The call for submissions is now closed!
As EuroSTAR enters its third decade, the crafts of software
development and testing are ubiquitous. Complex and sophisticated
software is everywhere from immense server farms to automobiles to
toys that you can fit in your pocket. Software, our ways of
developing it, and our ways of testing it are constantly changing,
and with those changes come questions: How should we test this
product in this kind of development organization? Over the years,
we've heard how important it is to be focused on our clients'
needs-but are we doing that? If so, are we doing so at the expense
of thinking critically about our own work? Why does this kind of
testing seem to work so well here when it doesn't seem to work at
all over there? Is testing too inwardly focused on testing and
software development? What can we learn from other disciplines?
Testing is sometimes seen as oriented towards getting the right
answers, but isn't testing more about asking the right questions?
And if that's so, shouldn't we ask questions about testing
itself?
It is with the goal of encouraging you to raise those
questions-and many others-that the EuroSTAR Programme Committee
invites your participation and programme proposals for EuroSTAR
2013, November 4-7, 2013, in Göteborg, Sweden. Our theme for the
conference will be Questioning Testing. These two
words, separately and together, have several interpretations, and
can be punctuated in several ways. We challenge you to consider as
many as you can!
As Programme Chair, I have immense good fortune in the form of
help and guidance of four colleagues, each of whom has a solid
history and reputation in the testing business. They are Bart
Broekman (Netherlands), Rikard Edgren (Sweden), Maaret Pyhäjärvi
(Finland), and Alan Richardson (UK). In our conversations about the
programme, we've identified several attributes that we believe will
lead to compelling presentations and a terrific conference.
We want to hear plenty of experience reports -
your stories from your work where you have to deal with the harsh
reality of real environments and real people's emotions. While it's
always nice to hear about successes, we know that failure happens a
lot too, so we are also eager to hear about failures and what we
might all learn from them. Even for the successes, presenters are
encouraged to present open questions, puzzles, or uncertainties as
part of their stories. We'd also like to pay special attention to
people who have questioned and changed their own beliefs over the
years.
We want to provide an opportunity for participants to discover
extra value in presentations by making them more conversational.
For that reason, we're structuring the session slots to include
shorter-than-usual presentations and longer-than-usual
question periods. We're asking all participants to be
testers, rather than simply audience members-engaging, questioning
and challenging the content of the presentations. When something
appears to work, skilled testers want to find out how it works and
how it might not work!
At the same time, we want to make it safe for
participants to ask questions and for presenters to provide
answers. This will require help, respect, and good will
from our presenters, our participants, and our track chairs. The
overarching principle is that questioning a presentation
constructively-just as we might question a product-can help to make
it stronger by revealing not only potential flaws but also
undiscovered or unnoticed value.
We strongly encourage you to submit presentation ideas
that you might consider controversial or unlikely to be
accepted at other conferences. The conference committee is also
happy to provide help and support in developing
presentations for people who might be less experienced or
less confident than others.
For tutorial workshops and track sessions alike, we encourage
hands-on experiential exercises and debriefing
sessions in which questions can be raised, ideas can be
challenged, and discoveries can be revealed.
Sometimes a brief conference talk isn't enough to provide the
rich detail of a real-life experience, so we strongly encourage
presenters, in their proposals, to describe supplementary
materials that would accompany their presentations - yet
published articles, videos, tools-anything that will add depth to
your presentation. If you're talking about a tool, bring it, and
let people get their hands on it and ask questions about it.
You can view the Submission Guide
here. This will give you an outline of how to prepare your
submission to give it the best chance of being selected. We look
forward to receiving your proposals for contributions to the
programme. Informal suggestions for speakers or activities are
welcome too.
We look forward to seeing you in November!
Sincerely,
Michael Bolton,
Programme Chair, EuroSTAR Conference 2013
chair@eurostarconferences.com
The call for submissions is now closed!