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TSP and the CMM
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PSP,
TSP and the CMM
Adopting
PSP and TSP can be a very effective method for
accelerating an organization’s progress to higher CMMI
maturity levels. PSP and TSP are proven high maturity
level processes. This eliminates
the risk of false starts and wasted effort. Out of the box, they include a
metrics collection and analysis framework, process scripts, and a training
program, eliminating the costs associated with putting this infrastructure in
place. Published results are available for benchmarking purposes and
there it is relatively easy to obtain expert support. A detailed analysis of how PSP and TSP satisfy the
CMMI PA’s is available in
The
Case for Using TSP with CMM/CMMI
by Jim McHale of the SEI.
The
most important feature of PSP and TSP however, is the
fact that they use a “bottoms up” deployment approach.
This is in marked contrast to a conventional CMMI based
improvement effort where the organization implements top down process changes on
all of its projects in parallel, moving them in stages through the CMMI
levels.
PSP
is introduced into the organization one project team at a time.
The team is trained to use the process just prior to kicking off the
project with a TSP launch. During the course of the training
program, each student writes 10 small programs, each with progressively more
sophisticated variants of the PSP process.
The students measure their own results as they progress from a level 1
variant to the full level 5 variant. As
they see their own results improve they become willing to try the process on the
job.
TSP
further re-enforces the new behaviors, and after a few months the team will be
operating at a level of maturity that could take five years or more in a
conventional top down approach. Within six months an organization can have
several PSP pilots operating near level 5 using six sigma
techniques. These projects draw in
the rest of the organization as skepticism gives way to a desire to try the new
process. Deployment proceeds via geometric doubling over the space of several
years, moving the organization to a high level of process maturity much quicker
and with much less risk than a conventional approach.
Overall,
PSP has a huge advantage over a typical CMMI based
improvement program in that it provides a mechanism for cultural change within
the development team through its training program and through the use of the TSP
launches. PSP and TSP address the credibility of process
improvement with team members in a way that the CMMI does not.
The
PSP training course is based on each individual using the process,
making measurements, and observing their own performance improvements as the
course progresses. Seeing good
results with their own data motivates individual engineers to try the process on
the job. TSP then provides a supportive environment foster
individual process ownership and motivates continuous improvement.
This
in marked contrast to a traditional CMMI approach, where,
particularly at the lower levels, the process changes primarily affect
management and support groups and the developer returns to business as usual
after completing whatever training is provided.
Results
can be incredibly good. We have
never seen a pilot project fail to recover all deployment cost in less than a
year and we have never seen a project that achieved less than a 30% productivity
improvement.
Risk
is limited to the loss of the training investment. The most likely
failure mechanism for a PSP pilot occurs when the team does not
complete training or the project is cancelled.
The typical cause of both is shifting management commitments.
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