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SEI Series in Software Engineering
The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process
Presenting the key processes of the SEI Capability Maturity software process management, this book is a sequel and successor to Watts Humphrey's Managing the Software Process. Adopting an accessible style, this work also provides an overview of the SPICE project being undertaken by the ISO in order to develop international standards for software process improvement and capability determination.
456 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 16, 2007
The book that got me started thinking about process. If you wanna understand how NASA flight software is QA'd, this is a good place to start. A big part of the answer, of course, is at every step of the way.
I like to print out the description of "Initial" organizations and place it in my cube wherever I'm working:
At the Initial Level, the organization typically does not provide a stable environment for developing and maintaining software. When an organization lacks sound management practices, the benefits of good software engineering practices are undermined by ineffective planning and reaction-driven commitment systems. During a crisis, projects typically abandon planned procedures and revert to coding and testing. Success depends entirely on having an exceptional manager and a seasoned and effective software team. Occasionally, capable and forceful software managers can withstand the pressures to take shortcuts in the software process; but when they leave the project, their stabilizing influence leaves with them. Even a strong engineering process cannot overcome the instability created by the absence of sound management practices."
-Page 17
Of course, this book and its software process model took off bigtime, with consultants clamoring over one another to get CMM certified (despite its authors' reluctance to define or sanction a certification process). What's most interesting, however, is the impact that this book has had outside of software, where its recommendations for a more egalitarian, committee-driven approach to decisionmaking is challenging military-style command and control management.
After all, how effective can your company be when the people best equipped to improve your process have absolutely no ownership of the process itself?
I like to print out the description of "Initial" organizations and place it in my cube wherever I'm working:
At the Initial Level, the organization typically does not provide a stable environment for developing and maintaining software. When an organization lacks sound management practices, the benefits of good software engineering practices are undermined by ineffective planning and reaction-driven commitment systems. During a crisis, projects typically abandon planned procedures and revert to coding and testing. Success depends entirely on having an exceptional manager and a seasoned and effective software team. Occasionally, capable and forceful software managers can withstand the pressures to take shortcuts in the software process; but when they leave the project, their stabilizing influence leaves with them. Even a strong engineering process cannot overcome the instability created by the absence of sound management practices."
-Page 17
Of course, this book and its software process model took off bigtime, with consultants clamoring over one another to get CMM certified (despite its authors' reluctance to define or sanction a certification process). What's most interesting, however, is the impact that this book has had outside of software, where its recommendations for a more egalitarian, committee-driven approach to decisionmaking is challenging military-style command and control management.
After all, how effective can your company be when the people best equipped to improve your process have absolutely no ownership of the process itself?
September 29, 2012
Ever wondered where the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) comes from, or interested to know more about how it started as the CMM in the early nineties. Then this is the book that you should read!
March 23, 2013
Solid book on CMMI but a little dry to read and comprehend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews