Quantitative Software Management Inc.
Provides the SLIM-suite of automated software project (macro-)estimating
& tracking aids. Several Master Systems staff are accomplished users
of QSM's tools.
Quantitative Software Management Associates
An affiliate of QSM that specializes in financial service institutions
and the use of estimation information during project negotiations in a
novel application of the Harvard Project on Negotiation. Michael Mah,
the managing partner, was the editor in chief of IT Metrics Strategy,
a respected journal on the practical applications of measurement.
Galorath
SEER-SEM is a software project estimation tool that is at the WBS or component
level (distinct from, say, macroestimation at the project level). Their
SEER-SEM client lives inside Microsoft Project, so a project manager never
has to leave Project to generate the list of tasks and to estimate duration
and resource assignments.
Implementation Management Associates
Provides a step-by-step data-based method to plan & manage the human
side of technological change. Since improvement = change, this approach
is important -- even critical -- to the success of improvement initiatives.
Several Master Systems staff members are certified in the expert use of
the IMA methods.
Vite', now ePM
Provides a means of looking inside a software project to model the relationship
between tasks and actors. Master Systems provides Vite solutions for software
development projects. (On December 31, 2002, ePM purchased the assets
of Vité and now maintains the former Vite' software product, SimVision,
that provides a look inside actual projects by simulating their internal
workings.)
EcoMerc
Provides an expert system for diagnosing & designing an organization.
Master Systems uses that expert system, OrgCon, to help clients diagnose
and improve organizational designs. Remember, our approach is one of mutual
adaptation" the organization needs to change to accommodate the improved
processes and the improved processes need to change to accommodate the
organization. We use OrgCon to help us with the organization part.
Empirical Software Engineering
A journal of results of field experiments -- the only one for software
engineering! In this sense it is perhaps the most practical scientific
journal in the software engineering field. There is an individual subscription
rate. Stan Rifkin of our staff is a charter member of the Editorial Board.
NASA Software Engineering Laboratory
Experimenter & disseminator of software engineering experience (check
out the annual workshop, one of the best bargins in software engineering
conferences).
CogNexus Institute
Creator of the best meeting techniques & technology available. Be
sure to read about Wicked Problems, ones in which the texture of the problem
changes as solutions are evaluated. Sounds like system requirements, doesn't
it? Very elegant solution to focusing & recording meetings. We use
these methods.
"Scrum is an agile, lightweight process that can
be used to manage and track software and product development. Wrapping
existing engineering practices,... Scrum generates the benefits of agile
development with the advantages of a simple implementation." Stan
Rifkin of our staff is a Certified ScrumMaster.
(Barry Boehm's) Center for Software Engineering at the University
of Southern California
Master Systems is a Visiting Associate Affiliate of this Center, a leader
in creating the future of software engineering, including the value-based
approach. It is also the home of the free Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO
II) software project estimation tool.
Future Search Network
Master Systems is a charter member of this organization. A Future Search
is a type of group work wherein goals are set, prioritized, and action
plans developed and committed to ... all in three days! It has a strong
theory base and numerous books have been written on the subject.
"The Agile Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting
the concepts of agile software development, and helping organizations
adopt those concepts." It is the author of the famous "Manifesto
for agile software development." Master Systems is a member of this
organization.
