David Tuffley, Photo and Short Biography

Brief Biography:

Education
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 (2004)
Griffith University, Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (2005)
Griffith University, Doctor of Philosophy (in progress)
Southern Cross University, Graduate Certificate in Research Management (in progress)

Research Publications


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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