STAREAST 2025 - Test Strategy, Planning, Metrics
Sunday, April 27
Monday, April 28
Stop Guessing and Start Planning with Better Behavior Discovery
NewAre you tired of working on user stories that seem to be missing vital details for testing? Are you frustrated with being left out of vital design conversations? Or are you fed up with sizing estimates that never turn out to be true to reality? Then it’s time to stop guessing your way through product development and start planning it with better behavior discovery. In this tutorial, we will learn how three vital roles – business, development, testing – can collaborate on what features to build and test through the structured activities of story mapping and example mapping. We will practice...
Test Automation Strategies: Navigating DevOps, Agile, and Complex Technologies
In the era of DevOps, agile methodologies, and the ever-expanding landscape of intricate technologies, the traditional bulky test automation strategy document has rapidly lost its relevance. Testers are grappling with the challenge of succinctly communicating intricate testing objectives. Yet, a beacon of optimism shines through! A streamlined, actionable, and impactful test automation strategy tailored for agile, DevOps, and even the notorious waterfall approach is within reach. Join Janna as she draws upon real-world test strategies from her experience, deconstructing the essential...
Smarter Test Design with Classification Trees and Pairwise Techniques
In many teams, the total number of possible combinations of inputs, outputs, browsers, and devices for the software we need to test has grown to an alarming number. As testers, we need to choose the most important tests first, but how do we do that without understanding the potential scope in the first place? In this tutorial, Julie Gardiner will share two powerful testing techniques that can help us be more efficient and effective with our testing. Classification trees are a structured, visual approach to identifying test objects and documenting test ideas and data in a way that allows...
Automation Framework Essentials
Automation is critical in today’s software delivery lifecycle, and yet many organizations struggle to keep their automation running. How can we mitigate difficulties and get consistent automation runs and results we can trust? The secret is implementing a solid automation framework, but that isn’t as easy as it seems. Chris Loder has built several automation frameworks over his career and has learned what works—and, more importantly, what doesn’t. This tutorial will cover what an automation framework is, the benefits of having one, and the keys to a successful framework, including...
Formulating Tests that Just Make Sense with Gherkin
NewHave you ever been assigned a test case whose steps just didn’t make sense? Perhaps you’ve even been so guilty as to write such a test! Writing clear, concise functional tests can be challenging, but it’s not impossible if we maintain a behavior-driven mindset. In this tutorial, we will learn how to break down complicated behaviors into runnable, repeatable test cases using the Gherkin language. We will frame tests using classic “Given-When-Then” scenarios that follow the Arrange-Act-Assert pattern. Through group exercises, we will hone our linguistic prowess to write expressive scenarios...
Tuesday, April 29
Exploratory Testing in the Heat of the Sprint
Agile teams are burdened with the challenge of delivering working product increments after short iterations of development. Getting software from an ambiguous terse, incomplete requirement–to a done, working, solid, valuable, high-quality code requires testers to continuously adapt to change in a turbulent context and deliver actionable results. Chris Blain will illustrate how charter-driven session-based exploratory testing techniques can empower agile teams and help them learn quickly and adapt based on what really matters. Testers can design and execute tests on the fly as they explore...
Holistic Performance Testing for Modern Applications
With the advent of frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue, the landscape of application performance has changed significantly in terms of testing and measurement. Gone are the days of measuring response time as a single value based on back-end performance. In modern web and mobile applications, additional layers need to be peeled apart at the front end to truly understand its performance characteristics. Traditional approaches to performance testing are no longer sufficient to provide a delightfully responsive user experience. Join Kaushal Dalvi as he details new developments in the...
Prompt Engineering for Software Quality Professionals
With the sudden rise of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), professionals have been attempting to use these types of tools to improve productivity. Building off prior momentum in AI for testing, software quality professionals are leveraging LLMs for creating tests, generating test scripts, automatically analyzing test results, and more. However, if LLM's are not fed good prompts describing the task that the AI is supposed to perform, their responses can be inaccurate and unreliable, thereby diminishing productivity gains. Join Tariq King as he teaches you how to craft high-quality AI...
AI-Assisted Testing: Using GitHub Copilot and Other Tools to Accelerate QA
There is no question that Generative AI models can improve the productivity of almost every role within the software development process. However, while a lot of attention has focused on generating software using tools such as GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Tabnine, and more, these tools can assist software testers in their job too. Join Coveros CEO Jeffery Payne to explore how Generative AI solutions help software testers generate and supplement tests, create automated test scripts, and even suggest improvements to what you’ve already created. Learn how AI can increase test...
Quality and Testing Measures and Metrics
To be most effective, leaders—including development and testing managers, ScrumMasters, product owners, and IT managers—need metrics to help direct their efforts and make informed recommendations about the software’s release readiness and associated risks. Because one important evaluation activity is to “measure” the quality of the software, the progress and results of both development and testing must be measured. Collecting, analyzing, and using metrics are complicated because developers and testers often are concerned that the metrics will be used against them. Join Mike Sowers as he...
Crafting Metrics that Drive DevOps and QA Excellence
When delivering high-quality software at speed, metrics are pivotal in driving informed decisions and continuous improvement. However, not all metrics are created equal. Misguided Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can lead to confusion inefficiency, and even undermine your DevOps and QA transformation efforts. In this session, we’ll combine the power of DORA metrics with practical strategies to craft metrics that redefine how your organization measures success. Drawing on real-world experience, we’ll discuss the purpose of metrics and learn how to determine the true purpose of QA and...
Wednesday, April 30
Heuristics to Help You Design, Build, and Choose Test Tools
How well do we design and acquire our tools? Drawing on compelling evidence gathered from a series of interviews, workshops, surveys, and case studies with industry gurus and hands-on practitioners, we’re diving deep into a set of heuristics. Each one is a gateway to discovery, backed by explanations and enriched with engaging exploratory activities based on solid research. As an attendee, you will gain access to resources that can help enable critical thinking and reflection about tools and the problems they solve. We will see how sometimes heuristics can pinpoint when a tool might...
Building a QA Team from the Ground Up
At some point in your career - especially at newer companies and start ups, there might come a time when you are hired onto a development team as the very FIRST QA hire! With such an exciting opportunity, there is so much at stake. Your performance will not only depend on your testing skills, but your ability to add value to the development process AND the product! In this presentation Stephanie will go over her own experience building a QA team, and some important milestones and challenges she hit along the journey. She will talk about how to evaluate the team you are being hired into,...
How to Hire the Best Quality Engineers
Endless candidates, loops ending in no-hires, missing data to make an informed decision...hiring is hard. Plus, the cost of mis-hiring (and bringing on someone who isn't a good fit) is very high. But there is a better way. The first step is determining exactly what are the requirements that your candidate must have (hint: it's not a specific programming language or experience using a tool). Knowing what questions to ask which assess the core skills for the position is essential. Join George as he talks about how to find and hire the best Quality Engineers starting at resume reviews to...
Expanding Your Testing Scope: Thinking Beyond System Health
A big part of testing is ensuring that you're anticipating and proactively detecting problems before they appear. This means thinking beyond bugs and errors and considering tests that assess your system's ability to meet the needs of the business and customers. For example, most businesses and architectures are designed to deliver operational and cost efficiency. The challenge is, many organizations don't actively test/measure their efficiency. Customers also have expectations about their experience. What testing do you do to evaluate how the system is meeting its experience goals? This...
Elevating Test Leadership: Strategies for Effective Team Management and Career Growth
PreviewMastering test leadership involves not only guiding your team through complex testing scenarios but also fostering their professional development and advancing your own career trajectory. In today’s fast-evolving tech landscape, test leaders face the challenge of balancing rigorous quality assurance with identifying the talent, development of team’s skills and career trajectories. During his tenure as Practice Head of Quality Engineering at a major tech firm, Srinivas Rao Labhani implemented a comprehensive strategy of implementing a sense of belongingness to the organization,...
How to Automate Your Desktop Apps with Ruby and Appium
PreviewDesktop automation is not easy, and for a while, Augustin Gottlieb Pequeno found automatically testing desktop apps a challenge. In this talk, he will share his automation journey with you so you can avoid the pitfalls and pain points common to desktop automation and properly build an automation framework for your desktop apps that can run on a CI/CD pipeline, while being able to support cross-platform testing. In addition, he will also explore the use of Ruby for test automation and how this often overlooked niche language is perfect for desktop automation testing when combined...
Panel - Revolutionizing Test Automation: The Impact of Generative AI on Quality Engineering
As Generative AI rapidly reshapes how we work, its impact on quality engineering and more specifically test automation is profound. Join our panel of AI and testing experts as they dive into how Gen AI is transforming testing practices, from creating smarter automation frameworks to redefining manual testing roles. Explore cutting-edge tools, discuss the challenges of integrating AI into test strategies, and debate the ethical implications of AI-driven quality engineering. This thought-provoking session will be driven by your questions and thus provide actionable insights, inspire...
Thursday, May 1
Treat Your Test Tools Like a Real Product
Have you ever had a QA tool fail to gain momentum? Ever had a splintered array of test automation frameworks that does the exact same thing across your quality engineering organization? Ever have a hard time getting leadership to sign off for tools that you know could easily boost testing productivity? If you answered yes to any of these, come join Albrecht in this crash course in building your quality engineering roadmap. In this session, Albrecht will go over how to build a product roadmap that aligns with your organization's goals and identify key milestones, to ensure your toolset is...
Starting Small: Piloting Automated Testing Capabilities for an Unemployment Insurance Service
In a complex, regulated legacy environment with minimal test automation and tight deadlines, technical and non-technical challenges can make it difficult to accelerate the QA process. This session uses Mighty Acorn Digital's experience launching an automated testing program for the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Modernization initiative as a case study on introducing automation to ensure safety across thousands of test scenarios spanning multiple different technologies. Introducing test automation in this environment presented several challenges. There was skepticism about the...
Is the Juice of BDD Testing Worth the Squeeze?
Have you ever felt like a pretzel while contorting a test case into a "Given-When-Then" scenario? The promise of BDD as a method for simplifying the communication and construction of a robust set of test cases has been somewhat successful in facilitating conversation but has impeded the take-up of more sophisticated analysis techniques, including depth of understanding, non-functional requirements, UI coverage reporting, and fundamental ease of adoption. In short a tool for communication not a tool for thinking! Application teams, especially those configuring or customizing SaaS or PaaS...
Applying Software Testing Principles to Risk Management Control Testing
PreviewIn today's dynamic business environment, robust risk management is crucial for organizational success. Traditional approaches to risk management control testing often focus on compliance, but they can benefit significantly from the rigorous methodologies developed in software testing. This presentation will explore how core software testing principles—such as test case design, automation, regression testing, and defect tracking—can be effectively applied to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of risk management control testing. Attendees will learn how to leverage these...
Continuous Automation, It CAN Be Done!
Less than two years ago, Anupama's team faced a legacy portfolio with under 12% automation, minimal test coverage focused only on-screen verifications, data validation limited to spot checking few records resulting in low release confidence. Join her as she shares the organization's transformative journey towards robust test coverage and reliable releases through continuous automation. This strategy addresses process, people, and technology including: evaluating applications from user perspective to identify key automation opportunities, mapping production data flows allowed them to create...
Testing Product Resiliency with Chaos Engineering
PreviewDive into the exhilarating world of Chaos Engineering, where chaos is not a threat, but a catalyst for resilience and innovation of product and security practices. This talk explores the transformative power of Chaos Engineering in navigating the unpredictable landscapes of software testing for product resiliency, which also directly impacts operational security. Organizations are often stuck on the “build it quickly and move on” mindset, leaving opportunities for competitors and security threats to set up their home base. Learn how leading organizations harness controlled chaos to...
The Revolution Was Not Televised: Software QA in the Era of Streaming and Livestreaming Services
PreviewYou heard about it—Netflix's Love is Blind Live event fiasco last year, Pluto's VMA's blues in LATAM, and other subpar experiences for some streaming services, both live and on-demand. How is software QA involved in those? Or, how was it NOT involved? As content production and distribution companies consolidate and grow their streaming services and peripheral activities including: user personalization, loyalty, and engagement; tailored quality assurance and testing efforts become critical to ensure a fully immersive and optimal experience. In this session, Ramy will explore how to...
Why Testing Needs to Be Part of Your Brand Loyalty Strategy
Every experience counts – In a recent Sauce Labs study, 57% of consumers said they’d consider switching to a competitor after just 3-4 negative interactions with a company’s website, software, or mobile app. With all the options available, consumers are growing less forgiving, putting a bigger emphasis on the need for a clear brand loyalty strategy that takes the execution of the digital experience into bigger consideration. Design and engineering are key to the equation and the culmination of that is implementing a testing strategy – one that makes the rollout and updating of new features...
Stop Listening to the Industry
Making the transition from manual testing to full test automation is hard. Consultants, vendors, speakers and the internet all have their own recommendations about how to get started. The challenge is that sometimes those recommendations do not align to your business’s development strategy or security protocols. So who is right? Do you shirk your company’s best practices that have been developed over time in favor of what the industry says is the ideal configuration? Will the testing rules be the same tomorrow? Maybe it’s time to blaze your own testing trail. In this session, Ingrid Warden...
Reception and Summit Kickoff: As a Leader, What Is Keeping You Up at Night?
Kickoff the Testing & Quality Leadership Summit with a reception and some networking.
Friday, May 2
Summit Welcome - Opening Remarks
After enjoying the Summit breakfast starting at 8:00 AM, join your moderator Jeff Payne as we kick off the STAREAST Testing & Quality Leadership Summit for 2025.
Balancing AI Innovations with Fundamental QA Principles
The pressure to adopt new technologies like AI and automation without a strong foundation in core QA principles is fraught with risk. Jumping into AI without understanding how to best leverage AI within QA for business success can cause quality issues. But lagging behind your competitors when it comes to utilizing AI can result in loss of market share. Join Igor Dorovskikh as he guides QA leaders on creating a balanced approach that integrates the use of AI capabilities within essential QA fundamentals. You'll learn how to define and implement these core principles, identify the pitfalls...
Summit Lean Coffee: Leadership Secrets from the Room
While everyone has their own approach to leadership, we all have our go-to tips and tricks that can help others lead teams, organizations, and ourselves. These may be techniques for motivating staff, growing team skills, managing senior executives, or finding the right people for your organization.
During this collaborative lean coffee session, Jeffery Payne will facilitate a discussion to elicit and discuss those leadership secrets used effectively by Summit participants. Using a lean coffee meeting format, participants will choose which aspects of leadership to discuss, vote on...
Think Tank Discussion Parts I, II, III, and Wrap-Up
Think Tank Discussion Part I: Problem Definitions | 11:15 AM
Join with your peers in an engaging and highly interactive session to discuss the issues that affect you most. Using answers to the question “As a Leader, What is Keeping You Up at Night?” posed at Thursday’s evening reception, participants will form small groups to work on finding solutions to pressing leadership & management issues. Discussions will review identified issues, barriers to change, and focus on innovative strategies and practical next steps. At the end of the think tank, all feedback will be collected and...