4-page Case Study - Posted 4/24/2007

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Clear Channel Communications

Major Media Company Puts the “Team” Back in Software Development

Clear Channel Communications, a Fortune 500 media company, owns more than 1,200 radio and TV stations across the United States and 750,000 billboards worldwide. The company’s Enterprise Application Development group lacked a standard development methodology, formal software testing, and requirements authoring standards. In addition, the group missed project deadlines because requirements changed late in development. This situation adversely affected business planning. Seeking a solution, Clear Channel deployed Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System and defined its development model and framework based on the Microsoft Solutions Framework. The result was a complete culture change: formerly opposing factions became a cohesive, productive team. Besides completing high-quality applications on time, the team now shares common terminology, a common understanding of roles, and a common process.

Situation

Fast Facts
Software	Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server
Number of months to complete the Clear Channel Solutions Framework based on MSF	Three
Percentage of MSF adopted for use in the Clear Channel Solutions Framework	80

Clear Channel Communications is a recognized leader in U.S. television and radio, serving 250 markets with 1,200 stations. The company has a significant presence in outdoor advertising, with 250,000 billboards stateside and half a million billboards overseas.

The company’s technology operations and staff are highly decentralized. Its Enterprise Application Development group, located at company headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, supports enterprise solutions and systems, including enterprise resource planning, forecasting, and messaging and collaboration. The Enterprise Application Development group staff of 25 includes architects, developers, and testers, who work alongside analysts and project managers in the Information Systems group.

As Clear Channel grew rapidly by acquisition, so did the Enterprise Application Development group. Although developers were highly skilled, used leading-edge technologies and development software, and completed a lot of code, the group lacked standard processes and protocols. Likewise, people in the Information Systems group, which represented internal business customers, seldom formally documented requirements. When they did, they lacked a standard, repeatable procedure or format. Deadlines were often arbitrary, and fluctuated. Requirements changed often, as well as late in the process, and changes were sometimes verbally communicated to only one person. In addition, Programmers tested their own code.

Using a rather makeshift development methodology, the group regularly missed deadlines. Sometimes a project was artificially declared complete, simply to bring closure near to the deadline—a practice that had consequences. John Szurek, Enterprise Architect at Clear Channel Communications, describes the issue: “Once we started a new project, some of our resources might still be fixing bugs from one, two, or three past projects, so they couldn’t start on new projects. The issues and missed deadlines snowballed, and the CIO was unhappy with the group’s performance and perceived productivity.”

Teamwork within and between groups was almost nonexistent, and relationships were often adversarial. “Morale was poor, to say the least,” remarks Szurek.

In an effort to increase structure, control, and accountability, and to improve teamwork, the group added project managers and implemented software development lifecycle tools from IBM Rational.

“In reality, Rational consisted of a number of related products that didn’t work very well together,” remarks Szurek. “Rational was cumbersome and required too much specialized knowledge and time investment. Despite our best efforts, people simply refused to use it, and in a very short time, Rational became shelfware.”

Leaders at Clear Channel realized that these groups needed a revolutionary organizational change, not a quick fix or a new software product. Specifically, the two groups—the Information Systems group and the Enterprise Application Development group—needed to implement and standardize processes and practices for:

• Documenting requirements and communicating changes.
• Establishing schedules and budgets (and revising when requirements or other variables change).
• Testing to ensure that the software project met the requirements.

With clear roles, responsibilities, and a good set of tools, people are empowered and have a real opportunity to contribute. Projects now have a new sense of vibrancy, energy, and personal accountability. David Wilson, CIO, Clear Channel Communications

Solution

When Szurek heard about Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System, he took special notice of the word “Team” in its name. “Because we recognized lack of teamwork as a root cause of many of our issues, I pitched Visual Studio Team System to our CIO by telling him that if we took the concept of ‘team’ seriously, we might be able to bring about the change we were hoping for.”

Clear Channel deployed Microsoft Visual Studio Team System and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. By licensing Visual Studio 2005 Team System, every team member is entitled to the functionality found in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite as well as each of the role-based editions of Visual Studio Team System. The role-based editions include Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers, and Microsoft Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals.

Clear Channel developers had experience working with previous versions of Microsoft Visual Studio development tools as well as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe®. Although adopting Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server was a natural step, much more needed to happen—and did.

Developing a Mature, Custom Development Methodology
Developers received two days of training in Visual Studio Team System. Although the training was by no means comprehensive, it did give programmers the skills and adeptness to start working with the software.

To develop a methodology, Clear Channel pulled together key people from disciplines across the Information Systems group and the Enterprise Application Development organization. Led by a facilitator, the group met to answer the question “How shall we do business?”

After a slow start, the facilitator suggested that the group use Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) as a starting point and basis for developing a process methodology. MSF is a highly customizable, scalable, fully integrated set of software development processes, principles, and proven practices designed to deliver the type of guidance the user desires when and where it is needed. MSF provides a seamless experience with Visual Studio Team System for process automation and guidance within the software development life cycle.

Szurek says, “We took apart the MSF and asked important questions, such as ‘Are these the right roles for our objectives, project types, and desired business approach?’ We formalized the role of software testers, and we learned a lot. For example, whereas our developers had been managing releases, MSF recommends the role of a release manager. We instated the release manager role. MSF truly helped us formulate and shape our solutions framework.”

In all, the team spent about three months defining their own custom process, adopting about 80 percent of MSF. The team completely customized the MSF for Capability Maturity Model Integration process template, substituting MSF terms with their own terminology. Most importantly, they achieved a process that everyone owns. But they weren’t finished.

Proving the Process
Clear Channel tested the process on a real project. They selected a team consisting of the various roles, set a due date, and went to work.
 
“We failed,” remarks Szurek. “We finished late and ended up with buggy code. Our first mistake was setting an arbitrary deadline. In addition, people didn’t strictly follow the processes. The CIO suggested that we try again. We regrouped, put together lessons learned, made some changes, formalized processes even further, such as getting testers involved much earlier in the process, and started over on the same solution.”

The second time, the team succeeded. They finished the project on time and created a working application.

Spreading the Word
The team formalized the new processes and guidelines in two documents:

• A solutions framework document personally authored by the CIO that expounds on roles, vision, and values
• A catalog that documents work streams and work products

Although the people involved in the test project received in-depth, on-the-job training and experience in the new solutions framework, the rest of the people in the Information Systems and Enterprise Application Development groups needed to be trained. Szurek and his colleague Dawn Volesky, Business Analyst at Clear Channel Communications, developed and conducted a half-day session and trained almost a hundred people. The CIO attended every session. “This was not an academic exercise; I was leading and participating in the real work of realizing higher performance and creating a better culture,” says David Wilson, CIO at Clear Channel Communications. Ongoing training sessions, which include creative methods such as skits, reinforce the values, processes, and practices documented in the solutions framework.

Benefits

Today, using Visual Studio Team System and a well-defined custom process based on MSF for applications development, Clear Channel Communications produces superior enterprise business applications on time and within budget. People and groups that were previously at odds are now fellow advocates for the customer. Now, everyone shares common terminology, a common understanding of roles, and a common process, but most importantly, a common set of values and goals.

“With Visual Studio Team System, we thought we were buying developer tools; what we got was a culture-changing tool,” says Szurek.

Guidance Results in Higher Quality
Wilson remarks, “This project brought people together into a single process that everyone could understand. With clear roles, responsibilities, and a good set of tools, people are empowered and have a real opportunity to contribute. Projects now have a new sense of vibrancy, energy, and personal accountability.”

Visual Studio Team System and MSF give Clear Channel process automation and guidance at every step of the software development life cycle. Visual Studio Team System and MSF, together with the Clear Channel Solutions Framework, have vastly improved Clear Channel software development end-to-end, from requirements generation to release, as described below.

Requirements and design
Clear Channel thoroughly defines and documents requirements up front, which improves design. Team Foundation Server and the team project portal help the group better record and track change requests.

Budget and schedule
“We built checkpoints into our framework. For example, we no longer make commitments on end dates until the high-level architecture is firm and a solid set of requirements is in place,” says Szurek. “And throughout, there’s also a lot more communication about deadlines—and every aspect of the project—allowing us to manage customer expectations.”

Figure 1. MSF evalution process

Development
The development team can write better code and manage it more efficiently. For example, they rely on Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server to help support testing and measure code coverage. They also rely on Team Foundation Server to handle source control, version control, and branching.

Testing
Previously, the role of a tester was not formalized, and developers tested their own code. Now, testers are the “hinge pin” in the whole software development process. “By involving testers earlier in the process, Clear Channel produces higher quality code,” remarks Roy Belovoskey, Test and Release Manager at Clear Channel Communications. “We affect the quality of code by sitting in on the architecture discussions, asking important questions, providing input, and preparing our test plans early,” says Belovoskey. “By using Visual Studio Team System with Team Foundation Server, we have a systematic and collaborative way of cataloguing and managing issues, and tracking, managing, and resolving bugs using the Bug Work Item.”

Release and close-out
In the past, a project’s end date was somewhat arbitrary, but now when the team closes a project, it’s done, and there’s no need to go back to patch up previous projects. Visual Studio Team System and the Clear Channel Solutions Framework, based on MSF, give the company a repeatable process and a standard set of tools so they don’t have to re-invent the wheel every time they start a project.

Volesky, who comes from a project management background, says, “The biggest value of having a repeatable process and a common, integrated toolset is that it focuses all the energy and creativity on the solution, product, or result—not on building or re-inventing the supporting infrastructure.”

By using Visual Studio Team System with Team Foundation Server, we have a systematic and collaborative way of cataloguing and managing issues, and tracking, managing, and resolving bugs using the Bug Work Item. Roy Belovoskey, Test and Release Manager, Clear Channel Communications

Tools Support Collaboration
Tightly integrated tools in Visual Studio Team System enable the Clear Channel team to develop software more efficiently by improving communication and collaboration throughout the entire process. Integrated guidance helps support the development of quality applications and reinforces the process. “Visual Studio Team System puts tools and good patterns and practices together, and reinforces the methodology we’ve put in place, every day, on every task,” says Szurek.

Adam Zastawski, Lead Developer and Designer at Clear Channel Communications, and the development team, appreciate the ability to associate changes to the source code. These changes are made to the work items and are known as changesets. Work items include project artifacts such as bugs and requirements. “There’s less e-mail chatter over whether an issue was a defect or a requirements definition problem,” remarks Zastawski. “Everything is in one place. We can easily see what needs to be addressed, so defects get handled sooner.”

With the design and modeling tools in Visual Studio Team System, the design artifacts result in code, reducing a significant amount of tedious programming. “The minute a developer puts an artifact into a class diagram, it becomes a piece of code, and they just go into that code and start fleshing out the details and finishing the functionality,” says Zastawski.

Because design and requirements are well defined, and developers are often involved in these stages, they now have a much better idea of what is expected. Release managers also benefit from having a single integrated environment for working with the entire team and viewing and accessing all the code.

Belovoskey, who manages testers and release managers, remarks, “It’s nice to have developer code, test code, and Web tests all in the same place in a single project. That is a huge benefit and a very nice feature.”

The Clear Channel team benefits from the solutions framework based on MSF and the quality tools that come standard with Visual Studio Team System. The tools that help make the team and its members more productive include the following:

• Integrated analysis tools that help programmers detect code defects and performance problems earlier in the development cycle—before production
• Check-in policies that help team members discover and correct defects before they check code into the shared source tree
• Integrated testing and code-coverage tools that enable Clear Channel to test code modules during development
• Code profiling tools that help ensure the best possible application performance

Processes Encourage Accountability
For many people, the word “accountability” can be laden with negative connotations. When Clear Channel started developing its solutions framework, Szurek dreaded discussions about accountability. “I thought that people would see accountability as ‘someone is trying to blame me or constrain me’.” However, as people began to understand team processes and roles and saw how their success depended on others, they clearly understood that accountability worked both ways.

“Individuals saw that people were relying on them and understood that if everyone took this seriously, those individuals could count on other team members too,” comments Szurek. “Suddenly, the people I thought would be wincing every time we said the word ‘accountability’ were themselves bringing up the subject.”

Framework Fosters Visibility
Team project portals based on Windows SharePoint technology have become a focal point for improving teamwork and fostering visibility. A new portal is automatically created for each team project that is created in Team Foundation Server. These portals enable everyone to access project information, which in turn encourages discussion, debate, and further improvement. The team project portals also serve as a central repository for document-based work products, such as requirements and architecture documents. Having these resources available to everyone helps foster common understanding across projects and resources, and helps centrally maintain version control.

The flexibility and extensibility of Visual Studio Team System and MSF help the Clear Channel team have everything they need in one place, from one vendor—including tools and process guidance. “Unlike other solutions that impose processes that aren’t flexible and tools that don’t integrate, Visual Studio Team System gave us an integrated suite of tools and let us customize the guidance to our own way of doing business—even apply our own terminology,” states Belovoskey.

Early in the process, team members were concerned about how rigid the Clear Channel Solutions Framework would be. But people are permitted to change the process within the guidance and governance of two prime directives: visibility and teamwork. “We tell people that if their alteration affects either of those core values, they can’t do it,” says Szurek.

Values Lead to Shared Successes
The Information Systems group and the Enterprise Application Development group have attained enormous success and satisfaction doing business according to their new methodology. They will continue to refine current processes and define new ones based on MSF, Visual Studio Team System, and their experiences to date.

Organizations that are considering creating a formal development methodology may hesitate to follow in Clear Channel’s steps. After all, it takes a considerable investment of time and resources.

Szurek advises, “Even though the vision for our new methodology came from Visual Studio Team System, and much of our solutions framework came from MSF, we invested very heavily ourselves—and that’s what it takes. Great results require deep investment—even sacrifice. Not all organizations need to travel the same distance, but every organization has to own the product. Certainly, an organization could hand MSF to the developers, and they may get some value from it as a development tool, but that organization will never get the full organizational impact that’s possible. People need to understand MSF and make its values their own.”

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 is the world’s most popular development environment for designing, developing, and testing next-generation Windows®-based solutions and Web applications and services. By improving the development experience for Windows, the Web, mobile devices, and Microsoft Office, Visual Studio 2005 helps organizations deliver a variety of solutions more productively than ever before. Visual Studio Team System expands the product line with new software tools that enable greater communication and collaboration throughout the development life cycle. With Visual Studio 2005, businesses can deliver modern service-oriented solutions more efficiently.

For more information about Visual Studio 2005, go to:
msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio

For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com/

For more information about Clear Channel products and services, call (210) 822-2828 or visit the Web site at:
www.clearchannel.com

© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.