Software Process Development: Using What You Already Know

November 4, 2004

Location: EE/CS 3-111

Twin-SPIN
For the Minneapolis/St. Paul Regional Area

Meeting Announcement:

Thursday,
November 4, 2004
5:30-8:00 p.m. at The University of Minnesota
5:30 start for networking, 6:15 start for meeting.

Note: Not the standard room

EE/CS Building
Room 3-111
Minneapolis, MN

Room 3-111 is right behind the regular room in the EE/CS Building. Very easy to find, consult the map link below.

Directions:
A map is available at http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/EE/CSci/
Check out the detailed map under the “close up” button.

This Month's Meeting:

Program Manager: Dick Hedger

Topic: Software Process Development: Using What You Already Know
Speaker: Patrick Wegerson, Medtronic Inc.

Abstract:
While much of software development is highly creative, there's also much of software engineering that can and should be consistent and repeatable. Good development processes are one of the main levers for meeting the design control requirements in ISO-9001 and related standards and in regulated industries such as medical devices under the FDA’s Quality System Regulations. Good software processes increase productivity and efficiency by reducing the wasted effort of "reinventing the process" each project.

Good software processes also reduce the defects and rework (i.e. “doing it right the first time”) resulting from inconsistent software development execution. So how do you develop good software development processes? If you've developed software products using industry best practices, you already know much of what is needed to develop good software processes. This presentation walks through the basic steps of developing or improving software development processes and shows how that task closely parallels software product development. Defining and improving software development processes enable you and your organization to quickly and efficiently develop products while maintaining the consistency and the records required by many industry standards and regulations.

This presentation includes:

· Introducing the concept of using product development principles to create product development processes

· Summarize best principles, techniques and tools common to software product development

· Provide an example of how to analyze, design, develop and verify/validate effective software development processes.

Pat Wegerson has developed software, performed software quality assurance in the medical device industry, and managed successful software projects. Mr. Wegerson has also championed software process improvement initiatives and led an organization to achieve Level 2 of the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMMSM). He has performed software process assessments, process development and application, and software process management steering committee duties. Mr. Wegerson consults on software process improvement initiatives and best practices and has taught software project management at the graduate school level. Mr. Wegerson holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Software Engineering. He is a member of the IEEE, ASQ, PMI, and is an ASQ Certified Software Quality Engineer and Certified Quality Auditor. He presents regularly at international conferences on software development and software process improvement.Rockwell Collins and has over 20 years of experience in software development. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Iowa in 1991 and a B.A. in physics and mathematics from the University of Iowa.

Patrick Wegerson
Maple Grove, MN 55369
612-240-1836
p.wegerson@comcast.net

Twin-SPIN Mission   Statement:
The Twin-SPIN software process improvement network (SPIN) is a regional organization established in January of 1996 as a   forum for the free and open exchange of software process improvement   experiences and ideas. Representatives from industry, government, academia, other professional organizations, and consultants are welcome to participate. Our mission is to help sustain commitment and enhance skills in the area of software process improvement through an active program of networking and mutual support. The organization strives to serve as a source of educational and experiential information for its members, other SPIN organizations, and the general community of software professionals.

Meetings are normally held on the 1st   Thursday of each month from 5:45-7:45 p.m. Twin-SPIN is a non-profit   organization. See:
http://twin-spin.cs.umn.edu

2004 Sponsors:

Facility Sponsor
University of Minnesota, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

$2,000 Sponsors
University of Minnesota Software Engineering Center (UMSEC)

$500 Sponsors

$400 Sponsors

$100 Sponsors
Quality Software Technologies, Inc
Pearson Education