Quick Start Example: a PSP2.1 Project

This "Quick Start" example is provided to illustrate the most commonly used features in the Process Dashboard, and walk you through their use on a typical project. PSP2.1 is used for this example, because most PSP-trained engineers will choose to use PSP2.1 for their daily work.

Note: The PSP2.1 process helps developers improve the quality of their plans by analyzing data from previously completed projects. To illustrate how this functionality works in the Process Dashboard, the following quick start example illustrates dashboard behavior for a user who has already completed several historical projects.

When you first begin using the dashboard, you won't have any historical project data in the dashboard. As a result, brand new users of the dashboard should not expect to be able to follow these steps verbatim and see the same results. (For example, the PROBE wizard will behave very differently for an individual with no historical data.)

If you have been using PSP for some time, you may be able to use the "PSP Data Import" template to enter your historical data into the dashboard. This is not strictly required, but it can help you to benefit immediately from the wealth of historical data you have collected in the past.

If you have never used PSP before, you are strongly encouraged to use the PSP0 process for your first project, and the PSP0.1 process for your second and third projects. You should also take a PSP course to learn how to use the PSP processes.

Here are the steps that we will take in this example:

  1. Creating the project
  2. Planning the project
  3. Designing the program
  4. Writing the code
  5. Compiling the program
  6. Testing the program
  7. Postmortem

Next step: Creating the project