Our Mission and Purpose

The Association for Software Testing is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the science and practice of software testing according to Context-Driven principles.

The Association for Software Testing (AST)  is a professional non-profit association that is dedicated and strives to build a testing community that views the role of testing as skilled, relevant, and essential to the production of faster, better, and less expensive 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.

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News

• The Value of Testing & Test Teams By Rajesh Mathur When I first saw this theme, I thought it is going to be a cake walk writing about the value of testing.  My fellow testers, teams and I provide immeasurable value to the projects we work on as well as to the larger organization. Just when I thought this was easy to prove, ...
• Measuring Value Submitted by Jay Philips I think a great way to show if you and your testing team are adding value to a project & organization is to pull the number of defects found pre-prod that the testing team found and compare them to the number of defects found post-prod.  If it wasn’t for the Testing Team ...
• On Value By Peter Walen The value in testing is an intangible item that people may not easily grasp and some may refuse to acknowledge.  We don’t make the software people will be using.  We don’t always detect and report every bug that is hidden within the software.  We may not have the same perceptions and views of ...
• CAST 2013: Program Updates & Early Bird Discount “Early Bird” Discount Ends Save up to $300 until May 31st Register by May 31th and save up to $300 with our “Early Bird” discount. Don’t forget that we limit attendance to 250 people. We look forward to seeing you August 26-28 in Madison, WI for CAST 2013. Program Updates We are excited to have Jon Bach and Dawn ...
• On Mentoring By Doug Hoffman Mentoring is an interesting concept to me. Providing guidance is a lot of what I do for a living. Mentoring upwards and across an organization comes in the form of educating people about their needs and ways to satisfy them. Generally, I don’t just tell clients what they need or what they should ...
• From Lone Wolf to Tribal Elder by Michael Larsen There are periods in our lives where we as individuals tend to be loners. Not all of us, of course, but there are times where it is advantageous for us to make our way and see what we know on our own. We pit ourselves, our wits, and our energies and drives towards ...
• Where the Bugs Aren’t By Iain McCowatt And Dee said “Help Please! Is there any way I can interest you in writing something for the AST newsletter for April?” Unfortunately, I seldom write like that. I prefer to write when something catches my attention, tickles my fancy, intrigues me: I rarely flick a switch and write on demand. I wracked my brains, and nothing came to mind. Then a gift arrived. “YOU have been ...
• Bugs Seen ‘Round the World By Rajesh Mathur I attended the International Conference on IT Management and Engineering Practices (ITMEP2013) in January. Before me there was another speaker who insisted that testing is expensive. When I spoke, I had to say that testing is not expensive, not doing it is expensive. People laughed. As the laughter died down the questions erupted. Suddenly this ...