Measuring the effectiveness of introducing new methods in the software development process

The paper is based upon a software process improvement experiment (PIE) under the auspices of the European Systems and Software Initiative (ESSI) being conducted at Israel Aircraft Industries. The objective of the PIE is the application of advanced requirements management and software testing methods and tools in order to improve software productivity and quality in a measurable way. This controlled experiment was initiated in April 1997 and is being performed on a large ongoing avionics upgrade project. The paper describes the methods and tools selected for the experiment, the systematic process for their selection, the process of their deployment within the context of the existing organizational culture, and the data selected for collection to demonstrate the process improvement quantitatively. It presents lessons learned that can be applied by organizations that are investing in software process improvement.