Improvement of the Software Development Process to Achieve Higher Quality

Abstract

This article seeks to explore how to take an existing software developing process in the Avionics Department of an Air Force base and improve it so that the product quality is increased and lower the number of defects found by the customer by 30%. Extensive analysis of past development was performed accompanied by Root Cause Analysis to determine the most repeating causes. The results suggest that functional defects were the most common with causes such as lack of experience in the team, no coding standard, lack of communication with the client, ambiguous requirements, among others. In order to achieve the objective, a coding standard was created, routine meetings with the clients and pair programming was established. The results showed a good effect in the reduction of defects found by the client. These results suggest that tackling these common causes will greatly help the development team to deliver a higher quality product and thus improving their process. Key Terms ⎯ Defects, Development Process, Root Cause Analysis, Software Quality.