TABLE OF CONTENTS Methods for software process improvement (SPI) include de facto, emerging, and industry standards for improving quality, productivity, and performance. Methods for SPI are designed specifically to improve product quality and improve software project management performance. Several methods for SPI are designed to evaluate, certify, and qualify suppliers to serve government agencies. Some are designed to certify firms to adhere to regulations for international trade. Some methods for SPI are simple meetings to improve software quality. Some methods for SPI are technically challenging approaches to performing individual and group-based project management. Other methods for SPI are large sets of criteria designed for supplier selection and establishment of priorities for internal SPI. Methods for SPI share some common features regardless of their size, scope, and complexity. Methods for SPI are tedious, manually intensive, expensive, unpopular, and invoke fierce resistance. They invariably are seen as unnecessary bureaucracy among computer programmers and software engineers. Some of the methods for SPI are small and highly effective. Some have impressive results in spite of their expense. Some take years and millions of dollars to apply in spite of their popularity. The methods for SPI examined in this chapter all share common characteristics. They are well defined, repeatable, measurable, beneficial, and common in use. Another commonality is that they are difficult to apply and very expensive to use.
The Software Inspection Process is a type of meeting that is held in order to identify defects in software work products. In reality, the Software...
