Last week was the yearly Stanz conference again. It’s all about testing and the such. This year SoftEd (who run the show) did a good job in getting the right speakers. Highlights were Michael Bolton, Elisabeth Hendrickson and Ray Arell (Intel). What was very clear was that all speakers were drifting towards or were smack in the middle of propagating agile testing. This really seems to be the future of testing (and probably development).
Although I haven’t yet worked in an agile environment (and to be honest haven’t even seen one yet if you ignore the ones that call themselves agile) I think this is the thing to take on board for the future. If you don’t want to be left behind get on the bandwagon. Interestingly enough it looks like agile in testing doesn’t require an all-project agile approach. If the right methods are adopted it can still work in favour of reducing bugs.
Oddly enough I heard a new song from the tool vendors. They used words like “open”, “flexible” and “cheaper”. My guess is they are feeling the pressure from agile, that definitely favours the small, quick and dirty testing tools. Open Source makes it’s weight known here too it seems. Elizabeth showed what’s on the horizon for Open Source testing tools and I must say that I am mightily impressed. The evolution of the FITnesses & Co is just around the corner and it will go a long way to appease those that miss the test management side. More on that once it’s out of the woodworks.
By the tools and methods presented I also see a strong trend towards the development-tester or technical tester. In Wellington these are under represented. So to all testers out there I’d strongly advise to not shunn the learning of script languages and test automation. I know that I will focus more on these and sread the know how I have already.
As for the ISTQB/CMMi/TMMi/old world group, they were there too. What surprised me was the lacklustre uptake and the open discussion on the sense & sensibility of what was taught. The certification discussion group was empty bar the certifiers. Maybe we’ll see a turn of the tide towards more brain than more certification (still missing my button James 
).
This Stanz was very good and I’m looking forward to the next one. Hope SoftEd keeps up their game.
Tags: Conference, Testing