TestRetreat at CAST2016

It’s been four years since the Association for Software Testing ran Test Coach Camp as a two-day pre-conference event. Limited to thirty people and by-application, we ran the event using Open-Space Technology, with the attendees proposing and running the sessions they were interested. AST supported the event with a grant to cover food and facilities, and it was enough that I proposed a one-day event the following year, on Saturday, so people could rest on Sunday. The main complaint about Test Coach Camp, after all, was that it was a bit draining and was immediately followed by the three-day Conference for AST.

Over the next three years, in 2013, 2014, and 2015, we ran “TestRetreat” as a one-day event in Madison, New York City, and Grand Rapids, as a stand-alone, Excelon Event, for a nominal fee. Facilitators included Matt Barcomb, Markus Gaertner, and Michael Larsen, with Matt Heusser playing a role of host (in 2015, with Anna Royzman) and content owner.

This year, we’re pleased to say that TestRetreat is officially part of CAST. You’ll register for TestRetreat right off the CAST webpage – just scroll down a bit.

If that isn’t enough for you –

• The staff at Excelon is working on building out a new tutorial. Right now we are narrowing down titles – the two-question survey takes two minutes, and yes, you can leave it anonymous if you prefer.
• Matt has started blogging on Medium.com. Where we use this blog for announcements and formal thoughts, the medium work will be more opinions, brainstorming, and get ideas out there to help develop thoughts.
• We are partnering with the staff at Qualitest Group to start a new podcast – search for “The Testing Show” in iTunes or get it on the web. If you’d like some free advice, please email your questions to TheTestingShow@QualitestGroup.com.
• See our presentation, “Agile-Test Evolution: Changing Test Strategy Over Time” at QualityJam in Atlanta in April – Both Matt and Justin on stage for this first-of-it’s-kind event!

• Speaking of which, Matt has been writing for QASymphony, including “Hard Facts About The ROI of Software Testing“
• Want more? Follow Excelon, Matt, or Justin on Twitter to keep up with the happenings, which include Justin’s thoughts on bugs discovered post-release as a quality measure and Matt Heusser on KPIs for quality. Plus Matt will be speaking at #Agile2016. Plus …

More to come.