Software process framework at Sun

Abstract

Ⅵ In 1985, Sun Microsystems began to develop its formal software processes (the company was then just three years old). These software processes now cover all steps of a product (from the point of view of a variety of functional areas), from inception through end of life. This article is a brief overview of the software processes that we have created and continue to develop at Sun. The need for this constant development is due to the fact that Sun's market environment is undergoing rapid and constant change, to which the company must respond. process is a method for implementing change. Change can be an initiation (change from nothing to something), revision (change from something to something else), or elimination (change from something to nothing). A software process must be able to address work of great complexity and must itself be malleable in order to continue to be effective. That is, it must provide a known, approved, and effective means to make change happen. A formal process should make it easier to do business, improve quality, and simplify training. Processes do not have to be complex in themselves, but a process is usually not established as an important and identifiable pattern of actions with sequenced approvals unless the change to which it applies is complex. Since Sun's corporate culture promotes individualism and experimentation (" to ask permission is to seek denial " is one of Sun CEO Scott McNealy's favorite aphorisms), we call the core of our software infrastructure a " framework. " The image is that of a stable and open structure which can hold a wide variety of successful styles, interpretations, and implementation methods. Sun is a hardware company at heart. Nonetheless, we recognize that it is the suite of software products which motivate customers to choose one system (the combined hardware-software product) over another. Thus, two of Sun's " planets " (wholly owned subsidiary companies) are almost entirely devoted to software. These planets function as independent software companies, but always within the context of the larger hardware-oriented corporation. This fundamental hardware orientation was apparent from the inception of Sun's first software-only process. It was created eleven years ago in response to a strong request from our manufacturing department for a written and orderly mechanism for the transmission, or " release, " of a software product from development engineering into manufacturing. After many energetic attempts to cram the …