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Education Griffith's global perspective & teaching philosophy
Attended Cannon Hill State School, Brisbane, 1962-68,
Anglican Church Grammar School (then CEGS), 1969-73,
Australian Army Cadets 1970-1973, Under-Officer 1973.
Griffith University, Bachelor of Science (part), 1975 (inaugural student)
Queensland Institute of Technology, Assoc Dip Health Surveying, 1976-78
University of Queensland, Bachelor of Arts, 1981-83
Griffith University, Master of Philosophy (Information Systems)
Griffith University, Graduate Certificate in Higher Education
Griffith University, Doctor of Philosophy (Software Engineering)
Life
Born and raised in Brisbane, also lived in Ayr (North Qld) 1977-79,
Charleville (West Qld) 1980-81, and London (UK) 1986-89. Living in
Redland Bay district since 1992.
Life before Academia
Before
academia, I consulted in the computer industry for 17 years beginning
in London in the 1980's. I started as a Technical Writer and
progressed from there to business analysis and software process
improvement work. I saw how so many software development projects
produced poor quality systems, and got interested in how to remedy the
situation. All those long-suffering computer users in the world would
be the beneficiaries. So I became an academic and started research into
how to improve software development practices. How to make it more like
any other engineering discipline with their rigorous, process-driven
ways of developing things like bridges, aeroplanes and electrical
goods. Can it be done? Yes, defintely. The answer is to use a good
software engineering model like ISO 15504, or the Capability Maturity
Model (CMMI). These already exist, and are working well for the few
organizations using them. The challenge is to convince all the rest
(still 90% of developers) to also use a good model to improve their
development processes.
Travel
I
have the same genetic disposition that led my great-grandfather Henry
Tuffley to leave Leicestershire in England in the 1860's and migrate
to the end of the earth. In his case, that was Cooktown in Far North
Queensland where a gold-rush was in progress at the time. This
wanderlust has led me to travel widely over the years to far-flung
parts of the world, always returning to Redland Bay. Unlike Henry and
his six months in a leaky boat, a Qantas 747 made that easy.
Die Berliner Mauer
The
highlight of my travels happened in November 1989, when my partner
Angela and I were touring Germany in a Kombi Camper. The East German
people had brought about a blood-less revolution, overthrowing their
despotic Government. East Germans were suddenly able to leave for the
West if they wished -- and many did wish to go. They flooded the
autobahns, their dinky lawn-mower powered Trabants mingling incongruously with the BMWs and Daimlers. Families that had been split for nearly 50 years were reunited. See Berlin Wall, November 1989 for more.
Inaugural Griffith Student
I made a good choice when finishing secondary schooling in 1974. There
was a new university called Griffith opening the following year. No-one
knew too much about it, except for what we were told by School of
Science staff visiting schools. (At least three of the inaugural staff
in the School of Science went on to become Vice Chancellors of
Australian universities, such was their calibre)
I had been offered a place at Griffith, as well as QIT and Kelvin Grove Teachers Training College (now part of QUT). But there was something intriguing and appealing about Griffith. I spent a year there, and have the student card to prove it. Without a doubt, that year changed the course of my life in a good direction. I never put a tie on again, after that day in O-week.
I left Griffith after a year due to too much fun and too little study, little realising that 30 years later I would return as an academic staff member in the same Faculty of Science. The university has grown from a mere 350 students and one campus in the first year (1975) to 30,000+ students across five campuses 40 years later. The open, friendly culture we helped to establish in 1975 survives still.
Return to David Tuffley's Griffith website.
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