To London, to London to visit… some testers

I’ll be in London (the U.K., not London Ontario), June 17 2009, to present a keynote, “Two Futures of Software Testing” to the British Computer Society (BCS) Specialist Group in Software Testing (SIGIST; they must have bought a vowel). In the talk, I project a dark future for testing, in which the goal is Making Sure That Tests Pass, and in which processes and tools rule the roost—chillingly reminiscent of what many testers already see every day. I also project a bright future for testing, in which the goal is learning about the product or service we’re testing, and providing valuable information to management, and in which the central figure is the mindset and the skill set of the individual tester, where everything else is support for that.

The night before, June 16, I’ll be chatting about testing, sharing stories, and sampling real ale in some pub (location as yet to be determined) with Rob Lambert and a crew of other testers. You’re most welcome to join us; contact me and I’ll send you the details as they become available.

I’ll be back in London again July 1-3 2009 to present a relatively rare three-day public session of Rapid Software Testing. The class will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel St. James, and it’s presented under the kind auspices of ElectroMind. Please contact Stephen Allott (stephen.allott@electromind.com) for information on pricing (package deals available) and registration. (Note that the June 8-10 event in Southampton, sponsored by iMeta, has been rescheduled.)

Not long after that, July 13-16, I’ll be at CAST 2009 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There are a lot of very good conferences around the world, but this one is special; it’s by testers, for testers, and the focus is on conferring and learning from one another. Jerry Weinberg, Cem Kaner, James Bach, Scott Barber, Fiona Charles, and Jonathan Koomey (the author of Turning Numbers Into Knowledge) will be presenting. Not to be missed. If you’re going, please spread the word among colleagues. If you’re not going, I’m indeed sorry… but please spread the word anyway, would you?