Don and Linda Shafer have graciously granted us permission to place a copy  of their slides on our web site.  The slides are in Adobe Acrobat format and can be viewed by clicking the file Saspin_Apr2000_Shafer.pdf (191 KB). 

  If you don’t already have the Acrobat Reader click on the image to the left to download the latest version free.

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March 15, 2000

"Quantifying The Qualitative: How to Avoid Vague Requirements by Clear Specification Language"

Presented by

Tom Gilb

Result Planning Limited

Tom Gilb presentation was superb.  Generally, the quantification of quality is not mastered by current culture. Qualitative requirements can always be specified with quantitative clarity. Tom's presentation gave pragmatic ideas on how to achieve this. The main concept is to define a 'scale of measure'. 

Tom explained how with our current culture there are problems with the general current specification of qualitative requirements. There is insufficient understanding of the importance of these 'quality requirements'. They are crucial because they are our main competitive differentiator for a given functional area, aside from cost. A lack of adequate quality specification tends to limit creativity and prematurely cuts short the system design. Often quality requirements are placed in categories called 'non-functional requirements' or 'intangibles'. People assume that they can limit themselves to describing qualities at a high-level and qualitatively. We have all seen requirements of the type:

Change: {enhance, improve, reduce, increase}
Quality: {performance, ease of use, maintenance
            costs, productivity, security, adaptability}

For example:
"achieve substantial increase in our products ease of use by the customer"

For certain purposes, such as motivational management speeches or hiding the precise objectives, such requirement statements can find a use. However, within projects, this non-quantified culture is unacceptable because it is too vague to provide clear direction for activities such as contracting, testing, configuration management and engineering design. The large investments of time, people and money, the need for the high impact results and, the high risks involved demand quantitative specification. Quality requirements must be defined as clearly as we define the functionality and cost requirements. They must be stated in an unambiguous and testable manner or we risk not getting design and test carried out for them.

Practical Experience.  Many people are initially reluctant to accept that all qualitative requirements can be quantified. However, Tom's experience (over more than thirty years) is that it can always be achieved. Even in cases, where the quantitative scale of measure has to be indirect, it is far better than none. Once people have seen a few examples of quantitative requirements, they are usually quickly won over.  In fact, there are several companies which already have clear top management policies about quantifying objectives and quality requirements. For example, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. But most companies have not taken a position on the subject. It is important that top management take the initiative and communicate clearly their requirements. The message needs to be backed up by a pervasive company culture and necessary training. Tom wrapped up his presentation by going through several examples of qualitative requirements and clearly showed each could be quantified.

You can contact Tom Gilb at (4760) 801697, gilb@acm.org, or
N-1410 Kolbotn, Norway and view his web site with more information at www.Result-Planning.com.

Tom Gilb has graciously granted us permission to place a copy of a paper he wrote on the presentation topic along with a copy of his slides.  Both the paper and the slides are in Adobe Acrobat format.  The paper can be viewed by clicking the file Saspin_Mar2000_Gilb_Paper.pdf (66 KB) and the slides can be viewed by clicking the file Saspin_Mar2000_Gilb_Slides.pdf (252 KB). 

  If you don’t already have the Acrobat Reader click on the image to the left to download the latest version free.

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February 9, 2000

"Critical Chain Project Management -
The Next Big Thing?"

Presented by

Bob Futrell 

An independent consultant for Project Management Systems

Ever since Eliyahu Goldratt's landmark book "The Goal" appeared in 1984, the concepts of the theory of constraints have been evolving into a controversial approach to managing the critical chain of events that pace every project. In his follow-on books "Theory of Constraints" (1990) and "Critical Chain" (1997), Goldratt expands the concepts further. Others, such as Robert Newbold ("Project Management in the Fast Lane - Applying the Theory of Constraints", 1998) have interpreted Goldratt's ideas and formed them into some practical approaches that seem to make sense for managing projects in today's environment. This presentation briefly introduced the concepts of critical chain project management compared to "standard" project management, and presented some of the issues surrounding this different approach to managing schedules.

You can contact Bob Futrell at (512) 833-8276, futrell@acm.org, or
P.O. Box 200148, Austin, TX 78720-0148.

Bob Futrell's has graciously granted us permission to place a copy of his briefing on the web site so SASPIN members may review the slides.  The briefing slides in the Adobe Acrobat format can be viewed by clicking the file  Saspin_Feb2000_Futrell.pdf (399 KB).  

  If you don’t already have the Acrobat Reader click on the image to the left to download the latest version free.

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January 12, 2000

"Disciplined Software Testing Practices"

Presented by

Dr. Magdy Hanna 

International Institute for Software Testing

If we are going to call ourselves "test engineers" we better know what the term means.  Software testing must be treated as a disciplined process not as an ad hoc activity. In this presentation, Dr. Hanna addressed what testing professionals must do to make software testing a recognized profession and to improve the image of the testing organization.  Specifically, Dr. Hanna highlighted the challenges facing testing organizations and the skills needed by testing professionals to meet those challenges. He presented the Ten Essential Software Testing Practices that every testing organization and every testing professional must always exploit in order to establish a more disciplined testing profession.  Dr. Hanna concluded with a discussion on the requirements for the Certified Software Testing Professional program.

You can contact Dr. Hanna at mhanna@softdim.com , (651) 552-0791 or view his web site at www.softdim.com .  

Andy Boyd has graciously granted us permission to place a copy of his briefing on the web site so SASPIN members may review the slides.  The briefing slides in the Adobe Acrobat format can be viewed by clicking the file  saspin_Nov99_boyd.pdf (114 KB).  

Randy Folck has graciously granted us permission to place a copy of his briefing on the web site so SASPIN members may review the slides.  The briefing slides in the Adobe Acrobat format can be viewed by clicking the file  saspin_Oct99_folck.pdf (216 KB).  

 Webmaster’s Reminder:  The briefing is copyrighted.  Please handle accordingly so we can get other individuals that present to the SASPIN to allow us the same permission to post their slides.

• what does good software quality cost?

• what does poor software quality cost?

• what is the difference (by CMM level) ?

• how do process improvement costs/benefits get measured?

During his presentation, Herb Krasner explained the Cost of Software Quality (CoSQ) which is a simple model and measurement technique that enables our understanding of the economic tradeoffs involved in developing, delivering and supporting high quality software.  Although its use offers much promise, it has seen only a few implementations by the software community to date.  With regard to process improvement, CoSQ has been shown to be a useful technique for justifying and tracking the costs/benefits of an SPI program.  This presentation discusses the context, rationale and definition of CoSQ, as well as, implementation issues.  Benchmark examples from Honewell BSCE and Ratheon Electronic Systems, two of the industry leaders were presented.  The relationship of CoSQ to the CMM-ladder was also discussed.

Herb Krasner has graciously granted us permission to place a copy of his briefing on the web site so SASPIN members may review the slides.  The briefing slides in the Adobe Acrobat format can be viewed by clicking the file  saspin_Sep99_krasner2.pdf (92 KB).  

 Webmaster’s Reminder:  The briefing is copyrighted.  Please handle accordingly so we can get other individuals that present to the SASPIN to allow us the same permission to post their slides.