Read the whole interview here
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-testing-big-picture/the-it-files-james-christie-part-i/
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-testing-big-picture/the-it-files-james-christie-part-ii/
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Review - ALM Expo 2010 - Online conference for ALM
I recently attended this online conference (Oct 26-28, 2010). It was a three day conference on ALM, Cloud and Agile. To know more about the conference or view their pre-recorded session visit
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/alm-expo
Day 1 was focused on ALM. Absolutely great for people like me who know where little about ALM or what the new trends are. Cloud is here to stay and Application Life cycle Management is a key element to be successful in the cloud. You can go back and listen to the sessions. The Keynote speaker and then the discussion that followed were really informative.
Day 2 focused on Agile (my favorite part of the whole conference). I got a second chance to listen to Jeffrey Fredrick. Again the keynote discussion was good. Had some good polls during the sessions.
Day 3 focused on Cloud. These sessions tied the other two days together. It helped put the three (Agile, ALM and cloud) in perspective and how they are interconnected.
They had a scavenger hunt all three days for some reason I could not find the questions as per the instructions. I wish there was someone to help with that.
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/alm-expo
Day 1 was focused on ALM. Absolutely great for people like me who know where little about ALM or what the new trends are. Cloud is here to stay and Application Life cycle Management is a key element to be successful in the cloud. You can go back and listen to the sessions. The Keynote speaker and then the discussion that followed were really informative.
Day 2 focused on Agile (my favorite part of the whole conference). I got a second chance to listen to Jeffrey Fredrick. Again the keynote discussion was good. Had some good polls during the sessions.
Day 3 focused on Cloud. These sessions tied the other two days together. It helped put the three (Agile, ALM and cloud) in perspective and how they are interconnected.
They had a scavenger hunt all three days for some reason I could not find the questions as per the instructions. I wish there was someone to help with that.
Monday, October 25, 2010
ITKE - The IT Files Series at ITKnowledge Exchange
Follow the link below to "The IT Files" series.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-testing-big-picture/the-it-files-chat-with-james-christie/
My first interview in the series is with James Christie. If you would like me to ask a specific question post it here
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/what-are-your-questions-for-software-testing-expert-james-christie-100-point-bounty/#comments
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-testing-big-picture/the-it-files-chat-with-james-christie/
My first interview in the series is with James Christie. If you would like me to ask a specific question post it here
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/what-are-your-questions-for-software-testing-expert-james-christie-100-point-bounty/#comments
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
My Take: Agile Comes to You (Minneapolis Seminar)
I was at the Agile Comes to You conference on Oct 19th 2010. It was a good place to learn about agile if you have not heard about it yet. A place to learn more if you are just learning about agile or are in the initial stages of implementing agile. Its also a good place for people who are already into agile and just want tips and tricks. The session was from 9 am to about 2:30 pm and included breakfast and lunch.
The keynote speaker David Hussman from DevJam was really good. His dude's law on value/how/why was simple thinking. He could as well call it common sense law or people's law and really it applies to IT or software development in general. You don't have to be agile to follow it. He focused on test driven development and talked about how agile and test driven development go hand in hand. His theory on simple-complicated-complex was really interesting. If you do get a chance to listen to him, please do so. You can find more about him at DevJam.
Michael Johnson from Make Music Inc spoke about how his company adopted agile successfully. He talked about how not everyone was into agile but once they saw the value it was easy to get them all to be as excited as others.
James Talbott from AccuRev talked about AgileWorkflow Economic Management - his focus was on what is the outcome instead of the how or efficiency. His analogy using football was really good - end of the day its the score not the yardage that counts. So true.
Jeffrey Fredrick from AnthillPro talked about The Co-Evolution of Continuous Integration and Agile. His checklist manifesto was really interesting. He talked about having simple processes in complex environments. He talked about how people matter more than anything.
There were product demos in the end. It was nice to see some tools that support Agile: Rally, AccuRev and AnthillPro.
The keynote speaker David Hussman from DevJam was really good. His dude's law on value/how/why was simple thinking. He could as well call it common sense law or people's law and really it applies to IT or software development in general. You don't have to be agile to follow it. He focused on test driven development and talked about how agile and test driven development go hand in hand. His theory on simple-complicated-complex was really interesting. If you do get a chance to listen to him, please do so. You can find more about him at DevJam.
Michael Johnson from Make Music Inc spoke about how his company adopted agile successfully. He talked about how not everyone was into agile but once they saw the value it was easy to get them all to be as excited as others.
James Talbott from AccuRev talked about Agile
Jeffrey Fredrick from AnthillPro talked about The Co-Evolution of Continuous Integration and Agile. His checklist manifesto was really interesting. He talked about having simple processes in complex environments. He talked about how people matter more than anything.
There were product demos in the end. It was nice to see some tools that support Agile: Rally, AccuRev and AnthillPro.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My Take: TCQAA Meeting and presentation: Speaker Alex Dietz
Twin City Quality Assurance Association is a local non-profit organization and is the networking place for software testers in the Twin Cities (Minnesota). To know more about the organization visit TCQAA website. I and my colleague recently decided to drop in at their monthly meeting. I looked up their website to see the presentation topic.
Speaker: Alex Dietz
Topic: Principles of Software Verification and Validation for Medical Imaging.
I went to the meeting thinking there is nothing I learn about Medical Imaging that I would be able to use for testing in the financial industry. I am glad I was proved wrong. I went in to learn about an industry that I was curious about and have never been involved in. The speaker was very engaging, humorous and lively. Though his focus was on testing software-heavy medical imaging system, his approach for verification and validation can be applied to any industry. He talked about risk based testing and involving end users (doctors or medical specialist) to test. He also focused on reducing errors that are caused due to human errors to compensate for errors caused during the creation of the image.
I learnt a new word too: phantom. No, not the comic we read years ago. These are medical images that are used for testing. Look them up and you will find a lot of interesting information.
There were some good discussion in the end during the Q&A on the trends and problems medical industry faces. He talked about issues related to storing millions of images, sharing information between hospitals and doctors and network issues that this industry depends on for storing and sharing information.
You can find the abstract of his presentation at TCQAA events page.
Few other benefits:
If you are looking to network or are looking for job openings, TCQAA meetings are a good place to start. There were several recruiters there at the meeting who talked about Software testing jobs in and around the twin cities.
I also met an ex-colleague of mine after several years. This is also a place where you meet other software testers and can learn/share information.
Who can say no to coffee and cookies right. So do drop in when you can to attend their meeting.
Speaker: Alex Dietz
Topic: Principles of Software Verification and Validation for Medical Imaging.
I went to the meeting thinking there is nothing I learn about Medical Imaging that I would be able to use for testing in the financial industry. I am glad I was proved wrong. I went in to learn about an industry that I was curious about and have never been involved in. The speaker was very engaging, humorous and lively. Though his focus was on testing software-heavy medical imaging system, his approach for verification and validation can be applied to any industry. He talked about risk based testing and involving end users (doctors or medical specialist) to test. He also focused on reducing errors that are caused due to human errors to compensate for errors caused during the creation of the image.
I learnt a new word too: phantom. No, not the comic we read years ago. These are medical images that are used for testing. Look them up and you will find a lot of interesting information.
There were some good discussion in the end during the Q&A on the trends and problems medical industry faces. He talked about issues related to storing millions of images, sharing information between hospitals and doctors and network issues that this industry depends on for storing and sharing information.
You can find the abstract of his presentation at TCQAA events page.
_______________________________________________________________
Few other benefits:
If you are looking to network or are looking for job openings, TCQAA meetings are a good place to start. There were several recruiters there at the meeting who talked about Software testing jobs in and around the twin cities.
I also met an ex-colleague of mine after several years. This is also a place where you meet other software testers and can learn/share information.
Who can say no to coffee and cookies right. So do drop in when you can to attend their meeting.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Cloud Computing 101
For weeks now I receive at least one email everyday mentioning cloud computing. I was curious but not motivated to find out more. Finally seeing a flurry of tweets I decided to look this up. I went into it thinking its a product that is being marketed hard and fast.
I was so wrong (ya a true duh moment) and not alone in the "I don't know what cloud computing is?". VerizonOne survey IT professional in 2009 and revealed that 41% of senior IT professionals admitted they didn't know about cloud computing. I am sure this number has decreased since then. Compute world predicts this as one of the trends with the most promise in 2011.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing from what I understand is Internet based computing technology that uses Internet and remote servers for data and applications. Users (consumers and businesses) can use applications from any computer through the Internet on demand. This is the new buzz and is being forecast as the next big thing in the technology industry. Cloud gives the opportunity for collaboration without boundaries. Companies can increase capacity without investing a lot in infrastructure. More and more companies will jump into this bandwagon and will promote integration of services across borders. Services can be offered as software (SaaS - software as service), platform (PaaS - platform as service) or as infrastructure (IaaS - Infrastructure as a service).
Microsoft
Hewlett Packard
IBM
Salesforce
Amazon
Bird-watching in the cloud
What is cloud computing?
InfoWorld
IBM
(Please note this is based on what I learnt in the last few days out of curisoity. This is not everything about cloud ... just a short intro.)
I was so wrong (ya a true duh moment) and not alone in the "I don't know what cloud computing is?". VerizonOne survey IT professional in 2009 and revealed that 41% of senior IT professionals admitted they didn't know about cloud computing. I am sure this number has decreased since then. Compute world predicts this as one of the trends with the most promise in 2011.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing from what I understand is Internet based computing technology that uses Internet and remote servers for data and applications. Users (consumers and businesses) can use applications from any computer through the Internet on demand. This is the new buzz and is being forecast as the next big thing in the technology industry. Cloud gives the opportunity for collaboration without boundaries. Companies can increase capacity without investing a lot in infrastructure. More and more companies will jump into this bandwagon and will promote integration of services across borders. Services can be offered as software (SaaS - software as service), platform (PaaS - platform as service) or as infrastructure (IaaS - Infrastructure as a service).
Who is in the cloud?
GoogleMicrosoft
Hewlett Packard
IBM
Salesforce
Amazon
Why it works?
- User really does not have to know the technology behind the services
- Can be used by anyone over the Internet from anywhere
- Low cost when compared to owning the infrastructure in house
- Maintenance is easier since its not installed locally in each user's computer.
- Dependency on the Internet
- Loss of privacy (providers can monitor or control the services)
- Compliance to regulations (more expenses involved when trying to be compliant with regulations)
- Security when its being managed over the network or outside infrastructure
Bird-watching in the cloud
What is cloud computing?
InfoWorld
IBM
(Please note this is based on what I learnt in the last few days out of curisoity. This is not everything about cloud ... just a short intro.)
Monday, October 11, 2010
IT Knowledge Exchange
A great site for getting answers to your technical and non- technical questions.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com
You can ask questions or answer questions. Its for both learning and sharing knowledge.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com
You can ask questions or answer questions. Its for both learning and sharing knowledge.
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