Presentation Abstract

Heuristic testing is the systematic use of guidelines, checklists, and other empirically and theoretically derived tools to help testers design effective tests.

Heuristic testing focuses on how testers think, and since it minimizes documentation it's particularly useful in rapid, chaotic, or ambiguous situations that increasingly characterize modern software development. Heuristic testing focuses on skills and ideas, rather than procedures and metrics. This talk examines the principles, skills, and tools of heuristic testing.

About the Author

James Bach (http://www.satisfice.com) is founder and principal consultant of Satisfice, Inc. James cut his teeth as a programmer, tester, and SQA manager in Silicon Valley and the world of market-driven software development. He has worked at Apple, Borland, a couple of startups, and a couple of consulting companies.

Through his models of Good Enough quality, exploratory testing, and heuristic test design, he focuses on helping individual software testers cope with the pressures of life in the trenches and answer the questions "What am I doing here? What should I do now?"