Personal Software Process
The Personal Software Process (PSP) addresses an individual developer's ability to consistently deliver high quality software products in a timely manner. This technology was developed by Watts Humphrey of the SEI as an extension to his earlier CMM work. It has been demonstrated that projects staffed with PSP trained engineers produce extremely low defect density software on schedule.

PSP Training
The STSC's Disciplined Software Engineering course trains engineers in the application of PSP. PSP training consists of an integrated mix of 14 lectures stressing software engineering topics, 9 tutorials explaining the PSP, 10 programming assignments in which the PSP is used and development data collected, and 5 report assignments in which the PSP data is analyzed and used for personal process improvement.

Benefits
During the course engineers learn techniques for practicing continuous process improvement, for improving the quality of their software work products, and for estimating size and effort in a statistically normal way. They learn how engineering discipline can be applied to the development of software. An analysis of a large group (298 students) who have completed PSP training revealed that on average during PSP training, quality (defects found in test) improved 2.5x, effort estimating accuracy improved by 1.75x, and size estimating accuracy improved by 2.5x, and the bias towards overestimating disappeared. There was no change in productivity.

Example - Defects found in Test
The PSP uses Defects found in Unit Test as a measure of product quality. Other software engineering studies have noted a strong correlation between the number of defects found in a test step and the number of defects found in later test steps. Every class is different but to date every class has shown improvements both in defect density and in defect density range during the class.

Maintaining Commitmen
As part of our service the STSC works with the management of the engineers undergoing PSP training to insure that they complete the training.

Expertise in Federal Work Culture
The STSC understands the federal work culture and federal work rules and has worked hard to modify the course format so as to eliminate the need for student overtime.

Our Goal...
is to be THE organization specializing in solving DoD specific barriers to PSP adoption and in successfully inserting PSP into the DoD software culture