Implementing Software Process Change (CKA #5)

This tutorial covers CKA area #5 of the International Software Process Improvement Certification (ISPIC) requirements.

Concepts

Today's competitive environment means that yesterday's processes may not be capable of getting the bottom-line results that company's demand. Government and nonprofit organizations are feeling the same pressure to improve efficiency and effectiveness in cost effective ways. Our understanding continues to evolve from Total Quality Management through today's Six Sigma/Lean and tomorrow's new approach. The fundamentals of process improvement have not changed and underlie every successful new approach. Learn to apply these proven principles and techniques to your processes for improved productivity and quality. Learn to use processes improvement as your engine of success.

Participants will learn:

• How to apply proven approaches to improve the results of your processes
• Understand how to apply these approaches in new situations
• How to Demonstrate ROI for improvement efforts
• How to use the process improvement tools to analyze and solve other problems

Outline

• The context for process improvement
  • Current challenges of processes and improvement efforts
  • The process model as the basis for improvement
  • Quality definitions applied to the process model
  • What we've learned about IT process improvement
  • Building Lessons Learned into all projects
• The Process Improvement Process
  • Using classic models for process improvement today from Quality Circles to Lean Six Sigma
  • Practical uses for Statistical Process Control tools today
  • Applying the "New Q" process and management tools
  • A streamlined model for process improvement
• Process Improvement
  • Defining the process and its current performance
    • Using process flows to find quick streamlining improvements
    • Choosing metrics and data sources
  • Gathering existing data for analysis
    • Data gathering techniques
    • Objective and subjective data gathering
    • Using existing data, including defect data
    • Analyze data for trends, root causes
  • Quantify the problem to drive improvement
    • Determining verified root causes
• Considering, quantifying and testing possible solutions
• Rolling out the improved process
  • Monitoring, tracking process performance
  • Ongoing data analysis
• Finalizing the improved process
  • Implementing process management
  • Applying lessons learned
• Integrating Continuous Process Improvement into daily work
  • Strategies for involving everyone in process improvement
  • Keeping the improvement process nimble and responsive
  • Demonstrating ROI on improvement effort