Quality | Software Excellence Alliance

Software Excellence through the Agile High Velocity Development℠ Process

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The August 2023 tech talk was presented by Steve Shook and Barti Perini

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Abstract

The Advanced Information Services Division of Ishpi Information Technologies, Inc. (DBA ISHPI) performs all aspects of the software development lifecycle using its High Velocity Development℠ (HVD) process. We have studied many methods and frameworks (including Personal Software Process, Team Software Process, CMMI for Development, Scrum, Kanban, CMMI for Services, ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 20000-1 (Information Technology Service Management), ISO 27001 (Information Security Management Systems), Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, and more), adapted them, combined them, and made them our own. The result is an innovative, cohesive process that works for us—our agile HVD process. We have shown that diverse inputs need not be contradictory choices, but instead complementary building blocks. By evolving, implementing, and utilizing the HVD practices, AIS Division teams have achieved significant improvement in productivity and performance. ISHPI’s customers have benefited from shorter schedules, lower costs for development due to minimal rework costs, lower costs for maintenance, and an overall positive experience during each project.

About the Presenter

Stephen Shook, ISHPI’s Vice President of Software Engineering & Quality, brings more than 25 years of experience in senior management, business development, development management, project management, software engineering, and implementing 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.

Barti Perini, ISHPI’s Vice President of Software Process Improvement, brings over 25 years of experience in software engineering, software development process improvement, project management, and Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI®) and ISO implementation. She leads ISHPI’s Software Engineering Process group, Configuration Management group, and the Quality Assurance group, working with senior management, software development managers, project managers, and engineers to initiate, define, track, evaluate, and implement new methods and technologies to continuously optimize the software engineering capability of the organization (currently appraised at CMMI Development Maturity Level (ML) 5 and CMMI Services ML 3). Barti holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute. Barti has a Master of Science in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Technology in Industrial Electronics from Mysore University, India and a Bachelor of Engineering in Power Electronics from Nagpur University, India.

The Real Cost of Bad Software Quality in the U.S. in 2022

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The July 2023 tech talk was presented by Herb Krasner

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Abstract

This presentation will introduce The Cost of Poor Software Quality in the US: A 2022 Report, published in December 2022 by CISQ. We highlight the rapidly growing costs of cybersecurity failures and software technical debt. The trends and enablers of these growing costs are discussed.

CISQ’s 2020 report estimated that poor software quality cost the United States economy over $2 trillion in 2020 due to operational software failures, poor quality legacy systems, and unsuccessful projects. Compared to the country’s projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $20.66 trillion, or the $1.4 trillion spent on employing IT/software professionals in 2020, it represents a staggering amount of wasted resources. This talk will share the updated results from 2022.

Author, Herb Krasner, will introduce the important findings in the report, which is full of facts, figures, case histories, references, and specific recommendations for how and where to find these burdensome costs and how to prevent or avoid them.

About the Presenter

Herb Krasner

Since early 2017, Herb has had the luxury of getting involved in whatever sparks his interest or is stimulated by his professional expertise/contacts. This led to his publication of the Cost of Poor-Quality Software in the US: A 2018 report, widely read and cited on the internet. This report has since stimulated podcasts, blogs, webinars, and other related opportunities.

In 2017, Herb retired from his 18-year position as Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), where he taught undergraduate and graduate classes in software engineering, database engineering, agile methods, and software quality and process improvement. He also performed and supervised research in the science of software design, the economics of software engineering, and software quality/process improvement.

As a research scientist, he is well known for his leading-edge work on modeling the cost/benefits of software quality and reporting the ROI data for software process improvement programs, as well as the reported results from his groundbreaking empirical studies of professional programmers performed at MCC. He has published over 55 papers, articles, and book sections, and has spoken at many professional conferences and meetings. As founder, Chairman, and former Director of the Software Quality Institute (SQI) at the University of Texas, he was largely responsible for creating and shaping the software engineering educational outreach organization into a successful business entity.

Herb currently serves on the Missouri S&T Computer Science Department’s Academy of Computer Science. and is an Advisory Board Member for the Consortium for IT Software Quality He is active in both the ACM and IEEE Computer Society, and served as past chairman of several international conferences, as well as Director of the ACM Scholastic Student Programming Contest. He was a book series editor for the IEEE Computer Society Press and a member of their Publications Board. His professional awards include the ACM Distinguished Service Award and ASQ Golden Quill Award.

Personal Reviews: How Fencing Helped Me Write Better Software

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The May 2023 tech talk was presented by Dr. Bradley Hodgins

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Abstract

NAVAIR has hundreds of engineers/professionals using Team Software Process (TSP) and Team Process Integration (TPI) methodologies to plan and track their projects. One especially valuable activity in TSP/TPI is the “Personal Review,” where an individual looks for mistakes in a product they have just produced (e.g., design document, source code, engineering drawing) before continuing on with their development process. Personal reviews are effective in any domain where mistakes come with a high cost – like in fencing. This presentation explains how to perform personal reviews, and outlines other activities an individual must do before they can execute an effective personal review, such as logging defects and creating a review checklist. We will also discuss fencing.

About the Presenter

Dr. Bradley Hodgins

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 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

Learning Materials, Past Presentation

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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.

Rules and Submissions for the Watts Humphrey Process Achievement Award

Past Presentation

The August 2022 tech talk was presented by Isabel Margarido.

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Abstract

Watts Humphrey was a practitioner and advocate of Software Engineering good practices, also known as the “Father of Software Quality”. His work “laid ground for” CMM, CMMI and he proved the entire practices through PSP and TSP. In this talk, I will give an overview of the IEEE Computer Society/SEI Watts S. Humphrey Software Process Achievement Award, along with the criteria for you, your workgroup, or your company to submit an application for this award in 2023. Since the submission and selection criteria are rigorous, the application process for people who implement process improvements that are a great benefit to others (their department, other business areas or companies) does require preparation and data gathering. As a member of the voting committee, my intent in this presentation is to help you to better understand the award nomination procedures and to entice you to apply or to nominate people/groups of people that you know are eligible to win this year’s award. Last but not least, I will also present a previous award winner to give you a better picture.

About the Presenter

Isabel Margarido

Isabel Margarido has over 20 years of experience in systems engineering. Since April, she is Key Account Manager at Capgemini Engineering, where she is responsible for many accounts, including one with representation in 190 countries and is in the top 3 in the field of its competitors. Before that, Isabel was Senior Project Manager at Sonae, one of the biggest retail companies in Portugal. At Critical Software (CSW), Isabel worked as Programme Manager in the UK and Product Manager in a USA company that had customers such as YUM! Brand Foods (KFC, Pizza Hut, and Burger King). During that period, she helped Mindera start its business since the very start. Isabel’s other accomplishments at CSW include working as a project manager, Scrum Master, quality manager, founder of the testing department, and serving on the appraisal team that helped CSW to achieve CMMI ML5, making CSW the first company in Portugal to receive that certification. She started her professional career as Quality Manager at Milénio 3.

Isabel holds a PhD in Informatics Engineering, regarding quantitative process improvements and quantitative project management, and is an Electronics and Computers Engineer. Both of her degrees were awarded by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.