SUZANNE ROBERTSON is a teacher and consultant specializing
in modeling techniques for software development. She
has coauthored courses on systems analysis, software
design for both procedural and object-oriented systems,
quality assessment, and problem solving. Suzanne is
currently developing techniques for reusing requirements
specifications.
In 1966, Suzanne started her data processing career
working on a missile flight simulation system for the
Australian government. She moved from scientific work
to the commercial field, where she worked on the design
and implementation of an on-line investment system.
Her team developed a system that integrated invoicing,
inventory control, creditors and general ledger software.
A network of Honeywell computers, the largest in Australia,
and a variety of intelligent terminals, linked over
100 businesses in four states.
Since 1978, Suzanne has consulted, done research, and
taught in Europe, Australia, the Far East, and the United
States. She specializes in helping companies to adapt
modern software development techniques to fit specific
projects. Her seminars and papers are well respected
as sources of new software development ideas.
Suzanne and her husband, James,
were the first consultants for Yourdon Europe. Their
impact was such that after a short time, they were invited
to New York to manage Yourdon's seminar division.
In 1983, in partnership with Tom
DeMarco, Tim Lister, Steve McMenamin, and John Palmer, Suzanne
and James founded the Atlantic
Systems Guild. The guild is a New York and London
based think-tank, researching system development techniques.
Guild principals have written numerous books and seminars
that are among the most successful in software development
history.
Suzanne and James Robertson are coauthors of Complete
Systems Analysis: The Workbook, the Textbook, the Answers
(Dorset House, 1994), a two-volume text and case study
that teaches the craft of systems analysis.
Suzanne studied Information Processing at the New South
Wales Institute of Technology, she is a member of the
IEEE, the ACS, and is on the committee of the British
Computer Society's Reuse Group. In her limited spare
time, Suzanne divides her time between cooking, skiing
and playing her flute.
Other recent activities:
Suzanne is working on research into reuse of requirements.
The products of this research will be a requirements
filter for assessing requirements quality and a book
of requirements patterns (especially patterns for specifying
business processes).
Recent work in Poland has resulted in a process for
training internal consultants. The process makes use
of project clinics and teaches technology transfer skills.
The process, implemented in a large company over two
years, has produced an effective team of fourteen technical
consultants.
Suzanne and James's new requirements seminar, Mastering
The Requirements Process, ran for the first time
in London in March 1996. The seminar brings together
five years of research work and presents a practical
process for eliciting and specifying requirements.
Bibliography: Suzanne Robertson
