Re: Software design and development methods?

[Jerry Petrey <jdpetreyNOSPAM@west.raytheon.com>]

mjsilva@my-deja.com wrote:
> 
> This isn't really an Ada question, but I think I'm likely to get more
> good info and less nonsense asking it here than in almost any other
> group.  My question is how does an individual, or a small company with
> limited resources, improve the software design and development process
> beyond an ad-hoc collection of self-discovered "methodologies".  What,
> for example, are the -right- ways to do a requirements analysis, create
> a functional specification and come up with a program framework?  What
> is the right way to create a test plan?
> 
> The goal is to come up with a consistent way to develop "better"
> (including but not limited to more reliable) software, including
> embedded applications, quicker.  These applications are not in the
> safety-critical arena, BTW.
> 
> Any and all guidance is greatly appreciated!
> 
> Mike
> mjsilva@jps.net


From what I've seen, most 'big' companies haven't figured this out yet,
although, on paper, they claim to have.

In any case, a good start would be reading the book "The Capability
Maturity Model : Guidelines for Improving the Software Process (Sei
Series in Software Engineering)", ISBN: 0201546647 .

Also look at "Software Process Improvement : Practical Guidelines for
Business Success 
(Sei Series in Software Engineering)", ISBN: 020117782X , "Managing the
Software Process", ISBN: 0201180952 ,
"A Discipline for Software Engineering (Sei Series in Software
Engineering)",  ISBN: 0201546108 and
"Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development (SEI Series in
Software Engineering)", ISBN: 0201255928 .

Hope this helps.

Jerry

-- 
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-- Jerry Petrey                                                
-- Senior Principal Systems Engineer - Member Team Ada & Team Forth
-- Raytheon Missile Systems 
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