In Praise of Microsoft- SEI partnering, Essential Unified Process, VSTS 2005 Enhancements, Engineer-to-Engineer Connection Program
Although I do a lot of complaining about Microsoft, much of the complaining I do gives me job security. In other words, as long as they keep falling short in some areas, someone is going to have to figure out how to fill in the gaps. It's kind of like the complaining of so many non-IT people I hear, "Why do computers never work right". If they did, I wouldn't have a job.
Some of the positive things I have seen Microsoft doing lately is reaching out for help in the areas they have been lacking.
One prominent areas is process. The MSF has been in dire need of structure since its inception. Here are a few things that shows MS has finally come to realize this.
New Collaboration Enables the Right Guidance
Partnering with SEI is one of the best things any organization can do. I just hope MS does not take lightly the difficulty in getting to the higher CMMI levels. Actually I should say, I hope the people using the CMMI MSF implementation do not take lightly the difficulty in getting to the higher CMMI levels. So far in my career I have seen a lot of firms and companies get their certifications by using Appraisers that deserve to have their license revoked for giving the certification. Institutionalization is not an easy or fast process. I have seen a company given a level 2 certification with only 6 weeks of work done on building the process, and they had never even used it. So how the heck could the process have been repeated enough to be institutionalized.
A lot of the offshore companies laying claim to being CMMI Maturity Level 5 are no where close. What a lot of firms in the US don't understand that chose to use them is that you only are given the level of service you are certified for. I trust the CMMI level 2 -3 offshore companies than I do the level 5 companies, because if you take a hard look level 5 off-shore companies are a dime a dozen, and most of them are no where close to level 2 much less level 5.
None of this is Microsoft's problem. Just like none of it is SEI's problem. It is just something to watch for since the CMMI MSF implementation is going to be so wide spread.
Another thing process related is that they brought in Ivar Jacobson to work on the Essential Unified Process (essUP). I Blogged on this here
My previous Blog contains links to some info on the topic. It seems we now have the UP (Unified Process), which grew to the RUP (Rational Unified Process), and now the BUP (Basic Unified Process) which = (UP + SCRUM) out there in the world of IBM and open source communities. I am assuming the Essential Unified Process (essUP) will be Microsoft's equivalent to the BUP.
Info on the BUP.
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices From RUP and BUP book coming soon.
VSTS 2005 is a pleasure to code with. The added Refactoring tools, snippets tools, and enhanced intellisense make coding fun. There are plenty of new tools for the Developer, Tester, and Project manager to take advantage of.
Although VSTS 2005 is still lacking any support for modeling Sparx Enterprise Architect has been a pleasure to work with, and makes up the difference.
We will have to see how effective the program is, but the Engineer-to-Engineer Connection Program will hopefully provide MS with some valuable information for their future releases of Team System. It is nice to see them going to such great lengths for feedback.
Some of the positive things I have seen Microsoft doing lately is reaching out for help in the areas they have been lacking.
One prominent areas is process. The MSF has been in dire need of structure since its inception. Here are a few things that shows MS has finally come to realize this.
New Collaboration Enables the Right Guidance
Partnering with SEI is one of the best things any organization can do. I just hope MS does not take lightly the difficulty in getting to the higher CMMI levels. Actually I should say, I hope the people using the CMMI MSF implementation do not take lightly the difficulty in getting to the higher CMMI levels. So far in my career I have seen a lot of firms and companies get their certifications by using Appraisers that deserve to have their license revoked for giving the certification. Institutionalization is not an easy or fast process. I have seen a company given a level 2 certification with only 6 weeks of work done on building the process, and they had never even used it. So how the heck could the process have been repeated enough to be institutionalized.
A lot of the offshore companies laying claim to being CMMI Maturity Level 5 are no where close. What a lot of firms in the US don't understand that chose to use them is that you only are given the level of service you are certified for. I trust the CMMI level 2 -3 offshore companies than I do the level 5 companies, because if you take a hard look level 5 off-shore companies are a dime a dozen, and most of them are no where close to level 2 much less level 5.
None of this is Microsoft's problem. Just like none of it is SEI's problem. It is just something to watch for since the CMMI MSF implementation is going to be so wide spread.
Another thing process related is that they brought in Ivar Jacobson to work on the Essential Unified Process (essUP). I Blogged on this here
My previous Blog contains links to some info on the topic. It seems we now have the UP (Unified Process), which grew to the RUP (Rational Unified Process), and now the BUP (Basic Unified Process) which = (UP + SCRUM) out there in the world of IBM and open source communities. I am assuming the Essential Unified Process (essUP) will be Microsoft's equivalent to the BUP.
Info on the BUP.
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices From RUP and BUP book coming soon.
VSTS 2005 is a pleasure to code with. The added Refactoring tools, snippets tools, and enhanced intellisense make coding fun. There are plenty of new tools for the Developer, Tester, and Project manager to take advantage of.
Although VSTS 2005 is still lacking any support for modeling Sparx Enterprise Architect has been a pleasure to work with, and makes up the difference.
We will have to see how effective the program is, but the Engineer-to-Engineer Connection Program will hopefully provide MS with some valuable information for their future releases of Team System. It is nice to see them going to such great lengths for feedback.
posted by tadanderson at 5:30 AM
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