TSP Coach Training

This five-day course prepares students to launch and coach effective Team Software Process (TSP) teams. The course covers the key concepts and principles of the TSP from an operational/procedural perspective. Students are guided through a series of lectures and exercises that teach them the TSP process and prepare them to facilitate the use of the TSP process on actual software teams.

All SEI TSP coaches must be sponsored under a license agreement between Carnegie Mellon University and a SEI Partner for the TSP Product Suite.

The TSP was designed to provide both a strategy and a set of operational procedures using disciplined software process methods at the individual and team levels. At the individual level, the Personal Software Process (PSP) shows managers and engineers how and why to plan and track their projects, demonstrates the principles and benefits of effective quality management, and involves the engineers in process measurement, management, and improvement. At the team level, the TSP builds accurate, achievable plans for software projects teams, provides a formal team-building process, and provides the mechanism for tracking progress against project plans.

Who should attend?

• potential TSP coaches and team leaders
• third-party vendors who want to provide TSP training and coaching to their clients

Topics

• the rationale and process foundations for the TSP
• preparing for and conducting the TSP launch process
• coaching teams as they run their TSP project
• using TSP data
• facilitating effective team-building methods and team dynamics
• using appropriate tools for the TSP
• handling common problems associated with software teams
• transitioning the TSP into the organization

Objectives

• the rationale and conceptual foundations of the TSP process
• how to set up and conduct a TSP launch, relaunch, or checkpoint
• how to recognize and effectively address common problems that occur in TSP launches
• how to use tools that support the launch process
• how to coach a TSP team between launches and checkpoints
• how to tailor the TSP process to fit the team, organization, and project
• the coach's rights and obligations under the TSP Product Suite agreement

Prerequisites

To become a provisional TSP coach, a candidate must

• complete the PSP for Engineers course or PSP Fundamentals and Advanced, from either the SEI or from an SEI-authorized PSP Instructor, or successfully complete the PSP course from an accredited university.
  • For those students who have taken PSP for Engineers from a SEI-authorized instructor or a PSP course from an accredited university, please note: the coach candidate must submit their student data to the SEI 60 days in advance of the TSP Coach Training course for screening.
• be recommended by your PSP course instructor
• be an SEI-Certified PSP Developer
• have signed the Code of Professional Conduct for SEI Services
• be sponsored by an SEI Partner for the TSP Product Suite
• successfully complete the TSP Coach Training course
• be proficient in both spoken and written English (only for TSP Coach Training courses offered by the SEI)

The candidate is expected to have

• a basic understanding of software engineering processes
• a working knowledge of project management
• a working knowledge of software quality management
• the ability to work effectively on a team

A provisional coach must complete the following mentor-guided activities to become an SEI-Certified TSP Coach:

• As a provisional coach, successfully complete at least one each of the following TSP events, under the guidance of a SEI-Certified TSP Mentor Coach, within 18 months of entering provisional coach status:
• TSP (Re)Launch
• TSP Checkpoint
• TSP Project or Cycle Postmortem
• Successfully complete the TSP Coach Certificate written exam

Participation in a TSP launch is recommended but not required. Details of TSP Coach certification are available at SEI Certification website.

After acceptance to the TSP Coach Training course, attendees receive a copy of the text TSP: Coaching Development Teams, along with a letter detailing the pre-course reading assignments. It is important that the assigned chapters are read before coming to the course.

REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

Students must bring with them the following portable computing equipment:

• Laptop computer with
• 500 megabytes or greater of free hard disk space
• Microsoft Office 2003, Service Pack 2 (or more recent)
• Zip file capability
• CD-ROM or memory stick
• a simple 4-function calculator

Please note: Beta versions of Microsoft Office products are not supported.

Materials

After acceptance to the TSP Coach Training course, attendees receive a copy of the text, TSP: Coaching Development Teams. During the class, students are given a student notebook, a launch notebook, handouts, and a Launch/Re-Launch Prep package.

Schedule

This week-long course meets at the following times:

Days 1-4, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Day 5, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.