Changing the SCE focus from processes to people

CHANGING THE SCE FOCUS FROM PROCESSES TO PEOPLE To the Editor: It has always amazed me that software capability evaluations (E. O’Connell and H. Saiedian, “Can You Trust Software Capability Evaluations?” Feb. 2000, pp. 28-35) usually focus on the organization’s processes and almost never evaluate the training, experience, and talent of its personnel. I have seen organizations in which people who have never had a course in computer science have produced considerable paper trails with Microsoft Project and Visual Source Safe. They, therefore, demonstrate their maturity in project management and configuration control even though they can’t produce working code. In this regard my grandmother qualifies as a project manager through her excellent system for filing recipes and planning meals. It’s time to address the taboo of never asking or requiring information about how well prepared people are to produce software. Does an organization employ software developers with academic degrees in computer science/engineering? How many years of experience in developing software do these people have and what have they produced? Can they pass a standardized computer science/engineering test? While it won’t solve all contractor problems, I do think it’s time to apply such questions and tests. Even postal workers undergo greater scrutiny than software developers. David Cox North Chili, N.Y. dcox1@Rochester.rr.com