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Process Improvement

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Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: Do Set the Stage for Continuous Improvement
Aug 30, 2002
In order to effectively manage an organization, a continuous improvement plan must be developed. Learn how to choose the ideal organizational "target profile" from the numerous possible capability level profiles that are available.
Management Role: Ensuring That Software Process Improvement Sticks
Aug 23, 2002
Good managers provide a clear focus for the improvement efforts for the organization and its people. Learn how to remain informed about planned improvements, and how to help people see how the new practices support the organizational goals.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: Don’t Maintain a Low Profile
Aug 23, 2002
When using the CMMI's continuous representation, organizational behavior is characterized within each Process Area (PA) by one of six Capability Levels: Incomplete (0); Performed (1); Managed (2); Defined (3); Quantitatively Managed (4); or Optimizing (5). Learn how CMMI's Capability Levels are used to assess organizational process improvement.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: Don't Carry Old Baggage on a New Journey
Aug 16, 2002
The CMMI's continuous representation has taken most of us out of our comfort zones because it's new. Learn how this method differs from the staged model approach and why "different" may be better.
Real Process Improvement: Getting What You Need
Aug 16, 2002
For processes to improve anything, they must be used and useful. Learn how good process improvement efforts are tied to business goals and problems, and most importantly actually improve processes.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Your Level Best To Stay Under the Threshold
Aug 9, 2002
Many organizations establish size, effort, cost, and schedule thresholds, but wait too long to implement corrective action when things start to go off track. Learn when to take action.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DON’T Foul Up Size Tracking
Aug 2, 2002
During a project's development, keeping track of the size can serve as an early warning to future problems. Learn how to recognize this helpful indicator to save you and your company from disaster.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Generate Size Estimates, Naturally
Jul 26, 2002
Project estimators must document and focus on the estimation parameters required by their organization. Learn how using natural units of measure for project estimation can lead to higher/lower levels of effort or longer/shorter project schedules.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Exercise Restraint With Alphabet Soup
Jul 5, 2002
As people attempt to improve their bodies as a New Year's resolution, software development organizations attempt quality improvement with a round of acronyms (CMM, TQM,...). Discover a solution to this quagmire of letters.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Ask Different Questions
Jun 28, 2002
When it comes to process improvement, the executive question is a powerful tool that can be used to send a strong signal that expectations are changing — so make sure you use it wisely.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Separate Process Documentation from Procedures
Jun 21, 2002
CMM Level 3 is all about establishing organizational consistency at the process level, not at the procedure level. Co-mingling processes and procedures will lead to enormous resistance because it will over-constrain their projects, sub-optimize project performance, and make Level 3 a lot harder to achieve than it needs to be.
Framework Process Patterns: A Case Study
Jun 14, 2002
Frameworks represent a rapidly growing field within object-oriented programming. The authors of "Framework Process Patterns" teach you a patterns approach to framework development through this very interesting sartorial case study.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Separate Process Documentation from Training Material
Jun 14, 2002
One reason that process documentation remains on the shelf is that it's written as a training manual rather than a checklist for skilled software developers. Pat O'Toole explains why your documentation should focus on the vital process elements that lower the probability that critical steps are inadvertently overlooked.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Establish Organizational Policies, Not CMM Policies
Jun 7, 2002
Software development policies should reflect current organizational commitments rather than "CMM-compliance." Models and consultants are just like any other tools — use them when they provide value and use something else when they don't.
Guaranteeing Production Readiness Prior to Deployment
May 31, 2002
Novel concept: Ensuring that a new application system is completely production-ready before it gets deployed. In this article, infrastructure expert Rich Schiesser goes far beyond the typical recommendations of testing and documentation, providing numerous practical tips to guarantee first-time successful deployment of new applications.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DON’T Establish Policies as Behavioral Guidelines
May 31, 2002
Do your organization's software policies reflect senior management's true value and belief systems or were they copied from the CMM? Pat O'Toole explains why senior management needs to take a stance and say, "If you're going to be a member of this organization, you are going to behave this way."
Quality By Design, Part 1: Avoiding Rotten Code
May 31, 2002
We all have to face the fact that some software stinks; it doesn't work right or it just plain feels wrong. Fixing these problems is simple, but may not be easy. We have to understand the nature of software development and make sure that we allow ourselves enough time to do a good job.
Pat O'Toole's Dos and Don'ts of Process Improvement: DO Become a Learning Organization
May 24, 2002
Process improvement consultant Pat O'Toole suggests a few ways that your project team can truly learn from experience.
Service Level Agreement in the Solaris OE Data Center
May 24, 2002
This article explores Service Level Agreements. Best practices for keeping SLAs simple, measurable, and realistic are detailed, and templates are provided that illustrate the translation of SLA principles to real-world examples.
Enterprise Quality of Service Part II: Enterprise Solution using Solaris Bandwidth Manager 1.6 Software
May 17, 2002
This article explores possible approaches to deploying an Enterprise Quality of Service solution using Solaris Bandwidth Manager 1.6 software.

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