AST
LEGACY ARCHIVE & HALL OF FAME
Celebrating Two Decades of Excellence in
Software Testing
The Association for Software Testing (AST) was born from a revolutionary idea: that software testing deserves recognition as a skilled, intellectually demanding profession requiring critical thinking, scientific rigor, and continuous learning.
Our Rich Heritage
AST was incorporated on April 14, 2004, emerging from years of collaborative thinking among testing professionals who had been exploring new approaches to software testing since 1996 through the influential Los Altos Workshops on Software Testing (LAWST). The organization was founded by visionary leaders including Cem Kaner, James Bach, and Bret Pettichord, who had articulated the seven principles of context-driven testing in their groundbreaking 2002 book "Lessons Learned in Software Testing".
What distinguished AST from the beginning was its commitment to scientific thinking and intellectual honesty about testing practices. The founders understood that AST was not built around following any single leader or doctrine, but rather emerged from a community of knowledgeable practitioners and academics who wanted to advance the scientific development of the field.
Milestones That Shaped Our Community
AST launched its first Conference on the Advancement of Software Testing (CAST) in June 2006, creating a unique forum where developers, testers, researchers, and managers could exchange practices, theories, and techniques. In October 2007, AST introduced the acclaimed Black Box Software Testing (BBST) courses, which have since reached hundreds of testers worldwide and trained dozens of instructors using these innovative educational materials.
AST has grown into an international non-profit professional association with members in over 50 countries, all united by our shared vision of testing as an essential, skilled profession.
Preserving Our Legacy
Documenting and sharing the key events, decisions, and innovations that shaped modern software testing practices, from our founding principles through our evolution into a global community as experienced by our founders and those who have served in leadership, driving the AST mission forward.
COMING SOON!
A visual journey through two decades of CAST conferences, BBST classes, workshops, and community gatherings that capture the faces and moments behind our shared story.
Inaugurated at CAST 2025, the AST Lifetime Achievement Award honors individuals whose extraordinary contributions have fundamentally advanced the field of software testing and strengthened our professional community.
This project will be ongoing as we work with former founders and members to collect accounts, memories and artifacts from the community shared over the past two decades, and continue to add to it as the community evolves and grows.
Supporting Our Ongoing Mission
AST remains dedicated to building a global quality focused testing community committed to continuous evolution of contextual quality and testing mehods and practices as an essential part of producing high quality technology solutions that support humanity.
As we look toward the future, these archives serve as a record of where we've been, and as inspiration for the innovations and leadership that will define the next chapter of software testing excellence.