The problems of designing large software systems were studied through interviewing personnel from 17 large projects. A layered behavioral model is used to analyze how three of these problems—the thin spread of application domain knowledge, fluctuating and conflicting requirements, and communication bottlenecks and breakdowns—affected software productivity and quality through their impact on cognitive, social, and organizational processes.

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Improving software in semiconductor manufacturing equipment was targeted by SEMATECH in the early '90s due to numerous reports of problems, failures, complexities and growing needs. The SEMATECH SPI Project has been working with equipment supplier companies on focused software improvement initiatives. This report will describe the key accomplishments and lessons learned from the software process and quality improvement initiative that has been going on in Applied Materials for the last 2 years. Conclusions and recommendations for companies preparing to embark on such an improvement program are described, as well as, the plans and challenges for Applied Materials in 1995 and beyond.

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