Process Improvement in Practice

Preface 1: Introduction 1.1 What is the purpose of this handbook? 1.2 What is a process 1.3 What is process improvement 1.4 How can process improvement help software organizations 1.5 How can we get going with process improvement 1.6 What is special about software development 1.7 Basic Principles 1.8 Overview of this handbook 2: Knowledge and Learning 2.1 Why learning? 2.2 What does learning mean? 2.3 Physical arrangements 2.4 Organizational and cultural arrangements 2.5 Arrangements for technical infrastructure 2.6 Arrangements in the projects 2.7 How do we stimulate creativity 3: Improvement Process 3.1 Organizing process improvement 3.2 A model for project-based experiential learning 3.3 Initiating - learning before doing 3.4 Executing - learning whilst doing 3.5 Closing - learning after doing 4: Measurement and Feedback 4.1 Process for measurement and feedback 4.2 Planning to use data 4.3 Data collection 4.4 Data analysis 4.5 Feedback 4.6 Follow-up 5: Process Assessment 5.1 Why perform an assessment? 5.2 Basic principles 5.3 Gap analysis 5.4 A participative approach to process assessment 6: Process Guides 6.1 What is a process guide? 6.2 Why is a process guide useful? 6.3 What should we put into a process guide? 6.4 How to develop a process guide 6.5 How to adapt a process guide 6.6 How to maintain a process guide 7: Techniques 7.1 Technique 1: Feedback meeting 7.2 Technique 2: GQM abstraction sheet 7.3 Technique 3: Mind map 7.4 Technique 4: Brainstorming 7.5 Technique 5: KJ/Affinity diagram 7.6 Technique 6: Prioritizing 7.7 Technique 7: Time-line 7.8 Technique 8: Action list 7.9 Technique 9: Root cause analysis Bibliography About the Authors