A couple weeks ago, I attended a webinar[1] by Steve McConnell, CEO of Construx. Steve is a top author and speaker on software development practices.
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As evidence of the first point, Steve presented SD process improvement ROI results from many organizations and summarized them in this slide:
Steve's presentation went on to stress how building staff capability is critical to implementing improved software processes. This fact is known by anyone who has worked with SD teams for a while: the people and how they work together matters – a lot. Ultimately, process improvements require people to correctly and consistently use new skills in doing their work. While new tools and technologies facilitate advanced SD processes, the ability of people to use those new tools and technologies is essential.
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