Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 20:20:32 -0700 From: John Pustaver Subject: MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Software Quality Group Meeting, Wednesday, Sept 8, 2004: Robin Goldsmith, Go Pro Management, Testing Whether Requirements Are Right Hi Everyone! Come and join us and help us kick off our 11th season. At this month's meeting, Robin Goldsmith builds on last spring's presentation on software requirements will talk about the test automation environment. More info below. Due to enhanced security, a picture ID is required for attendance. Best wishes, John Pustaver Director, Software Quality Group of New England Region I Deputy Councilor, ASQ Software Division P.S. If your company has SQA positions to fill for permanent or contract employment, please have HR send me a .htm file for each job with all pertinent info so that it can be posted. There are many people looking. Send to pustaver@ieee.org. The Jobs website is at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver/jobs/. Software Quality Group Meeting Meetings of the Software Quality Group are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below). MEETING DAY & DATE: Wednesday, Sept 8, 2004 TIME: 6:00 PM Networking, 6:30 PM Meeting HEADLINE: Testing Whether Requirements Are Right SPEAKER: Robin Goldsmith, JD, Go Pro Management MORE INFO: John Pustaver, 978-443-4254, pustaver@ieee.org LOCATION: Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below) DESCRIPTION: Creep--changes to requirements--is a major cause of project budget and schedule overruns. Conventional wisdom often assumes such damaging changes are unavoidable; but in fact creep is largely due to inadequately understanding what the requirements are in the first place. We can dramatically improve our results by: 1. Recognizing that calling creep inevitable is a self-fulfilling excuse for problems. 2. Learning more effective ways to discover what the REAL requirements are. 3. Applying techniques to test that the defined requirements are right. Robin discussed the first two points last spring. Now he explains point 3. Most organizations over-rely on only one or two illusory ways to test their requirements; and they seldom realize how weak their methods are at detecting problems. In contrast, in this well-received interactive session, based on his recent book, Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success, Robin explains why testing of requirements is so hard and describes more than 21 techniques for testing that requirements are accurate and complete. Not only do these techniques address conventional concerns with form, such as clarity and testability; but they also deal with substance, including more powerful ways of finding overlooked requirements and detecting incorrect requirements. Robin F. Goldsmith, JD has been President of Go Pro Management, Inc. consultancy since 1982. He works directly with and trains professionals in business engineering, requirements analysis, software acquisition, project management, process improvement, quality and testing. Previously he was a developer, systems programmer/DBA/QA, and project leader with the City of Cleveland, leading financial institutions, and a "Big 4" consulting firm. Author of numerous articles and the recent Artech House book Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success , and a frequent speaker at leading professional conferences, he was formerly International Vice President of the Association for Systems Management and Executive Editor of the Journal of Systems Management. He was Founding Chairman of the New England Center for Organizational Effectiveness. He belongs to the Boston SPIN and served on the SEPG'95 Planning and Program Committees. Mr. Goldsmith Chaired BOSCON 2000 and 2001, ASQ Boston Section's Annual Quality Conferences, and is a member of the ASQ Software Division Methods Committee. He holds the following degrees: Kenyon College, A.B. with Honors in Psychology; Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in Psychology; Suffolk University, J.D.; Boston University, LL.M. in Tax Law. Mr. Goldsmith is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and licensed to practice law in Massachusetts. 2004-2005 Software Quality Group Calendar Sept 8, 2004: Robin Goldsmith, Go Pro Management, Testing Whether Requirements Are Right Oct. 13, 2004: Stephanie Beach, Eleven Technology, Software QA for Small and Startup Companies Nov. 10, 2004: Brian LeSuer, Star Quality, Planning for Effective Test Automation Dec. 8, 2004: Ted Rivera , Rational Software, Top Ten Opinions About Software Testing Jan 12, 2005: Carol Perletz, Nokia, A Quality Perspective on the Menlo Software Factory Software Development Methodology Feb. 9, 2005: Tony Timbol, David Consulting Group, Latest Industry Data for Application Development and Maintenance Mar. 10, 2004: Anna Allison Memorial Presentation, Linda McInnis, Noble Associates, Champagne QA on a Beer Budget Apr 13, 2005: Howie Dow, Dory Consulting Group, Results from Inspecting Test Automation Scripts May 11, 2005: Dr. Bill Eventoff, ESTM Associates, Applying Six Sigma to Software Development June 8, 2005: John DiMassi and Ann Danby, Out of Ad Hoc and Into Maturity July 13, 2005: Annual Hot Topics Night August 2005: NO MEETING The Software Quality Group holds monthly meetings. Topics covered at these meetings have included software testing, inspections, ISO 9000, metrics configuration management, and demonstrations of vendor QA tools. There is no charge. The Software Quality Group meets monthly at 6:15pm on the second Wednesday of the month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington, MA. Driving directions: From 128/95 Take the Rt. 3 exit heading north (not the Middlesex Turnpike exit if you're coming form the south). From Rt. 3N take the first exit (which is Rt. 62 - Bedford Ave). Turn east toward Burlington. Approximately 0.3 mile after the interchange, turn right onto Network Drive, which leads to the campus on your right. Take the second drive off of Network Drive into the Sun parking lot. Park in the visitor lot and enter the lobby opposite the Sun clock tower. Information about future meetings will be available on the Software Quality Page at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver. To be on the email distribution list, send a note to pustaver@ieee.org. The Software Quality Group is cosponsored by Sun Microsystems and the American Society for Quality Software Division and all are welcome. Directors of the Software Quality Group are John Pustaver, Region I Deputy Councilor, American Society for Quality Software Division, Eric Patel, Education Director and Regional Councilor, ASQ-SD, and Steve Rakitin, Program Director. Sun Microsystems is represented by Liz Hryniewich, Allan Foley, and Jack Morrison. To unsubscribe, reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" as the subject. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ John Pustaver, Director Software Quality Group of New England voice:978-443-4254 pustaver@ieee.org Visit the Software Quality Page at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver/index.shtml