Some project controls exist, and the team is good at making incremental changes but lousy at making major changes. The software process is orderly and institutionalized. If a star code writer got hit by a bus, the project would continue unimpeded because the rest of the team would know enough to be able to take her place. The process team keeps metrics on quality and productivity. A process database helps the team analyze errors, parse out resources and plan projects.
Data gathering becomes automatic.
Defect-cause analysis is rigorous, and defect prevention at the front end of the development process saves time and money during inspection and testing. Because defect analysis is virtually instantaneous, improvements can be fed back into the process as the software code is being written, thereby eliminating repetition of the error. Yet such positions are frequently understaffed or overlooked entirely in typical corporate development projects. Loral Corp.'s Space Shuttle Primary Avionics Software System team formally created analyst positions in the early 1980s in order to reduce errors as early as possible in the development process. Their responsibilities include listening to customers and understanding their software requests.