Processes

I've been thinking about software development processes recently. I've actually been interested in them for quite a while. While at Andersen Consulting, I worked on an applied research process where we applied some of the latest object-oriented techniques on projects for a defense contractor. Those processes later became the object track for Andersen's Method/1.

Since then, I've applied both Extreme Programming and the Rational Unified Process to various projects. I've also worked on a very large-scale project where we followed a "homegrown" process influenced by the company's product development processes. This process is very much a waterfall process. As I said, the project is large, and in my experience, the larger the project, the harder it is to apply newer, less rigid processes.

But like any waterfall processes, it has its weaknesses. Because requirements must be specified up front, they often arrive late in the cycle and are rarely as complete as we'd like them to be. Because requirements are late, we struggle to complete designs in time for a thorough review. Because we rush through design reviews, we struggle with defects after the code is written. Although we test pretty thoroughly, the system is complex and we've introduced a lot of "hidden" defects into production. The burden of bringing those production defects under control is what's currently on my mind.

We have a team of about 30 people working on production support. The team does a great job of responding to problems quickly, but it's a thankless job. We're keeping our heads above water, but just barely. Our fix rate is just slightly larger than our incoming defect rate.

So I've decided to give Scrum a try. Scrum is a process, not a methodology. Based on process control techniques, it is almost more a philosophy than a process. With Scrum, software is developed by relatively small teams in 30-day sprints. The team controls what they develop, how they develop, and when they develop. This isn't the ideal scenario for Scrum. I'm not talking about a product development activity, I'm talking about software maintenance. I'll also have an up-hill battle to get our leadership team to accept this "untried" process.

I'll post updates as we make progress.

Jeff