Successful Software Process Improvement

This is probably the best book on software quality you can get. It is certainly the best of the ones the author has written, and all of Grady's work is top notch.You'll get a process framework, lots of metrics and examples, and alternative methods for establishing and maintaining a real software quality and process improvement program. In other words, this book delivers exactly what the title promises and more.

Five years after he wrote "Practical Software Metrics for Project Management and Process Improvement" Grady followed-up on the foundation he laid by showing how his metrics-based approach can be leveraged into a viable process improvement program. This book uses the TQM Plan-Do-Check-Act framework as the basis for process improvement. However, he goes deep into the issues and factors to give a complete approach to developing and managing a continuous improvement posture.Highlights of this book include:(1) The same story telling approach he successfully used in his first book. The conversational writing style and the logical sequence of the book makes it easy to read. Moreover, the real life examples add credibility and make the content practical instead of merely blue sky theory.(2) A complete survey of assessment methods, such as the CMM, Software Productivity Research's Software Quality and Productivity Assessment, and Hewlett-Packard's internal QUality Maturity System. The latter two are especially interesting because they are, in essence, balanced scorecards.(3) Business-oriented - the approach taken never strays from cost/benefit and ROI. The parts I especially liked included the chapter on software failure analysis (a personal interest), key lessons from adopting best practices, and moving past reasons not to succeed. In fact, if you get nothing else from this book the last part will make this book a worthwhile investment because he shows how to deal with the six most common excuses for not pursuing process improvement (or any other initiative for that matter).As in Grady's other books there is a wealth of metrics, data and examples. While this book is longer than his other books, it's still a manageable 314 pages and is highly readable. If you are involved with software process improvement initiatives this book should be on your short list.

The only book I've seen about process improvement that backs up the story with real data. Useful examples can tune up your software organization with lessons learned the easy way - from a book!