PSP for Engineers I & II Course

Do software engineers in your organization know how to improve the quality of their software processes?

Course Description

The Personal Software Process (PSP) for Engineers course consists of two one-week sessions. After completing this PSP for Engineers course, students will understand and be able to communicate the principles, concepts, and benefits of the PSP. They will also be able to apply the PSP methods to their own personal work process and participate on a Team Software Process (TSP).

Students learn the PSP by completing the assigned reading, attending the class lectures, and completing the assignments. Students should plan to spend from125 to 150 hours in total to complete PSP for Engineers I and II. The total course completion time includes two weeks of class time, plus an additional week to complete the pre-reading and post-class homework.

Audience

This course is for

	software engineers
	software engineering instructors
	software quality management instructors
	third-party vendors of software engineering or quality training

Course Objectives

This course

	introduces students to a process-based approach for developing software
	shows students how to measure and analyze their personal software processes
	teaches students how to use process data to improve their personal performance
	shows students how to apply these methods to other structured tasks

To be considered a PSP-trained engineer, a student must complete both PSP for Engineers I: Planning and PSP for Engineers II: Quality.

Course Topics covered in PSP for Engineers I: Planning

	Introduction to personal process
	Size measurement
	Size estimating
	Proxy-based estimating
	Resource estimating
	Process measurement

Course topics covered in PSP for Engineers II: Quality

	Defect management
	The design process
	Design verification
	Scaling up to TSP
	Using the PSP and TSP

Prerequisites for PSP for Engineers

Students must be proficient in at least one programming language and are expected to use a language in which they are experienced. Due to the quick pace of this course, students will not be successful if they use this course to learn a new language.

Portable Computing Equipment

	Computer with at least 6 megabytes of free disk space
	Microsoft Excel 97 (or more recent)
	Microsoft Word 97 (optional)
	Microsoft PowerPoint 97 (or more recent)
	Programming language development environment (compiler, editor, etc.)
	WinZip
	CD or floppy disk drive

Course Pre-work

After registering for PSP for Engineers I: Planning, attendees receives a copy of the book, A Discipline for Software Engineering by Watts Humphrey, ISBN: 0-201-54610-8, 2003.

A letter detailing the pre-course reading assignments is provided. It is important that the assigned chapters are read before coming to the course.

It is also important that the assignments described in the textbook are NOT begun until they are assigned during the course.

Class Schedule

PSP for Engineers I and II are each five-day sessions separated by approximately 3 weeks:

Days one to four: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Day five: 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Availability

Courses are typically offered by special arrangement at customer sites.

Cost

This class is generally taught as part of a comprehensive introduction program at the customer site.

When taught at the Northern Horizons facilities, the cost is:

Industry: $4000 per person

Government: $4000 per person

Academic: $3500 per person

Course Registration

To register for this course, contact by

Mail: Northern Horizons Inc., 61 Russell Hill Road, Brookline, NH 03033

Phone: (603) 673-2808

E-mail: rtonneberger@NorthHorizons.com

Questions about this course?

If you need more information, contact us via e-mail at rtonneberger@NorthHorizons.com or telephone at (603) 673-2808.