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-----------------------------------------

The 4th Annual
Conference of the Association of Software Testing (CAST)

Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
July 13-16, 2009
Serving Our Stakeholders

Keynote by Jonathan Koomey,
Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Consulting Professor
at Stanford University,
and author of Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem
Solving


You have spoken and we have listened. Many of you have told us that you're
having a harder time than usual getting funding to attend CAST; that your bosses
are telling you that there is simply less money to go around this year. As a
result, and a statement of your enthusiasm about CAST, you have asked us if we
can give you more time to convince your bosses to pay for your trip to CAST. You
have asked us if we can provide more incentives to use to help you convince your
bosses. You have asked us if we can provice more infomation for you to use to
demonstrate the value of CAST to your bosses. To each of these questions, we
have a single answer:

"Yes we can."

Read on to find out about extended early bird registration rates, group discount
rates, comparisons to conferences your boss likely views as comparable to CAST,
and information to help you promote CAST and solicit sponsors.

Welcome to Volume III of BroadCAST, your information source for all things
related to the Conference of the Association for Software Testing. In case
you've forgotten (or a friend forwarded this message to you and this is your
introduction to CAST) , CAST 2009, the 4th edition of our conference will be
held July 13-16 in sporty Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the Antlers Hilton
Hotel.  The Antlers Hilton offers stunning views of the Rocky Mountains and
Pikes Peak, which serve as a dramatic backdrop for this year's theme: "Serving
our Stakeholders".

Read more about CAST
http://cast2009.org


EARLY-BIRD RATE EXTENDED TO May 1

If you haven't already taken advantage of the Early-Bird registration rate for
the conference, you only now have a few extra days to do so. Register now and
save yourself (or your company) a few extra bucks!

Price Table
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/images/cast_pricing.jpg

Register now!
http://cast2009.org


GROUP DISCOUNT RATES ANNOUNCED

We are pleased to announce group discount rates for CAST 2009. If you are part
of an organization that is paying for you and your co-workers to attend CAST,
you qualify for the discounts below.

     * 5% off for 3 or 4 participants.
     * 10% off for 5 to 9 participants.
     * 15% off for 10 to 19 participants.
     * 20% off for 20 or more participants.

If you're ready to register a group, contact Scott Barber for the appropriate
promotion code at executive.director@....



CONVINCE THE BOSS

It is frequently the case that the manager or executive who must approve your
request to attend a conference is not a tester and has not been to a testing
conference, but has probably approved funding for folks to attend one or more of
the following conferences at some point in the past. If that is true for you,
the following information might help you make a case for CAST.

CAST Price Comparison Table
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/images/price_comps.jpg

Features unique to CAST:

     * 1/3 of every presentation is reserved for your questions.
     * Presentations tightly tied to the conference theme.
     * No "thinly veiled sales pitches" -- even during vendor sessions.
     * Over 75% first run content -- including tutorials!



PRE-CONFERENCE TUTORIALS

Don't forget about our eight unique, one-day tutorials, each presented by
recognized thought leaders in their areas of expertise, to precede CAST 2009 on
July 13. Each of these tutorials have been hand chosen and custom made to
support this year's theme: "Serving our Stakeholders".

Tutorials Table
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/images/09/tutorials.jpg

See the CAST Tutorials page for more information.
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/drupal/CAST2009/tutorials

Register for the conference and a tutorial now!
https://www.123signup.com/register?id=zypnc

Register for a tutorial only now!
https://www.123signup.com/register?id=zyphf


CONFERENCE PROGRAM

The CAST 2009 Program Committee has nearly completed the conference agenda. We
are adding abstracts and speaker biographies to the website now. Check back over
the coming weeks to see the program in it's entirety!

See the CAST program.
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/drupal/CAST2009/Program


PROMOTE CAST

In addition to all of the information you receive in BroadCAST that we encourage
you to use to promote CAST in your company, on your Blog, or wherever else
interested testers may be found, we have created a page full of CAST Logos in a
variety of sizes and shapes that you can use on your Blog or Website. Take a
look, pick your favorite, copy the code, paste it in, and save or submit. It's
just that easy.

View the Promote CAST Logos
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/drupal/CAST2009/Promote

See an Example of a Blog Promoting CAST
http://www.testingreflections.com/node/view/7970


SPONSORSHIP

CAST's Sponsorship and Exhibitor Programs include what you'd expect from a
conference in our industry, but probably at a lower price than you might be used
to.  There are packages where promotional material is delivered to participants
on your behalf, meal and artifact (participant backpacks, proceedings CDs, etc.)
sponsorship opportunities, as well as exhibitor booth options. Additionally,
this year we have expanded our "Vendors & Service Providers Only" track.  This
is where you get to come and discuss, demonstrate, answer questions about,
and/or introduce your products and services to interested CAST participants. We
do require vendors to follow the same 2/3, 1/3 rule that CAST mandates for all
sessions, that is: You present for up to 2/3 of the total time slot, you leave
at least 1/3 of the time for facilitated questions and answers. This idea has
been given a limited number to sessions during the previous two conferences. The
participants *loved* that the vendors were presenting then sticking around to
field hard questions. The vendors who presented reported that in addition to
high quality leads and contacts, they gained significantly more valuable market
information than they get as exhibitors or vendor-presenters at other
conferences.

Sponsorship Summary Table
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/images/09/sponsorsummary_sm.jpg

We hope you'll find all the information you need to decide what level of
sponsorship is right for you in the link below, but if you do not find what you
need, please do not hesitate to contact AST's Executive Director and this year's
CAST Sponsorship Chairperson, Scott Barber.

View the CAST09 Sponsorship Guide.
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/drupal/CAST2009/Sponsorship

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON AST AND CAST

Over the past 40 years, software design and construction techniques have evolved
spectacularly. We can build much larger and more complex programs each year than
we could the year before. Unfortunately, many of our test techniques and test
management maxims come from the 1960's and 1970's. We must foster significant
advances in both theory and practice of testing to catch up with the progress in
development.


MISSION OF AST

The Association for Software Testing is a nonprofit professional organization
dedicated to advancing the understanding and practice of software testing. The
AST serves a community of scholars, students, and software development
practitioners by providing forums for discussion of all aspects of software
testing through conferences, publications, web sites, and other services.

AST works on both theory and practice, but concentrates more on practice. Our
objective is to build a community of testing practitioners, academics, managers,
and consultants who view the role of testing as skilled, relevant, and essential
to the production of faster, better, and cheaper software products. We value a
scientific approach to developing and evaluating techniques, processes, and
tools. We believe that a self-aware, self-critical attitude is essential to
understanding and assessing the impact of new ideas on the practice of testing.

In pursuit of these goals, AST holds an annual conference (CAST) and sponsors
workshops, such as the Los Altos Workshop on Software Testing, the Workshop on
Regulated Software Testing, and the Workshop on Teaching Software Testing. The
distinguishing characteristic of these events is that ideas presented are
subject to the generative scrutiny of all of via a moderated, collegial
discussion of the work and its impact.


MISSION AND STYLE OF CAST

CAST has been designed as a forum to advance the state of software testing
through the presentation and discussion of influential practices and theoretical
concepts in software testing.

The conference is designed not only to allow but also to encourage a high-level
of interaction among presenters and participants. Flexibility is built into the
schedule to facilitate productive brainstorming and impromptu debates. The
conference organizers are observant and responsive: when this interaction builds
the interest and energy for a particular topic, the flow of events and
allocation of time to topics will be fine-tuned. Trained, seasoned moderators
will help ensure that discussion sessions are productive.

The conference attracts those who want to discuss and debate testing topics with
savvy practitioners who have "been there, done that." It addresses leading-edge
"next great thing" topics, such as whether paradigm shifts may lead to a new era
of testing. The conference also addresses the enduring, apparently timeless
challenges of testing, such as handling deadline pressures and building the
credibility of the test team.


For further information contact:
Association for Software Testing
Phone: 321.271.8028
Fax : 866.749.4971
Email: member.services@...
http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org

CAST 2009 CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The 4th Annual
Conference of the Association of Software Testing (CAST)
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
July 13-16, 2009

http://CAST2009.org

Serving Our Stakeholders

Keynote Presentation by Jonathan Koomey,
Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Consulting
Professor at Stanford University,
and author of
Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving



The Association for Software Testing is pleased to announce its fourth
annual conference, CAST 2009, to be held July 13-16. The meeting will
be held in sporty Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the Antlers Hilton
Hotel.  The Antlers Hilton offers stunning views of the Rocky
Mountains and Pikes Peak, which serve as a dramatic backdrop for this
year's theme: "Serving our Stakeholders".

Only rarely do we test software solely for the joy of finding a bug.
We test software because someone wants us to provide them with
quality-related information about their software so they can make
better decisions, fix important bugs, and/or assess regulatory
compliance. Those someones are stakeholders. Generally, stakeholders
fall into one of four groups: end users, regulators, business leaders,
or development teams. Sometimes these groups have competing expectations.

     * End Users: Many testers focus on the needs and expectations of
end users. Do you? When you do, how do you go about donning an
"end-user persona"? How can you be an advocate for end users? Are
end-users the only stakeholders on your project?

     * Regulators: When are regulatory agencies your most important
stakeholders? When are they just another source for requirements? Or
do they just generate busy work? How can we satisfy regulators without
neglecting other stakeholders?

     * Business Leaders: You may think of managers and executives as
your primary stakeholders. Do you really give them the kind of
business information they need? How do you provide business decision
leaders with actionable information?

     * Development Teams: Do your developers thank you for finding
bugs, or do they hide when they see you coming? Do you treat them as
your primary stakeholder? Do you think it would be useful if you did?

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The CAST 2009 Program Committee is seeking proposals for papers and
presentations that explain how testers can serve stakeholders. Both
academic research papers and industrial experience reports are welcome.

In addition to presentations that demonstrate service to stakeholders,
we're looking for personal experience reports that clearly demonstrate
skills and practices of seasoned software testing professionals. We
are looking for rich, diverse experiences and ideas that illuminate
the theme.

If you have hands-on experience, and a fascinating story to tell,
contact us and we will assist you in evolving your tale so it will be
ready to present at CAST.

CONFERENCE FORMAT

CAST is designed to be a forum that stimulates discussion leading to
innovation in software testing; and so is distinguished by significant
interaction among presenters and attendees. Papers, experience
reports, and presentations are challenged, debated, and discussed by
conference attendees. We encourage and facilitate conversation by
building flexibility into the schedule so that topics generating high
energy can be explored more deeply without adversely disrupting the
course of conference events. Trained facilitators will ensure that
discussion sessions are appropriately structured and productive.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

Please submit an abstract for consideration by March 23rd. Abstracts
should be 2-3 paragraphs in length explaining what you would like to
write about and present. Submit your abstract via email to
cfp@....

March 23rd is the final deadline for submissions.  Good proposals may
be accepted prior to March 23rd, so submit your abstracts as early as
possible before the schedule fills up.

If your proposal is accepted, you are expected to write a two to ten
page paper on your proposed topic.  Papers will be peer-reviewed to
help you refine your ideas and presentation.

Although we are not associated with ACM, we encourage paper authors to
follow the ACM SIG Proceedings style, freely available at
http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates. However,
please do not let this format restrict the quality of your paper. Use
the format as a guide, not a restrictive template.

Authors of accepted abstracts will receive complimentary registration
for CAST 2009. (This does not include tutorials or workshops.)
Submitted papers will be published in the conference proceedings.
PEER REVIEWERS

In addition to presenters and papers, we are seeking software testing
practitioners and academics to review papers. To best serve the
stakeholders of CAST 2009, we need testers to work with authors to
help refine papers. If you would like to volunteer to review papers,
please send an email indicating your desire to be a reviewer to
cfp@....

IMPORTANT DATES

     * Monday, March 23, 2009 : Final date for abstract submission --
submit as early as possible
     * Monday, March 30, 2009 : Final notification of acceptance/rejection
     * Monday, April 20, 2009 : Deadline for submission of paper for
peer review
     * Monday, May 18, 2009 : Deadline for submission of revised paper
for peer review
     * Monday June 1, 2009 : Final papers & slides (if applicable) due
     * July 13-16, 2009: Conference

CONFERENCE CONTACTS

For further information about CAST 2009, please contact a member of
the conference committee as listed below:

     * Sponsorship: Scott Barber,
executive.director@...
     * General Conference Information: Ben Simo,
president@...
     * Program: cfp@...

CHANCE TO WIN CLOUD COMPUTING TEST DRIVE


Forrester Reports says, "If your company isn't playing around with
cloud computing platforms today, you run the risk of falling behind."


This is an opportunity for you and your company to gain real world
experience with virtual lab environments!

• Be a leader and introduce new cost effective technologies into your
company
• Build your resume – in today's economy it's important to have new skills
- We are looking to hire someone to do on-demand Skytap image and
project setup with Skytap



"Using Skytap's self provisioning capabilities to build and clone
virtual environments has cut software test cycle times 100%."   The
cost of acquiring and administering hardware in comparison is more
expensive and time consuming than Skytap."


Mike Casullo, CIO, WildBlue Communications


Offer:

This is a chance to win a FREE 30-day "Test Drive" of Skytap's Virtual
Lab ($ 1000 value). Most demos do not allow you to do production work.
This one does!

• 30-day "Test Drive" access to Skytap Virtual Lab Professional
Subscription including 250 hours of virtual machine time
• 1 hour introduction session and 1st tier support provided by Test Common
• Subject to Skytap User Agreement and mutual agreement of starting dates

How to Enter:

• Register at www.testcommon.com, then click on the Skytap logo in the
"Featured Group", and join that group by midnight on November 7, 2008.
It's free!


Rules:

• Drawing to be held on November 10, 2008
• Must be a SQuAD member or have participated in the FROSST Conference
• Must register on Test Common site and join Skytap group by midnight
MDT on Nov. 7
• Winner will be determined by a drawing, announced on the site, and
notified via email on November 10, 2008
• Winner must provide valid email address and company information on
Test Common registration
• Winner agrees to public announcement
• We reserve the right to cancel or modify the terms of this contest

• I feel much better about myself & career.
• The Goodie Bag was amazing.
• Relevant subjects.
  
• The diversity of people.
  
• The variety of ideas.
  
• The open space topic concept where we determined what the conference was about.
  
• The discussions in the groups flowed really well.
• Lots of interaction between participants.
  
• The format which allowed us to talk about what interested us the most.
  
• The level of knowledge.
• Talking to people that understood my language.
  
• Collaboration.
• Meeting lots of people that are professional testers.
• The price is right.
• Open space format
  
• We chose our topics.
  
• Having a chance to talk during sessions.
  
• Open forum.
• It was quite eye opening to see that other testers encounter the same issues with their companies and with different tools.
  
• Many different subjects to chose from.
• Topics discussed were those I wanted to discuss.
• Learning from experts on a subject I'm relatively clueless on.
• Small enough to get to know people easily.
  
• The ability to pick and choose the topics of interest.
  
• The best thing about this conference was the ability to speak freely and share ideas!
• Determining the topics ourselves.
• The ability to contribute & discuss. It felt like our conference -- very empowering!
• Lack of sales pitches.
• The discussions were all informative and helpful. Participation was easy and comfortable.
• Wonderful concept.
• The non-structured conversations allowed the topics to move in directions that were most beneficial to everyone in attendance.
• So many options.
• I liked how the conference allowed everyone to tap into the well of common knowledge.
  
• It's free!
• I enjoyed the open format where many perspectives were shared.
• Agile discussion.
• Lots of new ideas.
  
• Broad topics and narrow topics allowed for sweeping overviews as well as peeks into particular shop problems / current concerns.
• No long presentations.
• I had a great time meeting people and discussing software testing.
• The open space concept!
• The chance to interact.
• Being able to call a session I know nothing about.
  

• FROSST Conference Take-Aways by Eric Minick
• FROSST by Jeff Peters of XAware
• FROSST - Huge Success! by Test Common

Hi frosst folks,
One of our attendees couldn't come Frday but she needs help finding
someone who has expereince in testing mobile device software.  Shikha
came to me on Saturday and asked if I had proposed her topic.
Unfortunately i did not get her email with the topic request.  Can
anyone out here help her or do you know of anyone?

She's a fellow FROSST attendee looking for help.  Here is her info if
you can help:
Shikha Gupta
shikha_mca@...

Thanks everyone,
Heidi

Hi all,
This was my first conference of this type and it was a really good
forum for sharing ideas, experiences, miseries and triumphs.
Thanks for all your hard work and I'm looking forward to the next one.
Jerry

The first FROSST Conference begins in less than four weeks!

We've far exceeded our initial goal of 100 registrants for the October
2008 FROSST Conference. We currently have 155 registered participants.
  This is really exciting.

First, I'd like to thank our great sponsors that are making this
gathering possible.  ProtoTest and Current Consulting have stepped up
as Champion Sponsors.  FROSST is also supported by Connected Testing,
SQuAD, iLevel, ProKarma, the Association for Software Testing, and
Tundra Services.  Please see the Sponsor page on the FROSST wiki for
more information about our sponsors. Please consider our sponsors the
next time you are in need of products or services they provide.

FROSST 1 will be held at Colorado Technical University's North Denver
campus at 1865 W 121st Ave in Westminster, Colorado.  This is just
under 1 mile west of I-25 on 120th Avenue.  After session topics are
proposed, Friday night's planning meeting will move to Graystone
Castle (Radisson North Denver) at I-25 & 120th Ave for a reception
with free food, beer, and soft drinks.

The conference schedule has been refined and is posted on the FROSST
wiki.  Check-in will open up shortly before 6pm Friday night. We hope
to get started by 6:30pm.  Please be aware that Friday traffic can be
worse than normal, and give yourself plenty of time to get to CTU.
We've got room on the schedule for up to 25 sessions on Saturday --
that's up to five concurrent sessions in each of five periods on the
schedule.  We plan to go until about 7pm on Saturday.

For those that would rather not drive home Friday night, we have a
small number of discounted rooms available at Graystone Castle.  To
reserve a room for Friday night at the discounted rate of $102, call
the Radisson at (303) 451-1002 and tell them you are with FROSST.
There are less than 10 rooms remaining, so if you want one, claim if
right away.  Other nearby hotels are listed on the FROSST wiki. Feel
free to add information about additional hotels if you have any
recommendations.

Thank you for registering for FROSST.  You can see who else is
registered on the FROSST Wiki.  Feel free to add information about
yourself.

If you haven't yet joined the FROSSTCON Yahoo Group, please go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/frosstcon and join the group.

We understand that life happens.  If you have registered and are not
able to attend, please let us know via email to register@...
so that we can open up your space for someone else.

So where is this FROSST Wiki?  Go to http://wiki.frosstcon.com and
click the FROSST 1 link.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about
FROSST 1.  This is your conference.

Ben Simo
and
Heidi Harmes-Campbell

ThinkTalkTest, Ltd.

Nishant,

As for the topics, my understanding is that our get together the first
day (Friday night) will be about submitting topics we are interested in
discussing or leading a talk on. From there, we'll create a schedule and
everyone can go to the topics they find most interesting. If you find a
topic less interesting than you thought, get up and go to another one.

That said, I'd be pretty surprised if other people weren't planning on
suggesting the kind of topics you suggest. But hey, I'm not a tester and
could be nuts.

-- Eric

Nishant Awasthi wrote:
> Hi Ben,
>
> Thanks for sending the note.
> My name is Nishant Awasthi.
>
>  What size t-shirt do you wear? *Medium
> *
> * Would you like a nearby hotel room (at your own expense) on Friday,
> the 10th? *No*
>
> * What kind of eater are you? *Vegetarian Only (No seafood, no meat,
> no shrimp just any vegetarian dish) eggs are ok.
> *
> * Will you join us for a reception at Graystone Castle (just 1 mile
> from CTU) after the planning on Friday night? *Sure...What exactly is
> this and what do I have to do?*
>
> *Just checking if there will be any topics to discuss following things:*
>
> *1. Defect fixing in different branches of software and which tool to
> use?*
> *2. Automation tools, techiniques and implementation? Pros and Cons*
>
> Sincerely,
> Nishant
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 7:45 PM, joebensimo <ben@...
> <mailto:ben@...>> wrote:
>
>     Greetings,
>
>     If you have signed up for the October FROSST (aka FROSST1) in
>     Westminster, please go to http://www.frosstcon.com,
>     <http://www.frosstcon.com,/> scroll down
>     towards the bottom of the page, and make selections in the 4 polls at
>     the bottom of the sidebar.
>
>     * What size t-shirt do you wear?
>
>     * Would you like a nearby hotel room (at your own expense) on Friday,
>     the 10th?
>
>     * What kind of eater are you?
>
>     * Will you join us for a reception at Graystone Castle (just 1 mile
>     from CTU) after the planning on Friday night?
>
>     Please vote only if you are attending, and please vote only once.
>     This is not a testing exercise to find the bugs in the Blogger poll
>     widgets. :)
>
>     We hope to use the poll results to help us with our estimating.
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Ben
>
>
>

Silly thing messes up the link.

http://www.frosstcon.com

--- In frosstcon@yahoogroups.com, "joebensimo" <ben@...> wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> If you have signed up for the October FROSST (aka FROSST1) in
> Westminster, please go to http://www.frosstcon.com, scroll down
> towards the bottom of the page, and make selections in the 4 polls at
> the bottom of the sidebar.
>
>
> * What size t-shirt do you wear?
>
> * Would you like a nearby hotel room (at your own expense) on Friday,
> the 10th?
>
> * What kind of eater are you?
>
> * Will you join us for a reception at Graystone Castle (just 1 mile
> from CTU) after the planning on Friday night?
>
>
> Please vote only if you are attending, and please vote only once.
> This is not a testing exercise to find the bugs in the Blogger poll
> widgets. :)
>
> We hope to use the poll results to help us with our estimating.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ben
>

Greetings,

If you have signed up for the October FROSST (aka FROSST1) in
Westminster, please go to http://www.frosstcon.com, scroll down
towards the bottom of the page, and make selections in the 4 polls at
the bottom of the sidebar.


* What size t-shirt do you wear?

* Would you like a nearby hotel room (at your own expense) on Friday,
the 10th?

* What kind of eater are you?

* Will you join us for a reception at Graystone Castle (just 1 mile
from CTU) after the planning on Friday night?


Please vote only if you are attending, and please vote only once.
This is not a testing exercise to find the bugs in the Blogger poll
widgets. :)

We hope to use the poll results to help us with our estimating.

Thanks,

Ben

> During the agenda setting on Friday evening, there were a number of
> people saying "do you know who posted that topic?" because they
> wanted to ask a question about what they meant.  The topics were
> mostly written on Post-Its so there wasn't room for much details.
> For consolidation sometimes it helps to be able to ask someone
> "when you say 'automated testing issues' are you referring to
> 'automatically running' or 'automatically generating' tests?"
> Putting names on the topics might facilitate these conversations
> during the agenda setting and help group topics accordingly.

I think you've just given us reason to provide larger Post-It notes.
Putting names on the notes is a great idea to help people clarify what
they want to discuss.

> Also the note taking was sketchy at best.  Will there be wi-fi at
> FROSST and if so will you have a wiki available for real-time
> updating of session notes?

We hope to have wi-fi available during the conference but have not yet
confirmed whether we can.  We're still working out the facility
details.  We already have a Wiki set up at http://wiki.frosstcon.com/.
  Participants are encouraged to share their notes and ideas on the Wiki.

Ben

I liked the one posting with keywords that conference registrants
entered. However, for me, weekends are very precious and I am
hesitant to give up a weekend for a business related meeting. As
such, I wanted to see how much interest there may be in the
following, which is my area of interest:

Model-based testing, especially when the modeling tool is
Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow.

I typically work with companies on embedded software (controls
applications). In some cases this is safety critical code that needs
to be tested to DO178B Level A (MCDC = white box testing standard).

Interests include:
- generating the test vectors
- executing the test vectors on the model and on the code
- process issues
- creating automation beyond the automation provided by commercial
tools like Simulink Design Verifier and Reactis
- tool limitations and workarounds
- success stories with productivity/cost improvements attributed to
using model-based tools

For me, I have been doing Matlab-based embedded software devleopment
with testing and high degrees of automation for about 10 years and
therefore have my own opinion on the above.

Thanks

Scott Ranville

• Who says so?
• How do they know?
• What's missing?
• Did somebody change the subject?
• Does it make sense?

• FROSST is going to be a great conference
• We still need sponsors
• Refer your friends and colleagues

Hi everyone,
Registration is going great!!  Please remember to send the FROSST url
to other testers and IT folks.

We realize that some folks have joined the FROSST yahoo group but have
NOT registered for the actual conference in October.  Being on the
yahoo group doesn't automatically register you for the conference.
These are two different registrations.

Please register for the conference at the link below or on our
website.  It's easy and FREE!!!

http://frosst1.eventbrite.com/
or
www.frosstcon.com and click on "Register Now!" orange button at the top
of the page.

Heidi HC and Ben

Joe,


--- In frosstcon@yahoogroups.com, "joebensimo" <ben@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Sue,
>
> We are planning on following a format similar to CITCON (see
> http://www.citconf.com) in which people will propose topics Friday
> evening. We will put these topics on sticky notes and participants
> can add their votes about what interests them, and the topics will be
> placed on a schedule for Saturday. (Depending on the number of
> participants and topics, we will have three to four concurrent
> sessions going throughout the day Saturday.) Participants can propose
> new topics and shuffle the schedule as the day progresses.
> Participants are also encouraged to apply the Law of Two Feet and move
> from one break-out group to another as they see fit.


I was at the CITCON in Denver and it was awesome!  A few thoughts I have
on the format.

Ideally a session has more than one "topic" that is grouped into an
over-arching topic.  This helps guide the session to more general topics
while still being able to dive into the specifics.

During the agenda setting on Friday evening, there were a number of
people saying "do you know who posted that topic?" because they wanted
to ask a question about what they meant.  The topics were mostly written
on Post-Its so there wasn't room for much details.  For consolidation
sometimes it helps to be able to ask someone "when you say 'automated
testing issues' are you referring to 'automatically running' or
'automatically generating' tests?"  Putting names on the topics might
facilitate these conversations during the agenda setting and help group
topics accordingly.

Also the note taking was sketchy at best.  Will there be wi-fi at FROSST
and if so will you have a wiki available for real-time updating of
session notes?

Matt

ThinkTalkTest, Ltd., co-founded by Ben Simo and Heidi Harmes-Campbell, is pleased to announce the first FROSST (Front Range Open Space Software Testing) conference.

FROSST 1 will be held on October 10th and 11th in Westminster, Colorado. The conference will be held on a Friday evening and all day Saturday.

Please see www.FROSSTCON.com for more information. Join the FROSSTCON Yahoo Group for the latest information and to participate in planning for the event.

Hi Sue,

We are planning on following a format similar to CITCON (see
http://www.citconf.com) in which people will propose topics Friday
evening.  We will put these topics on sticky notes and participants
can add their votes about what interests them, and the topics will be
placed on a schedule for Saturday.  (Depending on the number of
participants and topics, we will have three to four concurrent
sessions going throughout the day Saturday.)  Participants can propose
new topics and shuffle the schedule as the day progresses.
Participants are also encouraged to apply the Law of Two Feet and move
from one break-out group to another as they see fit.

LAWST-style workshops are small peer workshops of (usually) 20 or
fewer people and are focused on specific issues.  LAWST is the Los
Altos Workshop on Software Testing.  The first workshop was held about
11 years ago and I've heard there have now been over 200 such
workshops in the software testing world.  There are currently a number
of somewhat regularly scheduled regional and topical workshops.  I've
been to a handful of these and will be posting links to existing
workshops on the FROSST web site as they are announced.  These
workshops are hosted by 'content owners' that care about the subject
matter and facilitated by trained facilitators that help keep things
flowing toward the content owner(s)'s goals.  Although the site looks
a bit outdated, there is some information on LAWST workshops at
http://www.lawst.com .

Ben


--- In frosstcon@yahoogroups.com, "sue.uyetake" <sue.uyetake@...> wrote:
>
> Greetings! Opening a Topic to discuss the topics. Then we can open a
> topic on each topic.
> ---
> [Methodology to create topics and to update progress frequently]
> [Sue's Thoughts] I think this is how the conference could go:
> everybody meet and whiteboard the Areas of Interest, then group off
> into each "Parallel Track" and discuss topics within their area of
> interest. Let's scrum it and keep reporting back as a huge group every
> two hours to scrum (ten minute limit - keep your Running Shoes on)
> what has been discussed and what will be discussed in each Track. Also
> end some Tracks into a post-conference group and start more Tracks.
> That way people can "switch Tracks" every two hours if desired to
> inject new energy into each. All participants can know the Track
> Topics started/stopped/elongated and sign up at the end of the day for
> the post-conference groups gathering for the following months.
>
> ---
> I agree with Ben that these discussions can easily launch
> special-interest followup groups that meet locally and regularly in
> the following months. Have to look up his LAWSST(?) term after I post
> this..
>
> ---
> [Open Space Basics 101] Here is the blurb from the author of Open
> Space, Michael Herman. It's dated 1998, so I'm not sure if it's been
> used recently.
>
> "In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants create
> and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a
> central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy,
> group, organization or community that all stakeholders can support and
> work together to create?" - Michael Herman, 1998.
> ---
>

Greetings! Opening a Topic to discuss the topics. Then we can open a
topic on each topic.
---
[Methodology to create topics and to update progress frequently]
[Sue's Thoughts] I think this is how the conference could go:
everybody meet and whiteboard the Areas of Interest, then group off
into each "Parallel Track" and discuss topics within their area of
interest. Let's scrum it and keep reporting back as a huge group every
two hours to scrum (ten minute limit - keep your Running Shoes on)
what has been discussed and what will be discussed in each Track. Also
end some Tracks into a post-conference group and start more Tracks.
That way people can "switch Tracks" every two hours if desired to
inject new energy into each. All participants can know the Track
Topics started/stopped/elongated and sign up at the end of the day for
the post-conference groups gathering for the following months.

---
I agree with Ben that these discussions can easily launch
special-interest followup groups that meet locally and regularly in
the following months. Have to look up his LAWSST(?) term after I post
this..

---
[Open Space Basics 101] Here is the blurb from the author of Open
Space, Michael Herman. It's dated 1998, so I'm not sure if it's been
used recently.

"In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants create
and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a
central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy,
group, organization or community that all stakeholders can support and
work together to create?" - Michael Herman, 1998.
---

We are getting close to nailing down a place and time for the first
FROSST conference.  For now, I'll just say, it is looking like we'll
be on the north end of the Denver metro area in mid October.  I hope
to be able to publicize details within the next week.

Until then, please help us promote FROSST by telling all your software
tester friends and colleagues about FROSST.

Sponsorship information has been posted on the web site.

Please also start thinking about what you'd like to discuss at FROSST.
  This is intended to be a conference designed by the participants.
Have something to present?  Have an idea you'd like to float?  Have a
problem you'd like to solve? Want to learn about something new?
Please start the discussion on this list and carry it into the conference.

If any issues are raised at the conference that require more in-depth
discussion and investigation, I'd like to also facilitate LAWST-style
peer workshops to explore those areas.

Happy Testing!

Ben Simo
ben@...

http://www.frosstcon.com

1. Whoever comes is the right people.
   
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
   
3. Whenever it starts is the right time.
   
4. When it's over it's over.