British Computer Society

Sociotechnical Specialist Group

R&D versus Assembly Line? How Innovation, Creativity and Discipline Interact in Software Development Cultures

The goals and objectives of R&D and software development are ordinarily regarded as very different, each with its own culture and management styles. Some of the most successful companies worldwide, though, thrive on doing both in a way where one activity is allowed to reflect on the other. Innovative R&D, it turns out, depends not only on producing a surplus of good product ideas but also on a well managed and structured process to facilitate, assess, and winnow those ideas. And first-class software development requires a culture in which developers are encouraged to recognize and learn from their failures if risks are to be identified and averted. This kind of openness lies at the very heart of the CMMI, which encourages initiative by stressing ends rather than means and whose fundamental rules require developers to identify errors and learn from their mistakes. It turns out, though, that the effectiveness of applying these aspects of the CMMI is critically hindered when companies conceives of software development as an iterative activity cut off from R&D. Marilyn Bush will explore the CMMI’s mixed successes and their implications. Examples will be given from Bush’s years of experience working with different sorts of companies, from scientific labs to telecom, financial, and defence organizations.

Marilyn Bush is a leading figure in international software process improvement and is one of the authors of the Capability Maturity Model^®(CMM^®). This Model, from the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI) was the precursor to the CMMI^® the de factostandard aiding organisations worldwide to improve their software and system processes and permitting them to assess software suppliers against a proven set of quality criteria that extend beyond basic pricing considerations. 

Marilyn is one of the world’s most experienced SEI Lead Assessors and specialises in advising companies at the senior executive level. After 20 years of experience as a project, systems, and software manager, she was enlisted by the SEI to provide practical and managerial perspective on the team that produced the CMM^®. At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marilyn initiated and managed the 120-strong Software Product Assurance section and was later asked to help NASA Headquarters develop long-term improvement programmes for the NASA laboratories.  She was also a visiting scientist at the SEI and is currently an SEI Partner.

Since 1992 when she founded Marilyn Bush Associates, she has worked with companies involved in the defence, telecommunications, banking, insurance, and commercial areas.  Marilyn was one of the first Lead Assessors to work with a Level-5 organisation.  She brings this wealth of experience and a practical perspective to all her speaking and consulting engagements.

Marilyn’s presentations, articles and papers are widely published. She co-authored "The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process" (1995) and she is co-author with Donna Dunaway of the book "CMMI^® Assessments: Motivating Positive Change" (2005).  She was the founding President of the Boston Professional Council, has been a member of the IEEE International Software Engineering Executive Technology Advisory Board and a member of the IEEE National Advisory Committee on Education.

A leader in software process improvement training, Marilyn was one of the authors of the SEI's CMM^® Introductory Course and the SEI Lead Assessor Course.  She currently teaches the SEI’s “Introduction to the CMMI^®” as a public and as an in-house course.