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Appraisals and CMMI Gotchas - Lessons in CMMI Use and Appraisal Preparation
Neil Potter
Introduction:
So you're thinking about using CMMI or conducting a CMMI-based appraisal and arriving at Maturity Level X soon. Here are some lessons learned that can help you spend your efforts well and avoid some common hazards on your journey. This talk is for those are using the CMMI, burned out from CMMI, or facing an appraisal soon.
Participants will learn:
- Basic CMMI premise
- Common blind spots/hazards
- CM - physical audits
- MA - overdoing measurement/goal definitions or ignoring all of it
- PP - size estimation, risk at the team level
- PMC - tracking actual effort and size
- IPM - triggers for corrective action
- Overly focusing on every practice and PA
- Appraisal Preparation (SCAMPI)
- Appraisal evidence (PIIDing)
- Mock interview vs. running the business
Biography:
Neil Potter is co-founder of The Process Group, a software process improvement consultancy. He has 23 years of experience in software and process engineering. Neil is an SEI authorized lead appraiser for SCAMPI appraisals, certified high-maturity appraiser, Intro to CMMI instructor and Six Sigma Greenbelt. He has a B. Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Essex (UK) and is the co-author of Making Process Improvement Work - A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners , Addison-Wesley.
Writing Clear Software Requirements Using a Concise Template
Neil Potter
Introduction:
Requirements development is an essential activity that can make or break any project. If you are a software developer or business analyst, you probably have had good and bad experiences of eliciting and defining requirements.
Requirements documents are usually full of long narrative and ambiguous paragraphs that make understanding the requirements a challenge for customers, developers and testers. In this session, Neil Potter will step through a straightforward requirements template that breaks requirements into unique items. The result is a requirements document that is easy to read, understand and change.
Participants will learn:
- How to differentiate and organize the following types of requirements:
- Business Requirements (high level)
- User Requirements
- Use Case names (the top level of a use case)
- Functional Requirements
- The characteristics of maintainable and changeable requirements documents
Biography:
Neil Potter is co-founder of The Process Group, a software process improvement consultancy. He has 23 years of experience in software and process engineering. Neil is an SEI authorized lead appraiser for SCAMPI appraisals, certified high-maturity appraiser, Intro to CMMI instructor and Six Sigma Greenbelt. He has a B. Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Essex (UK) and is the co-author of Making Process Improvement Work - A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners , Addison-Wesley.
Convincingly Calculating SPI ROI
Robin Goldsmith
Introduction:
Favorable financial Return on Investment (ROI) is the ultimate determinant of whether software process improvement (SPI) efforts actually have been beneficial. Yet, financial measurement is probably the least understood and least used tool for managing SPI. People commonly believe the calculations are the difficult part, but too often even correct calculations are based on inappropriate data. In this interactive presentation, Robin Goldsmith describes relevant calculations and how to use ROI Value Modeling™ and the powerful Problem Pyramid™ to reliably identify the appropriate SPI measures to include in the calculations.
- Relevant ROI calculations for measuring SPI value.
- Identifying and measuring appropriate SPI financial variables.
- Quantifying tangible and intangible benefits in dollars.
Biography:
Robin Goldsmith is internationally recognized as an authority on business engineering and software acquisition/development quality, testing, and productivity. He is a frequent speaker at leading conferences and formerly International Vice President of the Association for Systems Management. Robin is the author of the book:" Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success ".
Lessons Learned: Project Management Techniques that can Span the Distance
Marnie Hutcheson
Introduction:
Outsourcing and off shoring may appear to be an attractive financial alternative to our traditional processes, but overcoming the challenges of distance, disparate cultures and different perspectives is an ongoing challenge, and this is by no means a complete list of the “gottcha's” that appear in a project that gets spread around the planet.
This presentation shares lessons learned in several distance managed projects and discusses technologies and management techniques that have been effective meeting these challenges.
Outline:
- Outsourcing / Off shoring first need: establish an e-proximity for your team
- The projects and the original process plans
- The problems with the planned processes and the solutions that were applied
- The project outcomes
- Overall project success
- Cost savings/expenses
Biography:
Marnie Hutcheson is a columnist for MSDN Magazine and TechNET Magazine. She also creates technical courseware for Microsoft Corporation and travels around the world training the trainers who teach these technologies to the world. She is an internationally published author and speaker in the areas of software development, testing and quality assurance, and systems administration.
She began her career in engineering at Prodigy Services Company in 1987 as the Lead Systems Integrator for Shopping, and later Banking and Financial Services. Over the years, she has become a leader in the development of the Web and has helped corporations like GTE and Microsoft develop and launch several major Internet technologies.
Software Reviews: If They’re so Great; Why Isn’t Everyone Using Them?
Clyneice Chaney
Introduction:
Software Reviews have been shown in many studies and through empirical evidence “in the wild” to be the single most effective technique for reducing the level of defects in delivered systems They are considered a best industry practice for detecting software defects early and learning about software artifacts. However, many organizations fail to use them or fail in how they are implemented or believe that they are too time intensive to be of value in today's fast paced market. What can be done to make this best practice feasible in more organizations? This presentation provides an interactive discussion of key considerations that make the use of software reviews more viable in today's fast paced organizations. It discusses the variety of options possible under the term “software reviews”, when they are best used, practical considerations for implementation, and key automation factors.
Outline:
- Factors that derail SW review implementation
- How to develop a strategy for resistance
- Implementation/institutionalization issues
- Automation and reviews
Biography:
Clyneice Chaney brings over 20 years of testing, quality assurance and process improvement experience. Clyneice holds certifications from American Society for Quality as a Certified Quality Manager, Quality Assurance Institute's Certified Quality Analyst, and Project Management Institute's Professional Project Manager. She has participated as an examiner for state quality awards for Georgia and Virginia.
Focusing on process improvement and procedure development in the software testing and quality assurance areas, Clyneice has successfully lead process improvement, methodology development, and reengineering projects for organizations wishing to improve their software development, testing processes, and tool implementation.
Clyneice is currently an instructor for the International Institute for Software Testing and has presented technical papers at the Software Engineering Institute: SEPG Conference, American Society for Quality: Quality Manager's conference, Quality Assurance Institute International Testing conference and STAR East Testing and the Quality Assurance Institute conference.
The Agile Review Process (ARP™)
Dr. Magdy Hanna
Introduction:
Software inspections have proven very effective in capturing more defects early enough to avoid the cost of rework. Also, many types of defects can only be found by a thorough inspection. Yet, many organizations are struggling to make the inspection process effective and to achieve the real benefits of inspections. This course will examine the different elements that make an effective inspection process and help you establish a customized process for your organization. This course will present an Agile Review Process™ that different organizations can adopt based on the nature of the project. The ARP™ is a customizable process that overcomes problems with a traditional review processes.
Who should attend: This course is important for all software persons involved in the software development and maintenance process including managers of all levels.
Outline:
- Inspections and Reviews defined
- Benefits of Inspections and Reviews
- Where does inspection fit
- Verification Vs Validation
- Quality Assurance Vs. Quality Control
- Why Do Inspection Programs Fail
- For ms of Inspections and Reviews
- Problems with “Traditional” Inspection and Review Methods
- The Agile Review Process (ARP™)
- Planning
- Online preparation
- Issue-based meeting
- Rework and follow-up
- Causal analysis for process improvement
Biography:
Dr. Hanna is a recognized educator, speaker and consultant in several areas of software engineering. His distinguished seminars on various topics have been highly rated by software professionals. Dr. Hanna's experience with software goes back to the mid 1970's when he worked as a developer at the NCR center in Cairo , Egypt. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Hanna has worked in all aspects of software projects and processes in all capacities.
Dr. Hanna is the founder, CEO and Chairman of the International Institute for Software Testing, ( www.iist.org ) the leading educational and professional development organization that provides education-based certifications to software test and quality professionals around the world.
Dr. Hanna is the founder and Chairperson of the International Conference on Practical Software Quality and Testing, (www.PSQTconference.com) and founder and Chairperson of the International Conference on Software Process Improvement, (www.icspi.com).
Driving an Agile Peg in a CMMI Hole Making Multi-Culture Environments Work
Dr. Timothy Korson
Introduction:
In today's organizations, process improvement is being approached from 2 fundamentally different perspectives. Managers trying to encourage best practices as recommended by CMMI and SPICE find themselves at odds with developers trying to adopt best practices as recommended by the agile manifesto. This talk looks at how to approach process improvement in such an environment.
Participants will learn:
- How CMMI and Agile blend at the Goal level
- How CMMI and Agile Differ in Assumptions
- Manufacturing shirts or exploring space
- Overhead vs. Real Work
- How to harmonize the Agile and CMMI approaches
- Quasi-Agile philosophy
- Continuous process improvement
Why every process improvement professional should pay attention to both CMMI and Agile principles.
Biography:
Timothy Korson has had over a decade of substantial experience working on a large variety of systems developed using modern software engineering techniques. This experience includes distributed, real time, embedded systems as well as business information systems in an n-tier, client-server environment. Dr. Korson's typical involvement on a project is as a senior management consultant with additional technical responsibilities to ensure high quality, robust test and quality assurance processes and practices. Dr. Korson has authored numerous articles, and co-authored a book on Object Technology Centers. He has given frequent invited lectures at major international conferences and has contributed to the discipline through original research. The lectures and training classes he presents are highly rated by the attendees.
Process Improvement Common Sense
Denis Meredith
Introduction:
Having participated in a number of process improvement efforts, I have observed some repeated behaviors that are counterproductive. I will share those behaviors, some of their causes, and some ways to avoid them.
Process improvement efforts in some organizations have been ineffective. A few common sense principles can improve the likelihood of success, if applied at the right time.
Participants will learn:
- How to identify obstacles
- How to set expectations
- How to establishing conditions to enable success
Outline:
- Introduction
- Common Obstacles
- Working for models
- Imposed external standards
- Resistance to change
- Setting Expectations
- What is realistic
- Evaluating successes
- Conditions for success
- Realistic expectations
- Let staff own the processes
- Plan ahead for measurement
- Action Plan
Biography:
Denis Meredith is an independent consultant. He has conducted testing, project management, metrics, process improvement, and estimation seminars throughout North America , Europe , Egypt , and Australia . His courses have been presented through UCLA Extension, National Television University , and CSU Long Beach. He has served as program chair and program committee member for a number of national and international conferences.
Mr. Meredith graduated from the United States Naval Academy , and has completed graduate courses in Business Administration at the Pennsylvania State University , where he also taught computer courses. He has been a member of IEEE standards working groups. He holds CCP, CSTE, and CQA certificates. Denis has had articles published in Data Management , Systems Development , System Builder ,and Software Quality Professional magazines and has written articles for Auerbach's Data Processing Management series. He is on the editorial review board of the American Society for Quality's Software Quality Professional and the International Institute for Software Testing's Journal of Software Testing Professionals.
Changing Organizations: Getting out of the Delta into the Future!
Clyneice Chaney
Introduction:
An organization's culture, people, process and structure are the elements that allow it to function. Implementing process improvement into an organization such as CMMI, ISO can vastly change that culture and often creates resistance and failed improvement efforts. Understanding organizational change and its principles can help process improvement implementers lead more successful projects with less resistance. This presentation discusses the approach used to introduce organizational change for a test organization as well as a CMMI implementation project.
Participants will learn:
- Understand Organizational Change Management
- Understand affect of Culture shock
- Become familiar with a methodology to affect organizational change
Outline:
- Caterpillar Organization
- Current State
- Current Problem
- Realities of Change
- Organizational change issues
- Organizational change methodology
- Effecting Change
- Future
- Present
- Delta
- Tool and techniques
- Becoming a Butterfly
- Accomplishing Organizational change
Biography:
Clyneice Chaney, Corporate Quality Manager with Project Performance Corporation brings over 20 years of testing, quality assurance and process improvement experience. Clyneice holds certifications from American Society for Quality as a Certified Quality Manager, Quality Assurance Institute's Certified Quality Analyst, and Project Management Institute's Professional Project Manager. She has served on both Virginia and Georgia 's State Quality Award (State Baldrige award) examiner.
Focusing on process improvement and procedure development in the software testing and quality assurance areas, Clyneice has successfully lead process improvement, methodology development, and reengineering projects for organizations wishing to improve their software development, testing processes, and tool implementation.
Clyneice is currently an instructor for the International Institute for Software Testing and has presented technical papers at the Software Engineering Institute: SEPG Conference, American Society for Quality: Quality Manager's conference, Quality Assurance Institute International Testing conference and STAR East Testing and the Quality Assurance conference
Software Process Improvement’s Dirty Little Secrets
Robin Goldsmith
Introduction:
Formal software improvement initiatives, such as Six Sigma and capability maturity model-fitting, often leave a significant but seldom-recognized gap that inadvertently can neutralize or even counteract much of the costly initiatives' benefits. In this interactive presentation, Robin Goldsmith reveals how such high-overhead initiatives often lose sight of key weakest-link exceptions to their seemingly comprehensive practices for improving software processes.
- Where high-overhead formal software process improvement initiatives do focus
- Key areas that such initiatives often overlook and thus defeat their purposes
- Methods to detect and address such oversight exceptions
Biography:
Robin Goldsmith is internationally recognized as an authority on business engineering and software acquisition/development quality, testing, and productivity. He is a frequent speaker at leading conferences and formerly International Vice President of the Association for Systems Management. Robin is the author of the book:" Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success ".
A Practical Approach to Measurement and Analysis: Using the ISO Measurement Information Model to Integrate Measurement with Process Performance
Dr. Donn Milton
Introduction:
The CMMI's Level 2 Process Area, Measurement and Analysis, includes a set of somewhat onerous requirements for establishing and operating a measurement program. Traditional approaches for implementing a CMMI-compliant measurement program typically suffer from the following:
- Too many complex activities must be
completed before any measurement and analysis can be performed
- Data collection is not integrated with process performance
- Data collection procedures are onerous and error-prone
- Measurement data is not collected and organized so as to enable real-time, fact-based management insight
Participants will learn:
- The CMMI requirements for organizing measurement data
- How the ISO/IEC Measurement Information Model can be used to efficiently satisfy the CMMI Requirements
- The critical importance of integrating measurement collection with day-to-day process performance
- Methods for integrating measurement data collection with process performance
Outline:
- The Traditional View of the CMMI's Measurement and Analysis Process Area
- Problems with the Traditional View
- Key Concepts of the ISO/IEC Measurement Information Model (ISO MIM)
- How the ISO MIM Organizes a CMMI-Compliant Measurement System
- A Detailed Example (from Earned Value Management) of ISO MIM Structuring:
- Base Measures
- Derived Measures
- Indicators
- Information Needs
- Measurement Objectives
- Advantages of Integrating Measurement Data Collection with Day-to-Day Process Performance
- Methods of Integrating Data Collection with Process Performance
- Summary and Conclusions
Biography:
Dr. Donn Milton has more than 30 years of experience in software project management, software development, and the practice of government contract law. He joined pragma Systems in 1997 to lead its transformation from consulting to commercial product development. At pragma Systems, Dr. Milton led the design and development of processMax®, an enterprise project management system that integrates CMMI®-compliant process and procedure with workflow, document management, and automated measurement and reporting.
Prior to joining pragma Systems, Dr. Milton was a Group Vice President at IIT Research Institute, where he managed over 300 personnel with annual revenues of $37 Million. Dr. Milton began his career at Bell Laboratories and later co-founded the Verdix Corporation, where he performed many corporate management functions, including a successful initial public offering, and led the Ada Products Division.
Dr. Milton holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Cornell University , a doctorate in computer sciences from the University of Wisconsin , and is also a graduate of the George Washington University Law School , where he specialized in government contract law.
Unleash the Power of Inspections
Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, Ph.D., CSQA
Introduction:
Long before Testers have an opportunity to examine deliverables folks are inserting defects into Requirements, Design and Code. Defect creation is not their intent but it is the result of flawed software processes. Testers are expected to find all of the defects quickly, yet they may also be using flawed processes. Learn about the most powerful Static Testing Tool ever devised, the Formal Inspection. Testers, BAs, customers, designers and developers can play a crucial role in making this process even more effective by being part of Inspection or Peer Review Teams throughout the Life Cycle. People can also apply this robust technique to discover defects in their own processes. Learn how to apply your critical and analytical skills to find more defects more efficiently.
Participants will learn:
- The basic elements of Formal Inspection and Peer Reviews
- To Understand the role everyone in the life cycle in Static Testing
- How to Apply Formal Inspection techniques to improve results
Outline:
- Fundamentals of Formal Inspections and Peer Reviews
- Formal Inspection process and roles
- Uses of Formal Inspections and relation to Peer Review
- Place of Formal Inspection in standard models, such as CMMI®
- Static Testing Roles for Life Cycle Professionals
- Integrating life cycle professional roles into the static testing process
- Applying Formal Inspection techniques
- Formal Inspection/Peer Review of any deliverable
- Using Inspection data for improvement of processes
- Demonstrating ROI for testing improvement with Inspections
Biography:
‘Dr. Rebecca' Staton-Reinstein, president of Advantage Leadership, Inc. has been helping companies get results applying the powerful Formal Inspection technique as a practitioner, facilitator and consultant for over 20 years, around the world and in all economic sectors. She works with IT organizations to improve their ability to align with the business and deliver technical solutions that delight the customer. She is the author of several resources including Get Great
Requirements and The Hard Job of Making Software Work.
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