Customer Reviews

Six Sigma Software Development, Second Edition

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This book is almost all text. It merely describes six sigma on a very high level; it but never shows you how to apply six sigma methods to software. It has no specific "how" examples. Rather, it has elementary tips on software engineering that any software engineer who's been in the field already knows about. It is too high level. It's a very disappointing book. I do not recommend this book even to begineers in software engineering.

I am really disappointed with this book. The examples in the book are rarely software examples. I would recommend reading articles off http://software.isixsigma.com

While Sigma Six Software development is an interesting book, very little of the book has anything to do with software development. Most of the commentary and examples in the book are about Manufacturing, not about Software development. While the book does have value, it is mostly a decent overview of Sigma Six in general. If it is your goal to learn about Sigma Six in general, there are literally hundreds of generalist Sigma Six books in the marketplace. Hopefully, someone, someday will write a good book on Sigma Six that focuses on software. Unfortunately, the cover and title of this book does not reflect its contents.

There are a number of books about measuring the software process or employing applied statistics in the software engineering environment, but this is the first one that solely addresses 6-Sigma as it applies to software development.

What I like is that, unlike other 6-sigma books that address manufacturing or business processes, this one does not come across as evangelistic or prescriptive. Instead Ms. Tayntor explains what 6-sigma is and how it can be effectively applied to software development. The first two chapters thoroughly cover the basics and benefits of 6-Sigma to provide a foundation for the rest of the book. My only complaint about the opening chapters is they cover the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) framework, which assumes that processes exist, but need to be improved. In my opinion, since this book is introducing 6-Sigma the focus should have been on DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify). However, this is a fine point and does not substantially detract from this excellent book.

After laying the foundation, the book then covers how 6-Sigma applies to different development life cycle approaches (waterfall, rapid development, prototyping, etc.), and also how it applies to legacy operations. I especially liked the latter because she addresses change control, maintenance and support functions - important, but often overlooked topics. The book also discusses topics outside of the normal realm of software development, such as packaged software, outsourcing, and IT operations. In addition, the appendices are especially valuable because they cover how to map functional processes, conduct a failure mode and effects analysis, and rank priorities.

This book is an important resource to the software engineering community, and is especially valuable to CMM level 4 and 5 organizations. Most importantly, it brings techniques that have been amply proven in the manufacturing and service sectors to software engineering and shows how they can be realistically applied.

I was really excited to find a book merging Six Sigma and Software Development, but after reading the book, I still have no idea "how" I would implement the methodology. Tayntor clearly understands the Six Sigma theory and practice, but fails to convice me of its relevance to system development life cycle (SDLC) models.

In the book, we learn the Six Sigma methodology, consisting of the steps "Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control," works well for certain business models. The main goal of Six Sigma is to satisfy the "voice of the customer" or VOC. The VOC describes the needs or requirements of the customer. To ensure that outputs meet the customers' requirements, you must identify, quantify, and control the critical process inputs called X's. This control over the Xs reduces variation in the outcomes (or Y's).

For software developers, using Six Sigma to fully understand the Voice of Customer (VOC), means substantial savings and better overall product quality. Most costs overruns in software development are the result of poorly defined requirements. With Six Sigma and SDLC, the problem is implementation. We are not counting widgets, but discussing abstract intellectual processes. This a hard thing to quantify. I can count errors and I can reduce errors, but is bug free code necessarily good code?

Jeannine Siviy said it best when she described Six Sigma methods in manufacturing as "mature", but applications in software development are still "emerging".

If you are really trying to implement Six Sigma, I would recommend, Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck.

Tayntor does an excellent job of laying a foundation for Six Sigma understanding, and of mapping that foundation to applications across the traditional SDLC lifecycle. The first third of the book is devoted to a general explanation of the Six Sigma DMAIC process and its related tools. Newcomers to Six Sigma will find these opening chapters helpful to gain an understanding of Six Sigma improvement. The middle third of this book is devoted to a phase by phase overview of Six Sigma tool applications in the traditional development lifecycle. The final third offers insights into less traditonal lifecycles, project types, and organizational change models. Tayntor writes to the novice audience, and deals with lifecycle issues more than technical issues. Readers from less mature organizations, often relying on traditional lifecycle models, will directly adapt and use her materials. More mature audiences will readily adapt her traditional phase mapping to the higher level challenges faced by organizations adopting non-traditional process and software engineering disciplines. Six Sigma Software Development belongs on every information systems bookself.

Well written - easy to understand some very powerful concepts - definitely a great first read if you are interested in how to apply Six Sigma to software or any other business application.

Finally! A book on Six Sigma especially tailored to software developers--something that's been sorely lacking. And it's a good one. Very comprehensive and well written.