TESTHEAD Speaks!!!

Well, much of this is still in the works, but I'm trying to stretch out of my comfort zone a little bit, as well as bring some of what I know from other avenues into my testing world.

First, I have confirmation that I will be attending CAST 2011 in Lynnwood, WA in August. There are several areas I will be participating. First, I will be conducting a live Weekend Testing session at the conference for anyone who wants to participate (topic and target still TBD). I'm also participating in a forum about "How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing" as a contributor to the book of the same title. Additionally, I'm participating in another forum regarding my experiences as both an assistant and lead instructor for the Black Box Software Testing series. Add to that me roaming around with a portable digital recorder, and there should be ample opportunities for  discussion, review, conferring and potential podcasts.

Next, I have submitted and been accepted to speak at Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference 2011. I presented a paper idea called "Delivering Quality One Weekend at a Time". Yep, it's a Weekend Testing related paper, and it will be done in the poster paper session times. Part of this is I think it will make for a more interesting approach to presenting the ideas, but more to the point, it's because I mis-read the submission policy and submitted it as a poster paper instead of as a regular paper. This is fine, though, as it will allow me the opportunity to practice the delivery several times :).

Another talk I'm developing is the one that I did as a lightning talk at the mini-conference Jon Bach,  Shmuel Gershon, Doug Hoffman, Adam Yuret and I held last month at eBay. In that talk, I discussed the ideas that I've learned in the Boy Scouts with regards to developing teams, transferring knowledge and skills, and developing leaders. I realized that the same techniques used in the Boy Scouts were suited to testers, too. I presented this idea for STPCon Fall 2011 but found out that, even if it were accepted, I can't attend due to another commitment. Still, I really want to get this talk out there, so I'm looking for opportunities to present it. I've submitted an abbreviated version for CAST 2011 Emerging Topics... we'll see if it gets picked up.

One of the great things about our community is that they can tell when someone is spreading BS. I'd like to believe I'm one who isn't, but I won't know unless I get my ideas challenged. The best way to have those ideas challenged is to present them and let people take shots at them. So if you are going to be at any of the venues I've mentioned, or others that may yet appear, please feel free to attend and poke holes at my theories and ideas. I'd like the opportunity to consider anew what I do and how I do it, and I look forward to learning how I can be a more effective presenter and speaker.