New viruses up the stakes on old tricks

Spring was a notable season in the virus world as Klez edged out SirCam as the all-time most virulent virus, and another virus landmark emerged with Simile.D - a polymorphic, entry-point-obfuscating virus that can infect both Windows and Linux platforms. Unlike the costly and destructive Nimba and Code Red viruses, Klez and Simile.D are more nuisance than financial nightmare. Nonetheless, they represent emerging challenges for antivirus developers. Both of these complex viruses take previous tricks to a new level, either by expanding their infection potential, at least in theory (Simile.D), or by combining multiple best-tricks into one insidious package (Klez).     

Measurement based process improvement

Used together, the two relatively young concepts of measurement and process improvement are more than the sum of their parts. Careful measurement helps you draw an objective process model. Thoughtful application of improvement techniques improves your ability to measure quality. Leveraging one with the other can take your organization to new heights. The article shows how software process modeling, tool development, measurement strategies, and other methods are combined to create real change on important software projects     

Improving software process improvement

Two dichotomies characterize software process improvement efforts and approaches: disciplined versus creative work and procurer risks versus user satisfaction. Based on these perspectives, the authors introduce six theses to illuminate the problems of pursuing SPI.     

Floating-point tricks

The author discusses IEEE floating point representation that stores numbers in what amounts to scientific notation. He considers the sign bit, the logarithm function, function approximations, errors and refinements     

SEL's software process improvement program

We select candidates for process change on the basis of quantified Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) experiences and clearly defined goals for the software. After we select the changes, we provide training and formulate experiment plans. We then apply the new process to one or more production projects and take detailed measurements. We assess process success by comparing these measures with the continually evolving baseline. Based upon the results of the analysis, we adopt, discard, or revise the process     

软件过程改进框架

在软件开发过程中,软件工程师以及软件组织不可避免地会遇到各种困难,尤其是软件组织在实施能力成熟度模型(CMM)过程中面对的各种挑战.根据对CMM研究的体会与实践经验,提出了以集成的能力成熟度模型(CMMI)为基础,以个体软件过程和群组软件过程为支持的软件过程改进框架.     

Software process improvement at Raytheon

Over the last eight years, Raytheon mounted a sustained effort to improve its software development processes. The author describes the organizational structure and activities that made these processes more productive and predictable while raising software quality     

Experience transfer for process improvement

The oil well drilling process is the selected representative of a challenging industrial process. The drilling process is becoming more complex as oil fields mature and technology evolves. At the same time, the amount of information is increasing in volume and frequency. Although technology is advancing, failures occur at almost the same rate as before, leading to loss of valuable time. Whenever the process is failing, or running smoothly, valuable experience is gained. To take advantage of established and continually growing new experience a formalized methodology, knowledge intensive case-based reasoning, was applied for capturing of drilling process experience and for reusing it. Experience was collected from different information sources. Structured cases were used to describe failure episodes; its circumstances and how the failure was repaired. A general domain knowledge model supports the case-based reasoning process. It was demonstrated how the system was able to recommend how to solve problems when they arise, while at the same time bridging the gap between new and experienced personnel. Method performance was tested on 62 selected field cases. The system also identified the failure causes of problems and could thereby suggest more effective repair actions.     

The economics of software process improvement

Software process improvement is gaining momentum throughout the software industry. Many cities now have nonprofit SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) groups. In a visible sign that process improvement is now a mainstream technology, SPIN's national conference in Boston last spring drew several thousand attendees. Another sign is the frequency of journal articles devoted to process improvement. However, as often happens with software, process improvement articles tend to be theoretical. Comparatively little solid, empirical data is being published on three important topics: what does it cost to improve software processes? How long will it take to make tangible improvements? What kind of value can be expected in terms of better quality, productivity, or user satisfaction? The paper condenses some of my findings, which are based on studies of leading software producers in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim     

How software process improvement helped Motorola

Many organizations are using or considering the Capability Maturity Model as a vehicle for software process improvement. But does the CMM provide real benefits? The authors offer metrics and data that show the results of Motorola's CMM usage     

Software process improvement in Web time

Process engineering is sometimes seen as a luxury relevant only to large software projects with long time frames. This article shows otherwise; the Web development group it describes tackled several aspects of project management, change control, requirements engineering, and quality practices, reaping both tangible and cultural benefits within five months     

Software process improvement at Hughes Aircraft

In 1987 and 1990, the Software Engineering Institute conducted process assessments of the Software Engineering Division (SED) of Hughes Aircraft in Fullerton, CA. The first assessment found the SED to be a level two organization, based on the SEI's process-maturity scale of one to five, where one is worst and five is best. The first assessment identified the strengths and weaknesses of the SED, and the SEI made recommendations for process improvement. Hughes then established and implemented an action plan in accordance with these recommendations. The second assessment found the SEP to be a strong level three organization. The authors outline the assessment method used, the findings and recommendations from the initial assessment, the actions taken by Hughes, the lessons learned, and the business and product consequences     

Managing change in software process improvement

Software process improvement has become the primary approach to improving software quality and reliability, employee and customer satisfaction, and return on investment. Although the literature acknowledges that SPI implementation faces various problems, most published cases report success, detailing dramatic improvements. Such best-practice cases are a great benefit when learning how to effectively implement SPI. On the basis of experiences from SPI initiatives and insights into organizational-change management, we offer the following advice for successful SPI implementation: software managers must appreciate that each SPI initiative is unique and carefully negotiate the context of change. Managers must also understand the elements of change involved. SPI can't succeed without managerial commitment and a mastery of appropriate change tactics.     

A single model for process improvement

The FAA has spent many years evaluating and combining models and methods to establish and monitor IT process improvement. In 1997, it released the integrated Capability Maturity Model (iCMM), which blended three of the Capability Maturity Models - software, systems engineering, and software acquisition - developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. iCMM version 2, released in 2001, updated and expanded version 1's set of engineering disciplines to better accommodate the IT processes associated with the agency's air-traffic-control business, as well as IT system deployment, transition, operation, maintenance, and retirement. It also included some processes that govern IT, such as leadership, strategic planning, and investment decision-making. With this breadth of coverage, we believe the iCMM is the most comprehensive model available for improving the performance of an organization that relies on complex IT systems to provide services. The iCMM also has a flexible structure that lets organizations use it to benchmark processes from other process improvement models in terms of either maturity or capability level. Finally, the model offers various appraisal methods so that organizations can understand current practice in relation to iCMM's best practices or measure process performance characteristics. Lessons have come from many years of iCMM application at FAA, and many have broad application to the IT community. Overall, using one model to cover processes that span many disciplines has clear advantages.     

Top-down vs. bottom-up process improvement

There are two approaches to process improvement. The top-down approach compares an organization's process with some generally accepted standard process. Process improvement is then the elimination of differences between an existing process and a standard one. The assumption is that, once the process is changed the generated products will be improved-or at least the risk of generating new software will he reduced. The bottom-up approach assumes that process change must be driven by an organization's goals, characteristics, product attributes, and experiences. Change is defined by a local domain instead of a universal set of accepted practices. For example, an organization whose primary goal is improving time to market may take a significantly different approach to process change than one whose primary goal is to produce defect-free software     

实施量化过程管理和持续性过程改进的研究

目前在基于CMMI进行过程改进中,如何实例化CMMI中的抽象的实践是许多企业在实施CMMI最佳实践所面临的难题[3].针对上述问题,基于量化过程管理和持续过程改进的理念,提出了企业组织进行高成熟度改进的具体的实施方案,使企业可以结合自身特色进行有效的过程改进.针对量化过程管理和持续性过程改进的基本理念进行了论述,并提出了具体实施的方法,为实施量化过程管理和持续过程改进提供参考.     

Assessment of process improvement from organizational change

In order to enhance their performance, many organizations have initiated change projects. However, management is reluctant to initiate them due to their enterprise-wide impact and costs that are higher than those of traditional system development projects. Thus, there is a need to assess the value of the redesigned process of a successfully implemented organizational change projects. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess process improvement from organizational change in the areas of resource utilization and allocation and cycle time and cost reduction. The candidate process and design alternatives were identified from organizational requirements analysis. The variables and their relations were defined to perform task activity analysis, bottleneck analysis, cycle cost analysis, and resource utilization analysis. A case study of a manufacturing company indicated that the assessment method was a promising approach for identifying alternative processes that leads to better organizational performance.