Using Jackson methods to implement software process improvement

This presentation is about software process improvement (SPI) and some of the ways in which Jackson methods can contribute to that end. It draws on recent experience from two projects in which the author has been involved, implementing the Level 2 and 3 key practices of the SEI´s Capability Maturity Model. Jackson methods have been around for quite some time. They have matured with users experience and they contain many techniques that are fundamental to the understanding and description of any processes, whether those processes be implemented by machines or imperfectly by human beings. The relative importance of the problems to be solved has changed: once, we were concerned with how to solve collating problems and structure clashes. Now we know how, and we have moved on to solve larger and more valuable problems. Of course, there are many other useful techniques, and we should not be shy to incorporate them when convenient and useful. In this way, the methods continue to grow in scope and to address the real problems of solving problems