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The Personal Software Process (PSP) is a low-overhead, high-maturity software development targeting tasks done by a single developer. The Team Software Process (TSP) adds high-maturity project planning and management processes and, when used with the PSP, provides a high-maturity development process for software project teams of five to 15 people. Both PSP and TSP are available under license from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) along with a full set of process scripts and an extensive training program. They are both measurement-driven processes and make extensive use of metrics for continuous improvement and management.
Six Sigma is a measurement-driven approach to continuous improvement that focuses on reduction of variation, consistency, and predictably high product quality. Six Sigma provides statistical analysis and decision-making tools that are not built into PSP/TSP. PSP's training program and metrics framework provide the infrastructure required to get the quality measurements required by a Six Sigma approach.
Although Six Sigma and PSP/TSP can certainly be used independently of each other, there is a certain natural synergy between them, with each acting as an "enabling" technology for the other.
Key words: Capability Maturity Model, CMM, Personal Software Process, PSP, quality management, Six Sigma, software process improvement, statistical process control, Team Software Process, TSP
INTRODUCTION
PSP and TSP
The Personal Software Process^sup SM^ (PSP^sup SM^) is a software development process originated by Watts Humphrey at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in the early to mid-1990s. By design, it is a high-maturity development process with all the features required to support a single developer. The PSP is frequently described as a Capability Maturity Model® (CCM®) maturity level 5 process for an individual. While that is not strictly true, PSP does have many features normally associated with (IMM, maturity level 4 and maturity level 5 processes. PSP is a measurement-driven process that includes planning, estimating, design, personal reviews, and testing. Its basic concepts can be extended for all software development life-cycle phases.
The Team Software Process^sup SM^ (TSP^sup SM^) was developed in the late 1990s to add team-level practices to the PSP. Hy so doing, the TSP makes the PSP suitable for use in a commercial software development environment. TSP begins with a facilitated project launch process that generates a detailed project plan. The project...