Software Change Management: Case Studies and Practical Advice

12/23/2011 · No Responses

Why is it so difficult to change organizations? What does it really take to make “process improvement” yield measurable results? For more than 30 years, Donald Riefer has been guiding software teams through the technical, organizational, and people issues that must be managed in order to make meaningful process changes—and better products. This practical guide draws from his extensive experience, featuring 11 case studies spanning the public and private sectors and even academia. Each case study illuminates the original conditions; describes options and recommendations; details reactions, outcomes, and lessons learned; and provides essential references and resources.

Eleven case studies provide insightful, empirical data from real-world organizations
Provides a broad view across organizational settings and factors, such as personnel, and technical environments, including cloud, Agile, and open source options
Illuminates the hard-won lessons, tradeoffs, and impacts—with advice on how to engineer successful, sustainable changes yourself

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Getting Started
Chapter 2. Industrial Case: Organizational Change in a Large Information Technology Shop
Chapter 3. Industrial Case: Justifying a Process Improvement Program for a Large Bank
Chapter 4. Industrial Case: Moving to Commercial Off-the-Shelf and Open-Source Software Usage in Telecommunications
Chapter 5. Industrial Case: Small Defense Project Needs Help
Chapter 6. Industrial Case: Utility Moving to the Clouds
Chapter 7. Industrial Case: Adoption of Agile Methods
Chapter 8. Government Case: Large Defense Project Behind Schedule and Over Budget
Chapter 9. Government Case: Introducing New Technology
Chapter 10. Government Case: Maintenance Shop in Turmoil
Chapter 11. Academic Case: Establishing a Meaningful Collaboration with Industry
Chapter 12. Making an Impact

Appendix. Acronyms
Appendix. Glossary
Appendix. Recommended Readings, References, and Resources