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Welcome to my home page. I’m a Professor of Software Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology and Director of Florida Tech’s Center for Software Testing Education & Research. I teach and do research in software engineering, primarily software testing, software metrics, and computer law & ethics.
My career is centered around a consistent theme: Enhancing the satisfaction and safety of software customers, users, and developers.
This is a focused theme, but it crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. To pursue it, I’ve had to study and work in many areas (psychology, law, programming, testing, technical writing, sales), applying what I learn from each to the central software satisfaction problems.
I hold a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from McMaster University (graduated 1984). My dissertation was in the area of psychophysics–the measurement of perceptual experiences. I did some work on the human factors of computing and have since worked as a user interface designer and programmer. My undergraduate work (Brock University, 1974) was primarily in mathematics and philosophy.
I also hold a law degree (J.D. Golden Gate University, 1994) and have done a lot of work on the development of the law of software quality. The American Law Institute elected me to membership in 1999, in recognition of this work. David Pels’ and my book, Bad Software: What To Do When Software Fails, exemplifies our interdisciplinary approach to the law of software quality.
As a software developer, I’ve been a programmer, software development manager, tester, test manager, writer, technical publications manager, director (managing primarily the writing and test groups), software salesperson, and an associate in an organization development consulting firm. I became a full-time consultant in 1994 and in the course of that, I formed (and temporarily managed) testing, tech writing and programming groups, and provided a range of other management and technical consulting services.