Psp (Personal Software Process)
The Personal Software Process (PSP) is a structured approach for improving the process of software development. The PSP assists engineers and other such professionals in improving their performance by bringing discipline to the way they develop software. Based on the principles found in the Capability Maturity Model® (CMM) for Software, the PSP is applied by engineers as a guide to a disciplined approach to consistently develop high quality software products in a timely manner. Because much of the research and development cost of software is directly related to personnel costs, the experience, skills, and work habits of engineers mainly determine the results of the software development process. This relationship of the engineer to the results of the development process is the foundation on which PSP is based.
Competent work in most professions requires the disciplined use of established practices. PSP principles assert that creativity and performance are rarely compromised when discipline is introduced into the work place. In fact, PSP experts maintain that bringing discipline to the work place actually improves creativity and performance. The use of plans and procedures can bring order and efficiency to any job and can allow workers to concentrate on producing a superior product and/or service. Disciplined work minimizes wastes, errors, and inefficiencies, and, as a result, frees resources for more and better uses. Because software engineers are generally not taught to plan and track processes, and to measure quality, they usually do not record their work, and rarely measure software quality.
PSP training involves about 150 hours per engineer to complete the course. The extensive course goes beyond just "telling" engineers what to do, but rather "shows" them the appropriate principles to use and how to efficiently collect and analyze the resulting data. The PSP teacher explains to engineers how to manage the quality of their products and how to make reasonable commitments. The teacher also provides them with the data to justify their plans. The PSP can be applied to different pieces of the software development process, including small program development, rules and requirements definitions, document writing and editing, systems test procedures, and maintenance and enhancement of large software systems. The PSP has been verified to substantially improve the estimating and planning ability of engineers while strongly reducing product defects. While PSP training teaches a specific personal process, the real point of the training is to teach "process improvement" concepts and to emphasize to the engineer the value of a defined process. PSP-trained engineers are expected to assertively control and optimize their work processes by deciding what works for them and what does not work for them.
Because the PSP improves the way the engineer does his or her work, a new way of working in teams is also required. PSP training is most beneficial when followed up by the Team Software Process® (TSP). The TSP emphasizes the new skills and knowledge of the PSP-trained engineer in order to form an effective software development team. Team members use TSP at the beginning of each phase of a project and throughout the project in order to keep it under control.
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