The First Edition of Quality Sense Conference, Organized by Abstracta

Diversity of speakers from North America, Europe, and Latin America. Wide variety of topics in a single day. On-site: in Montevideo, Uruguay. Simultaneous translation: in English and Spanish. Free admission. Are you going to miss it? 

By Natalie Rodgers

Quality Sense seeks to blur horizons to expand access to knowledge and contribute to the development of the IT industry, and the position of Uruguay as a digital hub in the world. Organized by Abstracta, a world leader in software testing, the event already has a date and place: December 9th at 9 AM at the “Torre de las Telecomunicaciones”, one of the best convention centers in Uruguay, in Montevideo.

It will be divided into 14 sessions, focused on a variety of software testing topics. “Even if you are an expert in test automation, knowing a little bit about functional testing, accessibility and performance improves your perspective, helps you to have a more holistic view, and also collaborates with your daily work in automation. Knowing a little bit about other aspects makes us better professionals, both for our specific task and for interacting with other roles,” said Federico Toledo, one of the organizers of the event and COO of Abstracta.

“Quality is the responsibility of the whole team. That is why, whatever your responsibility is, I believe that conferences are an excellent space to learn new angles, and to achieve a deeper and more thorough understanding at the same time,” he said.

That is why the event will be useful for testers, developers, DevOps or sysadmins, analysts, and especially for technology managers. “Anyone in a technology management position (technical leader, QA Manager, CTO, development manager, computer center manager) should have a generalist vision, with a broad knowledge in different areas”, Federico outlined. 

Quality Sense will include introductory talks, in-depth conferences, and spaces dedicated to questioning more philosophical aspects: what does quality really mean, what is the importance of testing in the digital transformation, and where are we going as a community? There will also be panels of thought leaders who will share their points of view on topics of great relevance in the current IT industry. 

One of the main objectives is to extend access to knowledge. Therefore, making it a truly inclusive event is one of the priorities in its organization. With this in mind, admission will be free (with space for up to 1000 attendees); there will be simultaneous translation in English and Spanish; there will be spaces for open exchange, and there will be a live broadcast for those who cannot attend.

The event takes place the same week as the classic WOPR, which this year will be held December 6-8 in Uruguay, hosted by Abstracta. It is an event of great prestige worldwide that seeks to deepen the knowledge of performance and reliability testing, with experts from around the world.

Relationship between Quality Sense Conf and WOPR

WOPR is an exclusive event. Quality Sense is an open event. There is a nice contrast here. “WOPR is a workshop. By its nature, in order for it to function as such, it is closed only to its participants, which are usually between 20 to 25 people. WOPR is something very niche, it is very specific to those of us who work in performance and reliability,” Federico explained.

“Now, since we were coordinating to host the 29th edition of WOPR in Montevideo, we felt we had to do something else, to take advantage of the presence of so many referents in testing and software quality in our country. This gave rise to the idea of complementing the workshop with a more open conference, which is the Quality Sense Conf”, he said. 

And he added: “In addition to all the topics that we will deal with in the event, it is likely that some of the panels will be focused on performance and reliability, an instance in which we will be able to review some of the topics dealt with in WOPR together with some of its referents”.

In this sense, Guillermo Thompson Clavell, Marketing Director at Abstracta, expressed that the idea of creating the Quality Sense Conf was born from a need: “We proposed to generate a ‘community day’, in which an Uruguayan and massive audience will have the possibility to listening to the WOPR speakers and other world referents”. 

“Great experts will be coming to participate in the workshop, we talked to them and they showed their willingness to be part of our proposal. For this reason, we had exchanges with different industry organizations, both abroad and in Uruguay, and everything was taking shape”, said Guillermo. 

“Undoubtedly, Federico’s enthusiasm is contagious. With that impetus, Quality Sense Conf took on incredible dimensions and we began to understand that it could be an event of national interest for the IT industry”, he added.

In the same vein, Matias Reina, CEO of Abstracta, exclaimed: “This is a unique opportunity to take advantage of all the international attendance that WOPR will bring, and share knowledge with the entire community. Being able to talk about relevant topics for building quality software with top-level speakers is important to keep moving forward in the way we all make software.”

Looking Ahead

– What are your expectations for the event?

Federico Toledo: I always liked to feel like an ambassador of my country, of my culture, both living in Uruguay and when I lived abroad. In this sense, this is a great opportunity for all the people who come from other countries to take with them an excellent experience of having come to Uruguay, of having met the local software quality community, and that these people end up working as ambassadors, telling others how nice Uruguay is, how good the people and their work are. 

Guillermo Thompson Clavell: I think it will be an important event in several aspects. On the one hand, for Abstracta as a company: being hosts of WOPR and organizers of the Quality Sense Conf is a merit of the trajectory of our organization. It positions us and validates us as referents and thought leaders in software quality. On the other hand, for Uruguay, in relation to the positioning of the country. It is another instance that is generated to put us on the map and attract more foreign companies to open offices in our country and/or find allies in many startups that are emerging here.

Finally, I think it is very important that these organizations and personalities from the IT world who are coming to Uruguay can discover the beauty of our country and our culture, and understand firsthand why and how Uruguay is today one of the main digital hubs in the world in terms of technology development and innovation.

Federico Toledo: I am convinced of the value of personal relationships, meeting people face to face, and exchanging for joint growth. This event will be a party for this, to meet as a community and celebrate that despite crises and pandemics, we are here, and we continue to grow and become stronger. We hope this meeting space will be beneficial for all attendees, speakers, sponsors, and for the different communities that will be part of it. We are working hard to make it so. 

– Is there any future projection regarding Quality Sense Conf?

Federico Toledo: Yes, our idea is that this is the first edition. Our vision is that Quality Sense Conf can be hosted in different countries, in order to facilitate access to different people around the globe. We dream of being able to organize it in the United States in 2023, and then in Chile, considering the places where we are currently operating the most, both in terms of team members and clients.

Would you like to attend Quality Sense Conf? Register here.

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