Few things in life are certain, and in software testing, even fewer.  Like our modern political system, the community of software testers is fractured and splintered.  And while we may draw bold lines around big camps such as Context Driven or Factory, Manual or Automated, Exploratory or Scripted, within any of those major camps there is fierce competition.  This can leave us poor individual testers wondering if there is in fact nothing solid for us to hold onto.  But there is… 

Now those who know me know that I am a strong proponent of conferences.  In the first place, they are usually a lot of fun.  But beyond that, they are a unique opportunity to get together with some fabulously interesting poeple and talk about all manner of things.  For this reason, for me, the best part of the conference is normally what happens down in the bar after the days official events are done.  But there is one conference where this is not true. 

 The Conference of the Association for Software Testing is a unique event among conferences.  At most conferences, the rules of etiquette of an elevator apply…you go in, pick your spot, be quiet for the duration of the journey, mutter something polite as you leave, and barely remember anything about the whole experience 5 minutes later.  So what makes CAST different?  In a word…Debate.  You see, before you’re even allowed to take the stage at CAST as a presenter, you have to agree to a few rules, specifically, that as soon as you begin speaking, you are fair game for anyone in the audience.  And the audience members, they are encouraged to challenge you and engage you in professional, respectful, but quite possibly heated and passionate debate.   

So why would any presenter want to subject himself to that? Well, for those of us who would, it is because having your ideas challenged is how you grow intellectually.  Being forced to defend your ideas, your beliefs and precepts, makes you confront them, examine them and quite possibly address their flaws and weaknesses.  This, folks, is what conferences are for…CONFERRING!  For my money, a day in this kind of emotionally charged, intellectually raw petri dish of ideas slugging it out in a Darwinian fight to the finish is far more valuable than a day in a staied, stoic tutorial.  This is where ideas are born, formed, forged and hardened.  There are some other unique things about CAST…it is young, and small, and not as vendor centric as many other conferences.  I also count these as pluses…in an environment like this, if you don’t make some new friends, and actually spend some time getting to know them, it is because you were trying not to. 

Being young and small and not so vendor centric has it’s drawbacks as well though…you’re not as well known, advertising is expensive, good speakers can be hard to entice…and so getting a good crowd to come to such a conference can be a challenge. 

I think Jon Bach, the Conference Chair for this year, has done an awesome job of overcoming those challenges.  In fact, I think if you look at the list of presenters from last years archives and this years schedule, you will be very impressed.  But I saw Jon last week at StarEast, and in one of our conversations I heard him mention that overall attendance was still not at the level he wants to see.  So I am trying to help get the word out.  Because, you see, in addition to whatever else I may be in a professional or business sense, at my heart and soul, I am a tester.  I want to understand things;  I want there to be structure and order;  and yet I have an almost perverse sense of wonder and awe at the way the universe routinely dashes those concepts against the cliffs and boulders of ambiguity and misunderstanding.  And the only reasonable thing I can do in the face of that is to try harder to understand more…to debate, to listen, to speak, to broaden my view of the universe, and hopefully maybe someone else’s as well.  To have…and to keep…an inquisitive mind. 

If this is how you think…if this is how you feel inside…well, then you are likely a good tester.  And that…THAT…is the solid thing for us to hold onto.  That above all else, software testing needs an inquisitive mind, and an inquisitive mind needs to be challenged and fed.  No matter what school you claim, no matter what method you use, no matter whose shirt you wear.  If you agree with this, then CAST has something for you.  And better yet, CAST offers something to you…a chance to be a part of something special at it’s inception;  to contribute in a unique way.  A chance to help it grow out of it’s infancy. If you have read this far, then you are at least cuirous about what kind of conference I could be so passionate about.  And so I would simply invite you to come and see for yourself.  Bring a friend.  Tell others on your team about it…heck, bring your whole team!!  Tell your online friends to drop by the site, blog about it, help get the word out.  It won’t always be this small;  it won’t always be this intimate;  it won’t always be this cheap.   

I was there last year, and I thought it was absolutely amazing.  In the middle of a presentation James Bach was giving on tester certification, someone with a different viewpoint rebutted what James was saying.  What followed was an intellectual exchange that puts any presidential debate you have ever seen to shame.  (By the way, each presentation has a facilitator to help manage the process)  As the ideas ebbed and flowed, it became apparent that this conversation was not going to conclude in its allotted time.  In accordance with their stated process, conference organizers quickly checked in with follow on speakers for that day, and schedules were adjusted and accommodations made so that the debate could continue on, and everyone with an opinion was given ample opportunity to express themselves.   

I will be there again this year, guaranteed. Consider it CAST in stone.