17th International Conference & Exposition
Washington DC: Testers from around the world congregated each day from 12 to 16 June 2000 to hear and share their testing experiences good and bad.
The conference and related workshops handled issues relating to test management, test automation, advanced test topics and test practice.
The conference theme, "Testing Technology versus Testers' Requirements" was explored amongst the many topics and sub-topics. Program Chair, Genevieve Houston-Ludlam asked, "…do we have the support, from the technology, that we need? Has technology solved the right problems? Is technology accessible enough to today's testers? What are the pitfalls of using such technology?" It was surprising to see that a clear consensus of opinion was reached with respect to these and other tough questions tackled by the 300 or so delegates, vendors and presenters. Seven dominant global trends that were clearly visible during conference proceedings were:
1. A massive growth in the range and number of tools to support testing and test automation over the past five years.
2. A rising awareness that skilled teams or individuals are required to derive benefits from the tools addressing testing needs.
3. An increasing body of evidence that early life-cycle activities (such as inspections) are a pre-requisite for substantial and sustained quality improvements and software cost reduction.
4. The realisation that business thinking and use of hard numbers is a necessity for testers to be able to effectively communicate to senior management. Primarily it is in this way that the major gains that can be realised by implementing well-recognised testing practices will be accepted at the higher levels within each organisation.
5. More projects are requiring developers with testing skills and testers with development skills. This trend can also be evidenced in the increasing ratio of testers to developers, particularly where web testing is involved.
6. More projects involving large and complex systems are successfully moving to small (2 to 5 percent) formalised delivery increments with high quality goals set and achieved even from the first increment.
7. A maturation of the software industry is resulting from the increased competitiveness of those companies that are applying the best testing and quality practices, as well as from the growing acceptance of software standards and fear of litigation within the industry.
The conference has been well worth the trip. The issues that face the South African tester are the same issues that face the rest of the world. An important point is that although the conference is about testing, it was aimed at everybody within the software development life cycle. I would strongly recommend that not only testers attend future events, but developers, managers and analysts as well.
We were left with the question, "Is there enough interest in South Africa to have a local conference of this sort"? Although it would have to be scaled down, it would certainly give us local testers the opportunity to broaden our views (and the chance to get to know each other). Who knows what the future will hold? I for one, am looking forward to the day, when we host such and event in South Africa.
Peter Sage