| Wayne Angel
| James Bach | Jim Batterson | Marie
Benesh | Rick Brenner | James Bullock
| Brian Crook | Jerry
M. Denman | Esther Derby | Joe Dindo
| Dale Emery | Danny R. Faught |
Pat Ferdinandi | Jesse M. Gordon
| Elisabeth Hendrickson | Kevin
Huigens | Steve Jackson | Jim
Jarrett | Steve Jenkin | Dave Kleist
| Karen Lopez | Pat McGee | Graham
Oakes | George
Olsen | Bill Pardee | Sue Petersen
| Dwayne Phillips | Brian Pioreck
| Brian Richter | Sharon
Marsh Roberts | Stiles M. Roberts II | Johanna
Rothman | Bertrand Salle | Brett
Schuchert | Bill Seitz | Daniel Starr
| John Suzuki | James Tierney | Jerry
Weinberg
Wayne Angel Wayne
Angel has thirty years of experience in various aspects of information systems
technology. He has led world-class teams in the implementation of complex systems
using leading-edge technologies, and has served as the system architect on projects
as large as $500 million and as the project manager on projects as large as $100
million. Wayne is currently an independent consultant developing science-based
foresight simulations for strategic decision support systems. He holds a Ph.D.
in physics, systems, and business administration.
top James
Bach www.satisfice.com James
Bach is the founder and principal consultant of Satisfice, Inc., a software testing
laboratory in Front Royal, Virginia. He specializes in rapid software testing
techniques. James learned his craft on the job at Apple Computer and Borland International,
and through the ministrations of many wonderful mentors and colleagues.
top Jim
Batterson Jim Batterson is an independent consultant living
in Richmond, Virginia. He designs and builds business applications, specializing
in financial and pension systems. He is interested in all aspects of the human
side of systems and in the enduring principles of systems.
top Marie
A. Benesh Marie is principal of Benesh & Associates, an IT management
consulting organization. Marie has a wide range of experience in IT management,
advising clients on issues such as managing IT human resources, IT strategy development
and implementation, organization design, IT process engineering, and large-scale
project definition and management. Marie has implemented leading practices
in software engineering for organizations, and is experienced in the management
of application development organizations and in project assessment and consulting
in PeopleSoft®, an ERP-based system. Skilled in program management,
infrastructure implementation and management, release management, IT/user test
planning, and implementation within the university and corporate arenas, she consults
with major universities and Fortune 500 corporations.
top Richard
Brenner www.ChacoCanyon.com Rick
Brenner is principal of Chaco Canyon Consulting. He works with technology and
software organizations that want to make complex products and need state-of-the-art
teamwork, and with organizations that want to create innovative products by building
stronger relationships between their people. In his twenty years as a software
developer, software development manager, entrepreneur, and consultant, he has
developed valuable insights into the interactions between people in a technical
environment, and between people and the technological media in which they work. Rick
holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT. His current interests
focus on improving personal and organizational effectiveness in abnormal situations,
as in the case of dramatic change, technical emergencies, and high-pressure project
situations. He has written a number of essays on these subjects, and publishes
Point Lookout, a weekly e-mail newsletter available at his Website.
top James
Bullock James Bullock is currently the QA services manager for Amazon.com,
a "dot-com" company where, he claims, his job is not an oxymoron. In
his more than eighteen years of building systems, from lab automation and high-volume
embedded controls to enterprise data warehousing and ERP deployments, he has been
everything from a coding "grunt" to a high-priced consultant. Some of
his embedded controls are still deployed, and a data warehouse he architected
six years ago is still in use, among other apparent successes. More important
to James is the contact he maintains with some folks from previous projects–people
who not only built something good, but enjoyed doing it. Over time, James
has become more interested in how we go about building systems than in the systems
themselves. Jerry Weinberg’s SHAPE forum allows him to explore that.
top Brian
Crook Brian Crook has been developing programs since 1965 and
has been an enthusiast of advanced systems methodologies since meeting Jerry Weinberg
in 1967. Although his resume lists more than thirty programming languages, several
operating systems, and numerous computer architectures, he is most interested
in the human side of computing these days. Born in Minnesota, Brian has worked
in Minneapolis, Chicago, Southern California, and in Michigan, where he has lived
for the past thirty years. He shares his home with a five-year-old rottweiler.
top Jerry
M. Denman Jerry Denman is an IT architect for IBM Global Services
Enterprise Application Integration practice and has spent his entire career in
IT consulting. He has been integrating Jerry Weinberg’s advice into his consulting
skills for a number of years. A graduate of the Weinberg and Weinberg Problem
Solving Leadership course, he currently lives in the metro Washington, D.C., area
and travels extensively. When he is home, he spends time with his son, Michael,
and his cat, Java. top Esther
Derby www.estherderby.com
Esther Derby has more than twenty years’ experience in software development.
She’s been a programmer, systems manager, project manager, and internal consultant.
She currently runs her own consulting firm, Esther Derby Associates, based in
Minneapolis. Esther works with people to increase their effectiveness in understanding
and managing complex systems, such as software development organizations and software
development projects. top Joe
Dindo Joe Dindo is currently working as an independent consultant
providing coaching to small business clients in the health care field. He spends
time at his wife’s high-quality dental practice providing coaching, training,
and operational management. By far, this is Joe’s most challenging and stimulating
work, since he has to apply his own advice where he would see the results first-hand!
He is very proud of their achievements and the environment they’ve created
for the betterment of patients and staff. Prior to his small-business focus,
Joe had more than ten years of experience working in all phases of the systems
engineering life cycle, its supporting processes and process improvement activities.
His software engineering experience encompassed a wide range of roles in software
development using multiple life cycle models and methodologies.
top Dale
Emery www.dhemery.com Dale
Emery is a process architect in the IT organization at Sun Microsystems. He works
with cross-organizational teams to define, implement, promote, and support improved
processes. He finds his greatest challenges and rewards in striving to create
processes that serve the deeply held values of individuals in organizations. Dale
has worked in the software industry for more than twenty years, as an engineer,
manager, process innovator, and consultant. For his design contributions to Cabletron
Systems’ Spectrum network management system, Dale was awarded two U.S. patents.
He has consulted to numerous IT and software product development organizations
on problems of software development, project management, and team and interpersonal
effectiveness. He has developed a special interest and expertise in understanding
how people respond to change. Underlying all of Dale’s work is his
personal mission to help people create value, joy, and meaning in their work.
top Danny
R. Faught Danny R. Faught is an independent consultant focusing
on software quality issues. His eight years of experience in the computer industry
include serving as technical lead for a software test group, doing internal consulting
as part of a productivity and quality group, and consulting with outside clients
in the area of software testing and risk management. Danny has spoken at a number
of software industry events. He is the cofounder of the "swtest-discuss"
mailing list. top Patricia
L. Ferdinandi www.SBDi-consulting.com Patricia
L. Ferdinandi is the president of Strategic Business Decisions, a company specializing
in requirements engineering, project management, and process improvement. She
is dedicated to assisting corporations improve their return on technological investments.
Through the use of best practices and experience in software development, Pat’s
company assists organizations in reducing the risk of software failure. This is
accomplished through consulting, training, seminars, and published works. Pat’s
latest contribution is the introduction of a Requirement Pattern (including Anti-Pattern)
that assists in capturing a fuller requirement set for any type of product. The
Requirement Pattern is currently being used by Fortune 500 companies.
top Jesse
M. Gordon Jesse M. Gordon is a software performance analyst for
IBM in Austin, Texas. He creates systems-level views of how software systems are
put together and of how their components interact. These understandings make it
possible for him to improve the software’s performance. Jesse joined
IBM in 1990 after earning a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania
and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. Between undergraduate
and graduate school, he worked for three years as a software systems analyst for
BDM International in McLean, Virginia. top Elisabeth
Hendrickson www.qualitytree.com Elisabeth
Hendrickson is an independent consultant specializing in software quality and
testing. With more than twelve years in the software field, Elisabeth has been
a technical writer, tester, programmer, help desk technician, and manager, sometimes
simultaneously. Read more of Elisabeth’s thoughts on software management,
quality, and testing on her Website. top Kevin
Huigens Kevin Huigens is a principal consultant for a software management
consulting firm. A graduate of the December 1993 PSL workshop, Kevin has nineteen
years of experience in all aspects of software management: coding, testing, requirements
analysis, project management, and more. Like Jerry Weinberg, he is a die-hard
Cubs fan and plans on seeing the Cubs in the World Series at Wrigley Field.
top Steven
D. Jackson Steven D. Jackson is principal management engineer at
S. D. Jackson & Associates, an international management consulting organization
specializing in assisting firms to substantially increase profits through internally
driven process improvements. Steve has considerable experience in implementing
quality system processes and has worked for more than thirty years in all aspects
of engineering and project management. An international speaker and author,
Steve has developed and delivered many training courses on quality and management
subjects. As a Certified Quality Auditor and Certified Quality Manager, Steve
has taught certification preparation classes for local sections of the American
Society for Quality. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering/Business Management
and a Master’s in Computer Science from Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida. Steve enjoys backpacking in the mountains and is a competition
handgun shooter. top James
Jarrett James Jarrett is a lead software designer at Rockwell Automation
in Cleveland, Ohio. Specializing in interaction design, requirements engineering,
and object-oriented development, he leads teams to deliver products that delight
their users. Jim thrives on being a catalyst in his organization, helping it move
toward best practices and high-performance teams. With varied interests including
sociology, science policy, and digital media, he brings a multidisciplinary perspective
and a strong intuitive sense to his work and his world.
top Steve
Jenkin Steve Jenkin is a twenty-five-year veteran of the IT industry.
He has worked in the fields of programming, operations, and administration on
maintenance, development, or re-development of commercial and telecommunications
systems. He is currently a contract Unix systems administrator.
top Dave
Kleist Dave Kleist has worked in the IT field for more than fifteen
years as a project manager, technical lead, account manager, and instructor. His
current projects involve data warehousing and data marts. When he’s not working,
he keeps active by chasing his four-year-old son.
top Karen
López www.infoadvisors.com Karen
López, I.S.P., is principal consultant at InfoAdvisors.com. Karen has fifteen
years of experience consulting to organizations that are initiating large, multi-project
information systems programs. She specializes in providing practical, real-world
advice to project managers, developers, information architects, and IT executives.
She lives in Toronto with her husband, Rob, and her very own herd of five cats.
top Pat
McGee Pat McGee has programmed for all of his adult life, in many
different languages (including English), and for many different processors, large
and small (including homo sapiens). Pat has written programs to do scientific
modeling, process improvement, fraud detection, computer graphics, business systems,
embedded control systems, and to break other programs. He has led teams and has
been called the "best boss" and the "worst boss" ever, though
not on the same day or by the same person, yet. top Graham
Oakes Graham Oakes grew up in Australia, studied geophysics, drifted
into high performance computing and image analysis via a Ph.D. in the U.K., and
finally landed in software engineering. In that role, he’s worked in scientific
computing, command and control, games, and financial services. He is currently
a director of technology for Sapient, in London.
top George
Olsen George Olsen is a cofounder and former project leader of WSP,
the Web Standards Project (www.webstandards.org). He has led Web development efforts
at How2HQ.com and Parago, and has served as design director/Web architect at 2-Lane
Media and information architect at Scient. George consults, writes, and speaks
on Web development issues and has taught Web design classes at UCLA Extension.
top William
J. Pardee www.pardee-quality-methods.com Bill
Pardee began his career as a theoretical physicist specializing in elementary
particles. In eighteen years of industrial research, he moved from modeling flaw
detection to modeling quality lost in the manufacturing process, to process control,
to software quality and concurrent engineering. His desire to improve the way
things work expanded to include organizations and people. He discovered in Quality
Function Deployment a method to increase the value of work for both employees
and their employers. In 1992, he resigned his position as a principal scientist
of information sciences at Rockwell International to start Pardee Quality Methods,
through which he helps a wide range of people do their jobs a little better.
top Sue
Petersen www.networkboy.com/suep Sue
Petersen is an anthropologist by training, a programmer by avocation, and a manager
by necessity. She and her husband have owned and operated a small plumbing repair
shop since 1979. Sue started programming in 1985, when she bought her first PC
for the business. Unable to find a simple database for the business, she created
one herself. She started writing professionally in 1995, when she sold
her first article to Windows Tech Journal. She wrote a regular book review column
for Visual Developer Magazine for many years, and freelances for other publications
as well. Sue’s main professional interests are database design, and
software engineering and management. She is currently programming in a Win32/Delphi
environment. top Dwayne
Phillips Dwayne Phillips has been a systems and computer engineer
with the U.S. government since 1980. He has written articles for magazines such
as The C/C++ Users Journal and The Cutter IT Journal, and is author of The Software
Project Manager’s Handbook. A native of Sweetwater, Louisiana, he has a Ph.D.
in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University. He resides in Reston,
Virginia, with his wife, Karen, and three sons. top Brian
Pioreck Brian Pioreck first fell in love with computers in 1978
while studying for a career in ornamental horticulture. With just nine credits
left to complete his degree in the subject, he followed his heart and dropped
out of school to pursue computer work. He taught himself to program on a Vic-20,
and with the help of night school and vigorous self-study, he found himself in
the business of growing technology and technical teams instead of growing flowers. Brian
has held various positions in software development, technical management, and
management consulting over the last seventeen years. Currently, he concentrates
on raising organizational awareness of human systems and of methods to improve
performance. Brian currently helps development organizations hit their market
window with a balanced combination of features, performance, and quality.
top Brian
Richter Brian Richter has been a professional software developer
on Long Island, New York, for eighteen years. He started out writing video games,
branched into character generators and teleprompters, and now writes software
for radar and air-traffic control systems. Outside of work, he is an accomplished
composer, pianist, and musician who directs and performs in musical events and
shows on Long Island. top Sharon
Marsh Roberts Sharon Marsh Roberts works with large corporations on
projects that are new to the corporations–on implementations her clients
would prefer to avoid. She uses her business and technical expertise to facilitate
multidisciplinary teams, bringing together technical experts and business leaders
to tackle new and difficult projects. Sharon has worked in financial reporting
and systems for companies in the entertainment, banking, insurance, and pharmaceutical
industries. Sharon’s projects have included systems to implement executive
and technical leaders’ compensation plans, an FDA-mandated system to identify
and collect nonclinical payments to investigators on clinical studies, an insurance
system to pay physicians in managed-care arrangements, and numerous financial
reporting systems. top Stiles
M. Roberts II Stiles M. Roberts II has had system, database, program
design, and technical architecture responsibility for mission-critical applications
across multiple platforms. This work has included major project planning and management
responsibility. Stiles has engaged in development, enhancement, and conversion
projects over the course of the last ten years and has always brought them to
a successful conclusion. His management consulting activities, in the same time
frame, have yielded tens of millions of dollars in cost savings or revenue enhancement.
top Johanna
Rothman www.jrothman.com Johanna
Rothman observes and consults on managing high technology product development.
As founder and principal of Rothman Consulting Group, she works with clients to
find the leverage points that will increase their effectiveness as organizations
and as managers, helping them ship the right product at the right time, and recruit
and retain the best people. A frequent speaker and author specializing in
the topic of managing high technology product development, Johanna has written
articles for Software Development, Cutter IT Journal, IEEE Software, Crosstalk,
IEEE Computer, Software Testing and Quality Engineering, Catapulse, and StickyMinds.com.
She is publisher of Reflections, a quarterly newsletter about managing product
development, and she serves on the clinical faculty of The Gordon Institute at
Tufts University, a practical management degree program for engineers. Johanna
leads workshops in the areas of project management, software quality, and software
management. top Bertrand
Sallé Bertrand Sallé builds and leads teams. His approach
is to focus his teams on problem solving and on architecting solutions that work
pragmatically. Over the last fifteen years, he has developed strong management,
risk identification, and mitigation skills. He is the author of six patents. A
French citizen, Bertrand works internationally within Lucent Technologies on systems,
software, and network architectures, observing, implementing, and learning about
things that work and things that don’t. top Brett
Schuchert Brett Schuchert’s most recent work has dealt with
software architecture and with forming the chaos at the beginning of a project.
He is a teacher, mentor, and consultant. On and off since 1985, Brett has
taught courses on subjects ranging from computer literacy to the formal analysis
and design of software systems. He has also served as architect, technical lead,
and individual contributor on several projects in several domains.
top Bill
Seitz webseitz.editThisPage.com Bill
Seitz is vice president of technology and product development for Ipath, a virtual
corporate law firm. Previously, he spent five years as the technical member of
the founding team of Medscape, the leading information site for physicians. He
is the author of a chapter on long-term project management in Buying Web Services.
top Dan
Starr Dan Starr is a consulting member of technical staff at Lucent
Technologies/Bell Labs in Naperville, Illinois. For the last twenty-five years,
he has worked in the telecommunications system business, slowly moving from software
developer, to software architect, to system architect, to system architecture
process architect, to generalist-reviewer-consultant-opinion-generator-and-occasional-author.
He finds human beings far more interesting than computers. When Dan is not
working, he likes riding his motorcycle, assuming the snow has melted. When he
is not riding or shoveling snow, he may be found at work on a sprawling, semi-autobiographical
novel about time travel and hairspray. top John
Suzuki John Suzuki is founder and principal consultant of JKS &
Associates. He currently provides technical consulting in software requirements
analysis, software design, software testing, software risk management, software
project management, ISO 9000-3/TickIT software auditing, software process improvement,
software metrics, and the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity
Model assessment and auditing. His consulting engagements have covered
both small development projects and large-scale multi-site development. John’s
clients include both small and large companies and projects in the manufacturing,
banking, finance, entertainment, Internet, computer hardware, software, medical
device, pharmaceutical, and medical laboratory industries. In addition to
his consulting practice, John has presented talks at numerous national symposiums,
participated in conference panels, authored papers, contributed to two books,
and holds three patents. Presently, he is serving on an industry/FDA task force
to develop a software quality audit standard using ISO 12207 for the medical device
community. top James
Tierney In 1978, James Tierney was writing diagnostic programs for Amdahl
mainframes. The idea of enabling computers to tell you what was wrong with them
appealed to him, so he started writing programs that would tell you what was wrong
with your software. After spending a decade as a software developer, he went to
business school and caught the quality bug, thanks to his advisor, Art Swersey,
a disciple of Deming and Shingo. Since 1989, he has been a test manager, training
manager, director of test, and test architect at Microsoft, applying Japanese,
American, and European quality models to the software development process. In
the 1990’s, he met Jerry Weinberg, who introduced him to Virginia Satir’s
work, which makes organizational change more painless and effective.
top Gerald
M. Weinberg www.geraldmweinberg.com Jerry
Weinberg has worked on transforming software organizations for more than forty
years. He is author, coauthor, or editor of scores of articles and books that
cover all phases of software development. Innovative as a systems thinker, Jerry’s
classic works include Are Your Lights On?, The Psychology of Computer Programming,
and An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. Jerry’s books on phases
of the software life cycle include Exploring Requirements, Rethinking Systems
Analysis and Design, The Handbook of Walkthroughs, Inspections, and Technical
Reviews, and General Principles of Systems Design. His books on leadership include
Amplifying Your Effectiveness, Becoming a Technical Leader, The Secrets of Consulting,
and the Quality Software Management four-volume series. To many, Jerry
is as well known for his workshops for software leaders as he is for his books.
Workshops include Problem Solving Leadership (PSL), the Congruent Organizational
Change-Shop, and Systems Effectiveness Management (SEM). He is also a cofounder
of the AYE Conference. top | 
