Configuration Management And Professional Opinion
This article reports on action research undertaken to understand and to improve the problems with software processes of a medium-sized Danish company. It is argued that, in order to understand what the specific problems are, one may, on the one hand, rely on normative process models like CMM or Bootstrap. On the other hand, one may also see the specific and unique features of software processes in a company through problem diagnosis. Problem diagnosis deals with eliciting problems perceived by software professionals and with forming commitment to enable software process improvement to effectively take place. A central purpose of problem diagnosis is to base the SPI project on the software developers' own perceptions of software process problems and suggestions for improvement rather than on the prescriptions and norms of a maturity model.
Configuration Management Software process improvement is an organizational change process, which introduces new and improved methods, techniques, and tools, as well as changes to work organization, attitudes, and work and management practices at all levels of a software producing organization. To be successful, SPI requires deep insights and understanding of an organization's software processes in order to identify problems and to define and implement an improvement strategy. Studies of industrial SPI projects also highlight the importance of commitment between management and developers for successful SPI.
SPI projects usually rely on well-known models of software process maturity such as the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and Bootstrap. Such normative models help guide the assessment of current practices and the identification and prioritization of improvement initiatives. Critics, however, also claim that the models offer a too rigid and limited view of software production and of the variety and complexities of software producing organizations Alternative or complementary approaches are therefore studied.
This article reports from the development and implementation of an alternative approach to assessments called "problem diagnosis." Problem diagnosis aims to identify process problems as perceived by powerful organizational actors - project managers in the present case and to plan and implement an improvement strategy in close collaboration with these actors.
The research is part of a large research project involving four Danish software companies, two universities, and a consultancy firm. In each firm, an SPI group has been established to be responsible for SPI in the company. The SPI group meets regularly, with a small group of four to five researchers and consultants, to discuss progress and plans for the SPI project. Between these meetings, the researchers and consultants work with smaller groups from the company to improve specific aspects of the software process. The project runs for three years from 2004 to 2006.
|