Technology Change Management

a key process area for level 5: Optimizing

The purpose of Technology Change Management is to identify new technologies (i.e., tools, methods, and processes) and track them into the organization in an orderly manner.

Technology Change Management involves identifying, selecting, and evaluating new technologies, and incorporating effective technologies into the organization. The objective is to improve software quality, increase productivity, and decrease the cycle time for product development.

The organization establishes a group (such as a software engineering process group or a technology support group) that works with the software projects to introduce and evaluate new technologies and manage changes to existing technologies. Particular emphasis is placed on technology changes that are likely to improve the capability of the organization's standard software process (as described in the Organization Process Definition key process area).

By maintaining an awareness of software-related technology innovations and systematically evaluating and experimenting with them, the organization selects appropriate technologies to improve the quality of its software and the productivity of its software activities. Pilot efforts are performed to assess new and unproven technologies before they are incorporated into normal practice. With appropriate sponsorship of the organization's management, the selected technologies are incorporated into the organization's standard software process and current projects, as appropriate.

Changes to the organization's standard software process (as described in the Organization Process Definition key process area) and the projects' defined software processes (as described in the Integrated Software Management key process area) resulting from these technology changes are handled as described in the Process Change Management key process area.

Goals

Goal 1

Incorporation of technology changes are planned.

Goal 2

New technologies are evaluated to determine their effect on quality and productivity.

Goal 3

Appropriate new technologies are transferred into normal practice across the organization.

Commitment to perform

Commitment 1 -- The organization follows a written policy for improving its technology capability.

This policy typically specifies that:

Objectives for technology change management are established and documented.
A documented plan addresses the objectives for technology change management.

Commitment 2 -- Senior management sponsors the organization's activities for technology change management.

Senior management:

Helps to define a strategy that addresses the organization's goals for product quality, productivity, and cycle time for product development.
Helps to define a strategy that addresses the customer's and end users' needs and desires, as appropriate.
The end users referred to in these practices are the customer-designated end users or representatives of the end users.
Coordinates with the organization's managers in defining their goals and approaches for accomplishing the organization's strategy.
Makes a commitment to the effort for technology change management that is visible throughout the organization.
Establishes long-term plans and commitments for funding, staffing, and other resources.

Commitment 3 -- Senior management oversees the organization's technology change management activities.

Senior management:

Helps to establish policies for technology change management and reviews and approves these policies.
Allocates resources for technology change management activities.
Helps relate organizational strategies and objectives to strategies for technology change management.
Participates in establishing the plans for technology change management.
- Senior management coordinates requirements and issues for technology change management at all appropriate levels of the organization.
- Senior management coordinates with the organization's managers to secure the managers' and staff's support and participation.

Ability to perform

Ability 1 -- A group responsible for the organization's technology change management activities exists.

A group is the collection of departments, managers, and individuals who have responsibility for a set of tasks or activities. A group could vary from a single individual assigned part time, to several part-time individuals assigned from different departments, to several individuals dedicated full time. Considerations when implementing a group include assigned tasks or activities, the size of the project, the organizational structure, and the organizational culture. Some groups, such as the software quality assurance group, are focused on project activities, and others, such as the software engineering process group, are focused on organization-wide activities.

The group is either part of the group responsible for the organization's software process activities (e.g., software engineering process group) or its activities are closely coordinated with that group.
The group coordinates and helps to:
- explore potential areas for applying new technology;
- select and plan for new technologies;
- acquire, install, and customize new technologies;
- communicate and coordinate with related research and development activities within the organization; and
- communicate with the technology suppliers on problems and enhancements.

Ability 2 -- Adequate resources and funding are provided to establish and staff a group responsible for the organization's technology change management activities.

Experienced staff members with expertise in specialized areas are available to this group to help in evaluating, planning, and supporting initiatives for technology change management.
Examples of specialized areas include:
- workstations,
- computer hardware,
- software reuse,
- computer-aided software engineering (CASE) technology,
- software measurement,
- formal methods, and
- programming languages.
Tools to support technology change management are made available.
Examples of support tools include:
- workstations,
- database programs, and
- subscriptions to on-line technology databases.

Ability 3 -- Support exists for collecting and analyzing data needed to evaluate technology changes.

This support includes the ability to:

Record selected process and product data automatically.
Support data analysis.
Display selected data.
The results of data analysis are presented in formats that appropriately convey the information content, e.g., graphical displays.

Ability 4 -- Appropriate data on the software processes and software work products are available to support analyses performed to evaluate and select technology changes.

Examples of process and product data include:

resource expenditures and productivity by project, process stage, tools and methods used, program category, degree of program modification, etc.;
schedule time by project, process stage of each project, program category, program size, degree of program modification, etc.;
peer-review data, including defect data and review efficiencies;
defect data showing stage introduced, stage removed, type, cause, severity, and time and effort to fix;
change activity, including amount of code produced, amount of documentation produced, etc.;
data on the activities to fix defects, including the identification of the defects, the product version where the defect fix was implemented, and identification of defects introduced in implementing each defect fix; and
density of defects by project, product type, specific product, and specific subproduct (e.g., program modules).

Ability 5 -- Members of the group responsible for the organization's technology change management activities receive required training to perform these activities.

Examples of training include:

the organization's standard software process,
technology transfer and change management,
software process improvement,
tools and methods used by the organization,
analytical and support facilities available to the organization, and
principles of statistical quality control.

Refer to the Training Program key process area.

Activities performed

Activity 1 -- The organization develops and maintains a plan for technology change management.

This plan:

Covers the assigned responsibilities and resources required, including staff and tools.
Defines the long-term technical strategy for automating and improving the organization's standard software process and enhancing the organization's market position.
Identifies the procedures to be followed in performing the organization's technology change management activities.
Describes the approach for introducing new technologies to address specific needs of the organization and projects.
- Process areas that are potential areas for technology changes are identified.
- Approaches for identifying opportunities for technology changes are identified.
- The specific planned or candidate technologies are identified.
- Where appropriate, the life span for the planned technologies is estimated, from introduction to replacement.
- The make/buy tradeoff studies are documented.
- Approaches for assessing unproven candidate technologies are defined.
- The acquisition and installation procedures are defined.
- The initial training, continuing training, and consultation support are defined.
Undergoes peer review.
Refer to the Peer Reviews key process area.
Is reviewed by the affected managers.

Activity 2 -- The group responsible for the organization's technology change management activities works with the software projects in identifying areas of technology change.

This group:

Solicits suggestions for technology changes.
Identifies available new technologies that may be appropriate to the organization's and projects' needs.
- A periodic search is made to identify commercially available technologies that meet identified and anticipated needs.
- Systematic efforts are made to maintain awareness of leading relevant technical work and trends of new technologies.
- Systematic efforts are made to review the technologies used externally and to compare these technologies to those used within the organization.
- Areas where new technologies have been used successfully are identified, and data and documentation of experience with using them are collected and reviewed.
Evaluates new technologies to determine their applicability to the organization's and projects' current and future needs.

Activity 3 -- Software managers and technical staff are kept informed of new technologies.

Information on new technologies is disseminated as appropriate.
Information on advanced technologies already in use in parts of the organization is disseminated as appropriate.
Information on the status of technologies being transferred into the organization is disseminated as appropriate.

Activity 4 -- The group responsible for the organization's technology change management systematically analyzes the organization's standard software process to identify areas that need or could benefit from new technology.

This group:

Analyzes the organization's standard software process to determine areas where new technologies would be most helpful.
Identifies helpful technology changes and determines the economics of those changes.
Defines the relationship of the identified technology to the organization's standard software process.
Defines the expected outcomes of the technology change qualitatively and quantitatively, as appropriate.
Determines the need for piloting each potential technology change.
Determines the priority of the candidate new technologies.
Documents results of the analysis activities.

Activity 5 -- Technologies are selected and acquired for the organization and software projects according to a documented procedure.

This procedure typically specifies that:

Requests for the acquisition of new technologies are documented.
- Management approval is required for technologies with projected expenses above a predefined level.
Preliminary cost/benefit analyses are performed for the potential technology changes.
Predefined and approved selection criteria are used to identify the highest potential benefits.
Requirements and plans for the selected technology changes are defined and documented.
- Where practical, the expected life span and plans for replacement/upgrade are estimated.
- Where appropriate, tradeoff studies are performed, reviewed, and documented to determine whether the technology should be developed internally or procured externally.
- Where appropriate, the plan provides for installing the new technology on a pilot basis to determine its effectiveness and economic benefits.
- The requirements and plans are reviewed by the managers of the affected groups and the group responsible for technology change management activities.

Activity 6 -- Pilot efforts for improving technology are conducted, where appropriate, before a new technology is introduced into normal practice.

These pilot efforts are conducted to determine the feasibility and economics of untried or advanced technologies.
The plans for the pilot effort are documented.
- The plan covers the objectives, evaluation criteria, and activities for the pilot effort.
The plan for conducting the pilot effort is reviewed and approved by the managers of the affected groups.
Examples of affected groups include:
- software engineering (including all subgroups),
- software estimating,
- system engineering,
- system test,
- software quality assurance,
- software configuration management,
- contract management, and
- documentation support.
The group responsible for technology change management activities provides consultation and assistance to the project implementing the pilot effort.
The pilot effort is performed in an environment that is relevant to the development or maintenance environment.
The results of the pilot effort are collected, analyzed, and documented.
- Lessons learned and problems encountered during the effort are documented.
- The benefits and impacts of broader use in the organization are estimated. The uncertainty in these estimates is assessed.
- A decision is made whether to terminate the effort, proceed with broad-scale implementation of the technology, or replan and continue the pilot effort.

Activity 7 -- Appropriate new technologies are incorporated into the organization's standard software process according to a documented procedure.

Refer to Activity 1 of the Organization Process Definition key process area and Activity 5 of the Process Change Management key process area for practices covering changes to the organization's standard software process.

Activity 8 -- Appropriate new technologies are incorporated into the projects' defined software processes according to a documented procedure.

Refer to Activity 2 of the Integrated Software Management key process area for practices covering revision of the project's defined software process.

Measurement and analysis

Measurement 1 -- Measurements are made and used to determine the status of the organization's activities for technology change management.

Examples of measurements include:

the overall technology change activity, including number, type, and size of changes; and
the effect of implementing the technology change, compared to the goals.

Verifying implementation

Verification 1 -- The organization's activities for technology change management are reviewed with senior management on a periodic basis.

The primary purpose of periodic reviews by senior management is to provide awareness of, and insight into, software process activities at an appropriate level of abstraction and in a timely manner. The time between reviews should meet the needs of the organization and may be lengthy, as long as adequate mechanisms for exception reporting are available.

These reviews:

Summarize the activities for technology change management.
Identify needed strategy changes.
Result in the resolution of issues.
Result in the approval of revisions to the plans for technology change management, as appropriate.

Verification 2 -- The software quality assurance group reviews and/or audits the activities and work products for technology change management and reports the results.

Refer to the Software Quality Assurance key process area.

At a minimum, the reviews and/or audits verify:

The plans for technology change management.
The process for selecting, procuring, and installing new technologies.

[^^] Table of contents [->] Back one chapter [->] Forward one chapter