Tutorials: Series W
Wednesday, September 11th, 2002

Two concurrent tutorials taught by nationally recognized quality experts. Each tutorial is a one full day of an in-depth instruction in a specific software quality topic.

Or PSQT/PSTT Conference Sessions

   Series M - Monday, September 9, 2002

   Series T - Tuesday, September 10, 2002

   Series H - Thursday, September 12, 2002

   Series F - Friday, September 13, 2002 

Tutorial #W1 (Wednesday 10:00 - 5:00 p.m.)

Denis Meredith

This tutorial counts as one day of training towards the Certified Software Test Professional requirements.

This one-day tutorial will provide a test design foundation for people who are involved with software testing.  This course will describe techniques for designing tests to support the objectives of each level of testing.   Finally, a few simple steps to follow to get started applying the principles covered in the tutorial will be provided. 

Outline: 

I.                     Introduction
         -          Definitions
         -          Experiences

II.                  Levels of Testing
         -          Test Levels Defined
         -          Categories of Testing
         -          Test Objectives
         -          The Testing Life Cycle

III.                Test Design Specifications
         -          Standards-Based
         -          Test Cases
         -          Test Procedures

IV.               Requirements-Based Tests
         -          Black Box Tests
         -          Functional Tests
         -          Non-Functional Tests

V.                  Design-Based Tests
         -          White Box Testing
         -          Structure-Based
            -          Measuring Coverage

VI.               Conclusion
         -          Summary
         -          Action Plan

What attendees will learn:

-          Why test design is important

-          How to write test specifications in a standard format

-          How to identify objectives of testing at each level

-          How to prepare test designs to support identified objectives

-          How to design tests to support both validation of requirements and verification of design

About the Instructor:

Denis Meredith is an independent consultant, concentrating in the areas of Software Testing and Quality Assurance; Tools Selection and Implementation; and Project Selection, Scheduling, and Management. He has often been asked to speak on these and other software engineering topics for various groups such as the DPMA, QAI, ACM, ASM, CIPS, STSC, and EDPAA chapters
and conferences. Mr. Meredith has conducted testing, project management, metrics, and estimation seminars throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia.

Denis has served in several different organizations since entering the software field in 1969. He has performed a variety of work, beginning as a programmer and moving through a number of assignments of increasing responsibility, including managing teams of developers, all development, managing an organization’s data center, and information systems manager. Denis was employed by a software vendor and functioned as product manager, product support manager, and finally as regional general manager.

Mr. Meredith has been a member of IEEE Unit Test Standard, Life Cycle Process Standard, Software Productivity Metrics Standard, and CASE Tool Evaluation and Selection Standard working groups. He holds CCP, CSTE, and CQA certificates. Denis has had articles published in Data Management, Systems Development, System Builder ,and Software Quality Professional
magazines and has written articles for Auerbach’s Data Processing Management series.

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Tutorial #W2 (Wednesday 10:00 - 5:00 p.m.)

Bob Galen 

Workshop Objective                                                                      

The project and cultural dynamics of planning and estimating are one of the greater challenges facing technologists today. There is ever increasing pressure to “get things done”, so there is little “time” for estimating or planning. All too often, business derived dates or unrealistic dates drive projects. In conjunction with this, teams lack solid estimating and planning skills, usually resorting to “quick best guesses”, then compensating for poor estimates and plans with extremely hard work with a low probability of success. This workshop is intended to provide a review of five collaborative estimating and planning techniques that will enhance and improve your abilities to effectively estimate and plan your projects. Almost half the workshop is spent in exercises learning to apply the techniques.

Workshop Overview

The workshop is a survey or overview of five contrasting estimation and planning techniques:

q       PSP - PROBE Method & TSP - Watts Humphrey

o       PSP – PROBE is focused on individual work estimation from previous performance historical data (proxies for different types of work, estimate & actual data)

o       TSP – focuses more on project management, development lifecycle and team dynamics (very detailed role definitions - overlaps more with XP and SPSG planning)

q       Wideband Delphi - Barry Boehm

o       Small scope (~ 50 tasks) collaborative, team based brainstorming for tasks, effort, sequencing / scheduling

o       By-products include artifacts for risks and assumptions

o       Using "area experts" for each estimating exercise

q       Notes on a Wall (NoaW) - Dwayne Phillips

o       An effective brainstorming technique for larger scale and more intensive planning sessions

o       A logical "extension" to Wideband Delphi – RAD planning

o       Also examines task sequencing, assumptions, risks and other project dependencies

q       Extreme (XP) Planning - Kent Beck

o       Extremely (pun intended) lightweight planning

o       Customer integrated in the planning and decision making process

o       Iteration (2-3) week effort planning with on-the-fly adjustments

q       Software Project Survival Guide - Steve McConnell

o       Mostly focused on the lifecycle dynamics of a project and planning

o       Very "checklist" and best practice oriented

o       Emphasizes a phased deliverable approach 

We will present an in-depth overview of each of the techniques with ongoing contrast between them. We will also examine strengths and weaknesses of each. At the end of each technique, we will explore it in more practical detail with a breakout session.  

At the end of the workshop, we will explore three in depth project scenarios - looking to apply lessons learned from each of the techniques to estimate and plan each scenario. This is the real key to the workshop - effectively learning to apply portions of the estimating and planning techniques to real projects.

Keep in mind that all of these techniques are relatively "soft" in that no model based estimation tools are used. Instead, they mostly focus on "rules of thumb" and collaborative, team based approaches to estimation and planning. Also realize that, while the techniques and the presentation focus more on software projects, the techniques themselves are completely general purpose. 

Who Will Benefit?

Attendees from project management, software engineering, quality and testing, system engineering and functional management will benefit by learning a set of estimation and planning tools that can be applied to their projects. You should have at least 3 years of experience contributing within technology product development teams. 

You will gain:

·        An in-depth overview, with practice, of the presented techniques

·        Skills for how to use collaborative, team based techniques to improve your work estimating

·        Insight into the nature of XP planning - how lightweight the method truly is

·        Not only estimating, but how to use collaboration, team based techniques for planning