STARWEST 2024 - Test Strategy, Planning, Metrics
Sunday, September 22
Software Tester Certification Foundation Level—ISTQB CTFL
Monday, September 23
Smarter Test Design with Classification Trees and Pairwise Techniques
In many teams, the total number of possible combinations of inputs, outputs, browsers, and devices for the software we need to test has grown to an alarming number. As testers, we need to choose the most important tests first, but how do we do that without understanding the potential scope in the first place? In this tutorial, Julie Gardiner will share two powerful testing techniques that can help us be more efficient and effective with our testing. Classification trees are a structured, visual approach to identifying test objects and documenting test ideas and data in a way that allows...
Automation Framework Essentials
Automation is critical in today’s software delivery lifecycle, and yet many organizations struggle to keep their automation running. How can we mitigate difficulties and get consistent automation runs and results we can trust? The secret is implementing a solid automation framework, but that isn’t as easy as it seems. Chris Loder has built several automation frameworks over his career and has learned what works—and, more importantly, what doesn’t. This tutorial will cover what an automation framework is, the benefits of having one, and the keys to a successful framework, including...
Tuesday, September 24
Quality and Testing Measures and Metrics
To be most effective, leaders—including development and testing managers, ScrumMasters, product owners, and IT managers—need metrics to help direct their efforts and make informed recommendations about the software’s release readiness and associated risks. Because one important evaluation activity is to “measure” the quality of the software, the progress and results of both development and testing must be measured. Collecting, analyzing, and using metrics are complicated because developers and testers often are concerned that the metrics will be used against them. Join Mike Sowers as he...
Exploratory Testing in the Heat of the Sprint
Agile teams are burdened with the challenge of delivering working product increments after short iterations of development. Getting software from an ambiguous terse, incomplete requirement–to a done, working, solid, valuable, high-quality code requires testers to continuously adapt to change in a turbulent context and deliver actionable results. Chris Blain will illustrate how charter-driven session-based exploratory testing techniques can empower agile teams and help them learn quickly and adapt based on what really matters. Testers can design and execute tests on the fly as they explore...
Harnessing Generative AI in Software Testing: A Real-World Guide
The advent of Generative AI (GenAI), including Large Language Models (LLMs) and tools like ChatGPT, is not just another technological shift—it's a paradigm change, particularly in the realm of software testing. Unlike the transitions to mobile or cloud computing, GenAI introduces both unparalleled utility and disruption in software quality assurance. This session is dedicated to demystifying GenAI in software testing, distinguishing hype from reality, and providing practical tools and techniques to enhance your team's software quality while also highlighting potential pitfalls and...
Prompt Engineering for Software Quality Professionals
With the sudden rise of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), professionals have been attempting to use these types of tools to improve productivity. Building off prior momentum in AI for testing, software quality professionals are leveraging LLMs for creating tests, generating test scripts, automatically analyzing test results, and more. However, if LLM's are not fed good prompts describing the task that the AI is supposed to perform, their responses can be inaccurate and unreliable, thereby diminishing productivity gains. Join Tariq King as he teaches you how to craft high-quality AI...
AI-Assisted Testing: Using GitHub Copilot and Other Tools to Accelerate QA
There is no question that Generative AI models can improve the productivity of almost every role within the software development process. However, while a lot of attention has focused on generating software using tools such as GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Tabnine, and more, these tools can assist software testers in their job too. Join Coveros CEO Jeffery Payne to explore how Generative AI solutions help software testers generate and supplement tests, create automated test scripts, and even suggest improvements to what you’ve already created. Learn how AI can increase test...
Holistic Performance Testing for Modern Applications
With the advent of frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue, the landscape of application performance has changed significantly in terms of testing and measurement. Gone are the days of measuring response time as a single value based on back-end performance. In modern web and mobile applications, additional layers need to be peeled apart at the front end to truly understand its performance characteristics. Traditional approaches to performance testing are no longer sufficient to provide a delightfully responsive user experience. Join Kaushal Dalvi as he details new developments in the...
Wednesday, September 25
Inflection Points
Software testing was once so difficult that only humans could do it. A million people a year are clicking web pages, hand-crafting scripts that marry code with automation frameworks, and creating permutations of API calls. But, the craft of software testing is changing. Every aspect of software testing is changing. Software engineering is also changing, with software accelerating developers to build “more” and “faster”, and all that software needs to be tested. Software is soon generating software–ever more software that needs to be tested. Even the rates of these changes are...
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...
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...
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.
Lightning Strikes the Keynotes
Throughout the years, Lightning Talks have been a popular part of the STAR conferences. If you’re not familiar with the concept, Lightning Talks consists of a series of five-minute talks by different speakers within one presentation period. Lightning Talks are the opportunity for speakers to deliver their single biggest bang-for-the-buck idea in a rapid-fire presentation. And now, lightning has struck the STAR keynotes. Some of the best-known experts in testing will step up to the podium and give you their best shot of lightning. Get multiple keynote presentations for the price of one—and...
Thursday, September 26
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...
“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...
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...
The Quality Assurance of Artificial Intelligence: How to Test the Tests!
PreviewMany 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...
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...
The Art of Winning Leadership Support for Web Accessibility
PreviewFeeling 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...
Leveraging and Measuring the Use of Formal Testing Methods in Product Development
PreviewWithout 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...