Systematic receives international attention for its software testing methods
Is it agility or process maturity that will be the future of software development and testing? Systematic believes that both will be in the mix.
18 December 2009
At this year’s European conference on software testing – EuroSTAR 2009 – Systematic was invited to deliver a keynote speech on the company’s experience with combining agile development methods and process maturity approaches. An invitation to such a highly acknowledged conference attended by software professionals from all over the world was a considerable accolade.
- Word on the street is that agility and process maturity are like oil and water – they just don’t mix. At Systematic, we’re proving this to be wrong, said Systematic Program Test Manager Gitte Ottosen in the opening to her keynote speech.
At last year’s EuroSTAR conference, she participated with a track session entitled ‘Agile and Process Maturity – Of Course They Mix!’ that was subsequently nominated for an innovation prize. Gitte was in addition ranked as the best non-professional speaker out of 44. This led the EuroSTAR organisers to contact Gitte Ottosen and invite her to deliver a keynote speech on the theme at this year’s event.
A controversial topic
Gitte Ottosen presented a somewhat controversial assertion.
- Agility and process maturity have supporters on both sides claiming that these two methods are irreconcilable. Where agile methods are concerned with the project and its individual needs, process improvement methods focus on standardised procedures and involve the entire organisation. Many people don’t see how these can be combined, points out Gitte Ottosen.
- But the two methods operate on different levels – one on an organisational level and the other on a project level – and they should therefore not be compared. The focus should rather be on how these can be integrated with each other, adds Gitte Ottosen.
How Systematic combines agility and process maturity
Systematic is always striving to improve its development processes. To this end, the company employs the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) process maturity tool, and is certified at Level 5 – the highest attainable degree of proficiency. The company then uses agile practices within the overall CMMI framework in order to strengthen the overall versatility and flexibility of its working procedures.
Gitte explains how Systematic combines the two.
- At Systematic, we have developed a distinctive method that we have coined ‘Feature driven development’. This is based on UML, SCRUM and the LEAN principles, taking the best from the agile world and implementing it within a CMMI framework.
Audience interest
Systematic has been attending EuroSTAR conferences ever since 2004, and has presented a number of track sessions at past conferences. This year was the first time that the company delivered a keynote speech.
Systematic’s contribution at the EuroSTAR 2009 conference focused on the company’s experience with using this ‘Feature driven development’ method, as seen from the tester’s perspective. Gitte Ottosen described both the benefits and the challenges that the company encounters with using this particular approach to the software development process.
Following the presentation, a large number of conference participants had supplementary questions on the subject, and showed considerable interest in Systematic’s experiences.
What is CMMI?
More about the way Systematic interleaves CMMI and agile methods