SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

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Boston SPIN April 18, 2000
SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT WHAT WORKS?
Dolores McCarthy Computer Sciences Corporation
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COMPANY BACKGROUND

• Computer Sciences Corporation
• Supporting Volpe National Transportation Center
  
• Project sizes vary from 3000 to 10 million
• Applications mostly information systems for
• government customers
• Working on SPI since 1997
• Maturity level varies among divisions
• Many at Level 1
• Some approaching Level 2 and 3

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PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS THAT WORKED

• Tracking requirements changes
• Documenting Life Cycles
• Peer reviews
• Organization charts
• Posting project schedule and updates
• Configuration management plans
• Quality assurance plans
• Test plans

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ENABLERS TO PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

• SEI lead assessor in house
• Project assessments and action plans
• Training in SEI CMM
• Training in Peer Reviews
• Training in QA, CM, Test, RM
• Asset library
• Software Development Process Guide for Level 2
• Document templates
• Sample documents
• Cheerful attitude

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IMPROVEMENTS EFFECT ON ORGANIZATION

• CCB established
• More dialogue and agreement among implementers
• Less confusion
• Roles and responsibilities clarified
• Improved morale
• Better management insight into project
• Peer reviews find problems early - improve
  productivity
• Success genders success by example
• Reaching for more improvement

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FACTORS AFFECTING IMPROVEMENT

• Organization level SEPG had a charter
• Weekly meetings of SEPG
• Status reports to upper management
• Establishment of organization SPI assets
• Advertising
• Large or small projects need a champion
• Customer needs to agree if costs are
  substantial
• Training and awareness essential

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HOW LONG FOR IMPROVEMENT?

• Projects vary
• Sometimes a week, as with a document template
• or sample document
• Sometimes a few weeks, as with implementing CM
• Sometimes longer depending on culture and
  customer
• At least a year and a half if reaching for
  Level 2 and 3

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RECOMMENDATIONS

• Work in reality
• Set expectations
• Report results
• Praise
• Place SPI assets on an intranet
• Research to update assets
• Hang in for the long term
• Spread the good news
• Just-in-time training
• Make changes gradually
• Be flexible
• Stay positive