Overview of SRE Standards Planning Activities

Abstract

The Software Reliability Engineering Tactical Planning Group (SRETPG) was first formed in the spring of 1994. I was appointed chair shortly afterward. There are currently about 75 members. About 80% of the members are from the US, while the remaining members are Tom 12 different countries. About 85% of the members are from industrial or government institutions while the remaining members are from academic institutions. All but a few members are in contact through electronic mail. Individuals interested in participating should contact the chair by electronic mail at “gknafl@condor.depaul.edu” in order to join the group. SRETPG members submitted statements, comments, and suggestions primarily by electronic but also by regular mail. These were used to compile the various versions of an action plan document which were then circulated to SRETPG members as a whole for review. SRETPG members are categorized as participants, reviewers, and interested others in apparent decreasing order of involvement. However, this only approximately reflects the relative contributions of individual members since individuals in each of the categories contributed substantially to sections of personal interest. All members reviewed the document as a whole, but members in contact by electronic mail had access to more drafts than those in contact by regular mail. Electronic mail is an effective means for compiling an initial version of such a plan. Most members have limited travel budgets, and so it was necessaq to limit the number of face-to-face meetings. Members sent comments either to the committee as a whole or directly to the chair. These comments were integrated by the chair into the action plan document. Periodically, versions of the document were circulated for review of recently added comments. Most comments are efficiently handled in this manner. However, some comments, for example, insightil or controversial comments, or comments by well-respected members, stimulate more discussion when