Rimu Research: Rick Mugridge

Rick Mugridge

International consultant and coach
The developer of FitLibrary (open-source)
Lead author of Fit for Developing Software, Prentice-Hall, 2005
Leading thinker about storytests as executable specifications, a convergence of requirements and testing that provide a new approach to understanding, clarifying and communicating the requirements of a system.
Active in the international agile development community

Lead Author

I am the lead author of Fit for Developing Software, Prentice-Hall, 2005 with Ward Cunningham. This book is primarily about using Fit to write (and run) storytests that help to understand, clarify and communicate the business domain between business people and software developers.

Agile Software Development

I have a special interest and much experience in agile software development. My particular focus has been on storytests in Fit, which act as executable specifications. As well as defining the business domain through concrete examples, storytests can be used as test to show that development of some new functionality is complete and that existing requirements continue to be met.

I am a member of the Agile Alliance

Storytests with Fit, FitNesse and FitLibrary

I've been working with Fit and FitNesse for several years.

Since 2002, I have been developing FitLibrary, which extends Fit is many different and innovative ways. This enhances the way that business rules can be expressed and aids programmers in writing code that mediates, during testing, between the storytests and the system under test.

International Coach/Consultant

I have been consulting, coaching and training in software development for many years, in NZ, Italy, Germany, Canada, UK, USA, and Australia. I have had an emphasis on agile software development since 2001 and on Storytest Driven Development since 2003 (mixed with Domain Driven Design).

I have experience in coaching and training at a wide range of levels. I have run tutorials and workshops that have been attended by international agile consultants, right through to training relative beginners in agile software development, test driven development, agile estimating and project management, and storytest writing and design.

Experience in a Range of Roles

I have worked as a Developer, an Architect, a BA, a Project Manager, as well as a tool-smith for test automation.

I have coached people in all IT roles.

Wide Range of Application Domains

I have worked in a wide range of application domains and with a wide range of technologies. I enjoy tackling challenges and especially when they require the invention of practical new ways of thinking about and doing things.

I have carried out coaching and/or consulting with client companies who specialise in:

Airline reservation systems
Telecommunications systems
Trading systems
Medical Information systems
Aluminium extrusion and design software
Utility management systems (power, water, etc)
Medical device and other embedded software
Telemetry systems
Industrial plant monitoring and control systems
Command and control for emergency dispatch
General software development under contract
Building design and construction information systems
Point of sale systems
Laboratory data collection systems

Active at Agile Conferences

In the past, I have been on the program committee of several international agile conferences, including Agile2008, XP2007, Agile2007, XP2006, Agile2006, XP2005, Agile2005, XP2004, XPAU2005, ADC2004.

I ran the Tools Stage at Agile2008 in Toronto, Canada.

I have been active at the above conferences. For example, in 2004 and 2005:

Agile Conferences 2005

XP2005 in Sheffield, UK in June 2005. I presented a paper (Agile Test Composition), ran a tutorial (Expressing Business Rules (with Fit)), was on a panel (Agile Education and Training), and helped run two workshops (Hands-on Domain-Driven Acceptance Testing and Exploring Best Practices for XP Acceptance Testing).
Agile2005 in Denver, Colorado in July 2005. I ran an introduction to Fit with Ward Cunningham (Acceptance Testing with Fit and FitNesse), ran a tutorial (Expressing Business Rules (with Fit)) and attended the Fit Unification Summit.
Agile Development Conference 2005 in Auckland, NZ (17 and 18 October) and Melbourne, Australia (20 and 21 October). I gave a presentation on Leaps in Business Quality: Towards Customer Tests as Executable Specifications.

Agile Conferences 2004

XP2004 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 6-10 June. I presented a paper on FixtureFixture as well as running a tutorial, Acceptance Testing using Fit.
AgileDevelopment Conference 2004 in Salt Lake City, USA 22-26 June. I ran a tutorial, Advanced Fit Lab.
XP/Agile Universe 2004 in Calgary, Canada 15-18 August. I ran a tutorial, Advanced Fit Lab.I also ran two workshops, with others: Who Should Write Acceptance Tests, and How to Maintain and Promote Healthy Agile Culture.

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