Software Process and Measurement Cast

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 147! The Software Process and Measurement cast 147 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban. The essay in the SPaMCAST 147, which was edited as I flew to Zurich Switzerland, is titled Selfishness and Process Improvement. This essay suggests when marketing process changes to critical influencers you must understand the strategies they use to derive value from their career. The essay begins: Successful implementations of process improvement programs are always a reflection of a large number of tactical marketing engagements set within a larger, overarching communications or marketing program. My experience is that Process improvement implementations generally hinge on the decisions of one or a small group of critical influencers. The Prisoner’s Dilemma, a simple application of game theory can provide a framework for a proactive tactical marketing program that leverages the need of a practitioner to maximize the value of their participation in the process improvement implementation as a tool to support to their overall career goals. THe SPaMCAST 146 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban. LeanKit Kanban is a software tool for kanban that is as simple to use as physical kanban. If you put it up on a touchscreen in your team area, it practically IS physical kanban. But your boards are available from anywhere, and updated in real-time. A slew of colors, icons, and avatars take your visual signalling to the next level. And the system tracks the metrics for you, providing analytics on bottlenecks, lead time, work distribution, process efficiency, and variability - for a single board or a whole company. It's kanban for the Lean enterprise. Sponsor! Check out leankit.com/trial/spamcast to sign up for an extended free trial of LeanKit Kanban. And don't forget to download the new LeanKit iPad application in the App Store. I ask all SPaMCAST listeners to visit and support our sponsor and thank them for helping defray the cost of providing the Software Process and Measurement Cast! Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? If you have please post a review! Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement Cast Email: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! SPaMCAST 148 features my interview with Mattias Skarin! We discussed all topics, Kanban! If you are interested in increased effectiveness and effiecency you will be interested in the conversation with Mattias.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 146! SPaMCAST 146 features my interview with SPaMCAST 146 features my interview with Michael West! Mr West wrote "Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI." We discussed the book and how and why the CMMI can be a tool for process improvement. Michael West has over 30 years experience innovating how software and systems are developed and delivered. Mr. West is co-founder of Natural Systems Process Improvement, a consultancy providing expertise in process and performance improvement. Mr. West is author of the 2004 book, "Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI," as well as numerous articles and presentations. Contact data: Email: michael@naturalspi.comWeb: www.naturalspi.com Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received great unsolicited reviews and the book has been picked up as a text book for university level work. Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! The SPaMCAST 147 will feature an essay tentatively titled "Selfishness and Process Improvement." It discusses how game theory can be applied in process improvement.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 145! In the SPaMCAST 145 we have an entry of the Metrics Minute. IFPUG Function Points are a measure of the functionality delivered by the project or application being counted based on a set of rules documented in the IFPUG Counting Practices Manual. The measure of delivered functionality is a proxy for size which can be used in estimating and measuring work. An analogy for function points is the measure of the number of square feet (or square meters) of a house. Knowing the number of square feet provides one view of the house but not other attributes such as price and number of bedrooms.Knowledge of functional size is a step in understanding development and / or maintenance effort. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! SPaMCAST 146 features my interview with Michael West! Mr West wrote "Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI." We discussed the book and how and why the CMMI can be a tool for process improvment.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 144! SPaMCAST 144 features my interview with Mary Lynn Penn. We discussed the CMMI, Six Sigma, Lean, SCAMPI appraisals and more! Mary Lynn Penn is the Director of Strategic Process Engineering, at Lockheed Martin Corporation, Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS), Lynn oversees policies and process command media, process compliance via audits and process improvement activities. She develops and manages compliance to multiple standards including CMMI DEV, CMMI SVC, ISO 9001/AS910, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001. Her Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) involvement began with version 1.0 and has progressed to the current CMMI version 1.3. She has participated in multiple formal SPAs, CBA IPIs, Assessments using the Acquisition Model, Risk Evaluations and supported multiple Software Capability Evaluations per versions 1, 2, and 3. She has supported multiple assessments using both CMMI DEV and CMMI SVC. She is currently certified as a CMMI Instructor and a SCAMPI B/C Team Lead and an SEI Affiliate. She is the Industry lead for the CMMI V1.3 model release. Lynn has a BS in Mathematics from Villanova University, she has done graduate studies in Computer Science and Management Information Systems. She is a certified ISO 9000 internal auditor at Lockheed Martin. She is also a Certified Greenbelt and Blackbelt in Six Sigma and Lean Techniques. She has published a book “CMMI and Six Sigma: Partners in Process Improvement”. Please feel free to reach out the MS Penn on LinkedIn Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received great unsolicited reviews and the book has been picked up as a text book for university level work. Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! In the SPaMCAST 145 we will return to the Metrics Minute with an overview of IFPUG Function Points!

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 143! In the SPaMCAST 143, I ask, "Do you have management support?" I recently asked many of my colleagues what they thought were the precursors to beginning a CMMI change program. Almost to a person, they began their list with senior management support which makes sense as the CMMI has become the top-down process improvement framework of choice. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next!SPaMCAST 144 features my interview with Mary Lynn Penn! We discussed the CMMI, Six Sigma, Lean, SCAMPI appraisals and more!

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 142! SPaMCAST 142 features my interview with Capers Jones. Capers is an iconic figure in the field of software measurement and estimation. In this interview, we discussed function points, value metrics, software inspections and more. As always Capers is evocative and thought-provoking. Capers Jones is currently the President and CEO of Capers Jones & Associates LLC. He is also the founder and former chairman of Software Productivity Research LLC (SPR). He holds the title of Chief Scientist Emeritus at SPR. Capers Jones founded SPR in 1984. Before founding SPR Capers was Assistant Director of Programming Technology for the ITT Corporation at the Programming Technology Center in Stratford, Connecticut. He was also a manager and researcher at IBM in California. Capers is a well-known author and international public speaker. Some of his books have been translated into six languages. All of his books are translated into Japanese and his newest books are available in Chinese editions as well. Among his book titles are Patterns of Software Systems Failure and Success (Prentice Hall 1994), Applied Software Measurement, 3rd edition; (McGraw Hill 2008), Software Quality: Analysis and Guidelines for Success (International Thomson 1997), Estimating Software Costs, 2nd edition (McGraw Hill 2007), and Software Assessments, Benchmarks, and Best Practices (Addison Wesley Longman 2000). The 3rd edition of his book Applied Software Measurement was published in the Spring of 2008. His book entitled Software Engineering Best Practices was published by McGraw Hill in October of 2009. His current book is The Economics of Software Quality with Olivier Bonsignour as co-author, Addison Wesley, 2011. Capers and his colleagues have collected historical data from more than 600 corporations and more than 30 government organizations. This historical data is a key resource for judging the effectiveness of software process improvement methods. More than 13,000 projects have been reviewed. In addition to his technical books, Mr. Jones has also received recognition as a historian after the publication of The History and Future of Narragansett Bay in 2006 by Universal Publishers. His research studies include quality estimating, quality measurement, software cost and schedule estimation, software metrics, and risk analysis. Mr. Jones has consulted at more than 150 large corporations and also at a number of government organizations such as NASA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Courts. He has also worked with several state governments. Email: cjonesiii@cs.com Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received great unsolicited reviews and the book has been picked up as a textbook for university-level work. Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement Cast Email: spamcastinfo@gmail.com Voicemail: +1-206-888-6111 Website: www.spamcast.net Twitter: www.twitter.com/tcagley Facebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! In the SPaMCAST 143 will deliver a checklist for use when preparing for a journey along the CMMI highway.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 141! In the SPaMCAST 141, I ask, "Are you ready to implement agile?" It might sound like a simple question but it is imperative that you not only have an answer but a structured rational for the answer. I propose a simple quiz (part of my simple checklist series) to structure the discussion when you want to know whether you are ready or not. It should be noted that like any readiness discussion, determining whether you are ready to implement agile should be viewed as a continuum. Your journey, whether remediating issues or planning for change, shouldn’t be thought of in absolutes; approach readiness as a journey. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! SPaMCAST 142 features my interview with Capers Jones! We discussed extending function points, his new book and how to improve quality. Capers is always thought provoking!

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 140! SPaMCAST 140 features my interview with Raja Bavani. We talked about his great article "The ten best influences on software product engineering." The article was originally publised in the SDTime This was a wide ranging interview went beyond influences and wrestles with the future! Raja Bavani is Technical Director of MindTree’s Product Engineering Services (PES) group and plays the role of Product Engineering Evangelist and Agile Coach. He has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry and has published papers at international conferences on topics related to Code Quality, Distributed Agile, Customer Value Management and Software Estimation. His PES experience started during the early 90s, when he was involved in porting a leading ERP product across various UNIX platforms. Later he moved onto products that involved data mining and master data management. During early 2000, he worked with some of the niche independent software vendors in the hospitality and finance domains. At MindTree, he has worked with some of the top vendors of virtualization platforms, business service management solutions and health care products. His areas of interests include Global Delivery Model, Agile Software Development, Requirements Engineering, Software Architecture, Software Reuse, Customer Value Management, Knowledge Management, and IT Outsourcing. He is a member of IEEE and IEEE Computer Society. He regularly interfaces with educational institutions to offer guest lectures and writes for technical conferences. His Product Engineering blog is available at http://www.mindtree.com/blogs/category/software-product-engineeringHis articles and white papers on Agile Software Development are available at: http://mindtree.com/category/tags/agileHe can be reached at raja_bavani@mindtree.comRaja's personal blog - http://se-thoughtograph.blogspot.com Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received great unsolicited reviews and the book has been picked up as a text book for university level work. Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! So you want to go agile . . .in the SPaMCAST 141 I will present a simple checklist of factors you need to deal with as you progress with change.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 139! In the SPaMCAST 139 we begin an exploration of financial metrics. The first class of financial metrics is those metrics that are used to decide which projects should be done. I call these return metrics and they ask the questions: Should we do this project? And more broadly, are their better uses for our assets? Generally these are questions are asked at the beginning of a project but can be equally powerful at different times during the project life cycle. Return metrics are focused on the financial aspect of project but less tangible assets can be incorporated. Attributes such as risk and strategy are examples of attributes that are often quantified and incorporated. Examples of this class of metric include Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Investment (ROI), payback period and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). In all cases these metrics account for income, a hurdle rate (interest rate or expected rate of return) and a comparison cost either based on assets, income, or equity. While these ratios are a rich source of decision making information, what they are not are tools to manage a project or programs. We begin with Return on Assets (ROA) is a ratio of the earnings generate from a project compared to the assets used to generate that revenue. ROA is a classic financial metric that when applied to projects, is typically used as a technique for project acceptance or in retrospective as a tool to evaluate overall performance. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement Cast:Email: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next! SPaMCAST 140 features my interview with Raja Bavani from Mindtree. We discussed his recent article,“The 10 best influences on software product engineering.” THis is a fantastic interview that gives context to the world of software engineering we inhabit.

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 138! SPaMCAST 138 features my interview with Jo Ann Sweeney. I think we would all agree that communication is an important tool for taming the clash of organizational perspectives, for creating a platform for collaboration or in other words for making projects work. Our interview covered these points and more and is a must for all of my listeners! Meet Jo Ann Sweeney Some years ago my husband and I were having an argument. We had opposite views and seemed to be going round in circles. I couldn’t understand why. Then the penny dropped. It was all about perspective. He sees things in black and white; I see in shades of grey. Once he realised I understood his point of view he expected me to agree with him. For him my understanding equalled agreement. Since then I’ve come to realise this same clash of perspectives happens in organisations all the time. Leaders and employees have very different outlooks that can undermine the whole organisation. Either they trust each other’s perspectives and are willing to collaborate. Or they use up huge amounts of energy trying to coerce each other – creating frustration, resistance, delays and escalating costs. In my 25+ years with multinationals, SMEs, government departments and charities I’ve come to realise this is all about relationships of trust. And about people listening to and understanding each other; being willing to put themselves in other people’s shoes. Today I lead Sweeney Communications , a consultancy dedicated to helping communicators and project professionals deliver communication activities that build trust and rapport with their audiences both internally and externally. My role invariably is as a catalyst, asking the difficult questions that help clients understand what their leaders expect of them. Then holding their hands while they win the buy-in of key people – executives, team members, government, customers. Much of what I’m learning I share through the CommsAbilities blog and ezine ; and the annual virtual Worth Working Summit Jo Ann Sweeney is a chartered marketer and trained journalist, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and of the Institute of Internal Communication. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received great unsolicited reviews and the book has been picked up as a text book for university level work. Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail: spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail: +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook: http://bit.ly/16fBWV Next!In the SPaMCAST 139 we will return to the Metrics Minute and tackle one or two of the financial metrics that are important for projects.