Debra is the Quality Assurance Practice Lead and a Senior QA Consultant with ObjectSharp Consulting. As QA Practice Lead, Debra is an experienced Visual Studio Team System and Test Edition instructor and consultant providing training and support to clients. Recently Microsoft awarded Debra the MVP (Microsoft Most Valued Professional) award for her involvement with the community . Debra is the first person to be awarded an MVP for their involvement in the testing community. As well as the first woman to be award the ALM MVP (Application Life Management). She has over 15 years' experience in software testing within various business fields. A passionate advocate of the Agile/Scrum methodology, Debra mentors companies and test teams in the process of becoming Agile.
Skilled in the design and execution of comprehensive Software Quality Assurance processes/procedures, with proven qualifications in test life cycle, strategy/plan, test case/data design, risk assessment, functional/performance automated tools implementation, environment set up, defect and configuration management. Debra has succeeded in helping many teams turn their testing effort into a successful endeavor that raised the product quality and met project time lines. As well, Debra has a Computer Programming Certificate from Sheridan College, and is experienced with many different testing tools on the market today. She currently participates in Microsoft’s Inner Circle meetings for all Microsoft testing tools. She is also the author and trainer for the ObjectSharp Team Foundation Server for QA Professionals course.
Specialties
Microsoft VSTS 2010 for Testers, Test Manager, Coded UI, Web Performance and Load Testing; Mentoring, Training, Software Quality Assurance Best Practices. Agile & Scrum Methodologies.
Published Articles
Current Projects
- Developing and implementing a test plan for a major project rollout at a large financial institution
- Team System Quality Assurance Implementation within the Canadian Government
Recent Projects
- Nexterna: Senior Test Mentor Spearheaded Volume Testing project, with accountability for test plan, case and setup, automated tools evaluation and execution. Collaborated with Quality Assurance team in manual testing, testing methodology and case design. Windows SOAP/DCOM application and mobile devices running Windows CE and SQL Server.
- CIBC: Automated Regression Test Design Teamed with major bank in boosting loan/mortgage approval system by converting 256 manual test cases into automated regression test, and provided comprehensive staff training in automated test scripts debugging. Mainframe application.
- Bank of America: Senior test Mentor Worked with development/project teams in defining and executing Quality Assurance strategies and test plans/cases, addressing defects and managing requirements. Launched Access Issue Tracking program vital to foreign currency trade; program developed for adoption by global commercial banking institutes. Internet application with AS400
- InfoCorp: Senior test Mentor Introduced smoke test and functional testing applying data pool for municipality consumer billing data retrieval. Delivered SQA Robot automated testing training. Windows application with Sybase database.
- TeraNet: Senior test Mentor Spearheaded regression, volume, performance and functional automated testing tool development for entry and retrieval of legal land writs. Developed and integrated inclusive Quality Assurance process supporting Land Registry Information entry and retrieval application. Delivered SQA Robot automated testing training. Internet application with Sybase database.
- AbleSoft: Automated Regression Test Design Enhanced medical/dental practice management software application through needs assessment, strategic design and testing methodology solutions and scripting of additional 250 automated functional tests. Windows application with Sybase database.
- ManuLife: Business Analyst/QA Consultant Conducted user workshops and interviews to identify customized Help Desk system requirements and applied findings toward developing Project Test Strategy document incorporating test plan, procedures, processes, business circumstances and user assurance testing plan. Customized Remedy Help Desk application.