Elements of Software Process Assessment & Improvement (Practitioners) [Paperback]

Khaled El Emam (Editor), Nazim H. Madhavji (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0818685239 | ISBN-13: 978-0818685231 | Edition: 1

Elements of Software Process Assessment and Improvement reviews current assessment practices, experiences, and new research trends in software process improvement. The newly revised chapters are expanded from articles that appeared in SPN, The Software Process Newsletter of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Software Engineering (TCSE).

This book describes in detail the process improvement cycle, including diagnosing an organization, establishing a business case, changing elements within a process, and evaluating the impact of these changes. These elements are divided into four parts providing a comprehensive view of the software process improvement field. The first part describes contemporary models that are used to evaluate an organization's processes and capabilities. The next covers the business case for assessment and improvement by providing ample evidence that demonstrates possible improvements as well as evidence of assessment reliability. Part three provides application guidance covering critical success factors including tools and techniques. The final portion covers important and exciting developments that enhance process improvement tools and the reader's understanding of organizational processes in practice.

These four elements answer the needs of individuals involved in software process improvement as well as those involved in basic and applied research. Elements of Software Process Assessment and Improvement is an invaluable source of practical information for software process professionals.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Elements of Software Process Assessment and Improvement reviews current assessment practices, experiences, and new research trends in software process improvement. Revised chapters expanded from articles in The Software Process Newsletter of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Council on Software Engineering, describe the improvement cycle in detail: from diagnosing an organization, establishing a business case, and changing elements within a process to final evaluation.

This book's thorough examination of contemporary models evaluates an organization's processes and capabilities, covers the business argument for assessment and improvement, and illustrates expected improvements and assessment reliability methods. Additional information includes application guidelines covering critical success factors including tools and techniques and important developments that enhance the reader's understanding of organizational processes in practice.

About the Author

Khaled El Emam is currently Research Associate, Software Engineering at the National Research Council, Canada. He was previously the head of the Quantitative Methods Group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering in Germany. Dr. El Emam is also the editor of the IEEE TCSE Software Process Newsletter, the current International Trials Coordinator for the SPICE Trials (which is empirically evaluating the emerging ISO/IEC 15504 International Standard world-wide), and co-editor of the ISO's project to develop an international standard defining the software measurement process. Previously, he worked in both small and large software research and development projects for organizations such as Toshiba International Company, Yokogawa Electric, and Honeywell Control Systems. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, King's College, the University of London (UK) in 1994. He was previously a Research Scientist at the Centre de recherche informatique de Montreal (CRIM) in Canada.

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr; 1 edition (May 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0818685239
• ISBN-13: 978-0818685231
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,834,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but dated, November 26, 2004

By 

Han van Loon (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elements of Software Process Assessment & Improvement (Practitioners) (Paperback)

Khaled's book provided some good information when it was published but is now outdated as ISO 15504 (called SPICE in the book) has been extensively updated. Two new books on the topic area have recently been published through Springer: Process Assessment and ISO/IEC 15504 - A Reference Book, and Process Assessment and Improvement - A practical guide for managers, quality professionals and assessors. I would recommend readers to look to these books as providing the latest information and real practical implementation guidance.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for SQA and SPI professionals, September 30, 2001

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elements of Software Process Assessment & Improvement (Practitioners) (Paperback)

This 4-part collection of essays is just what the title proclaims: elements of software process assessment and/or improvement. While the book is organized by subject area (1-common models in use, 2-the business case for SPI, 3-guidance and 4-new developments), the book does purport to be a guide for performing/passing assessments or effecting process improvement. However, the real value of the essays is the wide range of topics that are addressed. While you will probably not find all of them useful for a specific model or approach, you will almost certainly find many to be applicable to a strategy for process assessments or improvement.

Part 1, Models, covers the CMM, software product procurement risk management, SPICE, Bootstrap, ISO 9001 and the P-CMM. This part ends with a chapter that provide an approach and generic steps and guidelines for software process improvement.

Because I have a strong interest in business case development, Part 2 is my favorite section of the book, and one from which all readers will benefit regardless of the model they are currently using or considering. Chapter titles are: The Economics of Software Process Improvements, The Payoff for Software Process Improvement and Empirical Studies of Software Process Assessment Methods. This is excellent foundation material for making the business case and/or determining the ROI of a particular model or improvement strategy.

Part 3 offers excellent insights into the trials and tribulations of assessments. Chapters here are Essence and Accidents in SEI-Style Assessments (this is by a favorite author, Ken Dymond who has written probably the best book on CMM I've read), Tailoring the CMM for Small Businesses, Small Organizations, and Small Projects (proving that CMM is within the reach of small organizations as well as large ones), Starting the Climb Towards the CMM Level 2 Plateau (that first step is the hardest), The Role of Design Analysis in Process Improvement, Action Planning. Part 4, New Developments, contains two excellent papers titled Modeling Software Processes Quantitatively and Evaluating the Performance of Process Alternatives, and Metrics and Laws of Software Evolution.

Overall, this is an invaluable resource to organizations pursuing software process improvement within the framework of one of the common models, as well as SPI and SQA professionals who want to broaden their knowledge.