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Making Process Improvement Work: A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners
- By Neil Potter, Mary Sakry
- Published Mar 22, 2002 by Addison-Wesley Professional.
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Description
- Copyright 2002
- Dimensions: 6-1/4" x 9-1/4"
- Edition: 1st
- eBook
- ISBN-10: 0-13-292892-2
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-292892-2
Software process improvement too often reflects a significant disconnect between theory and practice. This book bridges the gap—offering a straightforward, systematic approach to planning, implementing, and monitoring a process improvement program. Project managers will appreciate the book’s concise presentation style and will be able to apply its practical ideas immediately to real-life challenges.
With examples based on the authors’ own extensive experience, this book shows how to define goals that directly address the needs of your organization, use improvement models appropriately, and devise a pragmatic action plan. In addition, it reveals valuable strategies for deploying organizational change, and delineates essential metrics for tracking your progress. Appendices provide examples of an action plan, a risk management plan, and a mini-assessment process.
You will learn how to:
· Scope and develop an improvement plan
· Identify and prioritize risks and mitigate anticipated difficulties
· Derive metrics that accurately measure progress toward business goals
· Sell your improvement program in-house
· Initially target practitioners and projects most-open to new approaches and techniques
· Stay focused on goals and problems
· Align the actions of managers and practitioners
· Delay major policy documents and edicts until solutions have been practiced and tested
· Use existing resources to speed deployment
· Incorporate improvement models, such as SEI CMM® and CMMISM, into your improvement program
For those managers who are tired of chronic project difficulties, constant new improvement schemes, and a lack of real progress, this easily digestible volume provides the real-world wisdom you need to realize positive change in your organization.
Sample Content
Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Chapter 1: Developing a Plan 1
Scope the Improvement 4
Develop an Action Plan 23
Determine Risks and Plan to Mitigate 38
Summary 49
Chapter 2: Implementing the Plan 51
Sell Solutions Based on Needs 52
Work with the Willing and Needy First 57
Keep Focused on the Goals and Problems 71
Align the Behaviors of Managers and Practitioners 73
Summary 75
Chapter 3: Checking Progress 77
Are We Making Progress on the Goals? 78
Are We Making Progress on Our Improvement Plan? 87
Are We Making Progress on the Improvement Framework? 88
What Lessons Have We Learned So Far? 101
Summary 113
Conclusion 115
Appendix A: Mapping Goals and Problems to CMM 117
Appendix B: Mapping Goals and Problems to CMM and CMMI 125
Appendix C: Action Plan Example 133
Appendix D: Risk Management Example 139
Appendix E: Mini-Assessment Process 145
References 157
Index 161