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They Write the Right Stuff

Friday, August 24th, 2001 at 5:56 PM Category: Meryl's Notes Blog No comments

They Write the Right Stuff is an in depth look at NASA’s perfect software and the process behind it. According to the article, “the last three versions of the program — each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors. Commercial programs of equivalent complexity would have 5,000 errors.” It discusses SEI (Software Engineering Institute) and how NASA is one of the few organizations that made it all the way up to Level 5. How did they do it? Again, from the article:

“It’s the process that allows them to live normal lives, to set deadlines they actually meet, to stay on budget, to deliver software that does exactly what it promises. It’s the process that defines what these coders in the flat plains of southeast suburban Houston know that everyone else in the software world is still groping for. It’s the process that offers a template for any creative enterprise that’s looking for a method to produce consistent – and consistently improving — quality.”

I work for a telecommunications company that is driving toward reaching Level 2 certification. It’s tough work even though we had process documentation in place two years before we started. I have the honor of implementing the Software Subcontract Management Key Process Area. For the past two months, we held twice-weekly meetings and briefings to make this happen. On weekends, I documented the stuff. After all that and a million questions… it is still not perfect.

I applaud NASA’s ability to do this and produce such clean code.