Conference Presentations

The Software Organization as a Complex Adaptive System

We are living and working in the "knowledge rea" where business, technological, and organizational changes cannot be predicted or foreseen. One minute you are on top; the next minute, you are obsolete. For a software organization to sustain itself over time, it must act as a Complex Adaptive system (CAS) and operate on the edge of Chaos (EOC) as a learning organization that is continuously learning and co-evolving. Gain insight into how to become a sustainable software organization in a rapidly changing environment.

Nir Merry, Applied Materials and Dr. John Bruckman, Change Management Group
A Metrics Dashboard for IT Project Reporting

Tom Olenick described the activities performed to design, develop, deploy, and maintain a Project Management Metrics Dashboard across the IT organization of a major Chicago-based securities organization. Learn how this metrics dashboard was used to facilitate project status tracking for IT management and to provide a basis for improving the efficiencies of software development activities and estimation.

Thomas Olenick, Olenick & Associates
To Fight the Fire Without Completely Being Burned: A New Perspective on Heroes and Firefighters

Michael Hovan discusses the implementation of Bayer Corporation's measurement database over the past year. Discover the types of metrics collected, how the data is stored, and ways the data is analyzed and ultimately used. Based on actual data and measurement reports, learn from one company's experience in building, collecting, and using metrics to improve software performance.

Michael Hovan, Wind River Doctor Design Services
Warp 6, Mr. Sulu: The Future of Software Development

As a manager, you have many readings which help you monitor your course. Choosing a direction is a different matter. Like the crew of any Star Trek episode, you may have to make a decision based on the unknown. The best choice may not be based on what you know-but what is possible. For years we have built software in roughly the same way. Becky Winant discusses an emerging new discipline sitting on the horizon-complete with higher-level communication tools, practical knowledge capture, and advanced simulation software-that is poised and ready to change the face of software development as we know it.

Becky Winant, Esprit Systems Consulting, Inc.
eXtreme Programming Meets Measurement

With the Internet explosion creating new "e-somethings" daily, and society embracing X-anything, it should come as no surprise that eXtreme Programming is the latest concept to hit IT. Forget the visions of IT managers projecting themselves off a cliff with bungee cords and a laptop-eXtreme Programming is more mainstream than renegade, offering a mixture of old and new, tried and true all bundled into one. Learn what eXtreme Programming is all about and how it differs from other development methodologies. Discover what can and should be measured in an eXtreme Programming environment and how to fit X-Measures in with a regular measurement program.

Carol Dekkers, Quality Plus Technologies, Inc.
System Architectures-An International Viewpoint

The software engineering industry has invented a wide variety of architectures and technologies for building applications, yet all of these architectures have some common features and issues. One such common issue is internationalization. No matter how you build your application, it will more than likely be viewed and used by people from different cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds. This presentation gives you a lighthearted tour of the common application architectures. Examine how some of these architectures make internationalization and globalization easier, harder, or just plain peculiar. If you have always wondered what an n-tier architecture is or how it plays internationally, thie session is for you!

Benson Margulies, Basis Technology
Extreme Programming and CMM

This presentation explains the Capability Maturity Model and Extreme Programming, compares the two, and shows how they can be compatible.

Mark Paulk, Software Engineering Institute
Is That Your Final Answer? Auditing Your Measurement Program

More and more organizations are committed to establishing an effective measurement program. Big or small, measurement takes time and resources. The overriding key to measurement program success is accuracy. Organizations with established metrics programs typically institutionalize an audit activity to maximize their investment. Explore the current approaches being used to audit measurement activity. Learn why auditing is so important, and what and when to audit within your organization.

David Herron, The David Consulting Group
Using Statistics to Evaluate Process Improvement

The techniques associated with Statistical Process Control (SPC) are very useful, but they are not sufficient alone to
provide inferential comparisons. An additional need is the ability to make valid
comparisons.
This paper suggests two additional techniques to help evaluate differences: inference for
difference between two means (using t tests and confidence intervals for the difference
between the means), and inference for two way tables (using chi-square tests). These basic
statistical techniques should be in our analysis toolbox, along with the traditional SPC tools.

Paul Below, EDS
Statistical Process Control (SPC) for Software Inspections

Attempts to create user-friendly statistical process control (SPC) charts for software inspections often have
failed. A principle cause of these problems is the failure to recognize the asymmetric distributions of the
critical control variables, and to incorporate this fact into control chart design. This paper provides innovative guidelines for inspections SPC.

Don Porter, Motorola

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