Process improvement meets 'Peopleware'

People are the key asset of any organization

by MARY SAKRY

If you have heard Timothy Lister speak, you can better understand my enthusiasm for his work. This issue I would like to talk about how important "Peopleware" concepts can be to your process improvement efforts.

This article will quote heavily from authors Lister and Tom DeMarco. All quotations are straight from "Peopleware."

Determinants of process improvement success

When we think of process improvement, we must consider the balance of three components: process, people, and tools. All three of these components play an important role in determining how successful the process improvement results are.

We need good processes to accomplish our software development and maintenance with the appropriate tools to support these processes while realizing that it is people that do the work and use those processes, methods and tools. Therefore, ultimately people are responsible for the success or failure of the improvement effort.

Lister knows how to drive home the importance of the people who create software better than anyone else. He always maintains a level of wit that makes his important message palatable yet ensures that his message hits the mark.

As you work on your process improvement issues it is important to keep this element in mind. Most SEI Level 12 findings are behavioral in nature, and organizations can do well by paying close attention to his message.

"Peopleware" in a nutshell

Here I state several points made in "Peopleware." My intent is to tell you just enough so that you will read the book yourself. So I won't give much detail.

The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature.

"We're all under a lot of pressure to improve productivity. The problem is no longer susceptible to easy solutions, because all the easy solutions were thought of and applied long ago. Yet some organizations are doing a lot better than others." Several helpful ideas to improve productivity are offered.

The authors examine the office environment and what can be done to enable higher productivity.

"The manager's function is not to make people work but to make it possible for people to work."

The book tells us how to: "get the right people, make them happy so they don't want to leave, and then turn them loose."

What's in the foreground of most of our prized work memories is team interaction. When a group of people fuse into a meaningful whole, the entire character of the work changes."

"In the best work groups, the ones in which people have the most fun and perform at their upper limits, team interactions are everything. They are the reason that people stick it out, put their all into work [and] overcome enormous obstacles." Lister and DeMarco present some good ideas on how to grow and maintain productive teams.

Finally they leave us with the notion that work should be fun. "We need people to recognize the occasions when they are being asked to do something silly -- and actually say so. Once it's been said out loud, (the organization) can't ignore it any longer."

What does all this mean in relation to process improvement? And why should you care?

First of all, some of you may have had a process assessment, and if you have, you may have been surprised that so many people-oriented issues surfaced. If you have not used an assessment as the basis of your process improvement, then you should be advised that you may have missed some critical issues that are people-related.

No matter how you have set up your improvement program, you must deal with these issues as they are foundations for the improvement work to follow. For example: If people are expected to complete projects based on unrealistic schedules estimates or work in an environment that allows continual interruptions, then to think that they will be able to make meaningful process improvements may be unreasonable.

As a rule, people enjoy working on process improvement as long as it is not seen as an additional burden to an already hectic schedule. When people are dedicated to process improvement, it should be considered part of their job and time must be allocated for the effort.

Keep the software people happy

Be sure to keep a balanced emphasis on people, process, and technology.

If, during your efforts, you are unable to help people solve their real problems or are unable to convince them that you can help them solve their real problems, your effort will fail. Remember, the software professionals are your customers and you want to keep them happy.