Process Improvement Cycle Services

Systematic process improvement follows a series of steps. It carries an organization from an awareness of the need for improvement through implementation of a set of improvements. Once completed, the steps are repeated in a cycle of continuous process improvement.

Davis Systems provides guidance and support through the entire cycle.

Awareness of the Need for Process Improvement

Improvement starts with a general awareness of the need for change. The awareness provides the motivation to put forth the necessary effort for improvement.

Davis Systems' role:

• provide guidance and information to help recognize the need for software process improvement in your organization.
• brief planners and executives to help determine if action is called for.

Senior Management Understanding and Commitment

Improvement requires investment and involves cultural change. Its success is therefore dependent on the commitment of the senior executives. It is important that top managers understand what will be required at the outset to ensure their support throughout the improvement cycle.

Davis Systems' role:

• Help build initial awareness, skills, and knowledge to start software process improvement
  • Help communicate the importance and value of process improvement.
  • Provide presentations to management and process champions on topics such as:
    • Software Process Maturity Overview
    • Software Process Improvement Guidelines Overview
    • Managing Technological Change
    • Planning a Software Process Improvement Program
• Help determine business or program objectives of the improvement program
  • Facilitate goal setting with management to help set realistic goals in the context of the organization.
  • Help develop written goals for the program.
• Help determine readiness to proceed
• Help establish initial improvement infrastructure
  • Help develop a management steering group to establish goals, authorize resources, and oversee the software process improvement effort
  • Help define process improvement resources, roles, and responsibilities.
  • Help develop mechanisms for reporting improvement progress to management and the organization.

Assessment of the Current Process

Assessment looks at the current practice to determine the needed improvements. It is also an effective way of promoting interest and involvement in the improvement effort.

Davis Systems' role: Lead the performance of an appropriate process assessment:

• Micro-assessment
  • A small, quick evaluation of process status.
  • Conducted by one or two Davis Systems process specialists.
  • Can examine the overall process or one focused area of concern (such as configuration management).
• Mini-assessment
  • A fairly simple means of identifying process strengths and weaknesses.
  • Does not provide the same degree of detail and accuracy as a full-scale assessment, but is quicker, less costly, and very useful for tracking progress between full-scale assessments.
• CMU Software Engineering Institute CMM-Based Appraisal for Internal Process Improvement (CBA-IPI): thoroughly identifies process strengths and weaknesses

Action Planning

The next step is to plan actions to be taken on the findings and recommendations from the assessment.

Davis Systems' role:

• Train action agents on planning and implementing process improvement.
• Guide the development or refinement of a strategic action plan that specifies the goals and strategy for achieving software process improvement.
• Help focus on the highest priority improvement issues brought forth in the assessment phase.
• Help plan how to achieve the needed improvements identified in the assessment phase.
• Help refine the process improvement infrastructure and resource requirements.
• Develop guidelines for technical working group (also known as process action team) membership and provide guidance in attaining their goals and objectives.
• Guide the development of working group charters.
• Help establish, train, and develop teams to address the key issues.
• Guide the development of tactical action plans for specific process changes.

Implementation of Changes

Implementation typically involves process and tool definition, selection, development, integration, piloting, packaging, and training. Most of the implementation effort is centered around the technical working groups. Typical outputs of the working groups are policies, overviews, procedures, standards, and training for new or improved processes. Pilot projects are used to try out and refine changes before spreading them throughout the organization.

Davis Systems' role:

• Help develop or review technical working group products.
• Help document current processes.
• Assist with modeling new processes.
• Help develop process metrics to determine effectiveness of processes.
• Help identify pilot programs and a strategy for executing new processes.
• Guide the implementation of pilot projects.
• Help monitor and evaluate results from pilot projects to determine process effectiveness.
• Assist with propagating successful processes throughout the organization.
• Review the results of new processes, help capture lessons learned, and provide guidance on ways to improve.
• Review the entire process improvement program to help determine its effectiveness, overall value to the organization, and goals for the future.

For More Information

Contact Darryl Davis by phone at (412) 683-1921 or by e-mail at DDavis@DavisSys.com.

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