STEP Agile Program

Software development has been moving in the direction of the agile development methodology for several years. A crucial aspect of any type of software development is testing. This includes such efforts as reviewing the requirements or "user stories" in the agile development paradigm, developing test cases from the user stories, as well as from traditional black box techniques, executing the test cases with appropriate follow-up, and user acceptance testing. Since agile development includes such features as team development in time-limited sprints, continuous integration of the code, programmers and testers working together, and continuous participation by the "business people" who requested the application, it stands to reason that the software testing process has to adjust to keep pace with the changes in development.

The STEP Two-Day Agile Testing program includes a variety of topics to meet this need. Topics include the changing role of the tester, testing in the continuous integration environment, how to maximize the benefit of programmers and testers working together on the agile team, the changing meaning of exploratory testing, tester participation in developing requirements, including the generation of test cases, organizational changes for testers and testing managers, personality traits for testers, and more. This program will be helpful to new software testers, testers as well as programmers transitioning from traditional development to agile development, and test and development managers working in the agile development environment.

For further information contact Dr. Mark Gillenson, Director of STEP, Mark.Gillenson@memphis.edu.