Making Process Improvement Work: A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners [Paperback]

Neil S. Potter (Author), Mary E. Sakry (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201775778 | ISBN-13: 978-0201775778 | Publication Date: April 4, 2002 | Edition: 1

Every development organization can benefit by paying attention to process improvement, yet all too many "process improvement initiatives" fail to deliver on their promises. In this concise book, two of the field's leading consultants present easy-to-apply techniques for achieving rapid and quantifiable benefits -- and then maintaining your momentum to deliver even greater value over time. Drawing on their experience with more than 3,000 developers and 100 organizations, Neil S. Potter and Mary E. Sakry show you exactly what works -- and what doesn't work. Next, they present a step-by-step guide to identifying your best opportunities for process improvement, deploying changes effectively, and tracking your progress. The book also includes a detailed example plan document designed to help you jumpstart your process improvement initiative. Making Process Improvement Work includes a foreword by noted software process expert Karl Wiegers. For all developers, project and IT managers, and clients seeking to maximize the effectiveness of the software development process and the value of the software it delivers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

“This book hits the mark for three important issues:

How to keep focused on real improvements

How to develop an implementable improvement plan

How to develop meaningful and useful measurements

I will definitely recommend it to my clients who are just beginning or are having trouble with their improvement program.”
—Norman Hammock, SEI Authorized Lead Assessor

“At last a common sense and business-oriented approach to process improvement. This book gives very practical instruction that is easy to apply. Your people will thank you for it.”
—Nancy K. M. Rees, Vice President and Chief Engineer, Xerox Corporation

“...gets right to the heart of process improvement with specific, concrete steps and excellent examples. It’s a book you can use today.”
—Dennis J. Frailey, Principal Fellow, Raytheon Company

“Too many organizations develop a checklist mentality targeted at achieving the next process maturity level or passing an audit...Neil and Mary remind us to focus on pragmatic mechanisms for achieving superior business results...”
—Karl Wiegers, Principal Consultant, Process Impact

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 CMMI^SM, 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.

0201775778B02262002

About the Author

Neil Potter is a co-founder of The Process Group, a company that consults in software engineering process improvement. He has been working in software development, software engineering, and process and project management since 1985. He is an SEI-authorized Lead Assessor.

Mary Sakry is a co-founder of The Process Group, a company that consults in software engineering process improvement. She has been working in software development, software engineering, and process and project management since 1976. She is an SEI-authorized Lead Assessor.

0201775778AB02262002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (April 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201775778
• ISBN-13: 978-0201775778
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The Process Group, formed in 1990 by Neil Potter and Mary Sakry consults worldwide on process improvement, CMMI (development and services), software engineering and project management.

Neil and Mary are SEI CMMI High-Maturity certified lead appraisers and instructors, Certified Scrum Masters (Agile) and the authors of Making Process Improvement Work - A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners, Addison-Wesley, 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UN-common sense strategies, April 5, 2002

By 

Huet C. Landry "Huet" (Chantilly, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Process Improvement Work: A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners (Paperback)

This is one of those books that you'd think would be common sense knowledge, but isnt. I've been working in process improvement for 22 years and this is the first book I've found that collects all of the strategies I've found successful in one place!

The book starts by showing how easy it is to get "lost in the trees" (and kill a bunch of them in the process) if you try to "do CMM" like most people do the first time around. The authors do a great job of showing how to keep the main thing (delivering better quality software) the main thing and avoid creating mountains of useless documentation.

I would recommend that anyone looking at achieving higher levels of maturity in CMM, SPICE, or ISO 9000 read this and take a reality check on their plans.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tells you how to "just do it", November 14, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Making Process Improvement Work: A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners (Paperback)

The development of quality software has proven to be one of the most difficult tasks ever to arise in the brains of humans. With so many ways to fail and so few paths to success, there is not a single software shop without a great deal of room for improvement. However, determining that a shop needs to improve is about as difficult as hitting the ground if you slip on ice. The hard part is identifying where the changes should be made and making sure that real change is done rather than some simple shuffling of resources or pointless changing of names.
That point is where this book becomes valuable. It is a concise document, describing in broad, but not excruciatingly fine detail how to improve processes for managing the construction of software. The names of the chapters summarize the basics of any well-constructed process: developing a plan, implementing the plan and checking progress. It also gives you sound advice as to how to track the changes in the process, so important to convince those doing the changing that what you are doing is in their interest.
I recommend that all managers of software development projects examine this book. It will also show you how to stay on track, as it is all too easy to find excuses to significantly deviate from any plan.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pragmatic Process Improvement!, April 3, 2002

By 

"rschravendijk" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Process Improvement Work: A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners (Paperback)

The numerous examples, cases, graphs, and templates give the reader the tools to start the improvements in his or her own organization. Furthermore, the book is fun and easy to read. To me and my colleagues, it'll be very useful!