Hello world!

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to blogging. I've resisted for years now, but have finally decided to share my thoughts this way, too. People tell me that I've got a lot to share, and I guess that's true sometimes. I hope my sharing stimulates some thinking.

Who am I (professionally)?

I've been doing software engineering since before there were university degrees in it. I've especially focused on software quality and testing. For the past 20 years I've been a management consultant. I've worked with a broad range of software and systems from computer systems manufacturers to government and database engines to web applications. Most of my work has been with commercial software but a good deal of it with IT organizations and my most recent work has been architecting an organizational transformation for the US Treasury Department.

My background is solidly based in formal training and methods in computer science and quality assurance, but my application of the ideas is often unorthodox. I subscribe to the notion that what works best is situational; there are no best practices applicable to all situations. So-called standards are excellent sources of ideas but can be counterproductive when applied by rote. Therefore, I develop custom solutions for the organizations I work with.

I have been very active professionally; speaking at and putting on software conferences (too numerous to list, but currently PNSQC and CAST), co-founding and running professional organizations (e.g., SSQA, ASQ, and AST). I'm President of the Association for Software Testing (AST, sponsor of CAST); Keynote, Invited Speaker, and Tutorial Chair for the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC), and Auditor for the Silicon Valley Software Quality Association (SSQA). I'm also on the Computer Science Department Advisory Board for Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). I've been teaching AST's on-line Foundations and Bug Advocacy classes for several years.

I have a web site where I have dozens of my published papers and dozens of presentations. I'm also found in LinkedIn and various other places on the web.

In my spare time I like to solve puzzles (math in particular), work in the yard (chainsaw and industrial weed whacker), and fix various things around the house (lots of opportunities there).