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Regular Conference Session
Software Goodness: What do we really mean when we say 'Quality' when referring to software products and systems?
Mr. Larry Baker
- Defense Acquisition University
Session Abstract:
Nobody, besides miscreants such as hackers, wants ‘bad’ software. Therefore, it becomes incumbent upon all of us in the software community to understand and be able to decide whether software is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. So, how does one evaluate an intangible? ‘Software Quality’ would seem to be the de facto answer. Everybody talks about quality - ‘Quality is Job 1’; ‘Quality is Zero Defects’; or some other endless variant or slogan. But, what is quality? There is widespread disagreement and uncertainty as to what ‘quality’ really means (or should mean). Is it situation dependent? Is it domain dependent? Is it reflective of a product’s attributes? Is it a question of customer satisfaction? Is it simply that it works “reasonably well’ and fulfills a minimal level of expectations? This session will explore the risks and rewards of promoting and instituting quality goals, practices, and procedures for software intensive systems. It will include an overview of what factors influence quality, e.g., requirements definition, and what processes, e.g., test and evaluation, can be utilized to assess and improve it. The goal is to raise the attendee’s awareness and increase his or her ability of creating ‘good software ’.
Speaker BIO - Mr. Larry Baker
Larry has been a Professor of Engineering Management at the Defense Acquisition University since October, 1992. He is also the Program Director for the Information Technology and Software Acquisition functional areas. He has over fifty years of experience and a multi-disciplinary background in systems, software, and hardware engineering, with expertise in domain areas such as command, control, communications, and computers; signal intelligence; information technology; systems engineering; software engineering; modeling and simulation; anti-submarine warfare; spacecraft electronics; cost and schedule estimation; and process improvement. During his more than twenty years with Martin Marietta, he served in a variety of management positions including systems engineering manager, software manager, integrated product team leader, project manager, and program manager.
He also was the section manager for the computer software engineering functional area.
Some of the more significant programs that he was associated with were the Viking Mars Lander, the Spacecraft at High Altitude (also known as P78-2, an Air Force technology effort to map the near earth electromagnetic environment), the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Kinetic Kill Vehicle System, the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense System, and the Airborne Low Frequency Sonar System, as well as a variety of highly classified activities. Prior to Martin Marietta, he spent a total of eleven years at Grumman Aerospace on programs such as the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, 621B (the predecessor to GPS); and the F-14; at Sperry on the SQQ-23 Sonar Detection System; and at TRACOR developing commercial computer peripheral equipment. Mr. Baker was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1959, served two years on active duty, and was honorably discharged from the reserves as a Captain in 1968.
Mr. Baker earned his Baccalaureate Degree in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York in 1959 and his Master of Science in Systems Management Degree from the University of Southern California in 1986. In addition, he is a graduate of the Program Management Course given at the Defense Systems Management College, completing it in 1994.
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