CS 446 Fall Quarter 1995-1996 Notes 13
Taken by Gio Wiederhold
Experimental Seminar on Large Scale Software Construction.
Wednesday, 8 Nov.
Larrry Druffel Software Engineering Institute, CMU, Pittsburgh PA
(ld@sei.cmu.edu)
Capability Maturity Model (20% of SEI's effort)
Derived from general quality concerns as expressed by Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM). CMM is normally a 3-day course. A `Process Management Premise' as the basis for quality is accepted in manufacturing, but not well accepted in practice. Process brings people, procedures, methods, equipment together to produce a desired end result.
Levels are
1. Initial= unpredictable and poorly controlled= a bunch of people together.with heroes. Estimates based on hope.
2. Repeatable= can repeat previously mastered tasks. Mangement must walk the talk. Put requirements under version control. Trouble report handling. Software configuration.
3. Defined process= characterized and well understood. Difficult level to reach. Typically needs a restart. Means identify the inputs, how inputs affect the process, an their readiness criteria. Organization has adopteda process focus, there is training program, intergroup coordination, have peeer reviews.
4. Managed= process mastered and controlled. Quantitative process management, {defect removal, time to repair, new errors per repair (cause of 80% of errors)....}
5. Optimizing= focus on process improvement. Use the metrics to improve the product. Defect prevention. Technology and process change management.
Applies also to software aquisition.
Assessments by industry --> self-improvement
Evaluation by government --> select contractors
Is the effort worthwhile:
Hughes: 50% fewer cost overruns, leads to 5x RoI or 2m/year
Raytheon: 1990 cost of non-conformance, 7.7 x RoI.
18 key process areas, limited to accepted practice, not just cute ideas..
{As ..., Configuration management, ..., Metrics, ... )
soon #19 : Risk management.
Each area has Goals {Institutionalization (Organizational committment, Ability to perform), Features (Measurement and analysis, Verification) ) --* activties. Level improvement may go araea by area. Hard to start out hugh, but Motorola India achieved level 5 in 18 months.
Quote from Eberhard Gretchen, USC, ex Aerospace Corp., on spacecraft development:
Next gepneration software people may be at the center and become managers.
Methods and tools can exist for each area and level. They may not scale over levels. But tools themselves are not enough, and tools will also be misused or remain unused without a process in place.
Does it stiffle innovation? No, less worry about the dumb stuff.
Effort to upgrade level requires mangement training, establishment of a core group, a committed leader. Motivation is demonstated results and publications.
[USC: Michael Cuzomano; Microsoft history, how microsoft got to level 2 ... book]
What works for Microsoft is hard to recommend for sane people.
Future profession of real SW engineers will have to differ.
Shrink wrap SW is developed differently, and debugged by users. How long will that acceptable?
ISO 9001.3 software supplement standard allows certification without much verification currently.. relationship .