Tools group

The Tools Group sets up a group that is responsible for gathering intelligence about, evaluating, coordinating the use of, and disseminating new tools with a company.

A Tools Group allows for a reduced amount of trial and error and minimizes the number of development groups that will be handicapped by the use of inadequate software tools.

Virtually any company that has more than one software project running at a time can set up a Tools Group, though is some cases the “group” might consist of a single person working only part time.

Efficacy

  • Potential reduction from nominal schedule: Good
  • Improvement in progress visibility:  None
  • Effect on schedule risk:  Decreased Risk
  • Chance of first-time success:  Good
  • Chance of long-term success:  Very Good

Major Risks

  • Bureaucratic over-control of information about and deployment of new tools

Major Interaction and Trade-Offs

  • The same basic structure can be used by software-reuse and software-engineering process groups