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Upcoming Events: KWSQA and STAR West

I’m delighted to have been asked to present a lunchtime talk at the Kitchener-Waterloo Software Quality Association, Wednesday September 30. I’ll be giving a reprise of my STAR East keynote talk, What Haven’t You Noticed Lately? Building Awareness in Testers. (The title has been pinched from Mark Federman, who got it from Terence McKenna, who may have got it from Marshall McLuhan, but maybe not.)

The following week, it’s STAR West in Anaheim, California. I’ll be giving a half-day workshop, Tester’s Clinic: Dealing with Tough Questions and Testing Myths and a track session, The Skill of Factoring: Identifying What to Test.

I’ll also be giving a bonus session, Using the Secrets of Improv to Improve Your Testing. I’ve done this one at Agile 2008 in Toronto, and at the AYE Conference in 2006, and it’s fun, but because so much of the learning comes from the participants, in the moment, it’s also been remarkably insightful both times. Improv is about being aware of your actions, the actions of others, and how they relate to each other—immediately. Even dipping one’s toe in it is very exciting. Adam White talks compellingly about his experience of a couple of rounds of classes with Second City, and he did a well-regarded improv session at CAST 2008.

There’s an official panel discussion hosted by Ross Collard on Wednesday at 6:30, and there’s an official Meet-The-Presenter session Thursday morning. The rest of the time, James Bach and I will be holding unofficial versions of both of those things. We’ll be bringing testing toys and testing games, and workshopping old and new exercises with whomever wants to come. He’ll likely be talking about his new book, Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar, a terrific memoir and guide to self-education.

I’d like to meet you at the conference, but I’m not sure who you are. If you’d like to do some hands-on testing puzzles, have chat about testing vs. checking, or to discuss anything you like, drop me a line—michael at developsense.com.

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