Standards-Based Software Evaluation: Anchoring Expert Opinions to ISO/IEC and IEEE Frameworks
Federal Rule of Evidence 702 compliance through peer-reviewed international standards.
Why Standards Create Daubert-Resistant Opinions
Bruce Weiner’s opinions are often anchored to an internationally recognized standard. Federal Rule of Evidence 702 requires that expert opinions be the product of reliable principles and methods. International standards developed by ISO, IEC, IEEE, and IETF through multi-year, peer-reviewed consensus processes satisfy this requirement — they represent the documented general acceptance of the global software engineering community.
The methodology survived Daubert challenge in federal MDL litigation on grounds of qualification, methodology, and relevance (N.D. Cal., January 6, 2026) — described to the court as a structured analysis that mirrors the analysis used across large-scale technology-driven organizations.
Bruce's opinions are often benchmarked against at least one internationally ratified standard. This is not a litigation strategy — it is how practitioners govern technology product development in the real world.
Disputes Addressed
- Software quality conformance — whether delivered software meets ISO/IEC 25010 criteria for functionality, performance, security, and reliability
- Lifecycle process conformance — whether SDLC and PDLC were conducted in accordance with ISO/IEC 12207
- API and web standards violations — whether platforms conformed to IETF, OWASP, and OpenAPI specifications
- Risk management standard failures — whether foreseeable risks were governed in accordance with ISO 31000
- Software quality assurance failures — whether QA plans met IEEE 730 requirements
- AI system governance — whether AI products were developed in conformance with ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI RMF
- Billing substantiation disputes — whether consulting services conformed to ISO 20700 deliverable standards
- Safety standard violations — whether safety-critical software met ISO/IEC Guide 51 requirements
How Standards Create Daubert Resistance
Testability
Standards provide objective, measurable benchmarks. Whether a software system conforms to ISO/IEC 25010 quality criteria is a testable proposition — not a matter of personal opinion.
Peer Review
ISO/IEC and IEEE standards undergo multi-year technical committee review involving hundreds of global experts before publication. They represent the documented consensus of the engineering community.
Known Benchmarks
Standards define explicit quality criteria, process requirements, and measurement methods — creating a reference frame against which any system can be evaluated.
General Acceptance
International adoption across every major software-producing economy constitutes the ‘general acceptance’ element of Daubert analysis. No court has rejected ISO/IEC or IEEE standards as a benchmarking framework.
Standards Applied
| STANDARD | APPLICATION |
|---|---|
| ISO 31000:2018 | Risk management — foreseeable risk governance in product development |
| ISO/IEC 12207:2017 | Software lifecycle processes — primary SDLC/PDLC benchmark |
| ISO/IEC 25010:2023 | Software quality model — functionality, performance, security, reliability |
| IEEE 730:2014 | Software quality assurance plan requirements |
| ISO/IEC 20926:2009 | Function Point Analysis — system sizing and labor benchmarking |
| ISO 20700:2017 | Management consulting guidelines — deliverable substantiation |
| ISO/IEC Guide 51:2014 | Safety aspects in standards — risk reduction requirements |
| ISO/IEC 42001 | AI management systems — lifecycle governance for AI products |
| IETF RFC 7231 | HTTP/1.1 semantics — web API request and response standards |
| IETF RFC 6585 | HTTP rate limiting — 429 Too Many Requests standard |
| OWASP | Web application security and API protection standards |
| OpenAPI Initiative | REST API specification and design standards |
| W3C | Web standards — markup, accessibility, and protocol compliance |
| Robots Exclusion Protocol | Automated access and crawling permission standards |
| NIST AI RMF | AI Risk Management Framework — identify, govern, map, measure, manage |
Relevant Credentials & Experience
- IEEE member since 2018 · ACM member since 2018
- Methodology survived Daubert challenge — N.D. Cal., January 6, 2026
- Applied ISO/IEC 20926 Function Point Analysis to reveal 7:1–9:1 billing overstatement in federal court matter
- Applied ISO 20700, ISO/IEC 12207, and IEEE 730 in active federal and state court matters
- Princeton BSE, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Magna Cum Laude
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