Conference Schedule:
There are two exciting parallel tracks. One for Leaders/ Managers and the other for Test Professionals.

Test Technologies/ Methodologies: This track is dedicated to Test Professionals who want to dive deep into technical world. Here the topics are focused on covering 3 main concepts: Techniques, Tools and Methodologies, where participants not only learn but actually apply it immediately to their test environments.

People/ Process/ Business: This track is rightly framed for Test/QA Managers and team leads who want to know the whole deal about managing a successful testing team and understanding the business needs. Here the topics focus on covering aspects related to People, Process and Business.

08.30 AM - 09.30 AM: Registration, Conversations & Connections

09.30 AM - 10.15 AM: Keynote Address
Emerging Profiles of a Software Tester
Over the last one decade the profile of software testing has undergone tremendous changes. From Functional validation of writing test cases and executing them, the role advanced to higher levels like Test Automation, performance testing, Data warehousing testing, package Application testing, Business Analyst, Security testing etc., This has increased the capability of the testers to a different level – experts in programming languages like Java, VB etc., apart from expertise in the business which helps them to align with the Business. Guna discusses about some of these emerging expertise areas where the profile of the tester is moving towards.
Speaker
Gunasekaran Veerapillai, Competency Development Head - Testing Services, Wipro

10.15 AM - 11.00 AM: General Session
Hello Mr. Tester, Do You Want to Increase Your Market Value?
The speaker will talk about 2 niche areas that a tester must get into, in order to substantially increase the market value. It helps a tester in 2 ways - getting into a better role, getting better financial rewards. Chant the mantras - ETL and Performance Engineering. These two elevate a tester from a tester role, and puts the tester on the same level as architects. Testers get more visibility all the way to the top.
Speaker
Nagarajan Pichumani, Founder and CEO, Softsmith Infotech

11.00 AM - 11.30 AM: Morning Break
A chance to meet up with your friends and have a cup of coffee!

Test Technologies/ Methodologies

11.30 AM - 12.10 PM: Session 1
Silence Is Golden: The Power of Test Case Immunity
Over time, we all know the same set of test cases do not yield defects. This is an indication of how a system becomes "immune" to test cases. However we typically use presence of defects to make judgements about quality of the system. This talk outlines an interesting concept that focuses on the "absence of defect types" and how we can exploit this to optimize test effort. Can we interpret the "silence of test cases" by exploiting the "power of test case immunity" to do less?
Speaker
T. Ashok, Founder & CEO, STAG Software

12.10 PM - 12.50 PM: Session 2
Behavior Driven Testing (BDT) in Agile
In this talk, the speaker will explain Agile Testing and how a technique called "Behavior Driven Testing (BDT)" can make your testing more effective. In this discussion, the speaker will also cover the differences between BDD (Behavior Driven Development) and BDT, how BDT affects the Test Pyramid, and the value proposition of using BDT.
Speaker
Anand Bagmar, Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks

12.50 PM - 01.50 PM: Lunch
Break for lunch on the house and a chance to catch up with each other!

01.50 PM - 02.30 PM: Session 3
Cloud Testing Service – Approach, ROI, Challenges & Solutions
This topic will focus on covering the industry trends, approach, ROI, best practices followed by the industry leaders on 'Cloud Testing Service'.
Some of the key aspects that will be covered are:
· "Testing on the cloud" and "Testing for the cloud"
· What types of testing that could be conducted in cloud
· New trends that are evolving like performance testing in cloud, functional regression testing
· How best practice organizations select the tool and infrastructure they need to invest in
· Metrics for measuring the effectiveness of cloud testing service
Speaker
Subash Newton, Sr. Manager - Testing Services, Dell

02.30 PM - 03.10 PM: Session 4
Increase Test Effectiveness Through Innovative Testing Tools and Techniques
Isn't Testing done to find information? Aren't critical decisions about the project or product made on the basis of that information? So, should the testers focus more on providing feedback and information rather than assessing quality, exposing bugs or evaluating compliance? Is the testing effort often wasted on unnecessary repetition, unclear test prioritization and downright human error? Well, the demands from the businesses have peaked in the new millennium. And, embracing the new decade by providing the right agility to the tester is extremely vital for your businesses. During this talk, let us look at some innovations to make the tester embrace these changes with minimal disruptions.
Speaker
Tejasvi Kumar, Senior Technology Strategist, Microsoft

03.10 PM - 03.40 PM: Afternoon Break
Some time out for you to grab another coffee and a well earned rest.

03.40 PM – 04:20 PM: Session 5
Express Functional Test Approach - Doing More With Less
In this presentation, I will introduce my experience with the new and smarter approach to functional testing which works hand in hand with the rapid development cycle and makes the overall testing cycle leaner. The method proposed here attempts a useful compromise between no process and too much process, providing just enough process to gain a reasonable payoff.
Speaker
Anuj Magazine, Software Testing Practitioner, Citrix R&D India

04.20 PM - 05.00 PM: Session 6
Web Accessibility Testing - Ensuring Universal Access to Information
Accessibility is a quality of a product or service that makes it usable by people with one or more physical disabilities, such as restricted mobility, blindness, or deafness etc. Lot of countries have started legislating websites (along with other communications) to be accessible for people with disabilities. Accessibility compliance is the next big thing for more ecommerce websites and most businesses are increasingly making their websites accessibility compliant. This paper is about testing web sites for Web Accessibility Compliance there by ensuring universal access to information.
Speaker
Suvojit Mukherjee, Program Manager - Testing practice, Collabera

05.00 PM: Conclusion

09.30 AM - 10.10 AM: Keynote Address
Empowering QA Professionals - Transforming from Testing to Business & Brand Assurance
Business dynamics are rapidly changing and are getting increasingly complex. Client IT organizations are continuously working for better alignment to business imperatives that includes faster time to market, increased service levels, and predictable cost. Even expectations from testing is changing and the need is felt to position testing as an advisory service also rather than limiting to traditional QA/ QC functions. Traditionally we have been positioning testing value proposition in terms of cost reduction only. It is important for testing organizations to transform benefits measurement frameworks to incorporate values delivered to upstream & downstream SDLC phases and to business. In this session, Rohit will share his perspectives on changing IT & business expectations from Testing Organizations and insight of some initiatives taken by testing organizations to deliver and demonstrate increased value from testing.
Speaker
Rohit Kishore, Senior Director - Testing Services, Cognizant

10.10 AM - 11.00 AM: Panel Discussion
Road Map to Quality
Many times, as a profession we get siloed and fail to look beyond certain essential steps of finding the bug or improving the quality of a process/ product in question. For all we know, an extra step (which perhaps only required us to use our common sense) would perhaps enhance the quality to much greater extent. For this to happen, understanding of the key features and advantages of investigation, especially from a wide cross section of fields will help professionals to think out-of-the-box and come up with innovative way of things they are already doing.
Panelists
Murthy Navarathna, GM - Software Engineering Group & QA, Samsung India Software Operations
Soumen De, Engineering Group Manager - Advanced Vehicle Quality, General Motors
Raghavendra Nagaragadde, General Manager - Manufacturing & QE, Trelleborg
Mehulkumar Pancholi, Head - Quality Assurance, Arvind Retail
Moderator
T. Ashok, Founder & CEO, STAG Software

11.00 AM - 11.30 AM: Morning Break
A chance to meet up with your friends and have a cup of coffee!

People/ Process/ Business

11.30 AM - 12.10 PM : Session 1
Facing Quality Challenges in Highly Competitive and Complex Product Domains
Shrinking shelf-life, shorter development cycles, disruptive innovations and rapidly changing complex technologies are throwing harsh challenges to quality management. Typical automation frameworks and testing the developed code would be a mediocre response to these challenges. Non-testing quality activities are no longer an option to remain in business and age old techniques like defect prevention have become much more meaningful to handle such challenges. This discussion and presentation would look into quality activities beyond mundane testing tasks.
Speaker
Murthy Navarathna, GM - Software Engineering Group & QA, Samsung India Software Operations

12.10 PM – 12.50 PM : Session 2
Building a High Performance Testing Team in the Age of Next Gen Testing
Testing teams have evolved from being just a part of SDLC to a strategic organization helping businesses deliver value to their customers. From being an IT led activity in the past, Next Gen testing is more Business led with Organizations constantly looking at ways to make their testing teams more productive and high performing to meet the desired outcomes. Today's test teams focus on managing projects, processes; strive for continuous improvements and the key focus is on managing stakeholder expectations. Testing paradigm has shifted so much in terms of new technology (Cloud, Mobile, Virtualization etc) and new approaches (Services virtualization, Collaborative Testing , DevOps etc) that Test Managers struggle to deliver the needed outcome from their teams.
Speaker
Amiruddin Syed Mohamed, Associate Director - Global Testing Practice, CSC

12.50 PM - 01.50 PM: Lunch
Break for lunch on the house and a chance to catch up with each other!

01.50 PM - 02.30 PM: Session 3
Quality Assurance Career in the Light of Agile Practices
With more companies adopting Scrum and Agile Development Methodologies, it is important for Quality Engineering Community to adapt to the new methodology so that they can meet the testing challenges, contribute in making effective releases and form key members of Scrum teams. This talk will help the QE Community to appreciate the challenges and how to meet and adapt to the new methodology and the skills they need to be successful.
Speaker
Raghavan Puranam, Director - Quality & Release Engineering, Yahoo!

02.30 PM - 03.10 PM: Session 4
Industrialization of Testing (Test Factory)
Speaker
Ramesh Aralikatte Subramanya, Director - Testing Services, Logica

03.10 PM - 03.40 PM: Afternoon Break
Some time out for you to grab another coffee and a well earned rest.

03.40 PM - 04.20 PM: Session 5
Leadership Lessons from Software Testing
Speaker
Mudit Kumar, AVP - Testing, Mahindra Satyam

04.20 PM - 05.00 PM: Session 6
Exploring New Areas of GUI Testing with Froglogic Squish
Speaker
U M Taranath, Founder & CEO, G.T. Enterprises

05.00 PM: Conclusion