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[Download PDF here!]
Authors: Barry Boehm and Alexander
Egyed
Managed and optimized - these are the names
for the levels 4 and 5 of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
respectively. With that the Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
pays tribute to the fact that, after the process has been defined,
higher process maturity, and with that higher product maturity, can
only be achieved by improving and optimizing the life-cycle process
itself.
In the last three years, we had had the
opportunity to observe more than 50 software development teams in
planning, specifying and building library related, real-world
applications. This environment provided us with a unique way of
introducing, validating and improving the life cycle process with
new principles such as the WinWin approach to software development.
This paper summarizes the lessons we have
learned in our ongoing endeavor to integrate the WinWin life-cycle
process. In doing so, we will not only describe what techniques have
proven to be useful in getting the developer’s task done but the
reader will also get some insight on how to tackle process
improvement itself. As more and more companies are reaching CMM
levels two or higher this task, of managing and optimizing the
process, becomes increasingly important. |