TEAM Zarate Tarrani Notes From the Field

Process and Architecture. Kate and Linda have both written entries about process in one form or another during the past two days. I'm going to continue with documents that discuss aspects of process.

One interesting paper that blends software and system engineering processes and process improvement is titled Assessing the Rational Unified Process against ISO/IEC 15504-5: Information Technology Software Process Assessment Part 5. ISO/IEC 15504, also known as SPICE (Software Process Improvement Capability dEtermination) is a viable and popular assessment method, and part 5 of the document set specifically addresses the assessment model and provides indicator guidance. An FAA document titled Guidelines for Software Measurement (MS Word format) takes a different view of the subject and is more aligned with the Capability Maturity Model approach to assessment and process maturity. If you're trying to build a business case for implementing the CMM, a short MS Word document titled CMM Benefits contains a summary of the ROI achieved from implementing the CMM in a sampling of companies.

If your focus is architecture Model Driven Architecture provides a process approach to developing sound architectures. For teams that are working within the Rational Unified Process or employing key elements, such as unified modeling language, Using UML for Architecture Description is a worthwhile resource.

On the purely business side of IT processes IT Efficiency and Business Value and a companion document (both in PDF format), Principles of Effective IT Management give ideas and methods for IT operational process improvement and business/IT alignment.

What I'm Currently Reading. I'm working my way through a pile of books right now, but one stands out as excellent: Building Scalable and High-Performance Java Web Applications Using J2EE Technology by Greg Barish. First, let me assure you that I haven't been enticed to the dark side and am turning into a developer. That will never happen. What makes this book so interesting is the author's focus on scalability and performance, and his ability to clearly write about these two subjects. I have a pile of books on performance, capacity management and related topics and can attest that clear writing makes the difference between merely grasping concepts and achieving enlightenment. This book will enlighten. Linda just wrote her review of this book so I'll leave it to her to provide a more complete description of this book. I will say that you need not be a developer to gain a great deal of knowledge from it.