QA SIG – May 16 – Big Agile, meet Big Test

Date/Time: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Venue – Planview, 8300 North Mopac Expressway

Sometimes, we run into situations where the acceptance test effort for a user story significantly outweighs the development effort. This can happen quite often in projects where hardware and software are being developed in parallel. Hardware test matrices can span hundreds of configurations, but the amount of testing required for the software and its logic can be accepted on a smaller set of reference configurations. How do you handle these situations; what are your best practices? Come join us for this discussion!

Geoff Meyer is a Test Architect with Dell Enterprise Product Group. He has over 25 years of experience in a wide variety of Software Development roles which have included Development, Project Manager, Test, Program Manager, Product Owner and Manager. As a Test Architect, Geoff has responsibility for establishing Test Strategies, continual improvement and adoption of Agile best-practices and transitioning the QA organization to an automate-first approach to Test engineering. Geoff is a member of the Dell Enterprise Product Group Agile Steering committee which continues to guide and foster Dell Software Engineering’s transition from Waterfall to Agile/Scrum.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

More information and communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agileaustinqasig/

Food and Drink:

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

You can sign up at http://mayqasig.eventbrite.com/.

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign up if you are committed to attending.

Downtown QA SIG – May 2 – Test Case Management

Date/Time: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Venue - Spredfast, 412 Congress Ave, 2nd Floor

We had a great discussion about test case management in the April QA SIG, so we’ll continue that discussion for the May Downtown QA SIG.

Keeping track of test cases can be a time consuming and challenging part of QA’s world. What type of system are you using to keep track of cases? Excel? Rally? Testlink? Something else?

Are you running into issues? What do you do with test cases that seem as if they no longer apply to your environment? We will go over these items, as well as others, in relation to test case management. Come join us as we arrive at a common understanding of where success can lie with these systems.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

More information and communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agileaustinqasig/

Food and Drink:

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

You can sign up at http://maydowntownqasig.eventbrite.com/.

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so pelease only sign up if you are committed to attentending.

QA SIG – Apr 18 – Test Case Management

This month’s Topic: Testing Tools

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Venue - Planview, 8300 North Mopac Expressway

Keeping track of test cases can be a time consuming and challenging part of QA’s world. What type of system are you using to keep track of cases? Excel? Rally? Testlink? Something else?

Are you running into issues? What do you do with test cases that seem as if they no longer apply to your environment? We will go over these items, as well as others, in relation to test case management. Come join us as we arrive at a common understanding of where success can lie with these systems.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

More information and communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agileaustinqasig/

Food and Drink:

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

You can sign up at http://aprqasig.eventbrite.com/.

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so pelease only sign up if you are committed to attentending.

Downtown QA SIG – Apr 4 – Testing Tools

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Venue - Spredfast, 412 Congress Ave, 2nd Floor

This session will be an extension of the March QA SIG, which focused on web-based automation tools (e.g., Selenium).  What problems have you faced with web-based testing tools?  Which ones have been the most successful for your purposes?  While understanding that each set of products being tested is unique, we can arrive at some common understandings of what works, what doesn’t, and what pain points we all share.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

More information and communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agileaustinqasig/

Food and Drink:

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

You can sign up at http://aprildowntownqasig.eventbrite.com.

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so pelease only sign up if you are committed to attentending.

QA SIG – Mar 21 – Testing Tools

This month’s Topic: Testing Tools

Date/Time: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Venue - PlanView, 8300 North Mopac Expressway

As envisioned, this session will be focused on web-based automation tools (e.g., Selenium), but may expand past that into more general tools depending on the group of people that assemble and the type of products that they are testing.  What problems have you faced with web-based testing tools?  Which ones have been the most successful for your purposes?  While understanding that each set of products being tested is unique, we can arrive at some common understandings of what works, what doesn’t, and what pain points we all share.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

More information and communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agileaustinqasig/

Food and Drink:

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Seating is limited!

You can sign up at http://marqasig.eventbrite.com/.

Please make sure that you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so pelease only sign up if you are committed to attentending.

February 15th QA SIG – Your Experiences in Outsourcing Quality

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Discussion Topic

Outsourcing Quality: Triumphs and Sucking Chest Wounds. Share your positive experiences and lessons learned!

About the Quality Assurance Special Interest Group Meeting

The primary goal of the meeting is to facilitate informal discussion relating to agile testing. The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Shango, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Location, Location

Planview
8300 N. Mopac #300
Austin, TX 78759

We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic. Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events.

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Nov. 16th QA SIG: From Scratch, Breaking Ground and Scaling QA Teams

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About the Quality Assurance Special Interest Group Meeting

The primary goal of the meeting is to facilitate informal discussion relating to agile testing.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc..

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Informal Directions and Parking Info

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.

• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved.  The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic.  Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events.  If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us!  These sessions are valuable to both beginners and experienced alike, and folks from all disciplines are welcome.

About the Program

From Scratch: Breaking Ground and Scaling a QA Team

Description

Small teams, start-ups, and non-software companies that nevertheless employ developers can be rocky ground for growing QA culture. Let’s talk about strategies for breaking ground at these sites, picking the right “first to arrive at scene” resource, and ways we’ve seen these teams grow well and grow poorly.

Speaker Bio

Colin Turner (Shango) has worn all hats except developer when working at start-ups, so cares a great deal about this topic. Geoff Meyer (Dell) will co-facilitate, given his experience hiring QA teams.

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October 19th QA SIG – Session-Based Test Management

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The primary goal of the meeting is to facilitate informal discussion relating to Agile testing. The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Shango, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

About the Program

Let’s Learn About SBTM: Session-Based Test Management!

Description

One of the challenges for testing teams today is keeping up with Rapid Software Development.  It is extremely painful to keep up with a large volume of scripted manual test cases.  One proposed approach to reducing the artifact maintenance and manual execution of hundreds of test cases is Session Based Test Management, SBTM.

SBTM as described by James Bach is a method for measuring and managing exploratory testing.
http://www.satisfice.com/sbtm/
The vision is that test cases that are scripts in nature and routine should be automated.  Manual testing becomes a more cognitive process through SBTM.

Speaker Bio

Senior QA Engineering Manager, HomeAway.com, Carl Shaulis has been testing software for 10+ years and has over 15 years of management experience. Carl takes an analytical approach to testing and has the fortitude to embrace change. Carl has led testing teams for small start-ups to large enterprise organizations. Carl is currently at Homeaway.com creatively testing in order to make a difference in the vacation rental marketplace. You can find his testing opinions at http://kungfutesting.blogspot.com/.

Sponsored by HyperformixCA

Informal Directions and Parking Info:

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.

• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved.  The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic.  Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events.  If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us!  These sessions are valuable to both beginners and experienced alike, and folks from all disciplines are welcome.

Sign up for this event at Eventbrite!

Sept. 21st QA SIG – QAs in Kanban Swarming

RSVP for this event via Eventbrite

About the Quality Assurance Special Interest Group Meeting

The primary goal of the meeting is to facilitate informal discussion relating to agile testing.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc.

Food and Drink

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Informal Directions and Parking Info

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.

• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved.  The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic.  Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events.  If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us!  These sessions are valuable to both beginners and experienced alike, and folks from all disciplines are welcome.

About the Program

Go with the Flow:  The Perils of Swarming

Description:

A major issue for all software teams is embedded within the notion of deadlines and committed work.  For example, if a feature is promised for a particular sprint, but the team will be unable to deliver it, there will be a push to get the feature done.  Common solutions include working long hours and expanding the size of the team.  In Kanban, the notion of swarming in order to address the bottlenecked story entails using the latter strategy.  While this makes sense, it does introduce risk, whereby people unfamiliar with the story being worked on do their best to push it into the next cycle phase or to completion.  In this discussion, we will talk about ways to mitigate this risk, how QA can assist Development, and vice versa.

Speaker Bio:

For the September meeting, there will be no facilitator…the discussion will be a free form one.

QA SIG – TDD & BDD for the rest of us: A high-level overview

About the Quality Assurance Special Interest Group Meeting

The primary goal of the meeting is to facilitate informal discussion relating to agile testing. The meeting starts with a short presentation by a speaker (for this month, Jill Ott) whose purpose is to provide a focus for discussion.

The group is facilitated by Colin Turner, Development Manager with Starview Solutions, and Ben Rogers, Quality Architect for Sendmail, Inc..

Food and Drink

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Informal Directions and Parking Info

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.

• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved.  The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session.  Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.  We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic.  Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events.  If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us!  These sessions are valuable to both beginners and experienced alike, and folks from all disciplines are welcome.
About the Program

TDD & BDD for the rest of us:  A high-level overview

Description:

Test-driven development (TDD) and Behavior-driven development (BDD) are subjects that QA professionals are becoming increasingly involved in.  The concepts are more closely intertwined than many might realize.  In this discussion, we will begin with some basic definitions.  The link between TDD and BDD will be described, and then we will branch out into success stories as well as challenges that we face implementing and interacting with both.

Speaker Bio:

Jill Ott is a Senior QA Engineer at PeopleAdmin.  She has been testing software and doing her best to assure the quality of software and its processes for over 8 years.  She is an avid advocate of Agile processes.  Recently Jill began learning Ruby on Rails and Cucumber for test automation, and is loving the challenge!  In her spare time, she is learning to play guitar, and loves outdoor activities, especially snow skiing in the winter.