Teaching the PSP: Challenges and Lessons Learned

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 2 / $ 1 7 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 2 I E E E to define, measure, and analyze your own processes.”1 The PSP adapts a continuous improvement model to the specific needs of an individual software developer who wants to be more productive and produce higher quality software. In particular, the PSP targets the process used to individually design and develop software and incorporates ways to measure and change the process to achieve higher quality and increased efficiency. Humphrey designed the complete PSP process as a semester-long university course for graduate students.1 A student or professional learning to integrate the PSP into his or her process begins at Level 0 and progresses in process maturity to Level 3 (see Figure 1). During the course, each student accumulates personal historical data to create estimates and measure improvement. Each level incorporates new skills and techniques to improve software quality into the student’s process and has detailed scripts, checklists, and templates to guide the student through the required steps. The measurement-based feedback in the PSP helps each student improve his or her own personal software process. Thus, Humphrey encourages customization of these scripts and templates as the students use this feedback to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. Students generally observe significant quality improvements as they progress through the four levels.2