Applying the PSP in CMMI Level 5 Organizations: A Case Study

The Personal Software Process (PSP) has begun to be an attractive topic in the software engineering field, and since its establishment, the industry has been looking forward for field studies implementing such framework. While there are published reports on the teaching of PSP in classroom settings, little field studies have been conducted on the implementation of PSP in industry,especially in organizations adopting the widely used framework - the Capability Maturity Model (CMM/CMMI).In this case study, we will explore implementing some of the PSP practices in a high maturity organization using the CMMI, measuring the benefits and the implications for those practice in improving the quality of work products and/or products in this kind of organizations.Results showed that incorporating PSP practices within the process of the organization have improved the quality of work products and final delivery indicating major improvements in overall product quality (97.4% of defects were detected before delivery) and process yield (75% of defects were detected before testing).