March 2001
Volume 3 • Number 2

Contents

Overview

“Credible Estimation for Small Projects” describes a repeatable process for moving beyond “gut-feel” estimation for projects of two to six months’ duration with two-to-six full-time equivalent personnel. Author Rita Hadden, drawing upon extensive project management experience, shows how this method aids both in initial negotiation with management and in subsequent renegotiation when project circumstances change. Her results: control of scope creep, minimizing of rework, and reduction in post-implementation defects.

An organizationwide software process must be tailorable from project to project. Ramkumar Ramaswamy presents “Variability in Software Development Process Families,” describing variability in process families by analogy to variability in software product families. The author analyzes sources of variability at both the level of an individual process step and at the level of an iteration philosophy. He suggests simple but effective tactics for accommodating such variability while specifying and documenting the development process.

Ita Richardson and Kevin Ryan relate their experiences with “Software Process Improvements in a Very Small Company.” The authors have developed a generic method based on quality function deployment that can be used by small software development companies to devise their own software process improvement strategy. They have implemented the method in companies with as few as four developers. They conclude that the software developers themselves are fundamental to the success of any improvement strategy.

Upon reviewing “The Success of the SPI Efforts in India” by Pankaj Jalote, one of our associate editors wrote, “For those who are tuned in to the progress of Indian software companies, this article is important for its attempt to explain the rapid success of Indian companies in attaining high maturity levels. I think that there are many skeptics who would like to discount the self-assessments of Indian companies; they might think again after reading this article.” What are the factors that could help others around the world who would like to follow India’s lead?

How does one go about designing and implementing a quality management system? Read “Initiating Formalized Quality Management,” in which Jacqueline McDougall shows the importance of staff education for understanding and acceptance of quality concepts.

The “Resource Reviews” section features three books on software development processes, as well as other works on quality and project management.

Software Quality Professional
EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Taz Daughtrey
Lynchburg, Virginia
sqp_editor@asqnet.org

ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Sue Carroll
SAS
Cary, North Carolina

Paul R. Croll
Computer Sciences Corporation
King George, Virginia

Beth Layman
Teraquest
Melbourne Beach, Florida

Stanley H. Levinson
Framatome Technologies, Inc.
Lynchburg, Virginia

John Pustaver
SWQuality, Inc.
Sudbury, Massachusetts

PUBLISHER
William Tony

MANUSCRIPT COORDINATOR
Kristen Johnson

COPY EDITORS
Leigh Ann Klaus
Kris McEachern

PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATOR
Cathy Schnackenberg

GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Mary Uttech

DIGITAL PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS
Michael Andes
Jill Zimmerman