“The SEI is all about getting people to use the best practices, tools, and methods,” says Anita Carleton of the SEI technical staff. “Our focus is on practical application.”

To that end, Carleton and her colleagues on the SEI Team Software Process (TSP) team work with personnel at the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) to institutionalize the TSP methodology within NAVAIR. In 2006, the SEI and NAVAIR began a project to extend the use of TSP from software development to systems engineering and acquisition management.

NAVAIR, which develops, acquires, and supports the aircraft and related weapons systems used by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, was one of the first organizations to adopt TSP for improving its software development practices—others include Intuit, Microsoft, and Oracle. TSP has not only accelerated process improvement efforts at NAVAIR but has also led to a cost savings of $1.5 million to $2 million on several projects. In light of these results, it is natural for NAVAIR now to consider applying TSP practices more broadly.

TSP has not only accelerated process improvement efforts at NAVAIR but has also led to a cost savings of $1.5 million to $2 million on several projects. In light of these results, it is natural for NAVAIR now to consider applying TSP practices more broadly.

Carleton’s enthusiasm for TSP is rooted in her experiences as a software developer in industry in the 1980s. “I struggled with software issues that the SEI was then just beginning to identify,” she says. “During the early days of the SEI Process Program, when I interviewed with Watts Humphrey, I was excited to learn that the mission of the program aligned closely with my interests in applying quantitative methods for improving software development processes.”

A college mathematics major with a primary interest in software measurement, Carleton had always wondered why software developers lacked quantitative data on which to base decisions. At the SEI, she worked with Humphrey, an SEI fellow, who managed the Process Program at that time, and helped to define core measures for software development that later formed the basis of government policy for software development and acquisition. Concentrating now on TSP, says Carleton, is “a logical next step because TSP shows engineers exactly how to apply measurement practices. So I’m doing the work I always wanted to do.”

TSP team leader Jim Over is equally passionate about measurement and the benefits realized from the practical application of TSP. “In trying to do process improvement before,” he says, “you could talk to managers, but engineers would still work the same way they always did. TSP-trained engineers now have the tools to actually put improvement ideas into practice.”

Humphrey, Carleton, Over, SEI colleague Noopur Davis, and the NAVAIR team—Tim Chick, Dennis Linck, Linda Roush, Jeff Schwalb, and Paula Strawser—are conducting a series of pilot projects to determine if extending TSP practices to systems engineering and acquisition management results in measurable improvement. “The whole team is dedicated to making this all work for NAVAIR,” Carleton says.