Once you’ve conducted a retrospective into previous projects and determined what "quality" means to your group, set some goals for both short- and long-term improvements. Quantify the goals whenever possible so you can select a few simple metrics that will indicate whether you are making adequate progress toward the goals.

For example, if you’ve determined that projects are often late because of volatile requirements, you might set a goal to improve the requirements stability by 50% within six months. Such a goal requires that you count the number of requirements changes per week or month, understand their origins, and take actions to control those changes. This will likely require modifying the way you interact with those who supply the requirements changes.

Your goals and metrics make up part of the software process improvement program you should put into place. It’s fashionable to disdain "process" as the last refuge of uncreative bureaucrats. The reality, though, is that every group can find ways to improve the work it performs. Indeed, if you continue to work the way you always have, you shouldn’t expect to achieve any better results than you have before.

There are two compelling reasons to improve your processes: to correct current problems and to prevent future problems. Make sure your improvement efforts align with known or anticipated threats to the success of your projects. Lead your team in an exploration of the strengths and shortcomings of the practices they are currently using and of the risks facing your projects.

My group held a two-session brainstorming exercise to identify barriers to improving our software productivity and quality. In session one, the participants wrote their thoughts about this topic on sticky notes, one idea per note. A facilitator collected and grouped the ideas as they were generated. At the end, we had a dozen major categories, which we then recorded on large flipchart sheets.

In the second session, the same participants wrote ideas for overcoming these barriers on sticky notes and attached them to the appropriate flipcharts. Further refinement led to a handful of specific action items we could address in our effort to break down barriers and help team members achieve their software quality and productivity objectives.

Setting measurable and attainable goals brings a focus to your improvement efforts. Keep the goals a visible priority and monitor progress with the group periodically. Remember that your objective is to improve the technical and business results your projects and company achieve, not to satisfy the expectations espoused by some process improvement book. Treat improvement efforts as mini-projects, with deliverables, resources, schedules, and accountability. Otherwise, process improvement activities will always get a lower priority than the more enticing technical work.