Tucson SPIN Meeting

March 7, 2002

Location:

Misys Medical Systems (formerly Sunquest)

4801 E. Broadway

(One block east of Swan on north side of Broadway)

Guest Speakers: Brad Bittorf and Kurt McMillen

Raytheon Missile Systems

TOPIC: A CMM Level 5 Journey

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Agenda:

5:45 - 6:15 Attendees enjoy refreshments and networking

6:15 - 6:30 Business and announcements

6:30 - 8:00 Evening highlight speakers Brad Bittorf and Kurt McMillen

In the mid-1990s, Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS) adopted the Software

Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The CMM Level

5 software process roadmap ushered the RMS Software Engineering Center (SEC)

through the 90s into the 21st century culminating in achievement of a formal

CMM Level 5 in November 2001. During this Level 5 journey, both the

organization and the

participating "Frontrunner" programs learned significant lessons that both

aligned with, and sometimes deviated from, their initial expectations.

This presentation describes the CMM Level 5 effort that was

implemented in RMS, the critical relationship between Level 5 and Level

4 practices, and the importance of integrating company business goals into

Level 5 practices. The presentation includes how and why we integrated

Statistical Process Control (SPC), the critical change management principles

(the people oriented actions), and how a Level 5 organization is developed

from a properly functioning Level 4 organization.

Kurt M. McMillen is a Senior Principal Software Engineer in the Raytheon

Missile Systems Software Engineering Center in Tucson, Arizona. His

responsibilities include leading software process technology development

and being co-chairperson of the Software Technology Insertion Committee

(STIC). Kurt holds a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from University of

California, Davis, and a Masters degree in Software Engineering from

Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Bradley J. Bittorf is a Software Process Engineer for the Strike Weapons

Department in the Raytheon Missile Systems Software Engineering Center in

Tucson, Arizona. His responsibilities include overseeing software process

improvement for a variety of missile software programs, and facilitating

the deployment (and filtering) of process changes at the point of usage.

Brad has 13 years of software development experience and 4 years of

software process experience. He holds a B.S. in Applied Computer Systems

from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and has presented to both the

Northeast Ohio and Tucson SPINs.

If you plan on attending, please e-mail us at attendMeeting@TucsonSPIN.org

for food, beverage, and facilities planning. For more information on the

Tucson SPIN please visit our web site www.TucsonSPIN.org. To suggest ways we

can improve contact us via e-mail at info@TucsonSPIN.org. The Tucson SPIN

meets the first Thursday of each month.

Please bring a friend or coworker to the monthly meeting. Forward this Email

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and people with possibly interesting topics for future Tucson SPIN meetings,

please send us an email at AttendMeeting@TucsonSPIN.org

We welcome and value your attendance and participation. There are no member

dues. Food is available at the meeting for a nominal donation.