2024

Michael Bolton

Consulting Software Tester – DevelopSense, Canada

Michael Bolton is a consulting software tester and testing teacher who helps people to solve testing problems that they didn’t realize they could solve. In 2006, he became co-author (with James Bach) of Rapid Software Testing (RST), a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly and credibly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time pressure. Since then, he has flown over a million miles to teach RST in 35 countries on six continents.

Michael has over 30 years of experience testing, developing, managing, and writing about software. For over 20 years, he has led DevelopSense, a Toronto-based testing and development consultancy. Prior to that, he was with Quarterdeck Corporation for eight years, during which he managed the company’s flagship products and directed project and testing teams both in-house and around the world.

Contact Michael at michael@developsense.com, on Twitter @michaelbolton, or through his website.

Ben Simo

Product Manager – Tricentis, USA

Ben Simo is a context-driven software quality leader who has been helping make software better for over 30 years. Ben has applied his skills as an analyst, software tester, designer of testing tools, and quality coach, in a variety of industries including: healthcare, finance, defense, education, marketing, ecommerce, and cloud services. Ben’s approach to software testing transcends the common notion of merely verifying explicit expectations. He believes good testing includes observational and experimental investigation, that enables people to make better decisions that lead to delivering better software — software that positively impacts people’s lives. While he believes testing is a fundamentally human activity that cannot be fully automated, automation plays an essential role in his testing work.

Ben is perhaps best known as the “sort of skilled hacker” who uncovered and reported numerous problems with the initial release of the US Government’s health insurance marketplace: Healthcare.gov. Ben is currently exploring and creating the testing tools of the future as a researcher and product manager at Tricentis.

Benjamin Johnson-Ward

Lead Solutions Engineer – Curiosity Software, USA

Before spending the past 10+ years pioneering testing techniques and tools, Benjamin studied economics at the world-leading London School of Economics. He focused on behavioral economics and econometrics, questioning how unconscious biases and economic structures influence behavior. Benjamin has since applied these insights to become a better tester, seeking to understand how unconscious biases can mislead the critical thinking that lies at the heart of testing.

Benjamin has applied this introspective mindset to his work as a tester at both start-ups and multinationals. He has helped shape testing techniques at global banks, retailers, insurance companies, telcos and beyond. He has occupied many of the roles associated with “quality”, including developer, product manager, automation engineer and tester. Benjamin’s work has often gravitated towards model-based testing and test data management. He has most recently focused on applications of Generative AI to testing, both as a product manager and delivery specialist of AI-driven tools.

Steve Jefferies

Principal Test Engineer – WTW, UK

Steve is the Principal Test Engineer and head of the QA community of practice at WTW. Steve currently supports a global team of test and QA professionals in their quest to deliver high quality software through a culture that puts testing and QA at the forefront of everything we do.

Steve has over 15 years experience working in software testing and QA, catching the software testing bug as a student tester back in 2008. He has since worked in a wide variety of test management, architecture, SDET and QA lead/engineer roles across a broad range of industries including the pharmaceutical, insurance and cyber security domains.