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2001
Book Article
Titel
A Practical Approach to Continuous Improvement in Software Engineering
Abstract
The software industry is undergoing dramatic changes that require the continuous evolution and improvement of the applied software engineering practices. Improvement initiatives must be driven by explicitly stated goals. They require specific management functions and an appropriate support infrastructure. Improvement processes must be tailored to the specific goals and characteristics of the given software organization. They should include methods for the stabilization of work practices, for gaining intellectual control over software development, and for sharing and reusing relevant knowledge and experience. Software organizations must also learn continuously about their improvement practices in order to further develop their improvement capabilities. This paper presents the principles and building blocks that are needed to establish continuous improvement in software organizations. The presented improvement approach is based on extensive experience from many industrial improvement programs.