Did you forget your: Username / Password ?

Microsoft

TechWell

Home

CM Journal Articles

Automated Defect Prevention - Best Practices in Software Management

Written by Bob Aiello

Thursday, 20 March 2008 02:32

by Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa

Automated Defect Prevention by Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa presents an approach to Software Management that is both powerful and thought provoking.

The paradigm presented in this book is valuable in terms of IT Governance, but also takes IT Governance to the next step by focusing on improving Quality and Productivity. Organizations which implement their recommendations will not only find it much easier to demonstrate that they are following compliance guidelines, but are likely to realize significant improvements in Application Lifecycle Management as well.

[Link to book ]

The paradigm shift
The authors suggest a significant shift in the way that we consider application development in terms of both infrastructure, automation and best practices. This approach focuses on goals which affect people, product, organization, process and project (PPOPP). Not surprisingly, they identify four core infrastructure elements that they have found to be critical to making software work: source control system, automated build system, problem tracking system, and automated reporting system. What is remarkable is their emphasis on people and behavioral issues, which is both insightful and effective in bringing about real organizational change. There is also a strong emphasis on building an infrastructure which automates the collection and communication of valid and essential metrics.

Human nature
This focuses a great deal on insight based upon applied psychology especially learning theory. The authors discuss defect prevention in terms of human nature and behavioral characteristics. "Thus ADP takes an alternative approach of comprehensive defect prevention by modifying the development process in the entire software lifecycle to reduce opportunities for mistakes." (p. 2). This focus on behavioral science was common in the early research in Industrial Psychology that impacted the entire process improvement movement. This book does a nice job of defining and illuminating the key issues that are essential to developing effective and efficient development processes. Their emphasis on people and behavioral issues is both insightful and effective in bringing about real organizational change. They also note that, "no management approach can be effective unless it is based on an understanding of human nature, and aims at creating an environment that provides job satisfaction." These are the lessons of the great quality management leaders of our generation, but sadly often forgotten in today's high pressure technology and profit driven environment.

Automated Defect Prevention-Based Software Development Process Model
ADP is based upon a lifecycle methodology that includes:

Initial planning and requirements
Extended planning and design
Construction and testing
Deployment

with the tracking of key metrics throughout the process.

There is a strong emphasis on Defect Prevention in keeping with the teachings of W. Edwards Deming - who, of course, also maintained (in his 14 points) that we need to "drive out fear" for any organization to achieve quality results.

This book has a tremendous amount of insight and wisdom and provides a realistic application of just enough process to get the job done effectively. You can expect me to quote the material found in Drs. Huizinga and Kolawa material in my column, Behaviorally Speaking, frequently. But I suggest that you get your own copy and apply it's principles in your organization to achieve quality and productivity while seamlessly meeting your IT governance and compliance requirements as well!

Bob Aiello is the Editor-in-Chief for the CM Journal and an independent consultant specializing in Software Process Improvement including Software Configuration and Release Management. Mr. Aiello has over 25 years experience as a technical manager in several top NYC Financial Services firms where he had had company-wide responsibility for CM, often providing hands-on technical support for enterprise Source Code Management tools, SOX/Cobit compliance, build engineering, continuous integration and automated application deployment. Bob is a long standing member of the Steering Committee of the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (CitySPIN), where he serves as the chair of the CM SIG. Mr. Aiello holds a Masters in Industrial Psychology from NYU and a B.S. in Computer Science and Math from Hofstra University. You may contact Mr. Aiello at raiello@acm.org or link with him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobaiello.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this