S11-401: My Crazy Plan for Responding to Change

Track: Test Process

During a given workday, we either focus on testing activities or we have to focus on the things that interrupt testing activities. Some of us lament the interruptions, others find it energizing because it’s consistent with notions of Agile – such as responding to change over following a plan. Multi-tasking is not evil, nor does it have to torpedo your project, but it may require a management technique to help you stay sane. Enter Thread-Based Test Management — a way to let interruptions guide you to where you’re needed most. Using a kanban style dashboard is one way to go with the flow without losing your way. Using a spreadsheet with rows to track topics you followed in a day is another. In this talk, Jon Bach describes his experiences with a new technique he and his brother James invented that might help you manage interruptions.

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Session Speaker:

Jon BachJon Bach – Manager for Corporate Intellect, Quardev, Inc.
Jon Bach is the Manager for Corporate Intellect for Quardev Laboratories – an outsource (onshore) test lab in Seattle, Washington. He’s one of those people you see at a local restaurant in the hotel bar after a conference, his notebook open, talking to colleagues about testing and engaging in problem-solving exercises with dice and playing cards. A 15-year veteran of software projects, Jon has worked as a test contractor, full-time test manager, and consultant for companies such as Microsoft, Rational, LexisNexis, and Hewlett-Packard. He has written articles for Computer magazine and Better Software (formerly STQE Magazine). Jon and his brother James invented “Session-Based Test Management” – a technique for managing (and measuring) exploratory testing. He is speaker chairman for Quardev’s Quality Assurance SIG, and 2011 Conference President for the Association for Software Testing.