Process Change Management
a key process area for level 5: Optimizing
The purpose of Process Change Management is to continually
improve the software processes used in the organization with the intent of
improving software quality, increasing productivity, and decreasing the cycle
time for product de
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velopment.
Process Change Management involves defining process improvement goals and, with
senior management sponsorship, proactively and systematically identifying,
evaluating, and implementing improvements to the organization's standard
software process and the projects' defined software processes on a continuous
basis.
Training and incentive programs are established to enable and encourage
everyone in the organization to participate in process improvement activities.
Improvement opportunities are identified and evaluated for potential payback to
the organization. Pilot efforts are performed to assess process changes before
they are incorporated into normal practice.
When software process improvements are approved for normal practice, the
organization's standard software process and the projects' defined software
processes are revised as appropriate. The practices for revising the
organization's standard software process are found in the Organization Process
Definition key process area, and the practices for revising the projects'
defined software processes are found in the Integrated Software Management key
process area.
Goals
Goal 1
Continuous process improvement is planned.
Goal 2
Participation in the organization's software process improvement activities
is organization wide.
Goal 3
The organization's standard software process and the projects' defined
software processes are improved continuously.
Commitment to perform
Commitment 1 -- The organization follows a written policy for implementing
software process improvements.
This policy typically specifies that:
- The organization has quantitative, measurable goals for software process
improvement and tracks performance against these goals.
- The organization's process improvements are directed toward improving
product quality, increasing productivity, and decreasing the cycle time for
product development.
- All of the organization's staff and managers are expected to participate
in improving the software processes.
Skilled and motivated people are recognized as the principal process
improvement resource.
Commitment 2 -- Senior management sponsors the organization's activities
for software process improvement.
Senior management:
- Establishes the organization's long-term goals and plans for process
improvement.
- Allocates resources for process improvement activities.
- Coordinates with the software managers to ensure they have reasonable, yet
aggressive, process improvement goals and effective process improvement plans
to meet these goals.
- Monitors process improvement performance against goals.
- Maintains a consistent priority focus on process improvement in the face
of product crises.
- Ensures that process improvement issues are promptly resolved.
- Rewards employee participation in the process improvement
activities.
Ability to perform
Ability 1 -- Adequate resources and funding are provided for software
process improvement activities.
- Resources are allocated to:
- lead, guide, and support the process improvement activities;
- maintain the process improvement records;
- develop, control, and disseminate process changes; and
- establish and operate the administrative and human resources functions to
conduct the communications, motivation, and recognition activities needed to
maintain a high level of employee participation.
- Experienced individuals who have expertise in defining and analyzing software
processes are available to help the organization in its process improvement
activities.
- Tools to support process improvement are made available.
Examples of support tools include:
- statistical analysis tools,
- database systems,
- process automation tools, and
- process model
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ing tools.
Ability 2 -- Software managers receive required training in software
process improvement.
Examples of training include:
- managing technological and organizational change,
- team building, and
- teamwork skills as applied to continuous process improvement.
Refer to the Training Program key process area.
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Ability 3 -- The managers and technical staff of the software engineering
group and other software-related groups receive required training in software
process improvement.
Examples of software-related groups include:
- software quality assurance,
- software configuration management, and
- documentation support.
Examples of training include:
- the principles of quality and process improvement, and
- the procedures for proposing process improvements.
Refer to the Training Program key process area.
Ability 4 -- Senior management receives required training in software
process improvement.
Examples of training include:
- benchmarking and comparative evaluation,
- principles of process improvement,
- setting and tracking goals for process improvement, and
- motivation and team building in an environment of continuous process
improvement.
Activities performed
Activity 1 -- A software process improvement program is established which
empowers the members of the organization to improve the processes of the
organization.
Activity 2 -- The group responsible for the organization's software
process activities (e.g., software engineering process group) coordinates
the software process improvement activities.
Refer to the Organization Process Focus key process area for practices covering
the group responsible for the organization's software process improvement
activities.
This group:
- Defines organizational goals and measurement plans for software process
performance.
- Reviews the organizational goals for process performance with senior
management for their endorsement.
- Participates in the effort to define the organization's training needs for
process improvement and supports the development and presentation of training
course materials.
Refer to the Training Program key process area.
- Defines and maintains the procedures for handling process improvement
proposals.
- Reviews software process improvement proposals and coordinates the actions
for these proposals.
- Tracks status, accomplishments, and participation in the process
improvement activities and periodically reports the results to senior
management.
- Coordinates and tracks changes to the organization's standard software
process.
- Defines, establishes, and maintains the process improvement
records.
Activity 3 -- The organization develops and maintains a plan for software
process improvement according to a documented procedure.
Refer to Activity 2 of the Organization Process Focus key process area for
other practices covering the organization's software process improvement
plan.
This procedure typically specifies that:
- The software process improvement plan is based on:
- the organization's business and strategic operating plans, and
- customer satisfaction indicators.
- The software process improvement plan undergoes peer review.
Refer to the Peer Reviews key process area.
- The software process improvement plan is reviewed by the affected managers.
- The software process improvement plan is managed and controlled.
"Managed and controlled" implies that the version of the work product in use at
a given time (past or present) is known (i.e., version control), and changes
are incorporated in a controlled manner (i.e., change control).
If a greater degree of control than is implied by "managed and controlled" is
desired, the work product can be placed under the full discipline of
configuration management, as is described in the Software Configuration
Management key process area.
Activity 4 -- The software process improvement activities are performed
in accordance with the software pr
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ocess improvement plan.
The plan covers:
- The resources required, including staff and tools.
- The highest priority process areas for improvement.
- Measurable short-term and long-term goals for software process performance
and improvement.
- Teams and their assignments for addressing improvements for specific
process areas.
Examples of teams include:
-
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working groups,
- process action teams, and
- technical committees.
- The procedures for:
- the senior managers overseeing the software process improvement activities;
- the software managers planning and coordinating the software process
improvement activities;
- individuals and teams identifying, evaluating, and introducing appropriate
software process improvements; and
- the teams developing software process improvements for assigned process
areas.
- The administrative and support plans required to maintain continuous
process improvement.
- Appropriate administrative procedures are included to encourage
participation in and facilitate the software process improvement activities.
- Administrative personnel are included in oversight and review of the
software process improvement activities.
- The roles and contributions of employees to continuous process improvement are recognized.
Activity 5 -- Software process improvement proposals are handled according
to a documented procedure.
This procedure typically specifies that:
- Software process improvement proposals are submitted.
The software process improvement proposals can be submitted at any time and can
address any area of the software processes.
Examples of sources for software process improvement proposals include:
- the findings and recommendations of software process assessments,
- the organization's software process improvement goals,
- analysis of data on customer problems and customer satisfaction,
- analysis of data on project performance compared to software quality and
productivity goals,
- the results of process benchmarks,
- the potential for process/task automation,
- analysis of data on defect causes,
- the measured effectiveness of the software process activities,
- examples of software process improvement proposals that were successfully
adopted, and
- feedback on previously submitted software process improvement proposals,
as appropriate.
- Each software process improvement proposal is evaluated; a decision is
made whether to implement the proposal, and the decision rationale is
documented.
- The expected benefits of each software process improvement proposal
are determined.
Examples of expected benefit areas include:
- productivity,
- quality,
- cycle time,
- other indicators of customer or end user satisfaction, and
- any other internal factors.
- The priority of software process improvement proposals selected for
implementation is determined.
- Focus on high-priority software process improvement proposals is
maintained.
- Implementation of the software process improvement actions resulting from
the proposals is assigned and planned.
- Software process improvement actions that require a substantial effort are
assigned to a team responsible for implementation.
Examples of substantial efforts include improvements requiring piloting of new
technologies and other large changes.
Teams to focus on specific software process areas are established.
Actions that are appropriate for piloting are coordinated.
Examples of teams include:
- working groups,
- process action teams, and
- technical committees.
- The status of each software process improvement proposal
is tracked.
- Software process improvement proposals for which the response has been
unusually long are identified and acted upon.
- Software process changes that are judged to have a major impact on product
quality or productivity or that will significantly alter satisfaction of the
customer and end users are reviewed and approved by appropriate management
before they are implemented.
- Completed software process im
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provement actions are reviewed, verified, and
approved before they are closed.
- Submitters of the software process improvement proposals receive:
- prompt acknowledgment of their proposals, and
- notification of the disposition of their proposals.
Activity 6 -- Members of the organization actively participate in teams
to develop software process improvements for ass
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igned process areas.
- Each of these process improvement teams is funded and the activities are
planned and scheduled.
- Goals are established for each process improvement effort; where possible,
these goals are defined quantitatively.
- The plans are approved by the managers of the affected groups and the
group that defines and maintains the affected process
descriptions.
Examples of affected groups include:
- software engineering (including all subgroups, such as software design, as
well as the software task leaders),
- software estimating,
- system engineering,
- system test,
- software quality assurance,
- software configuration management,
- contract management, and
- documentation support.
Activity 7 -- Where appropriate, the software process improvements are
installed on a pilot basis to determine their benefits and effectiveness
before they are introduced into normal practice.
- Adjustments to the proposed process improvement are made and documented
during the pilot effort to optimize its implementation.
- Lessons learned and problems encountered are documented.
- The benefits, risks, and impacts of the process improvement's broader use
in the organization are estimated, and the uncertainty in these estimates is
assessed.
- A decision is made whether to terminate the effort, proceed with
broad-scale implementation of the improvement, or replan and continue the pilot
effort.
Activity 8 -- When the decision is made to transfer a software process
improvement into normal practice, the improvement is implemented according
to a documented procedure.
This procedure typically specifies that:
- The resources needed to support major changes to the software process are
established and funded.
- The strategy for collecting
data to measure and track the change in software process performance is
documented, reviewed, and agreed to.
- This strategy is agreed to by the individuals responsible for implementing
the software processes affected by the change.
- The support tools are instrumented, as appropriate, to record the desired
data automatically.
- Training courses are updated to reflect the current software process, and
training is provided before installing the process change for general use.
Refer to the Training Program key process area.
- Consultation support, appropriate to the expected needs, is established
before installing the process change for broad-scale use and is continued as
needed.
- Appropriate process changes are incorporated into the organization's
standard software process.
Refer to Activity 1 of the Organization Process Definition key process area for
practices covering the organization's standard software process.
- Appropriate process changes are incorporated into the projects' defined
software processes.
Refer to Activity 2 of the Integrated Software Management key process area for
practices covering the project's defined software process.
Activity 9 -- Records of software process improvement activities are
maintained.
- Information about the initiation, status, and implementation of
software process improvement proposals is maintained.
- Ready access is provided to the software process improvement records.
- Historical data is maintained and reports are produced on software process
improvements.
Examples of records and reports include:
- the project's productivity, quality, and schedule performance;
- the program's defect history;
- the organizational software quality and productivity trends; and
- the cost, schedule, and productivity of software process development and
improvement.
Refer to Activity 5 of the Organization Process Definition key process area for
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practices covering the organization's software process database, which is one
of the possible mechanisms for maintaining process improvement records.
Activity 10 -- Software managers and technical staff receive feedback on
the status and results of the software process improvement activities on an
event-driven basis.
The feedback provides:
- A summary of the
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major software process improvement activities.
- Significant innovations and actions taken to address software process
improvement.
- A summary status of the software process improvement proposals that are
submitted, open, and completed.
Examples of means to provide this feedback include:
- electronic bulletin boards,
- newsletters, and
- information flow meetings.
Measurement and analysis
Measurement 1 -- Measurements are made and used to determine the status
of the software process improvement activities.
Examples of measurements include:
- the number of software process improvement proposals submitted and
implemented for each process area;
- the number of software process improvement proposals submitted by each of
the projects, groups, and departments;
- the number and types of awards and recognitions received by each of the
projects, groups, and departments;
- the response time for handling software process improvement proposals;
- the percentage of software process improvement proposals accepted per
reporting period;
- the overall change activity, including number, type, and size of changes;
- the effect of implementing each process improvement compared to its
defined goals;
- overall performance of the organization's and project's processes,
including effectiveness, quality, and productivity compared to their defined
goals;
- overall productivity and software quality trends for each project; and
- process measurements that relate to the indicators of the customer's
satisfaction.
Verifying implementation
Verification 1 -- The activities for software process improvement are
reviewed with senior management on a periodic basis.
The primary purpose of periodic reviews by senior management is to provide
awareness of, and insight into, software process activities at an appropriate
level of abstraction and in a timely manner. The time between reviews should
meet the needs of the organization and may be lengthy, as long as adequate
mechanisms for exception reporting are available.
These reviews are held to:
- Summarize participation in the process improvement activities.
- Assess process performance.
- Identify needed goal changes.
- Resolve issues.
- Approve revisions to the software process improvement plan as
appropriate.
Verification 2 -- The software quality assurance group reviews and/or
audits the activities and work products for software process improvement
and reports the results.
Refer to the Software Quality Assurance key process area.
At a minimum, the reviews and/or audits verify:
- The preparation of the organization's software process improvement
plan.
- The process of initiating, submitting, reviewing, approving, and planning
implementation of software process improvement proposals.
- The degree to which the process measurements conform to the software
process descriptions and reflect actual performance.
- The process for documenting, reviewing, approving, controlling, and
disseminating changes to the organization's standard software process
and projects' defined software processes.
- The degree to which software process improvement activities are consistently
measured and tracked.
- The degree to which actual software process improvement performance
achieves the plans and goals.