The generation of acceptance criteria through generative AI is an innovative approach to streamline the requirements gathering process. However, ensuring that the implemented code aligns with these criteria is crucial for delivering high-quality software. This talk explores the integration of generative AI generating acceptance criteria with test case scenarios, aiming to establish a seamless connection between the development and testing phases. By leveraging pull requests as a central hub, this approach facilitates the validation of whether the test case scenarios adequately cover the...
Change: It's All We Have
As philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Which means that when stop fighting change, stop staying stuck in “the way things have always been” and START embracing the power of change—within our mindsets, offices, objectives—we START transforming into the most relevant and resonant versions of ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. As a change-agent both inside technology and WAY OUTSIDE, this interactive (and fun) session is focused on you gaining the clarity, creativity, and confidence necessary to wield the power of change and have impact...
Testing for Synergy: Progressive Testing Strategies for Interdependent Product Suites
In today's dynamic business landscape, organizations grapple with the challenge of innovating across multiple product developments simultaneously. This session explores the intricacies of concurrent development involving seven products, highlighting the pivotal roles of scrum teams, engineering approach, and collaborative testing strategies. Traditional independent product testing approaches prove insufficient in the context of interdependence and a unified platform. The discussion centers on the need for an evolved testing strategy that shifts left, meticulously addressing integration...
Traffic-Driven Testing—A Primer on Kubernetes Performance Engineering
Migrating your apps to Kubernetes and breaking up monoliths pose a unique set of testing challenges. Container-based testing gives us enormous flexibility and scalability and your testing strategy should take that into account. Waiting for a full environment and simply migrating your test scripts is risky and doesn't take advantage of Kubernetes container management features. Making sure your migrated app can handle normal load as well as spikes requires careful planning. You may also want to compare different clouds. In this talk, Matthew will go through some proven strategies for using...
Automation Zero to Hero in Two Weeks
Several years ago, Dave was a seasoned QA Engineer starting a new job. As the new guy, he was initially tasked with the mind-numbing task of verifying that data in reports matched expected data in a spreadsheet. This task took three weeks to complete manually. He vowed he would never do that again, so the next time around, Dave automated the process in two weeks using an open source automation tool he had never used before, all while laying the foundation for an automation framework that now has over 90 contributors across 12 product lines. Session attendees will learn how to build,...
“Low Code”—Coded Automation Using Free Tools
Using artificial intelligence to generate test code is a hybrid automation strategy that combines the best of both worlds. Tests can be created very quickly by almost anyone using AI, yet the tests are still planned by humans and maintainable by humans. With the right prompts, you can have AI construct traditional test code using open source testing tools that the world is already familiar with (Chai, Mocha, Cypress). As a result, you end up with structured code that is logical and easy to maintain without having to wonder what the AI is testing. In this session, Timothy will look at...
Navigating the Matrix: The Struggle Is Real—Effective QA Requires More Than Just Technical Skills
Everyone involved in the SDLC knows quality is important. Absolutely. After all, who wants to push out (let alone use) software that doesn't work well? But, does your organization really embrace QA in all its glory? Do they see QA as more than ‘just’ testing? Do you see QA as more than ‘just’ testing? If your answer is 'No' to any of these questions, then this talk is for you. Yes, we test and log defects, but we also have to be diplomatic champions of quality assurance. We have to work to make sure our organizations see QA as a proactive function that spans the Software Development Life...
Manual Test Cases Suck...So Get Rid of Them!
It has been a commonly held belief that an ever growing list of manual test cases, kept and maintained by the QA team is the best way to provide training, metrics and a roadmap for future automation efforts. But what if this base assumption is wrong? What if instead of having just a number of passing or failing test cases, we could better speak to factors like risk and quality before our products go live and have a little extra time to be creative with our testing? Rebecca Peterson wants to teach you the steps she and her coworkers have made to move towards living documentation that can...
End-to-End Automation for Performance Testing and Engineering
Join Vinod Kashid as he walks through his experience building end-to-end automation for performance testing and engineering. His team was tasked to do daily performance testing activities for a critical application and business executives were expecting detailed application performance outcomes on a daily basis. Manual performance test execution and analysis were time consuming processes and were delaying the overall run time for final report. Business stakeholders wanted to implement zero touch automation from performance test execution to analysis and reporting (including deep-dive...
Tips for Building LLM Apps
The barrier to entry for AI, specifically Large Language Models (LLM), is low and we can take advantage of them in our own tools, projects, and apps. In this session, we’ll build a simple app that uses an LLM which will help us cover: The steps to using AI in a program. LLM Basics. Pick the right LLM. Data Preparation. Evals and Testing. Insights and issues to consider. Tips that you can use as you build your own. Join us for a hands-on session that will help you build your first LLM app or level up your current project!
Escape Room—How Skills Needed in Escape Room Challenges Apply to Your Cybersecurity Team
There is tremendous IT turnover today and a lack of skilled resources for some job roles such as threat hunters in a Security Operations Center (SOC). This session will explore how escape rooms can teach IT leadership about building a cybersecurity team. An escape room is an ideal teaching tool that an organization can leverage to address the challenge of assembling a security team and navigating problems together. Success starts with the team and having the right mix of talent and skills which should reveal the clues to the game. Join James to explore the job roles in a SOC and skills...
The Quality Assurance of Artificial Intelligence: How to Test the Tests!
Many companies are asking the question: "What can AI do to improve our QA practices?" But is this the right question? David believes that as QA practitioners the real question is "How should we be preparing to efficiently test emerging and complex ML an AI systems?" AI testing is different from traditional testing because AI systems are not static, but dynamic and adaptive. They learn from data and feedback, and change their behavior accordingly. This means that AI testing must account for the variability and unpredictability of AI systems, and ensure that they are not only functional, but...
Writing Great Objectives
A good objective has five components that effectively communicate a business outcome and why it matters: Activity: What will we be doing? Scope: What are the boundaries of the work we will touch? Beneficiary: Who is the intended recipient of the new work? User Value: Why does this work matter to the new user? Business Value: Why does this work matter to the business? PI Objectives can be daunting but can be made much easier when you add in some key components or a formula: [Activity] + [Scope] so that [Beneficiary] have [User Value] to [Business Value]. In this session, Richelle will talk...
Pillars of Quality: Building a Structured Test Program in Phases
As the lone tester amongst a sea of developers, Sylvia Solorzano struggled to scale reactive efforts into a cohesive program. Haphazard bug reports strained relationships and failed to provide direction. By installing a phased methodology based on industry best practices first, quality became her north star. Sylvia enshrined requirements traceability and manually executed test cases for each function delivered. Then she evaluated integrations between components and expanding to validate full system behavior as users would experience. Finally, leveraging test standards, she layered on...
AI-Assisted Exploratory Testing for Healthcare Software Based on STEEEP Domain of Healthcare Quality
In this presentation, the primary objective is to introduce an innovative AI-assisted self-generating exploratory test automation model designed specifically for healthcare software applications. The overarching goal of this platform is to elevate the quality assurance process within the realm of healthcare software by dynamically formulating, executing, and adapting test scenarios. These scenarios are meticulously crafted to align with the crucial STEEEP (Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, and Patient-Centered) healthcare quality domain, thereby fostering an improvement in...
Cloud Testing of Cybersecurity Features in Mobile Apps
In CI/CD pipelines, automated testing services validate functionality of apps across hundreds of real-world mobile devices and OS versions. However, these same automated testing services can use methods and tools that violate security policies such as: emulators, virtualization, resigning, debugging, dual spaces, Magisk and more. Once security protections are added to a mobile app, the security features will trigger and may prevent automated testing. In this session, Karen will discuss how you can eliminate the need to test protected and unprotected builds separately. You will also...
Multi-Modal GPTs Are Coming For Your Testing! How to Adapt?
As you research the latest in generative AI technology, you will see that the development and availability of multi-modal GPT engines are fundamentally changing the way applications are tested and described. These new GPT models can generate and interpret voice, text, and images seamlessly. For example, you can ask them to navigate an application to accomplish a business task and comment on their actions. This means that we’re for the first time entering the world of AI-assisted/performed exploratory testing. When you couple this with the capabilities of GPT models to identify UI elements...
The Art of Winning Leadership Support for Web Accessibility
Feeling unheard in your fight for web accessibility? What if you could turn this struggle into a success story? Join this candid conversation on navigating the nuanced journey of integrating accessibility, even when convincing leadership seems like an uphill battle. Together, we'll reflect on Renata's initial stumbles, identify common pitfalls, and strategize to avoid them. Anticipate leadership concerns by understanding deeper motivations behind their resistance. Master the art of speaking their language and tailor your message to resonate with decision-makers. Empower your champions,...
Effective Ways to Manage Offshore QA Teams
Were you recently promoted or are aspiring to lead or manage an overseas Quality Assurance team? Have you been asked to build/collaborate with a virtual QA team? Stressed about managing an offshore team with all the challenges and circadian rhythm being affected? Managing virtual teams can be challenging to say the least. No matter what the calling is, if your goal is to meet the company objectives and drive QA teams towards excellence at the same time, this session will guide you through the FSNP (Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing) stages for achieving a successful Quality...
Leveraging and Measuring the Use of Formal Testing Methods in Product Development
Without training in software testing that includes formal methods such as equivalence class partitioning, boundary value analysis, decision tables, state diagrams, and others, an engineer, in good faith, will test the code intuitively until reaching “qualitative confidence” that testing is sufficient. The team at Trimble, Inc. provided training to engineers in a wide variety of formal testing methods so they could gain “quantitative confidence” that code has been tested sufficiently, by using methods known to achieve concrete coverage in requirements and code. Subsequently, Trimble...
Compile to Combat in 24 Hours—The Death of Regression Tests
As a Quality Engineering Director for a consulting firm delivering innovative data products to the US Department of Defense, Sufyan was faced with a new challenge. The US Government had directed all agencies delivering software solutions to the Department of Defense to provide the ultimate advantage to its warfighters. All software solutions must meet the Compile to Combat (C2C24) directive in that all requests for changes to software being used by the military must be delivered in 24 hours from the point of development to delivery. As a Quality Engineering team, this meant long and...
Not All Who Wander Are Lost—Exploratory Testing in Agile/DevOps
As we modernize and automate our tests in DevOps, or even adopt AI, we need to consider what we might be missing. In this presentation, Aaron will discuss the history of exploratory testing, how it gained popularity with agile and DevOps practices, and why we still need it as we move forward with AI-driven testing. We will briefly look at what a healthy test pyramid involves and discuss why we would want to use planned exploratory testing as part of the healthy pyramid. We will cover how exploratory testing is different than ad hoc testing, how to plan it, time box it, and use a charter....