A Case Study in Globally-Distributed Lean Software Development 
Jerry Bernsten
Senior Technical Manager
 Honeywell Aerospace Software CoE

Introduction:

The Honeywell Aerospace Engineering Software Center of Excellence (SWCOE) is responsible for the definition and deployment of software development processes and software productivity improvements across the Honeywell Aerospace engineering organization. The Honeywell SWCOE has identified the application of lean principles as a means to achieve the desired improvements. To identify and prioritize projects – for improving productivity, reducing cycle time, and eliminating waste – the SWCOE conducts lean assessments of software development projects using the Honeywell Velocity Product Development™ (VPD™) method. This presentation will discuss the VPD™ assessment method and resulting improvement projects, the application of iterative development methods to this globally-distributed development project, and the results.

Outline:

  • Introduction
    • SWCOE in Honeywell Aerospace
    • Honeywell and Six Sigma and Lean: VPD™
  • Honeywell VPD™
    • Case for Change
    • Assessment Methods
      • CMMI
      • VPD™
      • Selected Approach
    • Baseline process and tools
      • Current State : Value Stream Mapping
      • Undesirable Observations
      • Lean C&E Matrix
      • Reality Tree
      • Leverage Points
      • Future State
      • Results: Improvement Projects
  • The Iterative Development Project
    • Background
    • Planned Approach
    • Iteration Value Stream
    • Iteration Planning
    • Actual Iteration Performance
    • Iteration Evaluation
    • Summary

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss a methodology for applying lean principles to product development.
  • Demonstrate the lean product development methodology in an application to a software project.
  • Demonstrate an application of Rational Unified Process and its quantitative results.
  • Demonstrate simple metrics for measuring project success.
  • Describe an approach for planning and evaluating iterations between globally-distributed sites

Biography:

Jerry Berntsen holds Honeywell Six Sigma certifications for both Black Belt and Lean Expert. He has worked in the field of software development for 25 years. In the last five years he has been applying Six Sigma to software development. Jerry used the project described in this presentation to obtain his lean certification.