Friday, June 04, 2010

20 Year Anniversary of Rice Consulting Services Today

Today is the 20th anniversary of Rice Consulting Services! It has been an amazing ride. I'm thankful to God for keeping His business going for this long.

It was 20 years ago today...Sgt. Peppers taught his band to play....I mean we moved from Kansas City back to our home of Oklahoma City to start Rice Consulting Services. My first project was the Oklahoma City Water Trust, which was a major failure. I call it "the day I tested myself out of a job" because I asked whether or not the system had been stress tested. Turns out, it hadn't and it could not stand any load. The system never saw the light of day. You can read all about it here. It's worth your time.

Then, I got to know people like Bill Perry who gave me a great national platform with the opportunity to speak at the QAI testing conferences. We wrote together, Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing, which opened many other doors.

Thanks to all of my friends and clients, who have supported us in the good and bad times.

Thanks to Janet, my wife and President of RCS, who is 100% behind this business and understands what small business is like. We eat what we shoot. We take risks that would make some people sleepless. There are no guarantees or bailouts for small businesses. We are small enough to fail, but by the grace of God, we keep going and serving our clients.

I feel like one the farmers who won the lottery a few years back. When asked what they were going to do with the money, one of them said, "We're gonna keep farmin' til the money runs out."

So, I raise my cup of coffee to you, my friends that read this blog. Thanks for your support. I look forward to 20 more years. We will probably still be talking about how to write test plans. And, that is...well, depressing in a way, but shows the never-ending job of skill building in testing.

Thanks, everyone!

4 comments:

Joe said...

Congratulations!

20 Years of anything is quite an accomplishment. 20 Years of your own company is amazing.

Michael Larsen said...

Congratulations, Randy, and thanks for all of your efforts. It was you in many ways that gave me the kick-start to look at testing as more than just "what I do for my job" and to look at "what can I do for the community of testing at large". Were it not for you, I wouldn't have found out about various organizations like AST, of which I will be starting my first student teaching experience with in July. It was your recommendation of the PNSQC that prompted me to contact them and ask to volunteer so I could attend. That's still in the works, but it's progressing. You inspired me to look for local groups that share my testing interests (surprising to see how few there are in the San Francisco Bay Area, but there are some, and I'm throwing my hat into the ring to participate. Also, my blog exists because yours inspired me to make it.

You have been my gateway to this community, and I couldn't be happier. Keep influencing others out there to do the same, and hopefully in 20 years, I hope to be able to get a letter from someone I helped influence :).

Randy Rice said...

Thanks so much Joe and Michael. It is really gratifying to hear that. I always tell people that it isn't all that hard to rise to the top of our field because so few people are willing to make the extra effort. However, things that are easy to do are also easy not to do!

So, hang in there. I'm sure I'll be making a similar comment to you one day!

Randy

Randy Rice said...

Thanks so much Joe and Michael. It is really gratifying to hear that. I always tell people that it isn't all that hard to rise to the top of our field because so few people are willing to make the extra effort. However, things that are easy to do are also easy not to do!

So, hang in there. I'm sure I'll be making a similar comment to you one day!

Randy