This tutorial covers CKA area #5 of the International Software Process Improvement Certification (ISPIC) requirements.

In this tutorial we describe techniques for implementing an improvement plan and deploying new practices across the organization. These techniques address the problems of resistance, unwieldy solutions, and slow deployment. You will learn about:

• Applying selling strategies to deploy new practices
• Increasing the speed of deployment by working with the willing and the needy first
• Reducing the risk of failure by building and deploying solutions in increments
• Delaying policy document creation and edicts until each solution has been practiced and is well tested
• Using existing resources to increase the speed of deployment

You will learn about:

• Applying selling strategies to deploy new practices
• Increasing the speed of deployment by working with the willing and the needy first
• Reducing the risk of failure by building and deploying solutions in increments
• Delaying policy document creation and edicts until each solution has been practiced and is well tested
• Using existing resources to increase the speed of deployment

• Applying selling strategies to deploy new practices
• Increasing the speed of deployment by working with the willing and the needy first
• Reducing the risk of failure by building and deploying solutions in increments
• Using the adoption curve to communicate the gains of early adopters to skeptic and laggards
• A 10 piece tool box for change
• Using existing resources to increase the speed of deployment (training, mentoring, train-the-trainer for process deployment)
• Aligning management and practitioner behavior
• Keep focused on goals and problems
• Documentation diet – not going overboard on process documents
• Using audits to maintain the gains
• Overview of process improvement measurements
• Using audits to maintain the gains
• Overview of process improvement measurements
  • Deriving metrics for the goals
  • Measuring process improvement plan progress
  • Measuring process framework adoption
  • Using metrics to track progress based on defined goals
  • Determining corrective actions needed to get the improvement program back on track
  • Clarifying lessons learned and actions needed to make future executions of the improvement cycle more effective
• Mini-Assessment process

Mary Sakry is co-founder of The Process Group, a company formed in 1990 that consults on process improvement, software engineering and project management.

She has 33 years of experience in software and process engineering. For 15 years she was a Software Manager within TI. In 1989 she lead TI's process assessment effort and was a member of an SEPG. Mary is an SEI authorized appraiser for SCAMPI appraisals, certified high-maturity appraiser, and Intro to CMMI instructor. She has an M.B.A. (St. Edwards) and B.S. in Computer Science (Minnesota). She is the co-author of Making Process Improvement Work - A Concise Action Guide for Software Managers and Practitioners , Addison-Wesley.

The Process Group consults to software, IT, systems and hardware organizations.