About the Authors

Karl E. Wiegers is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software process consulting and education company based in Portland, Oregon. Previously, he spent 18 years at Eastman Kodak Company, where he held positions as a photographic research scientist, software developer, software manager, and software process and quality improvement leader. He led process improvement activities for small teams, for a division of 500 software engineers building Kodak's digital imaging products, and for the Kodak Internet development group. As a consultant and trainer, Karl has worked with more than 100 companies in many different industry sectors and government agencies at all levels on requirements engineering, software peer reviews, process improvement, and project management. Karl received a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois. He has served on the Editorial Board for IEEE Software magazine and as a Contributing Editor for Software Development magazine.

Karl is the author of numerous books, including a memoir of life lessons titled "Pearls from Sand: How Small Encounters Lead to Powerful Lessons." He has written nearly 200 articles on many aspects of software development and management, chemistry, and military history. He is a frequent speaker at software conferences, public seminars, and professional society meetings. Karl's websites include www.processimpact.com, www.karlwiegers.com, and www.pearlsfromsand.com.

Joy Beatty, a leader in the software requirements community, has trained thousands of business analysts and helped major organizations build business-analysis centers of excellence. She is coauthor of Visual Models for Software Requirements.