Defining a Corporate-Wide Software Process

Abstract

Texas Instruments has been defining and installing a corporate-wide software process for nearly three years. We have learned first hand some of the difficulties of modeling a software process intended for widespread use. For example, processes can be modeled in many ways and at many levels; terminology is more important than we thought; tailoring imposes additional restrictions on the process model; and endusers come in many flavors with varying documentation and training requirements. This paper summarizes some of oul' experiences. I. INTRODUCTION In early 1989, Texas Instruments began a corporate-wide software improvement thrust. This thrust was manifested at three levels in the company: corporate, operating group, and software project. The major job of the corporate effort was to define a preferred software engineering process for use throughout the company. This task was staffed by a team representing all major operating groups. Other corporate level tasks included coordination of and participation in nine SEI assessments, assistance with the formation of software improvement teams in each of the major operating groups, and work with pilot projects. The operating level software improvement teams actually performed the SEI assessments, devised operating procedures, and developed specific action plans for software improvement within their respective business entities. At the project level, pilot projects began to apply the procedures and processes and quality improvement teams were started to carry out continuous process improvement. This paper focuses on the corporate level effort to define a software process. Texas Instruments is a highly diversified electronics-based company. Major operating entities participate in such businesses as semiconductor devices, computer systems, military electronics, information systems, computer aided software engineering tools for business applications, factory automation, and consumer electronics products. This diversity made it necessary for us to face problems that a more focused organization might be able to ignore.