Application of Statistical and Other Quantitative Techniques in Software

Application of Statistical and Other Quantitative Techniques in Software

The February 2023 tech talk was presented by Stephen Shook

Abstract

The CMMI has long emphasized use of “statistical and other quantitative techniques” as a best practice for software work. Many organizations struggle with how to apply those techniques. (The ISHPI AIS Division did, too.) What techniques should we use? What business problems will these help us to solve? And, most importantly, what really adds value? This presentation provides a survey of the techniques that we use, and how we use them. Examples include linear regression, prediction intervals, control charts, histograms, and tests for statistical significance. ISHPI will discuss how they apply “quantitative and statistical techniques” in their software work, along with the underlying data and examples from individuals, project teams, and the overall organization.

About the Presenter 

Stephen Shook, ISHPI’s Vice President of Software Engineering and Quality, brings more than 25 years of experience in senior management, business development, development management, project management, software engineering, and implementation of Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI®). He is one of the principal architects of ISHPI’s award-winning Agile High Velocity Development℠ software development methodology, which is appraised at CMMI Development Maturity Level 5. As an experienced instructor, coach, consultant, and subject matter expert, he leads and mentors software teams to achieve exceptional cost, schedule, and quality performance in order to achieve customer business goals. Stephen has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Illinois.

NAVAIR Process Dashboard Introduction Workshop

NAVAIR Process Dashboard Introduction Workshop

Abstract:

NAVAIR has hundreds of engineers/professionals using Team Software Process (TSP) or Team Integration Process (TPI) methodologies to plan and track their projects. NAVAIR teams following TSP/TPI use the Process Dashboard tool to implement the methodologies. This workshop is given by the Performance Resource Team (PRT) to introduce individuals to the Process Dashboard tool and to give them ‘hands-on’ experience in various features of the tool. Downloads are provided to allow workshop participants to exercise the features first-hand. Here are the topics covered in this workshop:

  • Process Dashboard Fundamentals: The objective of this topic is to understand how to use the primary features of the Process Dashboard tool when working on a TPI project. These features include:
    • Selecting the active task
    • Logging time
    • Logging mistakes
    • Completing a task
    • Logging actual sizes
    • Tracking your progress against your plan
  • Personal Projects: The objective of this topic is to demonstrate Process Dashboard changes to support the creation of personal projects (a.k.a. ‘Armies of One’)
  • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Editor Fundamentals: The objective of this topic is to demonstrate how to use the primary features of the Process Dashboard’s WBS Editor to generate a project plan. WBS Editor features discussed include:
    • Relative sizing of work using Proxy Estimation Tables
    • Task generation using workflows
    • Load-leveling individual plans using Team Time Balancing Panel
  • Using PROBE with Process Dashboard: The objective of this topic is to provide an introduction to the Proxy-Based Estimating (PROBE) process, and to illustrate its use within the Process Dashboard.

About the Presenter 

Brad Hodgins is a computer scientist and has been supporting Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for 36 years. He has over 20 years’ experience developing simulation and avionics software. He has spent the last 16 years as a project planning and tracking coach and instructor for the Performance Resource Team (PRT), actively coaching project teams in the development of high-quality products for on-time, on-budget delivery to the fleet.

Brad has expertise and a national reputation in process improvement. During his time with the PRT, Brad gave over two dozen presentations at symposiums and conferences, and authored/co-authored half a dozen published articles and papers, all sharing the great things NAVAIR has been doing. Brad was given a Navy patent in 2008 for the Learning Applying Mastering Perfecting (LAMP) model for team process implementation evaluation and improvement. He was awarded the Michelson Laboratory Award in 2010, and he became a NAVAIR Associate Fellow in 2013. Brad earned a Doctorate in Computer Science from Colorado Technical University in 2015. He retired from government service in 2019, but continues to support NAVAIR as an employee of Saalex Solutions Inc.

Brad is a Taurus and likes surfing (just kidding about the surfing).

Team Process Integration: Half-Day Course

Team Process Integration: Half-Day Course

Abstract:

This half-day course covers all aspects of the Team Process Integration (TPI) framework. The TPI methodology integrates disciplined project practices that can be applied by many product teams (e.g., software, systems, and test). It is a framework that provides fundamental engineering processes for the following areas: planning, tracking, quality, measurement and metrics, as well as communicating team status. The TPI method is used at the project level and is applied by individual members of a team to guide daily work.      

This course includes the following topics (each individually available on YouTube):

About the Presenters

Dr. Brad Hodgins is a computer scientist and has been supporting Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for 36 years. He has over 20 years of experience in developing simulation and avionics software. He has spent the last 16 years as a project planning and tracking coach and instructor for the Performance Resource Team (PRT), actively coaching project teams in the development of high-quality products for on-time, on-budget delivery to the fleet.

Brad views the SEA as an incredible venue to share best practices for planning and tracking software projects and to brainstorm solutions to problems currently affecting the Software Community. He is currently serving as the SEA Membership Coordinator and a member of the SEA Executive Team; he is also a member of the Next-Gen Tooling standing committee.

Jeff Schwalb is a computer scientist and has been supporting Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) since 1984. He has over 20 years of experience developing and acquiring real-time embedded software systems for avionics, weapons, and range instrumentation systems. He also began collaborating with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), learning and applying CMM key practices, becoming a certified Personal Software Process℠ (PSP℠) instructor and then a certified Team Software Process℠ (TSP℠) coach. Over the last 25 years, he has taught and consulted with hundreds of scientists and engineers in various forms of personal engineering processes and has coached dozens of projects in the launch and operations of team project planning and tracking.

In 2017, Jeff connected with the SEI on the establishment of the organization we know today as the Software Excellence Alliance (SEA). Today, Jeff continues to work within the SEA to identify and establish pragmatic, value-added solutions to problems currently affecting the software community. He is currently serving as a member of the SEA Executive Team and as a supporting member of SEA working groups in areas such as Membership, Agile Community Networking, and Knowledge Transfer.

David Saint-Amand is a Performance improvement coach with the Process Resource Team of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).  His previous positions include DCS Corporation Section Manager, Naval Operations Research Analyst, Engineering Geologist, and Seismic Safety Consultant.

He holds a B.A. in Geology from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a secondary emphasis in Computer Science.  He is a Defense Acquisition University Certified Level III Life Cycle Logistician, a Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Certified Personal Software Process (PSP) Developer, an SEI-Authorized PSP Instructor, and a NAVAIR Internal Team Software Process Coach.

Kristianne Aberer has been working for the Performance Resource Team (PRT) of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) as a Performance Improvement Coach for the past 3 years. She has helped multiple engineering project teams to plan and track their work so they could deliver high-quality products on cost and on schedule while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. Her previous positions include Electronics Design Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, and Stay-At-Home-Parent. Kristianne holds a B.S. in Mechatronic Engineering from California State University, Chico. Kristianne grew up being very involved in youth sports and had many wonderful coaches. She enjoys paying it forward by coaching youth soccer teams, teaching physical education at a small Montessori school, and coaching elementary students in track and field. 

The End of a Myth, Programmer Productivity

The End of a Myth, Programmer Productivity

The September 2020 Tech Talk was presented by Dr. Bill Nichols

Abstract:

One often-quoted truism in software engineering is that good programmers are “much much better” than bad programmers. The size of “much much better” is widely debated, but ranges such as 10 times more productive are often cited as conservative estimates. This presentation argues that such statements are misleading and miss numerous important effects. Based on the studies described, it would appear that some programmers are not inherently exceedingly better than others, but they are often somewhat better or worse than themselves.

About the Presenter 

Dr. Bill Nichols is a senior member of the technical staff in the Software Solutions Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He has more than 30 years of technical and management experience in the software engineering industry. His current work focuses on software process measurement, project management, quality, security, and improving development team performance. Dr. Nichols is a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of ACM.

During his tenure at the SEI, Dr. Nichols has worked with the Team Software Process (TSP) Initiative and Software Measurement and Analysis. He has co-authored several TSP publications, including the PSP and TSP Bodies of Knowledge and the TSP Coach Mentoring Program Guidebook. Recent work includes software metrics and software security metrics, including the government’s guide to using security tools in software development.

Prior to joining the SEI, Dr. Nichols earned a doctorate in physics from Carnegie Mellon University after completing graduate work in particle physics. He later led a software development team at the Bettis Laboratory near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he developed and maintained nuclear engineering and scientific software for 14 years.

While working in physics and nuclear engineering, he contributed to technical articles appearing in Nuclear Instruments and Methods, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, and Physics Review Letters. Since Joining the SEI, he has published articles on software metrics, process, and quality in IEEE Software, Software Quality Professional, Transactions on Software Engineering, and the Journal of Empirical Software Engineering.