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PNSQC 2012 Keynote Speakers

Matt Heusser

A Brief History of the Quality Movement and What Software Should Do About It

Matt Heusser
Excelon Development

From Frederick W. Taylor to Joseph Juran to Crosby and Deming, the 20th century is full of lessons about manufacturing quality.

A decade after that century ended we are left with some questions. Do those lessons still apply? If they do, which of them matter for software? Of the ones that matter, what experiments have we conducted to try to apply those lessons — and what can we learn from the results?

In this fast-paced talk Matt Heusser combines an insightful introduction to the quality movements of the 20th century, the story of what happened when those ideas were implemented in software, the system of effects those ideas swim in … and a few winning ideas to try on Monday.

Matthew Heusser is a consulting software tester and software process naturalist who has spent his entire adult life developing, testing, or managing software projects. Along the way Matt has had the opportunity to serve as the lead organizer of the Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference (now in it’s fifth year), lead organizer for the workshop on technical debt, and to teach information systems at night for Calvin College. Probably best known for his writing, A contributing editor for Software Test & Quality Assurance Magazine, Matt’s personal blog “Creative Chaos” is consistently highly-ranked among software writing. An elected member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Software Testing, Matt recently served as lead editor for “How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing” (Taylor and Francis, 2011). You can follow Matt on twitter at mheusser or email him matt@xndev.com.

Testing Quality In

Dale Emery

Testing is an information service. It gives feedback about our work and our product. It helps us answer important questions, make informed decisions, correct mistakes and misunderstandings.

When we relegate testing to the end of the release cycle, we ensure that most of the feedback will be delivered late—after problems have been coded into the project, long after the actions that led to the results, and perhaps too late for us to act on. And if development slips, we often squeeze or cut testing in service to the release date. When we test only at the end, we deprive ourselves of information, and reduce the timeliness, relevance, and value of the information we deliver.

Great testers apply many skills: detecting ambiguity, imagining troublesome scenarios, and creating concrete examples of abstract requirements. By applying these skills early in a project, testers can help detect and correct misunderstandings before they become code. The tests created from these early conversations can guide development, gauge progress, and free our attention for other work. If we begin testing early, we can build quality into the product from the start.

Dale Emery has worked in the software industry since 1980 as a developer, tester, manager, consultant, and trainer. In 2007 the Agile Alliance awarded Dale the Ward Cunningham Gentle Voice of Reason Award, which they created to recognize Dale’s unique contribution to the Agile community. Dale helps people apply the Agile values of communication, feedback, simplicity, courage, and respect to all areas of software development.