SauceCon Online 2022
May 3 - 5

Every Experience Matters: Expectations and Excellence

Bio
Aled Miles is a British-American information technology executive and internet security expert based in San Francisco, CA. He currently serves as CEO of Sauce Labs, and was previously CEO and member of the board of global tech firm TeleSign Corporation. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and previously served on the executive committee as a Senior Vice President at the global security firm, Symantec.

Applications for All: The Need for Digital Accessibility

Abstract
With more experiences moving online, from shopping and banking to education and public services, it’s more important than ever to ensure that these digital experiences work for everyone, every time.

And while progress is being made, there remains a long way to go. 62% of those who use assistive technology say they frequently experience errors, and 44% experience errors that keep them from accomplishing a task on a daily basis. 24% of users who rely on assistive devices reported abandoning a brand after having a bad experience.

In conversation with digital accessibility and customer experience leaders, we’ll explore how the digital landscape is changing, the role of software development and testing in driving change, and the imperative for companies to deliver quality applications that are accessible for all.

Bio
Crystal Preston-Watson is the Senior Digital Accessibility Analyst at Salesforce. Crystal believes that accessibility is a civil and human right and is dedicated to making innovative, inclusive, and accessible applications for everyone.

re.imagine(“test”)

Abstract
Join Sauce Labs Chief Strategy Officer, John Kelly, and Chief Customer Officer, Matt Wyman, as they discuss the reinvention of test.

More than velocity, shifting left, shifting right, and production pressure, the growing emphasis on customer experience is driving test to new horizons. Yes every business is now a software business, but that means every business must differentiate through increasingly unique and powerful software. The result is an explosion in complication for test. We see more languages, more devices, more environments, and more complexity every year. Simultaneously, the expectation is that every customer experience must be delightful and continuously improving.

But test is still a bottleneck and automation remains hard. What are we to do? Join us as Matt and John discuss the future of Digital Confidence and the DevOps Test Toolchain journey.

Bio
John Patrick Kelly is Chief Strategy Officer at Sauce Labs and is responsible for corporate vision, M&A strategy, advanced R&D, and technology partnerships. Previous roles in the industry include CEO of an AI/ML startup in finance, VP of Engineering at Neustar, and multiple product, engineering and R&D leadership roles at Symantec and Veritas. Prior to tech, John was a professor of philosophy.

Applications for All: The Need for Digital Accessibility

Abstract
With more experiences moving online, from shopping and banking to education and public services, it’s more important than ever to ensure that these digital experiences work for everyone, every time.

And while progress is being made, there remains a long way to go. 62% of those who use assistive technology say they frequently experience errors, and 44% experience errors that keep them from accomplishing a task on a daily basis. 24% of users who rely on assistive devices reported abandoning a brand after having a bad experience.

In conversation with digital accessibility and customer experience leaders, we’ll explore how the digital landscape is changing, the role of software development and testing in driving change, and the imperative for companies to deliver quality applications that are accessible for all.

Bio
Judy’s research covers a variety of areas critical to establishing, funding, and scaling the customer experience (CX) function, including CX governance, CX prioritization, the ROI of CX, and CX strategy. Her varied background also extends her coverage into healthcare CX and government CX and EX, as well as evaluations of digital user experiences.

Prior to joining the research team, Judy served as a principal advisor for Forrester’s Customer Experience Council, supporting CX leaders through the building, management, and ongoing improvement of their programs. Before joining Forrester, Judy was with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, where she built and executed a CX strategy that involved managing voice of the customer, experience optimization, market research, and CX employee education across the enterprise. Judy has had a varied career, including administering and performing risk management for a US Treasury Department/Defense Department smart card program at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as well as more than a decade of IT and web infrastructure management at Houghton Mifflin Company, an eBusiness incubator, and various US government institutions.

Judy earned her master’s degree in finance from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Penn State.

Bio
As a curious and motivated self-learner, I gained an interest in computing at a young age, and started my IT career by opening a small consulting shop 20 years ago. From those beginnings my career progressed quickly, eventually passing through the halls of Google, Puppet Labs, New Relic and CoreOS. I am a system administrator by trade, a programmer by necessity, but a problem-solver at heart. With a passion for helping others, many successful speaking and teaching engagements under my belt, and a proven track record of getting things done and enabling others, I hope to solve the many problems facing IT culture by equipping people with the mental and computational software they need to succeed in the competitive world of technology.

re.imagine(“test”)

Abstract
Join Sauce Labs Chief Strategy Officer, John Kelly, and Chief Customer Officer, Matt Wyman, as they discuss the reinvention of test.

More than velocity, shifting left, shifting right, and production pressure, the growing emphasis on customer experience is driving test to new horizons. Yes every business is now a software business, but that means every business must differentiate through increasingly unique and powerful software. The result is an explosion in complication for test. We see more languages, more devices, more environments, and more complexity every year. Simultaneously, the expectation is that every customer experience must be delightful and continuously improving.

But test is still a bottleneck and automation remains hard. What are we to do? Join us as Matt and John discuss the future of Digital Confidence and the DevOps Test Toolchain journey.

Bio
As a twenty-year veteran of entrepreneurship, Matt has partnered to develop multiple startups into stable value centers in both the Head of Engineering and Head of Product roles. Matt’s passion is with forward-leaning technology and the application of lean practices in product, data, and design. DevOps is near and dear to Matt’s heart. Matt lives in Half Moon Bay and loves to mountain bike and play tabletop games with his family.

Reinventing Work: DevOps, Productivity, and Happiness

Bio
Dr. Nicole Forsgren is a Partner at Microsoft Research, where she leads Developer Velocity Lab. She is author of the Shingo Publication Award-winning book Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps, and is best known for her work measuring the technology process and as the lead investigator on the largest DevOps studies to date. She has been an entrepreneur (with an exit to Google), professor, sysadmin, and performance engineer. Nicole’s work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. Nicole earned her PhD in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona, and is a Research Affiliate at Clemson University and Florida International University.

Applications for All: The Need for Digital Accessibility

Abstract
With more experiences moving online, from shopping and banking to education and public services, it’s more important than ever to ensure that these digital experiences work for everyone, every time.

And while progress is being made, there remains a long way to go. 62% of those who use assistive technology say they frequently experience errors, and 44% experience errors that keep them from accomplishing a task on a daily basis. 24% of users who rely on assistive devices reported abandoning a brand after having a bad experience.

In conversation with digital accessibility and customer experience leaders, we’ll explore how the digital landscape is changing, the role of software development and testing in driving change, and the imperative for companies to deliver quality applications that are accessible for all.

Bio
Dr. Rachael Bradley Montgomery has been working in accessibility and usability for over 20 years. She currently serves in the following roles:

• Executive director of Accessible Community
• Digital accessibility specialist at the Library of Congress
• Co-chair of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
• Adjunct lecturer at University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool)
• Affiliate faculty with the Trace Research and Development Center

Rachael has a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MS from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. When not working, Rachael enjoys horseback riding and hiking with her family.