Program for Thursday, September 18,  2003

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION  AND SPEAKER:

 Abstract:

"What Every IT Manager Should Know About Testing and Software Quality."

Are you a QA professional who wants better communication with the development organization on what “QA” means – and their role in it? Here’s your chance!  Randy Rice, an internationally-acknowledged consultant, will be talking to us about  “What Every IT Manager  Should Know About Testing and Software Quality”.

Bring Your IT  and QA Managers!

Mr. Rice’s talk will cover the following points:

1.  Software quality and testing is a life-cycle process, not an end-project push.

2. Tools are part of the quality equation, but not the entire equation.

3. Testing does not guarantee perfection.

4. There's more to consider in software quality than just functional correctness.

5. Time estimates for testing are often inherently flawed.

6. What works for one organization and project may not work for yours.

7. Defects are for learning.

8. Testing is a shared responsibility.

9. There's a big difference between QA and QC.

 And a bonus: Randy's top picks for reading on the topic of software quality and a sample action plan for improvement!

Bio:

Randall W. Rice, CSQA, CSTE, FLMI

Randy Rice is a leading author, speaker and consultant in the field of software testing and software quality. Rice, a Certified Quality Analyst, Certified Software Test Engineer and a Fellow of the Life Office Management Association, has worked with organizations worldwide to improve the quality of their information systems and optimize their testing processes.

Mr. Rice has over 25 years experience building and testing mission-critical projects in a variety of environments. He has worked in the roles of software developer, system designer, project manager, QA manager, test manager, management consultant and trainer. His work with web-based testing has led to the development of one of the world's first training courses on testing web-based applications.

Mr. Rice, has been published by the Journal of the Quality Assurance Institute, Client/Server Computing, Powersoft Applications Developer and Enterprise Systems Journal. He is a regular speaker at international conferences on software quality and testing and is also publisher of The Software Quality Advisor Newsletter. He is co-author with William E. Perry of the book, Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing, published by Dorset House Publishing Co.

Randy served as the conference chair of QAI’s International Conference on Software Testing from 1995 to 2000. As primary trainer for over 15 training courses in software testing, Randy has had the privilege of training thousands of software testers worldwide.

Mr. Rice has project experience in the following application areas:

• Life and Health Insurance
• Financial - Securities Trading
• Oil and Gas
• Workers Compensation Insurance
• Utilities
• Biomedical Laboratory
• Production Control
• Banking
• Blood Banking
• Defense
• Telecommunication

 In June, 1990, he founded Rice Consulting Services, of which he is Vice-president of Research and Development and principal consultant.

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