A Practical Approach to Continuous Improvement in Software Engineering

2001 ◽  
pp. 34-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Birk ◽  
Dieter Rombach
Author(s):  
Pan-Wei Ng

This chapter describes the agile transformation of an IT organization in China with about 4000 people including contractors. In the span of one year, 47 teams and 1700 engineers moved from traditional to agile way of working. There was a 44% reduction in development lead-time, 5% reduction in production defects and 22% reduction in production incidents. This agile transformation occurred at two levels. At the organization level, adoption speed was crucial, as we wanted to reach critical mass in rapid time with limited coaching resources. This was very much an entrepreneur startup problem, where customers in our case are teams and members in the IT organization. At the team level, a practice architecture provided a roadmap for continuous improvement. A theory-based-software-engineering approach facilitated deeper learning. Beyond the usual factors for leading successful change, this transformation exemplified the use of a startup mentality, social networks, practice architecture, simulation, gamification, and more importantly integrating theory and practice.


2009 ◽  
pp. 191-211
Author(s):  
Steven A. Demurjian ◽  
Donald M. Needham

Project-based capstone software engineering courses are a norm in many computer science (CS) and computer science & engineering (CS&E) accredited programs. Such cap-stone design courses offer an excellent vehicle for educational outcomes assessment to support the continuous improvement process required for accreditation. A project-based software engineering capstone course near the end of a student’s program can span the majority of CS and CS&E program objectives, providing a significant means to assess at-tainment of these objectives in a single course location. One objective of this chapter is to explore the role of a project-based, software engineering course in accreditation. An addi-tional objective is to relate over twelve combined years of experience in teaching such a course, and in the process, highlight what works and what does not. We candidly examine both the successes and the failures that we have encountered over the years, and provide a roadmap for other instructors and departments seeking to institute such courses.


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