Software/IT

A Parallel Process View for Information Technology

The IT practitioners' must see their world from two different perspectives – how the business uses their services, and how IT provides services to the business. Both views distill to one concept – the value stream, applied in two different ways.

A Software Project's Cycle Time: ‘Are We There Yet?’

In the near term, most software organizations can realize meaningful cycle time reductions by adopting Agile methods. In the longer term, it remains important to address and measure all of the factors that contribute to longer cycle times.

Abstraction Factor Analysis: A Nonlinear Way to Improve Product Development

One way to extend the Lean Six Sigma toolkit is by introducing new, nonlinear approaches to improvement within the transactional improvement space – particularly upstream in the areas of innovation, new product development and the software development life cycle.

Activities vs. Performance: Improvement, Common Sense

Most organizations have a strong bias toward planning, managing and executing a multitude of supposedly value-added activities hoping that these activities will yield significant results. Most do not. But there is another – better – way.

Building a Business Case for Software Defect Reduction

For a software company to make a case for process improvement, reliable measurement data is needed. Unfortunately that data normally comes from an improvement project.

Career Advice for IT and Six Sigma Professionals

career advice, IT, ITIL, CMM, software, training

Causal Loop Diagrams: An Orientation in Software Context

Cause-and-effect diagrams help identify factors (x’s) that may drive changes in a results variable of interest (Y). But when they are not enough, causal loop diagrams can convey causal interconnections that better reflect the way things are.

CMMI or Six Sigma: Does It Matter Which Comes First?

An organization is getting into process improvement. Should it look at the Software Engineering Institute’s capability maturity model integration (CMMI) first? Six Sigma first? The answer seems to be Six Sigma first…at least a little bit first.

Combining CMMI, PSP, TSP, and Six Sigma for Software

CMMI/PSP/TSP are among the several potential choices of software development process definition that can lead to improved software project performance. The full potential of the data produced by these processes cannot be fully leveraged without applying the more comprehensive Six Sigma for Software toolkit.

Computacenter Returns to Best Places to Work List

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, an information technology (IT) services firm that first began its Six Sigma deployment 14 years ago, has made its second consecutive appearance on iSixSigma’s Best Places to Work list. Computacenter was ranked at No. 10 for this year’s list, the same position it was given in the 2010 list.

Connecting Six Sigma to CMMI Measurement and Analysis

Six Sigma makes a strong connection to the management and analysis support process area of CMMI. It supplies a specific and proven answer to the “how” question – a methodology for applying measurement and analysis to problem solving.

Core Set of Effectiveness Metrics for Software and IT

A basic-yet-powerful set of metrics gets to the heart of measuring organizational efficiency and effectiveness in software and IT organizations. These metrics also facilitate effective application of Six Sigma in software and IT organizations.

Dealing with SLAs and Visitors from ‘Outlier’ Space

Information Technology businesses can create better service level agreements (SLAs) by using a more scientific approach than just negotiating with their customers. Yet the method is not complex and it does not require a Six Sigma deployment.

Debunking IT Isolation in Search of Quality and Savings

IT departments need not suffer waste and inefficiencies because they are somehow different from a company’s other functional areas. Ultimately, the same Six Sigma tenets employed elsewhere can benefit IT organizations as well.

Defect Prevention: Reducing Costs and Enhancing Quality

Defect prevention in software development involves a structured problem-solving methodology to identify, analyze and prevent the occurrence of defects. This article outlines the five general activities of a defect prevention methodology.

Developing an Agile Planning and Tracking Scorecard

Agile changes the nature of planning and tracking. In Agile, the available development capacity in resources and schedule is assessed and considered fixed at the outset. That assessment guides the scope of features promised for a delivery cycle.

Enabling Technology Adoption by Using Six Sigma

A survey sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) finds that Six Sigma is feasible as an enabler of the adoption of software, systems and IT improvement models and practices.

Enhancing IT Quality Metrics with Six Sigma

By implementing Six Sigma to measure the performance of its IT products, ING Direct enabled its teams to improve the quality, throughput, speed and continuous improvement with which they deliver features and functionality to the customer.

Exploring Defect Containment Metrics in Agile

While Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Agile software development seem to have different orientations, there is more linkage than meets the eye. Considering defect containment metrics, there is a positive tie between these two bodies of experience.

Finding a Value-added Fit with Agile Development

By David Hallowell The gains that Lean Six Sigma has brought in the areas of manufacturing, operations and physical product design speak for themselves. It is natural to want to replicate that success in software design. To do that most…

Harnessing the Power of Predictive Analytics

The demand for business intelligence is increasing at a rapid pace across all industries in today’s tough economic climate. As senior executives look to optimize existing business processes that can lead to bottom-line and top-line benefits, one option is to tap into predictive analytics, a type of data mining that can be used to make reliable predictions of future events based on analysis of historical data.

Help Desk Can Provide Help for Process Improvements

Help desks are good at solving problems but they often miss a more important role - working to put themselves out of business. Help desks can provide information that would lead to improvement opportunities for both the IT function and their client users within the business.

How Lean Can Be Applied to Software Development

Software and IT experts discuss the best ways that methods such as business process managment and Agile can be applied to a Lean software development program.

How Six Sigma Can Help ITIL Service Level Management

Utilizing service level agreements (SLAs) can go far in establishing fruitful working relationships between IT providers and customers. If implemented poorly, however, they can be a source of discomfort for which IT providers should be wary.

Implementing Six Sigma Methodology in a Small IT Firm

Six Sigma can help improve any size IT organization by providing a competitive edge. The main thing that prevents many small IT businesses from exploring Six Sigma is not knowing just how they can implement the data-driven methodology.

Improved IT Project Forecasting Through Six Sigma

Variation in IT project cost forecasting can result in either underspent or overspent budgets. A Six Sigma approach applied to the IT project forecasting process minimizes variation in forecast accuracy resulting in dollar savings for the business.

Improving Offshore Outsourcing Efficiency with DFSS

This article reviews some perspective on offshore outsourcing of software development work and provides some thoughts around how a Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach may help software organizations make better decisions about how, when and how much to deploy offshore.

Improving the Value of the IT Service Delivery Process

While most information technology (IT) organizations are constantly struggling to demonstrate cost savings, too few are focusing on ways to add value to the business. Alignment with the business is where the emphasis should be for IT departments.

Integrating Lean Six Sigma with Agile and Scrum

Scrum is an Agile project management methodology that can be used to control software and product development using iterative, incremental practices. Scrum generates the benefits of Agile development with the advantages of a simple implementation. This methodology can significantly increase productivity and reduce time to benefits while facilitating adaptive, empirical systems development.

IT Development: Finding Balance Between Business and IT

Integrating a DFSS roadmap and SDLC methodologies into IT development enhances a company’s business focus while balancing customer needs and ensuring on time/on budget system delivery. Six Sigma assists an organization in measuring success with KPIs.

ITIL and Six Sigma Make a Winning Combination for IT

The IT Infrastructure Library and Six Sigma have both been successfully employed to improve the quality of IT services. Many organizations are now coming to realize the value of combining the two to take advantage of each one’s strength.

Lean Line Balancing in the IT Sector

This step-by-step guide shows how Belts in the transactional sector can calculate the time needed to complete a process and utilize their resources efficiently.

Lean Template System Reduces Software Document Waste

One waste area, often found in organizations handling outsourced projects, is excessive – and often redundant – documentation. To overcome this waste, practitioners can organize it in one place by building and maintaining a master document.

Leveraging Six Sigma and the IT Infrastructure Library

The IT Infrastructure Library and Six Sigma should be viewed as complementary systems that leverage one another in the common goal of world-class IT performance. Organizations should use this powerful combination to bolster their competitiveness.

Lowering The Cost Of Ownership For Software Lifecycles

From CIO to CFO, the writing is on the wall – lower the cost of ownership. This article discusses strategic choices IT organizations can make in lowering the cost of ownership for the entire software lifecycle in order to minimize overall costs and deliver return-on-investment. Reducing their budget in the short term can motivate IT organizations to create innovative approaches to systems development that will reduce costs.

Manage IT Projects and Resources the Six Sigma Way

By exploring how Lean Six Sigma is used at best-practice companies and learning the answers to some common questions, software and IT organizations not already using Lean Six Sigma can gain a greater understanding of what they are missing.

Need for Six Sigma in the Age of Information Technology

It has been obvious from early on that software development could not be done in an ad hoc manner. It needed a methodology like Six Sigma to deliver attributes like robustness, correctness, adaptability, reusability and maintainability.

One IT Size Does Not Fit All; Lean Six Sigma Can Help

A specific process solution, orchestrated for one IT organization, is unlikely to fit perfectly in another IT system. This means that importing a set of processes into an organization, without some kind of review for “fit” carries momentous risk.

Phased Deployment Model Helps Six Sigma Succeed in IT

Six Sigma practitioners in the IT industry need to look inward to keep application of the method simple and relevant. Practitioners should consider a three-phased deployment model alongside a project selection method matching the effort’s maturity.

Planning Ahead with Project-Specific Software Process Models

Implementation of a project-specific process map during software development can help practitioners improve their performance and meet project objectives.

Predicting Code Inspection Faults

The goal of code inspection is to identify software faults early in the software development lifecycle, but it is not always known if those inspections are effective. A prediction model can be applied to evaluate this process and refine the achieved quality level.

Proper Scoping a Key in IT Order Fulfillment ProjectAn iSixSigma Case Study

One of the biggest challenges in any Six Sigma order fulfillment project is the scoping. Having clear boundaries on what aspects will and will not be covered in the project is paramount to its success.

Remove Obstacles for Six Sigma Within Agile Development

It can be challenging at first to find the connections between Six Sigma and Agile; a number of obstacles stand in the way of reaching an integrated view. But there is some untapped leverage that, if explored, may ease the use of the two methods.

Salvaging a Call Center’s Big Software Investment

The call center handled technical problems and policy issues for a financial institution's branches, but complaints and cost overruns indicated problems.

Six Sigma and the Software Development Life Cycle

Many software organizations are beginning to use Six Sigma, and are finding that they need to rationalize its relationship to the standard software development life cycle (SDLC) process. A number of issues and alternatives arise when this need is addressed.

Six Sigma Encourages Improvement Within CMMI Framework

In the IT industry, positioning Six Sigma under the broad process management umbrella of Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) ensures that a company gains from this important tool while averting the trap of applying it where it does not fit.

Six Sigma for Software – A Role Based System

This article is intended to help the reader better understand the early attributes of how Six Sigma is typically and successfully deployed inside a Software organization.

Six Sigma for Software… More Than a New Tool

Six Sigma for Software is rapidly emerging as the new wave of change in Six Sigma and no wonder. It actually addresses the tools AND the root causes of the lack of needed change, management accountability and organizational behavior.

Six Sigma in Data Warehousing Domain – IT Case Study

Six Sigma can be used in the information technology industry to improve processes and produce bottom line benefits. A case study shows how Six Sigma was used to reduce IT requests, issues and tickets initiated by end-users by 70 percent.

Six Sigma in the Information Technology Services Sector

The application of Six Sigma in the IT service sector has resulted in changes in methodologies and tools. Process improvement managers must transform programs to suit their industry needs and experts must tailor the tools for successful deployment.

Six Sigma Meets Software Development

While Six Sigma provides great tools for improving and developing products and services, some work is still needed for managing software projects.

Six Sigma Software Development Case Study

This article illustrates the Six Sigma DMAIC process using an organization that develops software packages as an example.

Six Sigma Software Development Case Study – Part 2

The Six Sigma DMAIC approach to process improvement provides a powerful mechanism for improving the software process.

Six Sigma Software Metrics, Part 1

There are multiple measures and metrics available for the Six Sigma development of software. This article discusses the Total Containment Effectiveness, Phase Containment Effectiveness and Defect Containment Effectiveness.

Six Sigma Software Metrics, Part 2

There are multiple measures and metrics available for the Six Sigma development of software. This article discusses how to predict defect find and fix rates during development and after release.

Six Sigma Software Metrics, Part 3

There are multiple measures and metrics available for the Six Sigma development of software. This article discusses how to compare implementations within the company.

Six Sigma Software Metrics, Part 4

This article is the last of four parts. It presents a discussion of opportunities for defects (OFD), defects per million opportunities (DPMO) and Sigma levels. When comparing implementations across companies, using the common language of DPMO and Sigma levels will assist in understanding benchmarking data.

Software and IT Measurement Systems: Effort Accounting

Effort accounting is essential in software/IT Six Sigma projects because labor usually is the most controllable cost. To know if a process improvement has the desired impact, a company must know how time was spent, before and after the improvement.

Software Defect Prevention – In a Nutshell

This article will present various tools and techniques for use in creating a Defect Prevention (DP) strategy that, when introduced at all stages of a Software life cycle, can reduce the time and resources necessary to develop high quality systems. Specifically, how implementing a model-based strategy to reduce Requirement Defects, Development Rework and Manual test development efforts will lead to significant achievements in cost reduction and total productivity.

Software Project Management Meets Six Sigma

Learning to reduce project duration can be critical, but it could be more important to reduce the predicted-to-actual project duration gap (the variation). That gap is a particularly familiar enemy in the software world, causing problems with project cost, disappointed customers, conflicts with management, development team morale, and more. This article idetifies three ways to do so.

Software Vendor Partnership Cost Reduction With Six Sigma

A multibillion-dollar software manufacturer used Six Sigma, and a 5 day project saved more than $12 million.

Start Software Testing with All Five Essentials in Place

Successful software testing requires five essential elements – test strategy, testing plan, test cases, test data and a test environment. If any element is missing or inadequate, the test effort will most likely fall far short of its objectives.

Tailoring Six Sigma to Software Development

Software development environments have unique cultural dynamics and lower process maturity states that must be taken into account for successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma projects.

The Five Essentials For Software Testing

Five essential elements are required for successful software testing: test strategy, testing plan, test cases, test data and a test environment. If any one of these five elements is missing or inadequate, your test effort will most likely fall far short of what you could otherwise achieve.

Tips for Defining and Collecting IT Process Metrics

IT firms often begin initiatives to measure and collect data for process metrics as part of improvement initiatives. Practitioners responsible for deployment will benefit from understanding the strategic, tactical and operational aspects of metrics.

Top Lean Six Sigma IT Trends to Come in 2011

As the calendar flips to 2011, several technology experts and software providers have made predictions about how Lean Six Sigma and other process improvement methodologies will shape IT departments in the coming year. Collected here are four of their forecasts for the next 12 months.

Software/IT

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