This 3 day series of classes covers the essential principles and practices for testing software in an Agile context. It is structured as a series of 1-day classes so that you can take all three days, or just choose one or two. Please see the registration page or course description for more information.

Now in its 36th year, the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference prioritizes adding and improving the quality of software.

Our industry learns from working with education, healthcare, manufacturing, government sectors, and more. What can those other industries learn from us? Come and find out at PNSQC 2018.

The 37th Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference will be held October 14-16, 2019. With two days of technical talks and keynotes and a full day of workshops, this conference focuses on ways to improve the process of building and deploying software projects and systems.

Tracks Include - People, Management and Leadership - Technologies and Tools (including Machine Learning and AI) - Performance and Security - Automation - Processes, Practices, and Methods - Quality Engineering

Registration information is online https://www.pnsqc.org/2019-conference/2019-registration-information/

Our industry learns from working with education, healthcare, manufacturing, government sectors, and more. What can those other industries learn from us? Come and find out at PNSQC 2019.

This year’s theme for PNSQC is 2020 Vision: Quality Looking Forward. We chose this theme to inspire attendees and speakers to think of ways to learn from the past, and envision ways to achieve quality software in the future.

Just as lighting the Olympic flame before the games is a gesture of ceremony and inspiration, this kickoff of the call for proposals for PNSQC 2020 is a way to spark your imagination to contribute your own vision of quality.

Come hear a "full stack" of lightning talks on visions of quality. What’s in store for software QA in the future as it merges with DevOps. How will you adapt to changing organizational structures, roles and required knowledge? Find out what leaders in the field are thinking and doing.

Get inspired to see yourself presenting in October at PNSQC 2020 Networking afterward for ideas to achieve 2020 vision. Snacks and refreshments available during the talks.

Then prepare to share your own clarity of vision at PNSQC 2020 by submitting a proposal to present at the conference in October.

How do I get involved? To attend, please finish your RSVP here on meetup. If you wish to present at this event, please submit your ideas on PNSQC’s OpenConference site: https://www.openconf.org/pnsqc2020/author/submit.php

This event is open to software developers, IT managers, project managers, product owners, testers, security professionals -- anyone who is passionate about professional software quality.

Whether you’ve given hundreds of talks, just gave your first talk, or perhaps are thinking of giving a talk next year, we all could use tips in not only overcoming our fears of public speaking but getting good at it. As engineering professionals, sometimes we may focus on the engineering problem and analysis yet don’t realize that how we deliver the message can be just as important as the message itself.

If you break a sweat when speaking to more than a few people as we did, you’ll appreciate these transformational tips as Brian and Phil discuss practices for putting together a talk for a conference. As an engineer, learn a step by step pragmatic approach with several techniques and exercises to cure your nervousness and improve your delivery in a systematic way. Public speaking is a top skill for anyone who wants to effect change. Whether speaking to a department, at a meetup or presenting keynotes around the world, Phil and Brian have worked to hone their presentation skills.

You’ve heard “Practice Makes Perfect” right? Well, that’s not quite right. “Practice With Feedback Makes Perfect”. In this free workshop, you will learn systematic methods with exercises so that you can improve on the spot.

Walk away more confident in your ability to improve your public speaking skills with a framework and techniques for improvement.

This is a free three-hour workshop limited to the first 18 people. The content will be in three parts, but each section builds on the previous. Please RSVP on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Pacific-NW-Software-Quality-Conference-PNSQC/events/266871919

Both Brian and Phil are officers and board members of the Pacific NW Software Quality Conference (PNSQC).

Brian Gaudreau is a seasoned quality professional with 20+ years of management, software testing and QA experience relevant to telecom, enterprise metadata, government, multimedia, health care and marketing CRM platforms.

Philip Lew, CEO of XBOSoft, has founded and managed companies in his 25+ year professional career. He frequently can be found speaking at conferences including Softec Asia, HUSTEF, TestIstanbul and StarEast.

PNSQC, in association with PDX Blacks in Technology, is happy to present "Three Steps to Better Estimation" with Moss Drake.

How many times has someone asked you how long it would take to build some software even before they have told you how it might work? Do you think you could estimate a series of random tasks within 90% accuracy? We’ll do an interesting exercise in estimation and then talk about the value your estimates provide. We will talk about three steps to improve your estimates right away and discuss other methods of estimation.

This event will be hosted by PDX Blacks in Technology with networking and food sponsored by PNSQC.

Agenda: 5 pm - Network & social 6-ish - Announcements & Lighting Talk

Bio: Moss Drake has over 30 years of experience developing software and leading software projects. Which, coincidentally, is about the same amount of time he has been encountering managers in hallways and answering the question “How long will it take to build X?”

There's still time to submit a proposal to present at PNSQC 2020. And, to help you get inspired, we are hosting the second annual Pitchfest to give you quick feedback on ideas.

What is a Pitchfest? Speaking at PNSQC 2020 is your chance to share your software quality expertise and experience on trends, process improvement and technology solutions. The Pitchfest is your chance to quickly propose and iterate on an idea before submitting it.

Why show up for a Pitchfest? - You have an idea for a paper, but don't know "if it's good enough" - You have the germ of an idea and want to refine it before writing a proposal - You're curious what ideas other people have - You have questions about the overall paper/presenter/speaking "thing" - You want to have appetizers and something to drink while networking with software quality professionals

Appetizers will be provided by PNSQC. We are meeting in the "Barrel Room" (ask at the bar if you can't find it).

Even if you can't attend the Pitchfest, check out the program committee's "wish list" for topics. Remember, proposals for papers must be received by April 15th, 2020 at 11:59 PM PDT.

Here is the URL to submit a proposal https://www.pnsqc.org/2020-conference/call-proposals/

Here is the link to the "wish list" https://www.pnsqc.org/a-pnsqc-wish-list-topics-to-inspire-your-vision-for-quality/

PNSQC’s mission statement is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. The event is free and open to all interested.

UPDATE: Due to Coronavirus, this session will be held online. Join here:

https://cvent.zoom.us/wc/join/170670023

PNSQC, in association with PDX Veterans in Technology, is pleased to present "Secrets of Test-Driven Development" with James Shore.

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an essential part of agile software development. Without it, codebases lose the flexibility they need to change direction and respond to new business needs.

But what is TDD, exactly? And how does it work? In this brief introduction, expert TDD practitioner James Shore will show you what TDD is, how it works, and why it works. You’ll leave with new insights about this key software development practice.

This event will be hosted by PDX Veterans in Technology with networking and food sponsored by PNSQC.

The agenda is:

• 6 - 6:30 Networking & Food
• 6:30 - 6:35 Quick intro to event , thank sponsors.
• 6:35 - 7:05 Presentation
• 7:05 - 8:00 Q & A, Socialize
• 8p - Good night

James Shore teaches, writes, and consults on Agile development processes with an emphasis on technical excellence. He is a recipient of the Agile Alliance's Gordon Pask Award for Contributions to Agile Practice, co-author of The Art of Agile Development, host of “Let's Code: Test-Driven JavaScript,” and co-creator of the Agile Fluency® Model.

InfoQ has named him one of the “most influential people in Agile.” You can find his screencasts at letscodejavascript.com and essays at jamesshore.com.

Moss Drake will represent PNSQC to talk about the call for abstracts and the conference this year.

The 38th Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference will be held October 12-14, 2020. For this year’s conference, we’re focusing on Quality Looking Forward — how AI is changing the industry, staying ahead of hacks on the security front, managing remote teams during COVID-19, and where software quality is heading in the future. PNSQC 2020 will be online this year, so you can easily join keynotes, technical presentations, panels, and workshops. Stream the conference to watch from the comfort of your home office, or next to your cat or dog on the couch. Early bird pricing is just $95 for all three days, which includes a hands-on security vulnerability testing workshop. Join us for October 12-14, 2020, by registering now.

Tracks Include - People, Management and Leadership - Technologies and Tools (including Machine Learning and AI) - Performance and Security - Automation - Processes, Practices, and Methods - Quality Engineering

Registration information is online https://www.pnsqc.org/2020-conference/

Our industry learns from working with education, healthcare, manufacturing, government sectors, and more. What can those other industries learn from us? Come and find out at PNSQC 2020.

Come Together for the 2021 Culture Jam!

It’s time to open the PNSQC 2021 Call for Papers with a Culture Jam. This year the theme is Quality Coming Together. As we begin planning for the conference, we’re hosting an afternoon of lightning talks to have a meeting of minds and get your ideas flowing for new proposals on software quality.

Each speaker will have 15 minutes to get to the point and convey their ideas on the theme of how quality comes together for their teams, organizations and projects.

This is the official opening of the call for papers for the 2021 conference. It will be held virtually with breaks for networking, announcements and PNSQC 2020 Conference Award presentations.

How do I get involved?

• If you want to present, please submit your ideas here: https://forms.gle/qp7eJywD6ycViNuu6

• If you want to attend, please RSVP through Meetup. https://www.meetup.com/Pacific-NW-Software-Quality-Conference-PNSQC/events/275421880/

Watch past Culture Jam events on PNSQC’s youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PNSQC/playlists

PNSQC’s mission statement is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. The event is free and open to all interested.

The 39th Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference will be held October 11-13, 2021. The conference theme is Quality Coming Together — how all the separate people, teams, processes, libraries and ideas come together to build a quality system (or not). PNSQC 2021 will be online this year, so you can easily join keynotes, technical presentations, panels, and workshops. Stream the conference to watch from the comfort of your home office, or next to your cat or dog on the couch. Early bird pricing extended until September 20th!

Register online https://mms.pnsqc.org/members/evr/regmenu.php?orgcode=PNSQ

Tracks Include - People, Management and Leadership - Technologies and Tools (including Machine Learning and AI) - Performance and Security - Automation - Processes, Practices, and Methods - Quality Engineering

The full schedule is here:

https://www.pnsqc.org/pnsqc-2021-conference-glance/

Our industry learns from working with education, healthcare, manufacturing, government sectors, and more. What can those other industries learn from us? Come and find out at PNSQC 2021.