Chicago Software Process Improvement Network (C-SPIN)

Meeting - Wednesday, June 4, 2003

 

William Rainey Harper College, The Theatre Center of the Business and Social Science Center

(Known as the Auditorium and signed as Building J) Park in Parking Lot 4 or 5

Algonquin and Roselle Roads, Palatine, Illinois

 

“Applying Simulation Tools for Quantitative Management of

Software Process Improvement”

 Nancy S. Eickelmann, Ph.D. / Motorola Labs

Michael J. Crowley / Motorola, Inc.

 

Simulation is uniquely suited to analyzing software process changes. It is fast and inexpensive to model the baseline process and estimate the benefits of changing the software development process.  This talk will:

 

 

Examples of successful simulation of the software development process will be presented from industrial applications of the technology. One example will demonstrate activity-based costing as a method to generate the costs and benefits associated with a given software process improvement.

 

Dr. Nancy Eickelmann is currently a research scientist for Motorola Labs and a Six Sigma Black Belt.  She is leading three research initiatives; the Motorola software and system test process modeling and simulation research initiative, the Motorola ODC initiative (in collaborative with Dr. Barry Boehm), and a 4-year NASA initiative for risk-based analysis to minimize the cost of poor quality. Before joining Motorola, she was program manager at the NASA/WVU Software Research Laboratory, located at the NASA Independent Verification and Validation research facility. While there, she developed Return on Investment (ROI) risk-based financial models for software and IV&V projects that support quantifying ROI for multiple budget constraint scenarios and developed earned value technology to track software project cost and measure cost variance. She also provided leadership on the strategic planning committee, introducing SWOT methodology and external surveys to the process. Prior to joining NASA, she was a member of the Advanced Programs Research Group at MCC where she developed a measurement framework for guiding the decision-making process in architecture-based product line development.  Dr. Eickelmann began her research career as a member of the technical staff at Hughes Research Laboratory (HRL) in Malibu, California while completing her doctorate at the University of California, Irvine. She was named a Hughes Doctoral Fellow while working at HRL and received several research awards while working with Dr. Debra Richardson's Formal Methods and Software Testing Group at UCI. Dr. Eickelmann has 10 years of experience in software engineering research that have included international collaborations on research projects for defense systems, space station applications, space shuttle, and global software development. Dr. Eickelmann holds a B.S. Finance, M.B.A. Information and Decision Support, M.S. and Ph.D. Computer Science. Specific focus areas of her research agenda include:

 

 

Michael J. Crowley has been a software professional since 1972.  He is currently a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Motorola, Inc., having previously led a successful software development consultancy.  At Motorola he works in the Productivity and Quality Management organization within the Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector (CGISS), where he specializes in Data Driven Decision metrics, and simulation and modeling of the quality aspects of software development.  He is a Six Sigma Green Belt and is a Black Belt candidate to be awarded in July.  He is co-inventor of one U.S. patent, and co-inventor of six Motorola trade secrets, and consults with other Motorola sectors and organizations.

 

 

Agenda

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.       Networking (Refreshments courtesy of Group Atlantic, Inc.)

7:00 - 7:10 p.m.        Overview of C-SPIN and Introductions

7:10 - 8:10 p.m.        Presentation 

8:10 – 8:30 p.m.       Questions and Answers

 

C-SPIN is made possible through the efforts of its Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of: Fred Ballard, Nicole Bianco, Susan Bidwill, Kathy Brown, Steve Coffman, Alan Cohen, Susan Davidowski, Larry Dribin, Bob Ferguson, Ross Fraser, Bob Freer, George Gatsis, Donna Miller, Bob Pauwels, Scott Stribrny, and Lance Welter.

 

C-SPIN is a leadership forum for the free and open exchange of software process improvement experiences and practical ideas. We promote achieving higher levels of process maturity, software quality and mutual respect. Companies, academic institutions, government organizations and individuals are invited. There is no need to register before the meeting, but please check in at the

registration table. For more information regarding this meeting or C-SPIN, contact Bob Pauwels at pauwels@attbi.com. To receive future announcements electronically, send your e-mail address

(include name, address, company, phone) to ggatsis@fsc.follett.com.

 

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