CAST 2012

July 16 – 17th – Conference (Track Sessions & Workshops)

July 18th – Full Day Tutorials

The Association for Software Testing is pleased to announce its seventh annual conference, CAST 2012, to be held July 16-18. CAST 2012 will be held in San Jose, California, in the busy heart of the Silicon Valley, at the Wyndham Hotel.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Thinking Tester”: an exploration and celebration of on-the-job creativity and critical thinking in software testing.

Thinking testers question not only the product and its technical context, but the circumstances they find themselves in. What is the whole project context? What are the rules, the conventions, the unspoken assumptions? What are the constraints and risks?

Thinking testers challenge themselves and their team-mates to test effectively and efficiently with integrity and skill. Thinking testers neither blindly follow methodologies or standards, nor automatically reject them. They evaluate the merits of different approaches and adopt those best suited to a given problem set, according to their professional judgement. Thinking testers invent new solutions to old and new problems. They challenge apparent project or organizational constraints and devise clever workarounds for those they can’t change. They educate customers and teammates about the benefits of an open-minded approach to testing. Where necessary, thinking testers speak truth to power.

Track Sessions — Workshops — Full Day Tutorials

What makes CAST unique?

• For testers, by testers
• We strive to advance and improve the science of software testing
• We share, discuss, and question
• Meet industry leaders (authors, bloggers, and personalities)
• Network with peers, and experts
• Reasonably priced, high ROI

Who should attend CAST?

• Software Testers, Practitioners, and Managers
• Scholars and Researchers
• Students
• Developers

The core mission of The Association for Software Testing (AST) and CAST is to help build an active community of software testing scholars, practitioners, and learners who can in turn positively influence and advance the practice of software testing.

CAST is more than a conference, it’s a unique opportunity to learn and discuss not found anywhere else. Each scheduled session is split into two parts. Half of the session is a presentation by a speaker, however the balance of the time is a facilitated “open season”. This open season allows attendees to question, discuss, and test the presentation.

What makes CAST truly unique is what takes place in the hallways, at receptions, during meals, and at Emerging Topics talks. For many the true value of CAST is the ability to discuss topics you are interested in with peers, experts, and academics that are leading change in the industry. At CAST you are among friends…let’s confer!

Follow CAST on Twitter: #CAST2012

Important Dates

• November 21, 2011 – Proposal process open
• January 16, 2012 – Submission deadline for Regular Track and Workshop session proposals. Proposal and peer review process for these session types closed.
• February 1, 2012 – Notification of program acceptance or rejection for Regular Track and Workshop sessions.
• June 18, 2012 – Submission deadline for Emerging Topics session proposals. Proposal and peer review process closed.
• July 16-18, 2012 – Conference

Conference Chairperson

Douglas Hoffman is a management consultant and trainer in strategies and tactics for software quality assurance with over 30 years experience. He does organization gap analysis, strategic quality planning, and organizational transformations. He teaches classes in Black Box Software Testing, Test Automation Design, and Test Oracle Based Testing. The President of the Association for Software Testing (AST) and a Fellow of the ASQ (American Society for Quality), he holds degrees including MBA, MSEE, and BACS. He is certified by ASQ as a Software Quality Engineer and as a Manager of  Quality/Organizational Excellence. Douglas is a founding member, past Chair, and current Treasurer of SSQA (Silicon Valley Software Quality Association), past Chair of the Silicon Valley Section of ASQ, a founding member for AST, Invited Speaker Chair for PNSQC, and a member of ACM and IEEE. He has spoken at dozens of conferences and has been Program Chair for several international conferences on software quality. He has also been an active participant in the Los Altos Workshops on Software Testing (LAWST) and dozens of the offshoot workshops.

Program Chairperson

Fiona Charles is a software test consultant who teaches organizations to match their software testing to their business risks and opportunities. With extensive experience in software development and integration, she has managed testing and consulted on testing on many challenging projects for clients in retail, banking, financial services, health care, telecommunications and emergency services.

Throughout her career Fiona has advocated, designed, implemented, and taught pragmatic and humane practices to deliver software worth having—in even the most difficult project circumstances. Her articles on testing and test management appear frequently and she speaks and conducts experiential workshops at conferences. Fiona edited The Gift of Time, and guest-edited the “Women of Influence” issue of STP magazine. Fiona is co-founder and host of the Toronto Workshop on Software Testing.

Program Committee – Anne-Marie Charrett, Sherry Heinze, Johan Jonasson

Emerging Topics Track – Matt Heusser, Pete Walen