Pittsburgh, Pa., August 10, 2011—The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) announced today the keynote speakers for the upcoming Team Software Process (TSP) Symposium to be held September 19-22, 2011, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta. The three visionary thought-leaders in the field of software quality delivering keynotes are: Capers Jones, author, researcher, and leading authority on software quality, risks, and best practices; Michael Sapenter, vice president, Software Engineering & Integration Division (SEID), for CGI Federal, Technical Program Group; and Carl Wyrwa, director of quality, Beckman Coulter, Inc.

Designed to help attendees achieve A Dedication to Excellence, the keynote speakers as well as the technical session presenters will provide inspiration and guidance via real-world case studies on TSP progress and results and how TSP has helped them overcome organizational challenges and achieve heightened success.

• Capers Jones will speak to how software methods do not follow a one-size-fits-all approach. In his address, Jones will lead attendees through a method of evaluating the numerous software development methods based on quantitative data to show their current productivity and quality levels. Using current data as well as his personal experiences as a leading authority on software quality, Jones will discuss how TSP is one of the most successful development methods for complex systems due to its focus on quality and measurement. 
  
• Michael Sapenter will draw on his experiences as a vice president at CGI Federal and will discuss how the Accelerated Improvement Method (AIM) process appeared to provide the right set of people attributes to address individual estimating, planning, and discipline needs, as well as the integration and balance required for team communication and coordination. Sapenter will share how, with people at the center of the process and the AIM tool sets at their disposal, practitioners can estimate, plan, tailor, balance, and measure performance improvement. Most importantly, he will talk about how to address the improvements realized during implementation collectively during all phases of the development process. 
• Carl Wyrwa will relate from his experience as director of quality at Beckman Coulter that developing software for medical devices is a very challenging undertaking. The quality of the software must be extremely high to meet the demands of providing safe and effective products involved in the critical care of patients and to adhere to regulatory guidelines. Wyrwa will talk about the world of constant focus on the quality of the software being produced and constant oversight of the processes used to develop the software to ensure that there are no missing steps that might introduce regulatory compliance gaps. In his address, Wyrwa will share how with TSP in place, meeting these challenges is now becoming second nature to the team. He will guide attendees on how to focus much more on delivering full feature sets and innovative solutions to customers and the patients they care for. 

“The line-up of visionary keynote speakers is the perfect complement to the robust schedule of technical sessions that is designed to help symposium attendees achieve A Dedication to Excellence,” said Timothy Chick, TSP Symposium 2011 technical program chair. “The combination of their vision and inspiration, as well as tactical, applicable advice on how TSP can help practitioners overcome organizational challenges and achieve heightened success, will give attendees a valuable learning experience.”

Learn more about the TSP Symposium 2011 keynotes, technical session abstracts, tutorial offerings, and registration information at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/tspsymposium/2011.

About the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute
The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. The SEI helps organizations make measurable improvements in their software engineering capabilities by providing technical leadership to advance the practice of software engineering. For more information, visit the SEI website at http://www.sei.cmu.edu.