Team Software Process

A Performance Framework for Software Development

What is Team Software Process? TSP is an operational, “how-to”

Team Software Process (TSP) guides implementation of the principles and best
Are your software projects
engineering teams that are developing practices that the SEI has advocated since
often late and over its inception. TSP also includes many
software-intensive products. Using TSP
budget? helps organizations establish a mature and concepts that have not been implemented in
disciplined engineering practice that other engineering methods, including
TSP provides a proven produces secure, reliable software in less self-directed team management
time and at lower costs. an integrated measurement framework
method that helps you
a comprehensive, pre-test quality
plan, evaluate, manage, TSP has been applied in small and large management system
and control your work. organizations in a variety of domains with
a coaching model
similar results on first use, including
a team-focused strategy for rapid
productivity improvements of 25% or deployment
more
a complete, operational process
reductions in cost and schedule supported by training and tools
variance to less than +/- 10%
testing costs and schedule reductions
Why focus on teams?
of up to 80%
The performance of large software projects
often hinges on the performance of a team
Why is TSP needed? or even an individual. If they deliver late or
Software underlies advances in many areas, provide a defective part, it can delay the
including medicine, science, weapons entire project and impact the quality of the
systems, and commerce. Software larger system. In software engineering,
technology has advanced at an incredible where so many system components are
pace, but the ability to manage software delivered late or are of poor quality, this is
development and the quality of the a pervasive problem.
software produced has not kept pace.
The best strategy for improvement is to
The software industry is the only high-tech focus on individual and team performance.
industry that relies on testing to address This strategy produces direct and
quality and reliability issues. This is a measurable results, a faster return on
strategy that cannot work, as evidenced by investment, and provides a more flexible,
increases in serious system failures and tactical approach to improvement.
software security and safety issues.
This is the essence of TSP, to improve
TSP reduces the number of post-release performance from the bottom up, by
defects by 80% or more, so systems working with individual developers and
produced with TSP are more reliable and project teams.
less likely to have latent defects that lead to
these serious concerns.
Team Software Process
A Performance Framework for Software Development

What impact is TSP having on Improvements in quality Organizations usually begin with the TSP
software development? The most significant improvements Executive Strategy Seminar, a one-day
The SEI has published three technical reported with TSP were improvements class for top management. Next, a three-
reports on the results of using TSP. The related to software quality. Most software day session for project managers or team
first, published in 20001, summarized development projects still rely heavily on leaders: Leading Development Teams.
results from 12 projects in 4 organizations:
testing to find and fix defects, leading to Finally, a five-day class for software
Teradyne, Boeing, Hill AFB, and AIS. The two problems. First, the cost of removing developers, PSP Fundamentals, and a
second, published in 20032, summarized defects in test is one to two orders of three-day class for other team members,
results from over 30 projects in 13 magnitude greater than the cost of TSP Team Member Training are taken.
organizations. The third report, published removing defects in formal review or
in 20093, summarized results from inspection. Second, the effectiveness or Once these courses have been completed,
Mexico’s National TSP Initiative. yield of most testing processes is only the project teams are ready to use TSP.
around 50% or less. This means when large This can usually be accomplished in about
With very few exceptions, these reports numbers of defects are found during a month.
and independent reports published in testing, a large number of defects are also
STSC’s Crosstalk and IEEE Software show likely to escape into the released products. Once the projects are underway, the
a consistent pattern of real, dramatic, training and launching of additional
quantitative benefits from using TSP. TSP uses reviews and inspections for all projects and teams can begin. SEI also
artifacts produced by the team, guided by provides advanced training courses, TSP
Improvements in cost and schedule historical data on defect type and density. Coach Training and PSP Instructor
Delivering projects on time and within This reduces rework and lowers test costs Training, for organizations that want to
budget is critically important. Studies of and overall development costs by 30% or develop the internal capability required to
TSP projects showed that variance in cost more. train and implement TSP on their own.
and schedule improved from overruns
mostly in the +20% to +70% range to a TSP also reduces the number of post- Who is using TSP?
more balanced range of -20% to + 20%. release defects by 80%. The number of A growing number of industry
For most projects the cost and schedule post-release defects per thousand lines of organizations are using TSP, including
variance was less than 10%. new or modified code is typically below Microsoft, Oracle, Intuit, Adobe, EDS,
0.25, and many projects have reported zero FujiFilm, Toshiba, HitachiSoft, Softtek,
Improvements in productivity defects found after user acceptance testing. and IBM. Government software
A minimum 25% to 30% improvement in organizations using TSP include NAVAIR,
productivity was achieved on nearly all How do you get started with TSP? NAVOCEANO, Hill AFB, and JSOC.
projects, and several projects reported The SEI provides the training and tools
much higher results. organizations need to implement TSP, and For More Information
an implementation strategy designed to To learn more, please contact
Customer Relations
make TSP deployment faster and easier. Phone: 412-268-5800
1 FAX: 412-268-6257
The Team Software Process: An Overview and
Preliminary Results of Using Disciplined Implementation on a project-by-project [email protected]
www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp
Practices, CMU/SEI-2000-TR-015. basis is recommended, and training is the
2 first step. A top-down approach is usually
The Team Software Process in Practice: A For Course Registration
Summary of Recent Results, CMU/SEI-2003-
most effective, starting with training for www.sei.cmu.edu/products/courses/
TR-014. management followed by training for
engineers and those in support functions.
3
Deploying TSP on a National Scale: An
Experience Report from Pilot Projects in
Mexico, CMU/SEI-2009-TR-011.
9/13/2010 The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and
development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated
by Carnegie Mellon University.