Toronto, July 17: Weinberg's New Day at CAST 2008

CNBC.com recently reported that demand for Jerry Weinberg's sold-out tutorial has prompted CAST 2008 to offer it on July 17:

"The Association for Software Testing announced Monday an update to its traditional 3-day conference program -- a fourth day.

"The decision came from conference organizers on Monday because of demand for Jerry Weinberg's Monday, July 14 tutorial titled 'The Tester's Communication Clinic,' which sold out last week. Weinberg has agreed to host the tutorial again on Thursday, July 17.

"Weinberg, who many consider the software testing industry's first tester, has a 50-year track record of influencing the craft of exposing bugs and issues in software. Among his notable accomplishments was establishing the first separate software testing group, aiding in producing life-critical software for Project Mercury."

Read the full article on CNBC.com:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25091786/

Register for CAST 2008 (July 14-17, Toronto) and visit the Dorset House conference bookstore:
http://www.cast2008.org

Read about Jerry's forthcoming Dorset House title:
Perfect Software: And Other Illusions About Testing
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/perf.html

Weinberg in Toronto, July 15 [CAST 2008]

On July 15, in Toronto, Gerald M. Weinberg will keynote at the 2008 CAST Conference, sponsored by the Association for Software Testing. The conference runs from July 14 to 16.

The keynote, "Lessons from the Past to Carry into the Future," will review progress toward creating a true software testing profession.

As Dorset House readers know, Jerry speaks from the unique perspective of having established the very first separate software testing group -- in 1958, 50 years ago -- to aid in producing life-critical software for Project Mercury.

Dorset House will exhibit at the conference in support of Jerry's forthcoming book on testing, Perfect Software -- And Other Illusions About Testing.

(Order early to save 20% -- visit
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/perf.html.)

Read more about CAST 2008: http://www.cast2008.org.

Dead Fish: Excerpt from Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies

Visit our Excerpts section to read Dead Fish, a sample "pattern of project behavior" from Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies, the brand-new book by Peopleware authors Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister plus a dream team of coauthors: Peter Hruschka, Steve McMenamin, James Robertson, and Suzanne Robertson. Copyright © 2008. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Dead Fish: From Day One, the project has no chance of meeting its goals; most people on the project know this and say nothing.

The goals of many IT projects can be summarized simply: We need this set of functionality, with this accuracy, with reasonable robustness, by this calendar date. The team is assembled, and the statements of goals and constraints are worked into detailed requirements and designs; and they're published.

The big secret is that nobody on the project believes that the project can be an outright success. Usually, the deadline is not attainable with the other goals unchanged. Mysteriously, no one declares that there is a big, stinking, dead fish of failure already smelling up the project.

As the Greek tragedy plays out, the project will slog on. Then, typically a few weeks before expected delivery, each project member, project manager, manager of a project manager, and anybody standing remotely near the project, will either

1. declare shock, dismay, and amazement that the project is nowhere near where it needs to be for the upcoming release
   
   or,
   
   
2. lay low and say absolutely nothing about anything unless asked

Why do so many people in so many organizations spray reality deodorant rather than simply state, "No way this project is happening the way we want. The dead fish is here."

Read the rest at
http://www.dorsethouse.com/features/excerpts/exajtzch3.html

Read more about Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies:
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/ajtz.html

Vaughan on Just Enough Requirements Management

Jack Vaughan recently reviewed Just Enough Requirements Management on SearchSoftwareQuality.com:

"With this book, Davis strikes straight at the heart of the problem of eliciting requirements: creating software that works for people. . . .

"Davis as a master critic of software processes provides a look at how much planning is enough when it comes to requirements, which is just the question people are asking these days as Agile processes vie with Waterfall methods. . . .

"'Just enough' is the mantra. Moreover, Davis deftly dissects the dark side of endlessly added requirements. . . .

". . . it is all about bridging the gap between software development and business users' objectives. After all, that is the essence of requirements elicitation in the business enterprise. In Davis' hands that seems to be not just a worthwhile purpose, but also an achievable goal."

Read the full review on SearchSoftwareQuality.com:
http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid92_gci1312971,00.html

Read more about Alan M. Davis' Dorset House title
Just Enough Requirements Management:
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/jerm.html

From The Aremac Project to Systems Thinking [Vesterberg.se]

Anders Vesterberg recently blogged about two of Jerry Weinberg's books, a sci-fi techno-thriller and a silver-anniversary classic text: The Aremac Project and An Introduction to General Systems Thinking:

"[The Aremac Project] was well-written and exciting with all the details interestingly and correctly described. . . . I sensed [Weinberg] was a good writer with depth and I wanted to read more. . . . this lead me to An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. . . .

“Weinberg uses clear writing and basic algebraic principles to explore new approaches to projects, products, organizations, and all kinds of systems. He unravels the scientific definition of systems and the assumptions and simplifications made. . . . The book requires some concentration and energy to read, but is indeed food for thought. To me, systems thinking really improves my thinking as a project manager, application developer, general problems solver and as someone who cares for the environmental issues and people around me."

Read the full blog post on Vesterberg.se:
http://www.vesterberg.se/2008/03/24/weinberg-on-systems-thinking/
Read more about The Aremac Project:
http://www.littlewestpress.com
Read more about An Introduction to General Systems Thinking:
http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/gst.html