Patrick R. O'Beirne B.Sc. M.A. FICS
Managing director of Systems Modelling Ltd. Current chair of the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group, a director of the Informatics Development Institute, and an Expert Advisor to the European Commission. A certified TickIT ISO9000 auditor, he promotes software development process improvement using the Personal Software Process. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and the author of "Managing the Euro in Information Systems".

The ranks of sorcerer s apprentice user-programmers will swell rapidly, giving many who have little training or expertise in how to avoid or detect high-risk defects tremendous power to create high-risk defects [Barry Boehm]

The risks in business dependence on spreadsheets developed by overconfident "near experts" are confirmed by research and news stories on spreadsheet errors. This paper presents dynamic and static methods of testing spreadsheets, and describes good design practice to build in protection, validation, usability. Context-driven risk assessment helps prioritise the resources to maximise the returns from the effort expended. I describe auditing tools to assess the quality of existing spreadsheet assets and provide tips for managing the spreadsheet development process.

Sven Rosvall has a background as a software developer in several projects during his career spanning 17 years. Quality issues have always been a high priority concern for him. He got interested in development methodologies early in his career. But working in smaller organisations,it was difficult to deploy existing methodologies.

When XP (Extreme Programming) appeared, Sven saw a lightweight methodology that would be easy to use in a small fast-moving organisation with ever-changing requirements. As XP practices were introduced, it was enlightening to the whole team how well it worked and how much smoother the project ran. Sven has been enthusiastic about XP ever since and how testing can drive software development projects.

Extreme Programming (XP) is a rebellious new development methodology that has got a lot of press recently. But is it so "extreme" as the name indicates? And what makes it so "extreme"?

This talk aims at giving a quick introduction to XP and what is so special. XP has a strong focus on human communication, simplicity and testing. There is lots of work for testers in an XP environment. We will see how testing can drive the whole development process. Testers are now in charge instead of being given the end result from developers during the hectic final stages of the project.