Westfall Weekly Webinars

After the Audit Report presented by Linda Westfall

Wednesday, January 7, at 12:01 pm Central

What should happen after the audit report is published?  During this webinar, you will learn:

• The roles and responsibilities of  the audit participant  after the publication of the audit report
• What audit findings require corrective actions
• The steps in performing corrective action
• Why the lead auditor reviews the corrective action plans
• How to close the audit

Making Auditing and Assessment Work presented by Tom Gilb

Wednesday, January 14, at 12:01 pm Central

Specification Quality Control (SQC), Defect Prevention Process (DPP), EVO-Agile, and the Entry-Task-Exit Process (ETX), for making auditing and assessment work in the long term: built in, self-managed proven processes.

For IT systems which are larger (national, international) and more complex (integrated with many other systems) we need suitably-powerful quality-assurance methods. The usual testing and ’talking’ (retrospectives, meetings) methods are not cost-effective enough.

As we scale up, we need ‘scale free’ methods which work at any scale we grow to, but also satisfy the needs of our concurrent small scale sub-systems.

The collection of methods, which  I will present are many decades old, and were pioneered by IBM for internal use. Published in IBM Systems Journal as early as 1980. But they are today largely unknown, and not taught at university, or at private institutions (like Scrum Inc., PMI, ASQ). 

The methods are:

1. Specification Quality Control  SQC (earlier method variants were called Software Inspection)
2. Defect Prevention Process, DPP
3. Entry-Task-Exit (ETX)
4. Planguage: which gives supporting artifacts such as Processes, Policies, Principles, Rules, Checklists, and specific Entry and Exit Conditions.

These methods have been practiced on a large scale (thousands of engineers, decades of practice), and results data published by IBM, HP, Intel, Boeing, Ericsson and other clients of mine. 

This talk will present, and outline, the methods, and provide you, the participant,  with detailed free books on the subjects.

The key book, you can have now: Competitive Engineering,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237129623_Competitive_Engineering_A_Handbook_for_Systems_Engineering

Auditing the Software Development Lifecycle Using AI Tools presented by Monica Chis

Wednesday, January 21, at 12:01 pm Central

Auditing the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) with AI tools involves evaluating how AI is being used across each SDLC phase, ensuring that the use is effective, ethical, compliant, and aligned with best practices.

Attendees will:

• Understand how AI tools change SDLC practices
• Understand audit criteria for responsible AI use in development
• Know how to structure an SDLC audit using AI tools
• Use templates to perform effective AI-SDLC audits

What Auditors Wish Engineers Knew: A Pragmatic Guide to Demonstrating Secure Software presented by Nancy Pasquan

Wednesday, January 28, at 12:01 pm Central

Security audits often feel like a mysterious black box to engineering teams—full of checklists, findings, and requests that seem disconnected from day to day development. In this session, a longtime auditor of software products and suppliers pulls back the curtain on how security is evaluated in practice. We’ll explore what evidence auditors look for and the common pitfalls that slow teams down or create unnecessary risk. Engineers will learn how to document and deliver software in ways that stand up to scrutiny, reduce friction during assessments, and ultimately strengthen the security posture of their products. Expect practical examples, real world lessons, and clear guidance you can apply immediately.

After the Audit Report

Presented by: Linda Westfall

What should happen after the audit report is published?  During this webinar, you will learn:
- The roles and responsibilities of  the audit participant  after the publication of the audit report
- What audit findings require corrective actions
- The steps in performing corrective action
- Why the lead auditor reviews the corrective action plans
- How to close the audit

Available Free Until: 3/1/26
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Agile Quality (Assurance) Practices

Presented by: Scott Duncan

Scott Duncan will speak on how Agile practices can contribute to quality, especially its assurance. Scott has presented this before, but will offer different perspectives from what he has in the past given the evolution in team behaviors. Included will be some thoughts about four things to consider, even before adopting Agile practices.

Available Free Until: 2/25/26
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The Future of Work: A Deep Dive into Quality 4.0

Presented by: Zac Jarrard

There is a lot of uncertainty about the future and the role of people, processes, and technology in organizations. At the same time, there are a lot of opportunities to explore new ways of conducting business. This is key for organizations that are preparing for success in the future. This presentation will examine Quality 4.0, how it will affect people, process, and technology, and share some best practices organizations can leverage to thrive in the future.

Available free until 2/18/2026
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Agile Open Q&A

Presented by:  Scott Duncan

- Attendees can ask whatever they like, and Scott will do his best to respond.
- To help Scott do this, you can send questions ahead of time to [email protected] 
- Submitted questions will be addressed during the session in the order received, then any raised during the session.

Available Free Until: 2/11/2026
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Stop Chasing “Good Culture”: Align Your Work With Your Values

Presented by: Diana Alt

How many times have you heard a company or team brag about its “great culture,” only to realize once you’re inside that it doesn’t live up to the hype? You’re not imagining things. Culture is values in action—and if you don’t know how to match your values with the way a workplace actually behaves, you’ll keep ending up in roles that feel “off.”

The truth is, most professionals fall into the same traps:
•    Accepting jobs based on glossy culture statements that don’t match reality.
•    Staying too long in roles where something feels wrong, but they can’t name why.
•    Guessing about fit instead of having a clear framework to decide.

In this interactive session, you’ll learn how to cut through the noise and take control of your choices. We’ll cover how to spot the difference between a company’s polished culture pitch and its real culture, how to connect your core values to the behaviors you want to see in your team, and how to use values alignment as a practical tool for making career decisions.

If you’re tired of chasing “good culture,” this is your chance to define it for yourself—and recognize it in the teams you work with every day.

Available Free Until: 2/4/2026
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Decision Fatigue: How to Choose Faster and Do More

Presented by: Kabrina Ashley

Every day we’re faced with hundreds of choices: emails, meetings, priorities, what to work on next... For high performers, that constant stream of decisions doesn’t just wear you out, it grinds your productivity to a halt. Decision fatigue shows up not only as making poor choices, but also as taking too long to decide, or not deciding at all.
In this engaging talk, Kabrina Ashley unpacks why decision fatigue happens, how high achievers unknowingly set themselves up for it, and most importantly, practical ways to cut through the overwhelm. Instead of more “just take a walk” band-aids, you’ll walk away with real tools to:
•    Spot when you’re hitting the wall of decision fatigue.
•   Make faster, clearer choices in the moment.
•    Build simple structures and habits that eliminate unnecessary decisions altogether.
Participants will leave with a decision-making playbook they can use immediately, practical steps to streamline options, reduce cognitive load, and confidently choose the right next step faster. The result? Less overwhelm, more momentum, and energy back for the decisions that matter most.
 

Available Free Until: 1/28/2026

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Facilitation Skills For Maximizing Teams

Presented by: Grace Duffy

Everyone says soft skills are harder to acquire, but what are they? In a word, facilitation encompasses soft skills used to gain traction with teams. Do you want to learn about facilitation from a master?
  
This talk will explain the core of facilitation, what it is that good facilitators do, handling issues in a team setting, and generally knowing how to modify your approach depending on the team's status.
 
This webinar is for you if you are:
•    A team leader for challenging groups.
•    A manager who wants meetings to be productive.
•    A consultant who needs to work with difficult clients.

Available Free Until: 1/21/2026
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Handling Team Problems

Presented by: Linda Westfall

Teams are an essential part of any quality system.  However, when you are leading or facilitating teams, you may also have to deal with team problems. This webinar will discuss some of these common problems and some ideas on how to address them, including:
 - Problems Starting or Ending a Task or Activity
 - Dominating Participants
-  Reluctant Participants
- Participants Attempting to Use Position or Authority To Direct Team Decisions
- Digression and Tangents
- Using Opinions Rather Than Facts
- Rushing to Solutions/Completion
- Feuding Team Members
- Too Much Conformity

Available Free Until: 1/21/26
_{After this date JOIN OUR ALL-ACCESS MEMBERSHIP to access all past webinars.}