Food for Thought - An e-newsletter published by Software Quality Consulting
March 2011, Vol. 8 No. 2 
Achieving Balance 

What topics would you like to see in this newsletter?  Each month, this
newsletter tries to provide you with useful information.  This is a two-way
street and your feedback is important.  Please send your thoughts and comments
to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Food for Thought(TM), an e-newsletter from Software Quality
Consulting (http://www.swqual.com/index.html?Intro). I've created free
aubscriptions for my valued business contacts. If you find this newsletter
informative, I encourage you to continue reading. Feel free to pass this
newsletter along to colleagues by clicking on the Forward Email link at the
bottom of this email. If you�ve received this newsletter from a colleague and
would like to subscribe, please click this Enter New Subscription link
(http://www.swqual.com/e_newsletter.html). If you don't wish to receive this
newsletter, click the SafeUnSubscribe(TM) link at the bottom of this newsletter,
and you won�t be bothered again.

Your continued feedback on this newsletter is most welcome. Please send 
your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** In This Issue ***

In This Month's Topic, I discuss balancing process and agility...

Regular features to look for each month are: 

- Monthly Morsels
  Hints, tips, techniques and reference info related to this month�s topic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** This Month�s Topic ***

ACHIEVING BALANCE

Achieving balance is an important aspect of success both personally and 
professionally. On a personal level, many people struggle with achieving a 
reasonable �work-life� balance � a balance between an individual�s work 
and personal responsibilities. 

Over the past 25 years, the workplace has become increasingly competitive. 
Businesses are reporting huge profits and increases in productivity 
without noticeable increase in payroll. Simply working hard is not enough 
anymore, especially in this economy where a seventy-hour workweek has 
become the norm. American workers spend on average twelve weeks more each 
year at work than their European counterparts do. What little time is left 
is sprinkled between family and sleep.

The availability of smart phones and high-speed internet connections has 
resulted in many people bringing work home and on vacation. All of this 
can result in increased stress and burnout.

Some companies have begun to recognize that employee performance and 
loyalty improves when workers achieve a more reasonable work-life balance. 
These companies help employees by providing amenities such as on-site day 
care, extended childcare leave, family leave for caring for elderly 
parents, and working from home options.

TIPS FOR ACHIEVING WORK-LIFE BALANCE FROM THE MAYO CLINIC

The Mayo Clinic [1] has identified several things you can do to help 
achieve a healthy work-life balance. These include:

- Track your time. Track everything you do for one week, including 
  work-related and personal activities. Decide what's necessary and what 
  satisfies you the most. Cut or delegate activities you don't enjoy or 
  can't handle � or share your concerns and possible solutions with your 
  employer or others.

- Take advantage of your options. Ask your employer about flex hours, a 
  compressed workweek, job sharing, telecommuting or other scheduling 
  flexibility. The more control you have over your hours, the less 
  stressed you're likely to be.

- Learn to say no. Whether it's a co-worker asking you to spearhead an 
  extra project or your child's teacher asking you to manage the class 
  play, remember that it's OK to respectfully say no. When you quit doing 
  the things you do only out of guilt or a false sense of obligation, 
  you'll make more room in your life for the activities that are 
  meaningful to you and bring you joy.

- Leave work at work. With the technology to connect to anyone at any time 
  from virtually anywhere, there may be no boundary between work and home 
  � unless you create it. Make a conscious decision to separate work time 
  from personal time. When you're with your family, for instance, turn off 
  your cell phone and put away your laptop computer.

- Manage your time. Organize household tasks efficiently, such as running 
  errands in batches or doing a load of laundry every day, rather than 
  saving it all for your day off. Put family events on a weekly family 
  calendar and keep a daily to-do list. Do what needs to be done and let 
  the rest go. Limit time-consuming misunderstandings by communicating 
  clearly and listening carefully. Take notes if necessary.

- Bolster your support system. At work, join forces with co-workers who 
  can cover for you � and vice versa � when family conflicts arise. At 
  home, enlist trusted friends and loved ones to pitch in with childcare 
  or household responsibilities when you need to work overtime or travel.

- Nurture yourself. Eat healthy foods, include physical activity in your 
  daily routine and get enough sleep. Set aside time each day for an 
  activity that you enjoy, such as practicing yoga or reading. Better yet, 
  discover activities you can do with your partner, family or friends � 
  such as hiking, dancing or taking cooking classes.

BALANCING PROCESS AND AGILITY

Software development teams often struggle with the issue of balance � 
specifically, achieving an appropriate balance between formal process and 
agility - the ability to adapt to change quickly. 

  Read more about agile with a lowercase �a�.
  (http://www.swqual.com/images/FoodforThought_Mar2008.pdf)

To be successful, every project needs some level of formally defined 
process. Without any process, there is chaos. With too much formal 
process, project teams spend too much time on activities and tasks that 
may not provide value to customers or the business. 

Every project also needs to be able to respond to changes in the 
marketplace quickly and adeptly. Companies that can do this are better 
able to handle evolving customer demands in a highly competitive global 
economy. 

The challenge for software development teams is to find a reasonable and 
appropriate balance between formal process and the need for agility. 
Ideally, what you want is Just Enough Process. This represents the least 
amount of formal process required to provide confidence to management that 
the work products will have the required attributes appropriate for your 
customers and the marketplace in general. 

JUST ENOUGH PROCESS 

In order to achieve Just Enough Process, organizations need to examine 
their software development process. Identify areas where it can be 
trimmed, if it is too heavy, or beefed up, if it is too lean. Using the 
Seven Principles of Lean Software Development [2] can help. These 
principles include: 

- Principle 1 - Eliminate Waste

  From a lean perspective, waste is defined as anything that doesn�t add 
  value. For software development, I define waste as anything that doesn�t 
  help the project team meet the needs of customers from the perspective 
  of features, quality and schedule.

- Principle 2 - Build Quality In

  Build Quality In means getting it right the first time and focusing on 
  what it is that provides value to your customers. One way to do this is 
  to identify defects in requirements. Focusing attention on requirements 
  by removing ambiguity can help get it right the first time.

  Learn more about writing better requirements...
  (http://www.swqual.com/training_mission_best_practices.html)

  Finding defects early requires an effective peer review process. If your 
  peer reviews are ineffective, perhaps you should look at ways to improve 
  the effectiveness of this critical tool.

  Learn more about peer reviews and inspections...
  (http://www.swqual.com/training_mission_peer_reviews.html)

- Principle 3 - Create Knowledge

  Creating knowledge is all about learning and sharing information. For 
  software development, this can be done by:

  - Releasing small subsets of key features early for review and 
    Evaluation

  - Performing daily builds and running smoke tests against each build, 
    rejecting those where not all tests pass.

  - Using modular architecture to enable new features to be added more 
    easily
  
  �It is important to have a development process that encourages 
  systematic learning throughout the development cycle, but we also need 
  to systematically improve that development process.� [2]

- Principle 4 - Defer Commitments

  The principle here is that the more information we have, the better able 
  we are to make an informed decision. By deferring decisions until the 
  last possible moment, you have the most information available to make 
  that decision.

- Principle 5 - Deliver Fast

  �Companies that compete on the basis of time have a huge advantage over 
  their competitors: they have eliminated a huge amount of waste and waste 
  costs money.� [2]

  Predictable organizations can usually deliver fast. To become 
  predictable, organizations need to define what Just Enough Process means 
  for them and then follow that process every time.

- Principle 6 - Respect People

  As a manager, you need to trust your people to make good decisions. You 
  can�t undermine them and you can�t think for them. 

- Principle 7 - Optimize the Whole

  When we look at software development practices, we often tend to 
  micromanage and focus on the parts rather than the whole. To improve 
  software development, we need to take a holistic view and focus on the 
  whole process, not just the parts.

  One good way to do this is via a Project Retrospective. This activity 
  can help identify where problems are and how they can be addressed from 
  a holistic perspective...

  Learn more about Project Retrospectives...
  (http://www.swqual.com/training_mission_retro.html)

Once you have examined your development process using the Seven 
Principles, the next step is to identify changes that will help move your 
organization closer to achieving Just Enough Process. 

How will you know when you�re in the sweet spot? The only way to know is 
to try the new process on a small pilot project. Collect a few critical 
measures as you go through this project so you can compare results to 
previous projects. Some examples might include:

  Pre-release Metrics

    Requirements Stability
    - How many requirements are there?
    - How many requirements have changed?
    - What percentage of all requirements has changed?
    - Is the trend increasing or decreasing?

    Code Stability
    - How many code modules are there?
    - How many code modules have changed?
    - What percentage of code modules changed?
    - What percentage of code modules changed in last build?
    - What percentage of code modules changed last period?
    - Is the trend increasing or decreasing?

    Review Effectiveness
    - How many defects were found past the point they were introduced 
      (i.e., were not found in a review) as a percentage of all known 
      defects?
    - What percentage of people come to peer reviews prepared?

  Post-release Metric

    Defect Removal Efficiency [3]
 
    This measures how effective your tests are at finding defects that 
    your customers are likely to find based on actual use by customers for 
    a defined time period.
 
    Count the number of defects found during your normal development and 
    testing process and then divide that by that same number PLUS those 
    defects reported by customers during some predefined usage period... 

    Total defects we find
    -----------------------------------------
    Total we find + Customer reported defects

    Most shrink-wrap software has a Defect Removal Efficiency of between 
    70-80%. Best-in-class companies have defect removal efficiencies of 
    99.5% or higher. The higher the defect removal efficiency metric, the 
    better your test cases are at finding those defects that customers are 
    likely to find. 

WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

The point of the pilot project is to assess whether you have achieved Just 
Enough Process. One of the best ways to do this is with a Project 
Retrospective. The retrospective can help identify areas where further 
changes in the balance between process and agility are needed.

Going forward, you need to be continually tweaking your process based on 
measures you�ve defined and results from Project Retrospectives. 

IN SUMMARY...

If your stress level is high, work on achieving a better balance between 
your work and personal responsibilities. The tips from the Mayo Clinic can 
help you do this. Consider joining or starting a support group in your 
company to find ways to cope. Your Human Resources Dept. may have 
additional programs that can help as well.

Similarly, project teams need to find a balance between process and 
agility. The Seven Principles can help you find the sweet spot of Just 
Enough Process. A Project Retrospective is an excellent tool for assessing 
whether you have achieved balance. 

�till next time...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Monthly Morsels ***

Every month in this space, you�ll find additional information related to 
this month�s topic.

- Mayo Clinic, Strike a better work-life balance.
  (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/work-life-balance/WL00056/NSECTIONGROUP=2)

- Poppendieck, M. and Poppendieck, T., Implementing Lean Software 
  Development - From Concept to Cash, Addison-Wesley, 2007.

- Jones, C., �Software Defect Removal Efficiency�, IEEE Computer, April 
  1996.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** About SQC ***

Software Quality Consulting provides consulting, training, and auditing 
services tailored to meet the specific needs of clients. We help clients 
fine-tune their software development processes and improve the quality of 
their software products. The overall goal is to help clients achieve 
Predictable Software Development(TM) � so that organizations can consistently 
deliver quality software with promised features in the promised timeframe. 

To learn more about how we can help your organization, visit our web site
(http://www.swqual.com/index.html?AboutSQC) or send us an email
([email protected]).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Food for Thought, Predictable Software Development, Act Like a Customer,
and ALAC are trademarks of Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
Copyright 2011. Software Quality Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.
Graphic design by Sarah Cole Design.