Personal Software Process
Encyclopedia
The Personal Software Process (PSP) is a structured software development process that is intended to help software engineers understand and improve their performance, by using a "disciplined, data-driven procedure". The PSP was created by Watts Humphrey
to apply the underlying principles of the Software Engineering Institute
’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model
(CMM) to the software development practices of a single developer. It claims to give software engineers the process skills necessary to work on a Team Software Process
(TSP) team.
"Personal Software Process" and "PSP" are registered service mark
s of the Carnegie Mellon University
. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/legal/index.cfm
PSP has been likened to applying Six Sigma
toward Software Development
. Mukesh Jain led large scale deployment of PSP/TSP in Microsoft
India. Within 6 months, more than 2/3 of the projects shipped were without any defects and 94% of the projects were delivered on time.
The goal of the PSP is to help developers produce zero-defect, quality products on schedule. Low-defect and zero defect products have become the reality for some developers and TSP teams, such as the Motorola division in Florida that achieved zero defects in over 18 projects through implementing PSP techniques.
Process
The input to PSP is the requirements; requirements document is completed and delivered to the engineer.
PSP0, PSP0.1 (Introduces process discipline and measurement)
PSP0 has 3 phases: planning, development (design, coding, test) and a post mortem.
A baseline is established of current process measuring: time spent on programming, faults injected/removed, size of a program.
In a post mortem, the engineer ensures all data for the projects has been properly recorded and analysed.
PSP0.1 advances the process by adding a coding standard, a size measurement and the development of a personal process improvement plan (PIP). In the PIP, the engineer records ideas for improving his own process.
PSP1, PSP1.1 (Introduces estimating and planning)
Based upon the baseline data collected in PSP0 and PSP0.1, the engineer estimates how large a new program will be and prepares a test report (PSP1).
Accumulated data from previous projects is used to estimate the total time.
Each new project will record the actual time spent.
This information is used for task and schedule planning and estimation (PSP1.1).
PSP2, PSP2.1 (Introduces quality management and design)
PSP2 adds two new phases: design review and code review. Defect prevention and removal are the focus at the PSP2. Engineers learn to evaluate and improve their process by measuring how long tasks take and the number of defects they inject and remove in each phase of development.
Engineers construct and use checklists for design and code reviews.
PSP2.1 introduces design specification and analysis techniques
(PSP3 is a legacy level that has been superseded by TSP.)
The PSP scripts provide expert-level guidance to following the process steps and they provide a framework for applying the PSP measures. The PSP has four core measures:
Applying standards to the process can ensure the data is precise and consistent.
Data is logged in forms, normally using a PSP software tool. The SEI has developed a PSP tool and there are also open source options available, such as Process Dashboard.
The key data collected in the PSP tool are time, defect, and size data – the time spent in each phase; when and where defects were injected, found, and fixed; and the size of the product parts. Software developers use many other measures that are derived from these three basic measures to understand and improve their performance. Derived measures include:
The PSP uses the PROxy-Based Estimation
(PROBE) method to improve a developer’s estimating skills for more accurate project planning. For project tracking, the PSP uses the earned value method.
The PSP also uses statistical techniques, such as correlation, linear regression, and standard deviation, to translate data into useful information for improving estimating, planning and quality. These statistical formulas are calculated by the PSP tool.
Using PSP process methods can help TSP teams to meet their schedule commitments and produce high quality software. For example, according to research by Watts Humphrey, a third of all software projects fail, but an SEI study on 20 TSP projects in 13 different organizations found that TSP teams missed their target schedules by an average of only six percent.
Successfully meeting schedule commitments can be attributed to using historical data to make more accurate estimates, so projects are based on realistic plans – and by using PSP quality methods, they produce low-defect software, which reduces time spent on removing defects in later phases, such as integration and acceptance testing.
.
Software engineering methods can be considered to vary from predictive through adaptive. The PSP is a predictive methodology, and Agile is considered adaptive, but despite their differences, the TSP/PSP and Agile share several concepts and approaches – particularly in regard to team organization. They both enable the team to:
Both Agile and the TSP/PSP share the idea of team members taking responsibility for their own work and working together to agree a realistic plan, creating an environment of trust and accountability. However, the TSP/PSP differs from Agile in its emphasis on documenting the process and its use of data for predicting and defining project schedules.
The PSP phase structure enables PSP developers to catch defects early. By catching defects early, the PSP can reduce the amount of time spent in later phases, such as Test.
The PSP theory is that it is more economical and effective to remove defects as close as possible to where and when they were injected, so software engineers are encouraged to conduct personal reviews for each phase of development. Therefore the PSP phase structure includes two review phases:
To do an effective review, you need to follow a structured review process. The PSP recommends using checklists to help developers to consistently follow an orderly procedure.
The PSP follows the premise that when people make mistakes, their errors are usually predictable, so PSP developers can personalize their checklists to target their own common errors. Software engineers are also expected to complete process improvement proposals, to identify areas of weakness in their current performance that they should target for improvement. Historical project data, which exposes where time is spent and defects introduced, help developers to identify areas to improve.
PSP developers are also expected to conduct personal reviews before their work undergoes a peer or team review.
The PSP Developer examination is based on PSP concepts found in the PSP Body of Knowledge. The SEI maintain a FAQ on certification.
Watts Humphrey
Watts S. Humphrey was an American software engineer, key thinker in the discipline of software engineering, and was often called the "Father of Software quality".- Biography :...
to apply the underlying principles of the Software Engineering Institute
Software Engineering Institute
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...
’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model
Capability Maturity Model
The Capability Maturity Model is a development model that was created after study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. This model became the foundation from which CMU created the Software Engineering Institute...
(CMM) to the software development practices of a single developer. It claims to give software engineers the process skills necessary to work on a Team Software Process
Team Software Process
In combination with the Personal Software Process , the Team Software Process provides a defined operational process framework that is designed to help teams of managers and engineers organize projects and produce software products that range in size of sizes beyond from small projects of several...
(TSP) team.
"Personal Software Process" and "PSP" are registered service mark
Service mark
A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in some countries, notably the United States, to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. Pat & TM Off" may be used...
s of the Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/legal/index.cfm
PSP has been likened to applying Six Sigma
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
toward Software Development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
. Mukesh Jain led large scale deployment of PSP/TSP in Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
India. Within 6 months, more than 2/3 of the projects shipped were without any defects and 94% of the projects were delivered on time.
Objectives
The PSP aims to provide software engineers with disciplined methods for improving personal software development processes. The PSP helps software engineers to:- Improve their estimating and planning skills.
- Make commitments they can keep.
- Manage the quality of their projects.
- Reduce the number of defects in their work.
The goal of the PSP is to help developers produce zero-defect, quality products on schedule. Low-defect and zero defect products have become the reality for some developers and TSP teams, such as the Motorola division in Florida that achieved zero defects in over 18 projects through implementing PSP techniques.
PSP Structure
PSP training follows an evolutionary improvement approach: an engineer learning to integrate the PSP into his or her process begins at the first level - PSP0 - and progresses in process maturity to the final level - PSP2.1. Each Level has detailed scripts, checklists and templates to guide the engineer through required steps and helps the engineer improve his own personal software process. Humphrey encourages proficient engineers to customise these scripts and templates as they gain an understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses.Process
The input to PSP is the requirements; requirements document is completed and delivered to the engineer.
PSP0, PSP0.1 (Introduces process discipline and measurement)
PSP0 has 3 phases: planning, development (design, coding, test) and a post mortem.
A baseline is established of current process measuring: time spent on programming, faults injected/removed, size of a program.
In a post mortem, the engineer ensures all data for the projects has been properly recorded and analysed.
PSP0.1 advances the process by adding a coding standard, a size measurement and the development of a personal process improvement plan (PIP). In the PIP, the engineer records ideas for improving his own process.
PSP1, PSP1.1 (Introduces estimating and planning)
Based upon the baseline data collected in PSP0 and PSP0.1, the engineer estimates how large a new program will be and prepares a test report (PSP1).
Accumulated data from previous projects is used to estimate the total time.
Each new project will record the actual time spent.
This information is used for task and schedule planning and estimation (PSP1.1).
PSP2, PSP2.1 (Introduces quality management and design)
PSP2 adds two new phases: design review and code review. Defect prevention and removal are the focus at the PSP2. Engineers learn to evaluate and improve their process by measuring how long tasks take and the number of defects they inject and remove in each phase of development.
Engineers construct and use checklists for design and code reviews.
PSP2.1 introduces design specification and analysis techniques
(PSP3 is a legacy level that has been superseded by TSP.)
The Importance of Data
One of the core aspects of the PSP is using historical data to analyze and improve process performance. PSP data collection is supported by four main elements:- Scripts
- Measures
- Standards
- Forms
The PSP scripts provide expert-level guidance to following the process steps and they provide a framework for applying the PSP measures. The PSP has four core measures:
- Size – the size measure for a product part, such as lines of code (LOC).
- Effort – the time required to complete a task, usually recorded in minutes.
- Quality – the number of defects in the product.
- Schedule – a measure of project progression, tracked against planned and actual completion dates.
Applying standards to the process can ensure the data is precise and consistent.
Data is logged in forms, normally using a PSP software tool. The SEI has developed a PSP tool and there are also open source options available, such as Process Dashboard.
The key data collected in the PSP tool are time, defect, and size data – the time spent in each phase; when and where defects were injected, found, and fixed; and the size of the product parts. Software developers use many other measures that are derived from these three basic measures to understand and improve their performance. Derived measures include:
- estimation accuracy (size/time)
- prediction intervals (size/time)
- time in phase distribution
- defect injection distribution
- defect removal distribution
- productivity
- reuse percentage
- cost performance index
- planned value
- earned value
- predicted earned value
- defect density
- defect density by phase
- defect removal rate by phase
- defect removal leverage
- review rates
- process yield
- phase yield
- failure cost of quality (COQ)
- appraisal COQ
- appraisal/failure COQ ratio
Planning and tracking
Logging time, defect, and size data is an essential part of planning and tracking PSP projects, as historical data is used to improve estimating accuracy.The PSP uses the PROxy-Based Estimation
Proxy-based estimating
PROxy-Based Estimating is an estimating process used in the Personal Software Process to estimate size and effort.Proxy Based Estimating , is the estimation method introduced by Watts Humphrey...
(PROBE) method to improve a developer’s estimating skills for more accurate project planning. For project tracking, the PSP uses the earned value method.
The PSP also uses statistical techniques, such as correlation, linear regression, and standard deviation, to translate data into useful information for improving estimating, planning and quality. These statistical formulas are calculated by the PSP tool.
Using the PSP
The PSP is intended to help a developer improve their personal process; therefore PSP developers are expected to continue adapting the process to ensure it meets their personal needs.PSP and the TSP
In practice, PSP skills are used in a TSP team environment. TSP teams consist of PSP-trained developers who volunteer for areas of project responsibility, so the project is managed by the team itself. Using personal data gathered using their PSP skills; the team makes the plans, the estimates, and controls the quality.Using PSP process methods can help TSP teams to meet their schedule commitments and produce high quality software. For example, according to research by Watts Humphrey, a third of all software projects fail, but an SEI study on 20 TSP projects in 13 different organizations found that TSP teams missed their target schedules by an average of only six percent.
Successfully meeting schedule commitments can be attributed to using historical data to make more accurate estimates, so projects are based on realistic plans – and by using PSP quality methods, they produce low-defect software, which reduces time spent on removing defects in later phases, such as integration and acceptance testing.
PSP and other methodologies
The PSP is a personal process that can be adapted to suit the needs of the individual developer. It is not specific to any programming or design methodology; therefore it can be used with different methodologies, including Agile software developmentAgile software development
Agile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams...
.
Software engineering methods can be considered to vary from predictive through adaptive. The PSP is a predictive methodology, and Agile is considered adaptive, but despite their differences, the TSP/PSP and Agile share several concepts and approaches – particularly in regard to team organization. They both enable the team to:
- Define their goals and standards.
- Estimate and schedule the work.
- Determine realistic and attainable schedules.
- Make plans and process improvements.
Both Agile and the TSP/PSP share the idea of team members taking responsibility for their own work and working together to agree a realistic plan, creating an environment of trust and accountability. However, the TSP/PSP differs from Agile in its emphasis on documenting the process and its use of data for predicting and defining project schedules.
Quality
High-quality software is the goal of the PSP, and quality is measured in terms of defects. For the PSP, a quality process should produce low-defect software that meets the user needs.The PSP phase structure enables PSP developers to catch defects early. By catching defects early, the PSP can reduce the amount of time spent in later phases, such as Test.
The PSP theory is that it is more economical and effective to remove defects as close as possible to where and when they were injected, so software engineers are encouraged to conduct personal reviews for each phase of development. Therefore the PSP phase structure includes two review phases:
- Design Review
- Code Review
To do an effective review, you need to follow a structured review process. The PSP recommends using checklists to help developers to consistently follow an orderly procedure.
The PSP follows the premise that when people make mistakes, their errors are usually predictable, so PSP developers can personalize their checklists to target their own common errors. Software engineers are also expected to complete process improvement proposals, to identify areas of weakness in their current performance that they should target for improvement. Historical project data, which exposes where time is spent and defects introduced, help developers to identify areas to improve.
PSP developers are also expected to conduct personal reviews before their work undergoes a peer or team review.
Certification
A certification covering PSP is offered by the SEI at Carnegie Mellon University. The steps to becoming an SEI-Certified PSP Developer are: learn the PSP; take the certification exam; maintain credentials.The PSP Developer examination is based on PSP concepts found in the PSP Body of Knowledge. The SEI maintain a FAQ on certification.
Publications
- PSP: A Self-Improvement Process for Software Engineers 2005
- Delivering Successful Projects with TSP(SM) and Six Sigma: A Practical Guide to Implementing Team Software Process, Mukesh Jain 2008
See also
- Team Software ProcessTeam Software ProcessIn combination with the Personal Software Process , the Team Software Process provides a defined operational process framework that is designed to help teams of managers and engineers organize projects and produce software products that range in size of sizes beyond from small projects of several...
(TSP) - Watts HumphreyWatts HumphreyWatts S. Humphrey was an American software engineer, key thinker in the discipline of software engineering, and was often called the "Father of Software quality".- Biography :...
- Capability Maturity Model IntegrationCapability Maturity Model IntegrationCapability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement approach whose goal is to help organizations improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization...
(CMMI) - Proxy-based estimatingProxy-based estimatingPROxy-Based Estimating is an estimating process used in the Personal Software Process to estimate size and effort.Proxy Based Estimating , is the estimation method introduced by Watts Humphrey...
(PROBE) - Software Engineering InstituteSoftware Engineering InstituteThe Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...
(SEI) - Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
- Agile software developmentAgile software developmentAgile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams...
External links
- PSP and TSP homepage
- "The Personal Software Process (PSP) Body of Knowledge" article from the Software Engineering InstituteSoftware Engineering InstituteThe Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...
at Carnegie Mellon - PSP Training
- Open-source PSP tool
- "Personal Quality Management with the Personal Software Process" article