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Why is it so difficult to change organizations? What does it really take to make "process improvement" yield measurable results? For more than 30 years, Donald Riefer has been guiding software teams through the technical, organizational, and people issues that must be managed in order to make meaningful process changes-and better products. This practical guide draws from his extensive experience, featuring 11 case studies spanning the public and private sectors and even academia. Each case study illuminates the original conditions; describes options and recommendations; details reactions, outcomes, and lessons learned; and provides essential references and resources.
Eleven case studies provide insightful, empirical data from real-world organizations
Provides a broad view across organizational settings and factors, such as personnel, and technical environments, including cloud, Agile, and open source options
Illuminates the hard-won lessons, tradeoffs, and impacts-with advice on how to engineer successful, sustainable changes yourself
List of contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Getting Started
- Chapter 2: Industrial Case: Organizational Change in a Large Information Technology Shop
- Chapter 3: Industrial Case: Justifying a Process Improvement Program for a Large Bank
- Chapter 4: Industrial Case: Moving to Commercial Off-the-Shelf and Open-Source Software Usage in Telecommunications
- Chapter 5: Industrial Case: Small Defense Project Needs Help
- Chapter 6: Industrial Case: Utility Moving to the Clouds
- Chapter 7: Industrial Case: Adoption of Agile Methods
- Chapter 8: Government Case: Large Defense Project Behind Schedule and Over Budget
- Chapter 9: Government Case: Introducing New Technology
- Chapter 10: Government Case: Maintenance Shop in Turmoil
- Chapter 11: Academic Case: Establishing a Meaningful Collaboration with Industry
- Chapter 12: Making an Impact
- Acronyms
- Glossary
- Recommended Readings, References, and Resources
About the author
Donald J. Reifer is a leading figure in the fields of software engineering and software management, with more than 40 years of experience in industry, government, and academia. A successful entrepreneur, software consultant, author, and teacher, Reifer has facilitated software improvements for numerous Fortune 500 firms and government agencies, and has published seven books and 100+ software engineering/management papers.
Summary
Drawing from 30+ years of field experience, with case studies spanning industry, government, and academia, this practical guide illuminates the change-management approaches that lead to successful software process improvement.
