Southern Polytechnic State University’s

Computer Science Department

Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN)

Mr. Humphrey will discuss the current state of software practice and then reviews current software problems and what they mean to modern organizations. These problems include unacceptable cost and schedule performance, brittle and incorrect software, and growing security risks. To compete today, organizations need to have competent software skills. Since software is now a reliable indicator of corporate health and survivability, however, mere competence will not be enough in the future.

He then will describe the nature of sound software practices and what they involve. The need is to overcome the long-term "hacker" culture and years of mismanagement. The methods for making these changes are called the Personal Software Process (PSP) and the Team Software Process (TSP)^SM. While use of these methods is just beginning, growing numbers of organizations are applying them with startling results. Merely training engineers is not enough, however, as management methods also need attention. Mr. Humphrey will conclude with data on the benefits some leading organizations are currently obtaining by using the PSP and TSP.

Watts S. Humphrey founded the Software Process Program at the SEI. He is a fellow of the institute and is a research scientist on its staff. From 1959 to 1986, he was associated with IBM Corporation, where he was director of programming quality and process. His publications include many technical papers and six books. His most recent books are: Managing the Software Process (1989), A Discipline for Software Engineering (1995), Managing Technical People (1996), and Introduction to the Personal Software ProcessSM(1997). He holds five U.S. patents. He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a past member of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Board of Examiners. He holds a BS in physics from the University of Chicago, an MS in physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

For more information on this program, please contact Dawn Ramsey at 770-528-4287.